Manchester United have endured a disastrous start to the season, leaving Michael Carrick's position as head coach under serious threat.

Following their humiliating 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth, even Carrick appeared to be bracing himself for the sack. However, reports have since confirmed that he will remain in charge for this weekend's crucial clash against Chelsea.

The former United midfielder guided the club back into the Champions League last season, overseeing a series of impressive performances after he was appointed as interim head coach.

But the performances this season have been dreadful and fans have accused the players of a lack of effort. The Reds have been outran in almost every game so far this term.

United's latest game against Bournemouth was another sucker-punch for Carrick, and the team were ran all over in the clash at Old Trafford.

The players were booed off the pitch and many have been criticised for downing tools as pressure on Carrick increases.

Ex-United midfielder Nicky Butt has claimed that Harry Maguire and Diogo Dalot were the only two players whose effort shined through during a dreadful day for the club.

“The only person that I would say yesterday looked like they were going to drive and do anything on that football pitch was Harry Maguire. He was the only one trying to run forward and try to do anything," began Butt on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.

He continued: “Dalot gets a lot of c— from a lot of players. He’s playing out of position and he’s up [and] down. You can’t fault his effort. I can fault a lot of effort in the rest of them. 100 per cent.”

United's defence has been heavily scrutinised this season as the Reds struggle to keep clean sheets.

It is always a low bar when players are praised for simply putting effort in but sometimes it is difficult to criticise players too much when looking at the entire context.

Maguire and Dalot are good examples. The former was essentially begging the board to sign defenders ahead of him in the summer; instead he is the only senior defender who is not injury prone and has started every Premier League game.

It is unlikely that the soon-to-be 34-year-old would have imagined having such a role when he signed his contract extension last season.

Meanwhile, Dalot is probably the fittest player in the United squad but lacks game-intelligence and quality on the ball. Yet, his competition at right-back in Noussair Mazraoui has been tragic since his debut season at Old Trafford.

It is also interesting to note how Dalot was used during the 2023/24 campaign, where he won the club's Player of the Year award. The Portuguese defender was regularly inverting into midfield and it was a good role for him.

Now, due to the fact that United do not have any pure wingers in their squad, Dalot is always playing as an overlapping fullback - and we all know one of his biggest weaknesses is trying to attack the flanks.

While both players are clearly not good enough, like the rest of the squad, there is also context behind performances and it all comes back to a lack of squad planning from those at the top of the club.