Tony Pulis Says Man Utd Should Copy Arsenal’s Patience With Carrick

• Tony Pulis says Manchester United’s problems are “definitely not just down to who their manager is”.
• He says United should follow the example of Arsenal, who stuck with Mikel Arteta, instead of changing direction again.
• Pulis believes Michael Carrick should be backed, but says United are “not capable of winning the league title, whoever is in charge”.

Pulis Warns Against Another Change at Old Trafford

Tony Pulis has told United to stop changing direction. In a column for the BBC, the manager who spent his career taking over under-achieving clubs said Michael Carrick is under growing pressure but is not the only problem. “The club’s problems are definitely not just down to who their manager is,” he said. His column appeared before Carrick left captain Bruno Fernandes on the bench for the game against Bournemouth, a decision that has made his argument harder to ignore.

The Bounce Has Worn Off

Carrick took over as interim manager in January at a club Pulis described as “drifting deeper and deeper into mediocrity”. United finished third and reached the Champions League places, which Pulis called “exceptional”. He also credited Carrick with calming the water behind the scenes.

Pulis said every new manager gets a bounce, and every bounce fades. “You see players who raised the level of their performance return to the level they are used to, and everything often slips back to the way it was before,” he said. “That seems to be what is happening at United now.”

A Squad Built by Four Managers

Pulis pointed to the money spent before Carrick arrived. Over the past five years United have had three other permanent managers, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim, who spent more than £1bn on 27 major signings. Many of those players are still at the club. Carrick has added another £150m this year, most of it on three midfielders. Pulis still questioned how many of the current squad Carrick would have picked himself.

He explained how hard it is for a manager to be honest about players the club has paid for. Owners want to protect a player’s value as an asset, so a manager has to “portray positivity” even when he doubts a signing. He said criticising them in the media “can’t happen”, which leaves a manager hoping supporters understand his dilemma.

Martinez, Fernandes and the Captaincy

Pulis said the recent public comments from Lisandro Martinez on recruitment “raises serious questions about the player himself”. He wondered how many first-team players believe they have been a success rather than “part of the problem”, and called managing players with inflated opinions of themselves “another challenge in itself”.

The bigger issue, in his view, is how Carrick deals with his captain. Fernandes criticised the tactics after United lost 4-1 at Como in the Champions League on Wednesday. Pulis said watching Carrick’s press conference in Italy was “really difficult” and “heart-wrenching”. “Proper captains, and I was lucky to work with some top guys, come to the fore when the team and club needs them most,” he said. “I’ve always judged leaders by people who follow them when things are going wrong.”

He did not excuse the squad either. “Michael’s tactics are there to be followed, yet to do that away to Como on a very wet and windy miserable night, you need men and not boys,” Pulis said.

The Arteta Blueprint

Pulis said Carrick has the right backroom staff, naming Steve Holland, Jonny Evans and Jonathan Woodgate as “able assistants” with top-level experience. His main argument was about patience. When Mikel Arteta arrived at Arsenal in December 2019 he won the FA Cup in 2020, but the upturn in results did not last. For a couple of years he “was taking pelters from fans and across the spectrum of media outlets”. Pulis said the club “never flinched” and gave him the opportunity “to install a clear identity”. “Look where they are now,” he said.

He wants United to follow the same path. “They have to understand the consequences of the huge failures in recruitment they have repeatedly made and reset to find a direction and identity again,” he said. Time is the obstacle: “everyone demands instant success these days”.

A Verdict on the Ceiling

Pulis was clear about where United stand. When everyone is fit, he believes Carrick has a group that can still compete for Champions League places, but they are “never good enough for the prizes they really want”. He added: “At this moment, United are not capable of winning the league title, whoever is in charge, but stability is the way forward to fix that.”

Carrick has dropped his captain, and the Bournemouth result will show how the squad responds. Pulis has already given his answer on the manager: “in my humble opinion he should be backed again to do what is needed now.”