Carrick faces rejuvenated Roma as Manchester United's crisis deepens
Michael Carrick clings to his job while a reshaped Manchester United host a Roma side scoring at a rate Gian Piero Gasperini has never managed at the club before.
Michael Carrick will take charge of Manchester United against Roma at Old Trafford on Tuesday despite Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Chelsea, which left United without a win in nine games and produced their worst start to a season since 1988, the Guardian reported.
According to the Guardian, Carrick's position is expected to be reassessed during the international break, after United host Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday. For now, the Champions League fixture against Roma is his to manage.
Carrick described the challenge in blunt terms. "It's a big game, and it's what you expect in this competition," he told Amazon Prime UK via BBC Sport, adding that Roma "have had a really good start to the season and credit to them for that, they're a really good team."
Carrick's reshuffle reflects a squad under strain
Lisandro Martinez, sent off in the loss to Chelsea, drops to the bench. Carrick confirmed the personnel calls were partly enforced and partly tactical: "We have to pick a team. We have a good squad, we have decisions to make. We have changed one or two in recent weeks, so we made the decision to go with this team tonight," he said, per Football Italia.
The more significant change is in midfield, where Kobbie Mainoo starts alongside Carlos Baleba after coming off the bench against Chelsea following his return from injury. Carrick framed it as an attempt to find the right double pivot rather than a fixed pairing: "We have some really good midfielders, and different combinations provide different strengths. Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba have played recently together. Kobbie is back fit," he said.
Lenny Yoro returns from suspension to reinforce a backline that has been repeatedly exposed in recent weeks, while Benjamin Sesko, Patrick Dorgu, Marcus Rashford, Manuel Ugarte and Luke Shaw remain unavailable. The depth problems explain why Carrick is rotating a double pivot rather than settling on one, and why a makeshift defence now has to face a Roma attack in form.
Gasperini has turned Roma into a scoring machine
Roma arrive having won seven and drawn three of their opening 10 Serie A games under Gian Piero Gasperini, with 28 goals already banked, a tally Planet Football notes the club have never previously reached at this stage of a season. Last season's equivalent return was just 10 goals in 10 matches, a contrast that underlines how much more direct and productive this Roma side has become.
Planet Football attributes much of that shift to the signing of Donyell Malen, who was not at the club for last season's slow start. Gasperini's attacking principles, built during his time turning Atalanta into one of Serie A's most aggressive pressing sides, appear to be translating into end product in Rome in a way they did not immediately after his arrival.
That matters for how United should expect the game to unfold. A team built around high pressing and quick vertical play thrives on turnovers won high up the pitch, which punishes exactly the kind of midfield uncertainty United have shown this season. If Baleba and Mainoo are still searching for understanding in their partnership, Roma's press could force the kind of transition moments that turn tight games into routs.
History offers little reassurance for United
The fixture carries historical weight that cuts against United's current position. Planet Football recalls United's 7-1 victory over Roma in April 2007, in which Carrick himself scored twice, and the 6-2 first-leg win in the 2020-21 Europa League semi-final. Those results came when United could overwhelm a more open Roma in transition; the side Gasperini has built is a different proposition, built to suffocate opponents rather than trade chances.
Planet Football's framing is that if Roma were ever going to reverse their historical record against the English club they have faced most often in Europe, this is the moment, given United's defensive fragility and Roma's attacking peak. Carrick's own version of events is more measured, insisting only that his side wants to test itself against strong opposition rather than conceding the game before kick-off.
What happens at Old Trafford will feed directly into the broader question hanging over Carrick. A result against a team in the form Roma currently show would buy him credit heading into the Aston Villa fixture; defeat would add to a run already defined by United's worst Premier League start in nearly four decades, with the international-break review still to come regardless of Tuesday's outcome.