Gary Neville Warns Michael Carrick of Familiar Mistakes After Everton Draw

Gary Neville has warned Michael Carrick he is already flirting with the same mistakes that brought down Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, after Manchester United let a winning position slip in stoppage time against Everton.

United looked in control at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, edging toward a valuable away win, before the game unravelled in the final seconds. Ainsley Maitland-Niles struck in the 96th minute to snatch a point for the Toffees, leaving United with just four points from their opening three Premier League fixtures and fresh doubts about their ability to manage tight games.

Neville’s warning shot

On the Gary Neville Podcast, the former United captain did not hold back. He zeroed in on a familiar flaw: a team that can’t kill matches.

"Teams think they've got a chance against them," Neville said. He felt the warning signs were there long before Everton’s late leveller. United, in his view, eased off when they should have gone for the throat.

"I thought they were a little bit complacent and I was saying it after the first goal, they lacked that killer instinct before that period when Everton equalised and then they react again."

The pattern is one United fans know too well. Take the lead. Switch off. Get punished.

Backline gamble backfires

The most contentious flashpoint came in the closing stages, when Carrick shuffled his defence. With United trying to see the game out, he changed a backline already short on certainty. Neville could not make sense of it.

He was especially critical of the decision to remove Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot late on, likening it to the constant defensive tinkering that haunted previous managers.

"I don't think it's going to go away and that's my big fear," Neville said of United’s tendency to concede. "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."

For Neville, it was a self-inflicted problem: invite pressure, lose control, and watch the opposition grow.

Carrick accepts defensive reality

Carrick cut a calm figure after the match, but he did not try to gloss over the obvious. He acknowledged that United’s defending, particularly late in games, has to improve if they are to turn performances into wins.

"Obviously, we can't ignore it. We need to concede fewer goals to give us a better chance of winning games," he admitted. "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 goals, both coming from distance, as some mitigation but not an excuse.

"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 message was clear: United cannot keep hiding behind fine margins.

New worry: Rashford’s fitness

As if the late collapse was not enough, United now face an anxious wait over Marcus Rashford. The forward, who had looked sharp on the left and linked impressively 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 revealed. He was quick to highlight the threat Rashford and Shaw had posed before the disruption.

"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."

United now face a familiar crossroads: a defence that can’t close the door, a key attacker under assessment, and a manager being told, bluntly, that the same old habits are already creeping in. How long can they afford to keep learning the same lessons?