Gary Neville and Paul Scholes think Michael Carrick’s reluctance to turn to his bench and make one other key change was costly for Manchester United in the Leeds United match.
Michael Carrick tasted his first home defeat in his 11-match interim spell so far after 10-man Manchester United fell to a 2-1 loss to rivals Leeds United on Monday.
Leeds impressed against United in the first half and Daniel Farke’s men were 2-0 up at Old Trafford by half-time after Noah Okafor’s stunning brace in the match.
Carrick made the bold call to resume the second half without making a single tactical change after Leeds were in control of the Premier League tie on Monday evening.
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Gary Neville and Paul Scholes on Michael Carrick’s Man Utd tactics vs Leeds United and failure to effectively use subs
Gary Neville was stunned by Michael Carrick’s decision not to immediately turn to the bench during his punditry appearance on Sky Sports for the Premier League match.
Manchester United legend Carrick waited until the 71st minute to make his first change, with Bryan Mbeumo replacing Amad Diallo during the Leeds United defeat.
Paul Scholes insisted that former United and England teammate Carrick took too long to bring on substitutes and Neville would double down on his previous remarks.
“I thought Michael took a bit long to change it, if I’m honest with you,” he said on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast.
Responding to Scholes’ assessment, Neville added: “To be fair, at half time I was amazed that there weren’t one or two substitutions.”
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Gary Neville and Paul Scholes debate the role of Bruno Fernandes and Michael Carrick not making a huge Man Utd call
Carrick was without Kobbie Mainoo for the match due to an injury and Manuel Ugarte made a rare Premier League start under the Man Utd interim manager.
However, the Manuel Ugarte and Casemiro midfield pivot struggled in the first half against Leeds amid the missing influence of England star Kobbie Mainoo for United.
Both Neville and Scholes suggested that Carrick could have made the decision to drop Bruno Fernandes into a deeper midfield role to support Ugarte in the match.
“You said at the time Bruno should have dropped back,” Scholes said.
Neville added: “I thought Bruno should have dropped back into midfield with Ugarte going.”
Responding to Neville in the back and forth, Scholes explained: “He had two right at the top, they couldn’t get hold of the ball.”
Bruno Fernandes would pick up an assist for 10-man Man Utd in the second half after Casemiro converted a superb header from the Red Devils skipper’s cross.
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