Manchester United – Why Is Carrick Talking About A Crisis?

How has the need for instant football gratification led us to a situation whereby Manchester United’s new ?18m midfield man Michael Carrick has to sit on MUTV and deny that there is any panic or crisis at Old Trafford on the back of their seemingly catastrophic 1-1 draw away to Reading in the Premiership?

Is it ironic that it’s Michael Carrick that had to field the questions following United’s meagre haul of only one point from their previous two games (conveniently forget that they played major competitors Arsenal in the other game) seeing as Carrick himself has hardly set Old Trafford alight since his big money move from Spurs and has United fans questioning already whether he will ever fit in at the club?

The Benfica game in the Champion’s League is obviously weighing heavily on United minds as the great European victories over Eusebio’s Benfica in the 1960s have been all but forgotten following last year’s shock defeat and early Champion’s League exit in the group stages with the ignominy of propping up their group.

With so many of the top clubs in so-called “crisis” already this season, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs and even Chelsea after their Middlesbrough defeat, is it the press or the fans who are creating this feeling of mass hysteria if a club so much as drops a point or two (like United at Reading) or doesn’t finish the season undefeated? Newspaper hacks need to fill column inches and fans are always eager to jump on a knee jerk reaction bandwagon and seemingly quicker than ever in the modern game.

The financial bandwagon of the Champion’s League has led the top clubs and their fans to expect success at every turn and with Manchester United’s own TV station bringing up issues like crisis talk with new signings who have barely played half a dozen matches for the club, the pressure must be unbearable.

Manchester United sit third in the table with 16% of the season gone and are only two points behind league leaders Chelsea. If that’s a crisis then there are 17 clubs below them in the Premiership who would just love to be involved in the same crisis as United are.