Manchester United have been on a difficult six-game winless streak, with the 1-1 draw at Elland Road against Leeds United the latest addition to the poor run of form. 

United's last win was a 4-0 win over Sabah a month ago in the Champions League. However, with the Red Devils set to take on Como next, the challenges get more difficult as the season progresses. 

With the winless streak continuing, the amount of pressure on Michael Carrick continues to get ramped up, and anything but a win against Como will continue to weaken the manager's position. 

However, Carrick has faced a blow both Ruben Amorim and Erik ten Hag faced before him, which is an injury crisis. 

Erik ten Hag's reign at Manchester United was polarising, to say the least.

On the one hand, in his 22/23 season, he not only won United's first piece of silverware since the Europa League in 2017, but also played arguably the best football that year since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. The FA Cup victory in 2024 against Manchester City was one of the best moments since Sir Alex left. 

However, the 23/24 season, until his sacking early in the 24/25 season, laid poor foundations for the situation United are in now. Very poor signings, player fall-outs, and the sudden decline in league position until last season all happened under his reign. 

Yet one thing that cannot be disputed is that the arrival of INEOS and the treatment of the Dutchman after winning the FA Cup were poor, to say the least. They refused to immediately provide clarity on his managerial situation, and it was well known that they interviewed multiple managers while Ten Hag was still in the role. 

Even to this day, almost every report on the injury crisis, Carrick's future and results in general is dominated by revelations about the way INEOS are running United. 

Speaking about Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Ten Hag spoke to Laurie Whitewell from The Athletic about the disruption the manner of the takeover brought. 

He said: “The takeover process brought a lot of noise, uncertainty with the people, and disruptions. So that was for the manager; for the coach, it was difficult to work — that’s clear. It was very complicated.”

The public comments from Lisandro Martinez after the Atletico Madrid game showed a glimpse of the chaos behind the scenes. 

The lack of communication is something that has constantly been labelled at INEOS. The likes of Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada have done very little to speak to the public and acknowledge the situation. 

However, quotes from Ten Hag in his interview with Laurie Whitwell seem not only to confirm the lack of communication at the club but also to show that this is the biggest problem for INEOS. 

“After the first meeting (at Carrington), he started talking about the structure in the football club, how the manager should be head coach. I said, ‘OK, let’s discuss, but my contract is different’. I never heard anything.

“Then every press conference (at United), they ask me if the structure should be changed. I always want to cooperate in a club – you can’t do this on your own. You need to find a strategy about philosophy, game model, about team profile, individual profiles. That is what I was used to, but with them there was no communication," he said.