The cheers were for Michael Carrick, the jeers for the players. One day later, at Salt Lake stadium where the emcee’s exhortations bounced off empty chairs in a city returning to normality after Durga Puja, Panagiotis Dilmperis looked disappointed.
With a banner that had former club legends and “standards” emblazoned across, Old Trafford had made the point more subtly earlier, but there was no holding back after a roundhouse whack from Bournemouth.
Molina was removed and a season sacrificed before Zeljkovic was signed. (Manchester United are not the only club where some officials have a lot of leeway while coaches come and go). And then the idea to keep Bruno Fernandes on the bench! Alex Ferguson would possibly have done that after the captain criticised the lack of pressing against Como but in his first full season in charge does Carrick have that kind of authority? Yet, Mohun Bagan have been ponderous in the centre of the pitch especially when Lalengmawia Ralte is not available.
Manchester United have more players who can play No.10 than they need and it is true that Fernandes’s form has dipped. But Manchester United have won only one of the 10 league games without Fernandes. (A clear-the-air meeting between Fernandes and Carrick has happened since.) Like at Manchester United, Mohun Bagan’s new signings have not played to potential though Lee Irwin looks to be settling down. Because mohun Bagan were reluctant to press, Nikola Stojanovic was allowed the time and space to control the game. (Do not be surprised if the Serb joins Mohun Bagan next term), against Chennaiyin FC, Samir Zeljkovic created from the deep and scored in the IFA Shield final but.
It was around this time last year that Jose Molina had spoken of the need for a foreign central midfielder pointing out that Mohun Bagan tend to get run over against teams that deploy imports in that region.
Manchester United have not signed a defender; Mohun Bagan did but Mehtab Singh can play right back and centre-back. They were signed even though the club have a number of options in those positions. It is not clear why this problem was not sorted out in the summer. Among the players United have bought, the start has not been smooth for Youri Tielemans, Carlos Baleba and Andrey Santos. It’s the same with Dejan Drazic and Lallianzuala Chhangte at Mohun Bagan. One of them, Liston Colaco, delivered a cross that fetched the winner . Chhangte started as a forward but shifted to left wingback.
On Sunday, Tielemans looked a shadow of the player who had hauled Belgium into the round of 16 after they trailed Senegal by two goals until the 86th minute. On Monday, Drazic played as a central attacker.
Chhangte was a key player for Chennaiyin FC, a former captain at Mumbai City FC and an international since 2015. But he is yet to produce the kind of form that fetched a late brace in the ISL play-offs in 2023-24. Carrick is saddled with players signed by former coaches, highly-paid footballers no one wants.
And, he has joined a club where pressure is a way of life after losing his place in the national team. If you can’t sell, you can’t buy and so Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, Luis Diaz and Julian Alvarez – choices of Carrick’s predecessors –didn’t come. But it is equally true that when they haven’t been lucky to get a point, Manchester United have been overrun. Some blame has to go to the coach if the team is running less, switching off (check all the goals Bournemouth scored), or lacking in intensity.
Winning or losing is “multi-factor,” Jose Mourinho has said and Carrick is far from being the biggest problem at a club where his bosses seem to live in a consequence-free bubble.
