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Amid all the recent criticism of Michael Carrick, one member of his Manchester United squad has gone against the grain and outwardly called for the boss to be given more time. Both Lisandro Martinez and Bruno Fernandes raised questions about the manager, who took permanent charge in the summer after an impressive interim spell, with Fernandes later holding clear-the-air talks with Carrick. However, Youri Tielemans, one of the players signed by the club over the summer, was in no doubts when it came to urging patience from INEOS after the club's hierarchy also bore the brunt of criticism from Martinez and Fernandes.
Tielemans is one of the United players to come in for criticism after a slow start to the season. He was one of three central midfield additions, along with Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba, as the higher-ups looked to target a new area of the pitch following last year’s attacking rebuild.
It hasn’t gone to plan so far, though, with United winning one of their three games in Europe and one of eight in the league.
This has brought pressure on Carrick, but Tielemans found himself in a similar situation with a new boss at another of his Premier League employers, and that went rather differently.
"I came here partly because of [Carrick], because he wanted me here," Tielemans told TNT Sports. "He wanted me to help the team out.
"So I’m very happy for him to stay, and the whole group, we don't want a sudden change. We don't want a big change that is going to disrupt things more than they are. We just need stability, we need to keep working hard, and it’s going to turn at some point.
"Since I’ve come in, he’s always done his work. He’s tried to put a system in place that we all feel comfortable in. I joined this summer, because he convinced me to come over and help the team out.
"I can only speak positively about him, and everyone in the changing room would do the same. We all just need to stick together and turn this situation around."
Back in early 2019, Tielemans found himself in a similar situation. Claude Paul had brought him to Leicester from Monaco but results under the French boss were concerning.
Two defeats in Tielemans’ first two games contributed to a run of four points from eight games - even fewer than the seven picked up by Carrick at the start of this season - with an FA Cup humbling at fourth-tier Newport County thrown into the mix.
On that occasion, Puel wasn’t given time to turn it around. And it’s hard to argue the Foxes’ board got things wrong, with successor Brendan Rodgers turning the club’s fortunes around.
Rodgers arrested the slide, securing a top-half finish in his first season. The next two were even better, with Leicester coming within touching distance of Champions League qualification under the former Liverpool boss.
Of course, 2026/27 Manchester United and 2018/19 Leicester City are not the same proposition. Recent years have shown how difficult it is for a manager of any calibre to get change out of the Red Devils and Carrick’s success as interim boss may be what has brought him this much patience already.
The three games before the international break are likely make-or-break, though. After Saturday’s trip to Chelsea, United will host Roma in the Champions League and another of Tielemans’ former clubs, Aston Villa, in the league.
The Belgian international has already made very clear what he wants to happen. However, if he can’t do his part on the pitch then things in the dugout could be out of his hands - and history shows that isn’t necessarily the worst thing.
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