Rio Ferdinand has weighed in after Manchester United 's unbeaten start to 2026 came to an end against Newcastle , with the performance raising some real concerns.
Wednesday night brought a rare setback for Manchester United, who suffered their first league defeat since before Christmas.
The 2-1 loss was made even more frustrating by the fact that Newcastle played much of the match with ten men, only adding to the sense of disappointment around how United played.
Ferdinand didn't hold back in his assessment of what went wrong on the night.
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United looked out of sorts against Newcastle, with Tyrell Malacia 's defensive lapse proving costly in a result that felt fair.
The signs had been there in recent weeks, with performances slipping even as results held steady, but this time it caught up to Carrick's side.
After the final whistle, Rio Ferdinand didn't hold back in his assessment on X. "Newcastle deserve that…," he said after the Magpies took the lead. "We've not been at the races!"
For Newcastle to deserve their win says a lot about how poor Carrick set up United and the performance in general.
But it's worth noting that while Ferdinand's comments were harsh, they came across as balanced – quite different from some of Paul Scholes' more pointed remarks later on.
After the match, Carrick spoke to the media and stated that he didn't believe there was a character issue within his side.
"Why was the character lacking? It wasn't. It was just the quality and the performance. Not the character. We wanted to win. It's easy to throw that out when you don't win a game of football."
Carrick may insist it's not a mentality issue, but this isn't an isolated incident. Losing to 10 men has become a recurring problem for United.
Earlier in the season, they fell 1-0 to an Everton side reduced to 10 men, and now they've done it again, raising more questions about their mindset.
This doesn't fall solely on Carrick, especially since similar issues were present before he took over. But it's something that needs addressing quickly before it becomes an even bigger problem.
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