Man United let Michael Carrick down with summer transfers, damning 0.04 stat proves it

Manchester United's difficult start to the new campaign continued on Sunday as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Manchester City.

The Red Devils played against 10 men for over 75 minutes, but couldn't find a way through the visitors' defence at Old Trafford.

Their afternoon then went from bad to worse on the hour mark, when Erling Haaland netted at the back post to hand Enzo Maresca's side all three points.

There was huge controversy surrounding the decision to let the goal stand, but that cannot detract from what was a hugely disappointing display from the hosts.

Michael Carrick's side mustered just three shots on target despite their numerical advantage, and lacked the cutting edge to take anything from the game.

They have now won just one of their opening four Premier League games, and despite the optimism this summer, there are clear signs that issues remain within the squad.

Man United's horrific xG return

United were sensible with their spending this summer, bringing in just four new players into the senior squad.

However, those reinforcements did not provide any additions to the attacking department, which has misfired badly in the early stages of the season.

The likes of Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha have all faced question marks regarding their consistency of late, and when Bruno Fernandes isn't at the top of his game, Carrick's side simply don't have a creative outlet.

That was clearly evident in Sunday's defeat, and was highlighted by the fact that they created an xGOT (expected goals on target) of just 0.04 between minutes seven and 95, according to The xG Philosophy on X.

xGOT measures the quality of a shot after it is struck, and effectively shows whether a team's strikers are making the chances better or worse with their finishing.

In this case, it has provided a fairly damning reflection on United's attacking stars, who lacked the quality in the final third when it mattered.

Carrick used all four of Mbeumo, Cunha, Sesko and Joshua Zirkzee during the game, and it is hard to shake the feeling that he has been let down by the recruitment department in that area.

Man United's stance on Michael Carrick's future

Football Insider revealed last weekend that United still intend to afford Carrick time to get things right at Old Trafford.

The club hierarchy have extremely high hopes for the 45-year-old, but are well aware that their start to the season has been far below expectations.

Carrick himself is also understood to be frustrated at the way his team has performed in the early stages of the campaign.

Nevertheless, he and the board are both hopeful that the team's fortunes will turn in the coming weeks, and they can begin to push up the table.