Much has been made of Jason Wilcox’s failings in light of Lisandro Martinez’s recent comments, but the responsibility does not end with transfers or the lack thereof. While Michael Carrick should not be blameless for the poor start to the season, he should not be sacked, and the Director of Football should have done a better job supporting his colleague.

Every manager has their strengths and weaknesses, and Wilcox should have been able to identify what the Englishman’s strengths were and provide him with the environment needed to succeed. Instead, United had a mediocre transfer window and hoped Carrick could continue producing the kind of form that made it almost impossible not to hire him permanently.

Many analysts pointed out the former midfielder’s tactical issues last season, even before it was confirmed he would remain beyond his interim role. The Red Devils were easy to play against out of possession last year as well, and the press this season is arguably worse, with Carrick seemingly transitioning to a high press, controlled possession tactic.

Now that he has the role permanently, he is clearly trying to shape the team in his image, but all it has done is backfire completely. Manchester United are easy to play through despite completely refreshing the midfield, an area most fans had previously blamed for failures rather than examining the tactical issues.

Carrick made his players more compact last season by playing in a mid-block to bring them closer together and hitting teams on the counter-attack. Even then, however, the press was still easy to play through whenever United did try to trigger it, and many analysts highlighted this.

Carrick also shifted from keeping things simple in attack and playing to his players’ strengths of counter-attacking football to now trying to keep possession. He has done this by instructing his attackers to come up with solutions themselves, rather than providing them with repetitive actions they can rely on.

The trouble is, he has probably gone too far to one extreme with players who do not yet seem ready to show the type of fluid, attacking play Carrick was hoping for. It was a criticism levelled at him even when he was Middlesbrough manager, when fans complained that the attacks were too stale or boring.

When it works, it works and looks beautiful, but when it does not, it causes deep frustration in the stands.

When it does not work is when faced with top defences, stubborn blocks, or simply when a team is out of form. Unfortunately for Carrick, it is all three at the moment.

Wilcox should have seen these issues last season as they were happening, and predicted what would happen this season, given he should know the manager would attempt to transition his side to a more possession-dominant team. The former Southampton man should have strengthened Carrick’s hand by bringing in a coach who could help with the out-of-possession aspects and help bring some structure and automatisms to the attack without losing the essence of what the team is trying to achieve.

Instead, Wilcox left his colleague short of both players and staff, and it seems as though a miracle will be needed to turn things around, if possible. If not, that will be a third manager under INEOS’ ownership to be sacked, and fingers must be pointed at those higher up.

How Wilcox and Omar Berrada can both keep their jobs despite the repetitive failures is beyond me – you cannot keep blaming the players and managers year after year.

How is it possible for online Twitter tacticos to see and predict the issues at the club, but not those on the inside who are paid millions to manage it? It is embarrassing.

Featured image by Denis Doyle via Getty Images