Gary Neville's Warning to Michael Carrick After Manchester United's Late Collapse

Gary Neville has warned Michael Carrick he is already walking a familiar and dangerous path at Manchester United after another late collapse cost them two points at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

United were in control, ahead and apparently untroubled, when Everton mounted one last push. Deep into stoppage time, in the 96th minute, Ainsley Maitland-Niles struck to snatch a 2-2 draw and rip the veneer off United’s early-season optimism. Three games in, Carrick’s side have just four points. The questions about their nerve under pressure have arrived early.

Neville’s warning shot

On his Gary Neville Podcast, the former United captain did not bother with diplomacy. He went straight for the soft underbelly he sees in this team.

"Teams think they've got a chance against them," he said. That, for Neville, is the core of the problem. United don’t kill games. They invite hope.

"I thought they were a little bit complacent," he continued. He had sensed it even after United’s first goal. The tempo dropped. The edge went. "They lacked that killer instinct before that period when Everton equalised and then they react again."

The pattern, in his eyes, is old and ugly. Get ahead. Ease off. Get punished.

Defensive tinkering under the spotlight

What really jarred with Neville was what happened in the closing stages. With United hanging on, Carrick chose to reshuffle his defence, withdrawing key full-backs and disrupting what little stability they had.

Neville was especially stunned to see Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot taken off so late, a move that dragged his mind straight back to the constant defensive changes that undermined Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim.

"I don't think it's going to go away and that's my big fear," Neville said. The issue, as he sees it, is not just one bad afternoon. It’s a trend.

"I think conceding goals is going to chase them and hunt them down the road and I don't know how Michael deals with it because he's got his best back four on the pitch. I don't know why Shaw went off with five minutes to go – hopefully he's not injured."

The implication is clear: if Carrick starts meddling with a settled back four in tight moments, he risks repeating precisely the errors that helped cost his predecessors their jobs.

Carrick accepts the problem

Carrick did not rant or deflect afterwards. He stayed calm, but he did not pretend everything was fine. The defending, he knows, is not good enough.

"Obviously, we can't ignore it," he admitted. "We need to concede fewer goals to give us a better chance of winning games. We'll certainly look at that and keep improving. There's obviously things we need to get better at as a team."

He pointed to the quality of Everton’s strikes, both from distance, as some mitigation.

"There's been two strikes from distance really, two really good strikes from their point of view. Sometimes they fly in the top corner and more often than not they probably don't. Yeah, for sure, it is [on conceding late]."

The shots were good. The timing was brutal. United, again, could not see the job through.

Rashford worry adds to unease

As if the late equaliser was not enough, United now have a fitness concern over Marcus Rashford. The forward, who had looked sharp on the left and combined well with Shaw, was forced off in the second half with what Carrick described as a physical issue.

"He felt a little bit of something, so we had to change him," Carrick explained. Rashford and Shaw had been one of United’s clearest attacking threats, repeatedly stretching Everton down that flank.

"We had good connections pretty much all over the pitch at different times of the game, and Marcus and Shaw have played together for a long period of time and have a good understanding. And you can see that, they look really dangerous down that side, and there is obviously more to come."

If Rashford’s problem lingers, that “more to come” might have to wait.

Three games in, United are already juggling a leaky defence, tactical scrutiny and a key attacker under assessment. Carrick insists they will improve. Neville fears the same old story is already being written. Which one will define their season?