For a third season in a row under INEOS, Manchester United enter November under intense pressure to change their manager, with disappointing results in every competition. 

Michael Carrick's side currently sit 16th in the Premier League and are on a run of eight games in a row without a win across all competitions. It looked as though the United legend was set to lose his job after the 3-0 loss to Bournemouth, but he has been backed with another opportunity to turn things round. 

United will be gearing up to take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, which will be another huge challenge given the injuries that have ravaged the squad.

Even after this game, the challenges do not get any easier, with Roma, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon and Brentford all teams United must play before the next international break. 

In the summer, it was very clear that, among other positions, Manchester United needed three midfielders to bolster the squad.

Mateus Fernandes and Elliot Anderson were seen as the two primary targets. Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimarães, Aurélien Tchouaméni, and Manu Koné were all other options that the club was linked with.

In the end, the club signed none of the aforementioned players and instead brought in Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andery Santos. In Baleba's and Tielemans' cases, United's fees for them were praised. 

However, after Red Devils' struggles this season, especially in midfield, the club has been criticised for its signings. Steven Gerrard has been the latest pundit to slam United's recruitment team after signing players he deems not good enough for the club. 

Speaking on The Overlap Daily about, he said, "Why are you signing players who are not good enough for Manchester United... they've got problems all over the place."

He had a more damning reaction when speaking about the signing of Santos where he reiterated his point and said: "Not a Manchester United player."

The trio of midfielders United brought in can be criticised, especially when you consider the players the club missed out on. However, Tielemans and Baleba have both shown in previous seasons that they can be among the league's best midfielders. 

Along with these three, all the players have gear and levels they can reach, but they have, for the most part, underperformed all season and need to step up. 

Carrick must also take responsibility for how he has platformed specific players and the system he has created, which barely plays to any of his current players' strengths. For example, in the last game with Tielemans as the ten, he often pressed from the front with Bryan Mbeumo instead of playing deeper as a midfielder with Baleba. 

That said, INEOS needs to hold themselves much more accountable than it has. Both its recruiting decisions for players and coaches and its off-the-field decisions have helped create the supposed toxic environment around the club.