Are Manchester United really as poor as the early Premier League table suggests?

Michael Carrick's Manchester United have started the Premier League season with four points from their first four matches. The balance sheet includes a 2-0 defeat at Hull, a 5-2 win against Ipswich, a 2-2 draw at Everton and Sunday's 1-0 loss to Manchester City. Those results leave the team 13th in the table, and the obvious question is whether United are really as poor as their early position suggests.

There is clear mitigation around the derby defeat. United had played in the Champions League against Sabah on Thursday, only three days before facing City, while Enzo Maresca's side had an extra 48 hours of rest after winning at Porto. Yet even allowing for the schedule, several areas of the team demand attention.

• United sit 13th with just four points from their opening four Premier League games.
• The derby defeat to City had schedule-related mitigation, but it does not explain every shortcoming.
• The midfield axis has struggled to control matches or create clear chances.
• A summer of heavy midfield spending left the left-back position unresolved.
• Benjamin Sesko, back from injury, has scored twice from the bench and is pushing for a bigger role.

The Solskjær shadow hangs over Carrick's project

Ole Gunnar Solskjær arrived as interim manager in December 2018 after José Mourinho's turbulent tenure, won 14 of his 19 games and was handed the job permanently in March 2019. What followed was a nosedive: two wins from ten matches and a sixth-place finish, exactly where the team had been when he took over. Carrick, by contrast, revived the club's fortunes as interim coach last season after Ruben Amorim's collapse and guided United to third. Since taking the job permanently, however, results have worsened.

Solskjær's unstable squad and fragile job security, which ended with his dismissal in November 2021, do not mean his former teammate and assistant will follow the same path. But the question is how many more poor results Carrick can absorb before Jason Wilcox faces accusations of hastily appointing another popular former United player. A clue that the director of football may have had reservations about Carrick lies in the length of the contract he was given: it runs only until 2028.

A toothless attack despite playing with a man advantage

When Phil Foden was sent off after 23 minutes at Old Trafford, United had a man advantage over City. But Carrick's side remained stuck. The Mainoo-Tielemans axis could not impose itself or supply the attacking quartet of Bruno Fernandes, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Marcus Rashford.

For the first time in 12 home Premier League games under Carrick, United generated less than 1.0 expected goals: 0.95. That figure should worry the manager more than the controversial VAR decision that allowed Erling Haaland's winner. Enzo Fernández, as Pro Ref later admitted, was interfering with play. The same attacking void was evident in the opening defeat at Hull, with Andrey Santos alongside Tielemans: United were a portrait of passivity.

The left-back search that ended in an unresolved weakness

Throughout the summer United chased several left-backs. Lewis Hall of Newcastle was the top target, followed by Arsenal's Myles Lewis-Skelly and David Raum of RB Leipzig. None of those moves materialised. Identifying a position that needed strengthening and then failing to address it looks like an amateurish piece of squad planning, and it cannot have pleased Carrick.

Instead, the club signed three midfielders: Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba. With Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte, the latter facing a long-term injury, already in the squad, a case can be made that this was one too many recruits for the engine room. The money spent on Santos, roughly 50 million euros including add-ons, could have gone towards a left-back. Four games into the season, the potential folly of that call is already clear.

Shaw's absence forces a makeshift solution in defence

Luke Shaw, the first-choice left-back, missed the City game through a knock. His career has been plagued by injuries, and Carrick was forced to field a stopgap in Patrick Dorgu. In the equivalent fixture last season, the Dane played as a wide-left forward and scored. On Sunday, he was the player closing down Josko Gvardiol's cross from United's right, rather than being in his natural left-sided zone to mark City's centre-forward. Erling Haaland finished at the far post unchallenged.

It was also Dorgu's misplaced header that handed City possession and allowed the attack to be launched. The move distilled the risks of relying on makeshift solutions in a key position.

The midfield signings under early scrutiny

United invested close to 148 million euros in Santos, Tielemans and Carlos Baleba. The early return is thin. Santos has made a single start, in the Hull defeat, while Tielemans has been anonymous despite starting all four league matches. Baleba, the headline acquisition, has not kicked a ball because of injury: the Cameroonian is not expected back until after the international break.

None of this would matter as much if the results were brighter. During United's pre-season camp in County Kildare in August, Tielemans admitted that no other club had shown interest in triggering his 35 million euro release clause at Aston Villa. Now, with United trying to jump-start their campaign, Belgium's captain needs to offer more as both a player and a leader.

Sesko makes his case for a starting role at Fulham

Benjamin Sesko returned from injury just as the season began and has come off the bench in every United league match, as well as starting at home to Sabah, where he scored. The Slovenian also found the net in the 2-2 draw at Everton, making him United's joint-third-highest scorer in the league, behind Bruno Fernandes on three and Bryan Mbeumo on two.

Matheus Cunha and Marcus Rashford have not scored in the league from four and three starts respectively. Sesko's directness as a natural number nine may be an option worth exploring from the start at Fulham on Sunday. Before that, United host Brighton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, a fixture that could allow rotation and valuable minutes for those who need rhythm.