CRAVEN COTTAGE – Michael Carrick’s position might not be without possible salvation, but he was staring over the edge of a familiar cliff. The manager had a substitution booed by the away end. Sir Alex Ferguson was in attendance. Gary Neville called it “absolutely pathetic”. These are the typical signs of doom. A measly deflected goal, sure. Sometimes they are most valuable.

Watching Manchester United is a deeply infuriating experience, even for a neutral observer. Their basic problem under Carrick is that they are at their most potent when the game is open and quick. Bruno Fernandes can drop into space. Marcus Rashford and Bryan Mbeumo can run beyond full-backs and Matheus Cunha can play more like an attacking midfielder than a nominal centre forward.

The problem with that? United are incapable of playing a match in this gear without leaving themselves exposed in central midfield and defence. That is why they were so ponderous in the Manchester derby. Even with an extra player on the pitch, Carrick was still worried about the threat on the counter. He thus ceded territory to a team who hurt them anyway.

In the first half at Craven Cottage, United hit the woodwork twice, Rashford should have scored and Lisandro Martinez forced Bernd Leno into a smart stop. They had 24 penalty-box touches to Fulham’s 10 – this is good. But Fulham had the better chances and created more xG.

United can’t cope with midfielders on the loose or overlapping full-backs. On the left, Antonee Robinson and Alex Iwobi overwhelmed Diogo Dalot. On the right, Josh King drifted inside to give Martinez a headache and swapped positions with Oscar Bobb. Fulham runners repeatedly found ludicrous amounts of space at the back post, which can only be a concentration issue. They thrashed at those chances, but then that is why they haven’t won a league game yet.

Managers don’t like their football teams relying upon opposition profligacy and a goalkeeper making four decent saves in a half. So what then happens is that Manchester United slow down in possession: safe passes across defence and midfield to bait their opponents out, waiting for a moment to seize.

That makes complete sense, but arrives with two issues for Carrick: 1) as explained, his forwards are better with space rather than receiving the ball to feet, and 2) only Fernandes in this team produces enough regular moments of magic to break open this type of match.

The result is that you either get the Manchester United that looks stodgy – no goals against Hull, no goals against 10-man Manchester City, one late goal against Fulham – or the chaotic Manchester United that beat Ipswich 5-2, drew 2-2 with Everton and lost 3-2 at home to Brighton.

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The fascinating element of Sunday you could replace everything Manchester United-related in this piece, replace it with a Fulham equivalent and it would ring true. That is why they have lost 3-2 twice at home this season and had got their only previous point in a 0-0. The difference is that finishing 14th would be fine for only one of these two clubs.

At that point, matches are decided by which team creates the moment of brilliance to win the game or moment of abject incompetence. Step forward Martinez and the first touch of a distracted toddler in the garden. Step forward Senne Lammens, who could surely have used his hands because it was not a backpass. And step forward the unfortunate David Affengruber and his misguided block.

Add calamity to tactical confusion and you get Carrick’s Manchester United. The bright signs are quickly dulled, diamonds trodden deep into the dust. The manager has been let down by the club and their lack of ambition, but he’s also doing nothing to suggest he deserved much more.