Being called out by Lisandro Martinez was a bad look for Jason Wilcox; worse by far was the squad with which Manchester United travelled to Como.

Exactly a week after Martinez criticised the director of football in the wake of defeat to Atletico Madrid, United flew to Italy looking to atone in the Champions League.

The only passenger who ought to have been sitting less comfortably than Michael Carrick was Wilcox.

It is Carrick’s job to field a team capable of beating Como on Wednesday night. It fell on Wilcox in the summer to give the manager the best chance of succeeding.

Carrick might fail; Wilcox certainly has.

Even excluding all else that we know to be true about Wilcox and his staff, what other conclusion can you reach from seeing only four senior defenders disembark in Milan, one of whom has not played in almost 11 months?

Matthijs De Ligt’s inactivity since November last year makes Harry Maguire the only regular centre-back, with Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui completing the quartet.

In attack, it is a similar tale of woe – arguably worse. United do not have a single specialist centre-forward.

That should not be brushed over. Carrick can only shrug, move on and make do, but at some point in between the games that come thick and fast, there needs to be accountability for such obvious shortcomings.

Concerns around Benjamin Sesko’s fitness did not suddenly arise after the transfer window; it was clear all summer that the striker was struggling with a shin injury. The only unknown now is for how long he will be missing.

Even if his reliability was not in serious doubt though pre-season, Sesko needed and deserved both competition and cover. But Wilcox thought otherwise, believing Carrick could find alternatives within the squad already available to him.

Which is true to some extent. Both Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha can play up top. And Joshua Zirkzee, perhaps, while we all continue to grapple with the unanswerable question of what he actually is.

None of those attackers, though, ever look comfortable leading United’s line. Because they are not centre-forwards.

Yes, Carrick is looking at a sizeable injury list, which appears to have caught United on the hop as if it isn’t something that that every club at every level has to face at various points in any season.

Relying on at least of a third of the nine players not in Como is naivety on a sackable scale, given their history. So too is Wilcox’s inability to multi-task in the transfer market.

United seem to view themselves as pioneers by focusing only on one unit per window. Of course the midfield needed most of the attention in the summer, but wilfully ignoring the woefully obvious shortcomings elsewhere has left Carrick clinging to his position.

Wilcox appears safe in his, enjoying a level of job security that pandering to Sir Jim Ratcliffe provides. Not every director of football – at least those with the courage of their convictions – would stand for their billionaire businessman boss meddling in their work.

With the United squad this weak amid a generationally bad start to the season, there will inevitably be consequences. Though almost certainly not for the appropriate party.