Atletico Madrid 2-0 Man United: At least Michael Carrick and Co avoided a thrashing - but the head coach is running out of time as dreadful start rolls on, writes CHRIS WHEELER

On the eve of this test of Manchester United’s character and his own managerial credentials, Michael Carrick asked to be given more time. When the heat was on in the Metropolitano, his team’s resistance didn’t last a single minute.

There were 50 seconds on the clock when Pablo Barrios fired Atletico Madrid in front. At that stage you feared for United and you feared for Carrick. We probably still should.

As the Atletico fans smelled blood, a fourth defeat in nine games this season seemed like the least of his troubles. It felt like United were heading for a mauling in Madrid, the like of which can cost a struggling head coach his job in the morning.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, sat in the stands here, and United’s 3,500 travelling fans probably felt the same way.

Credit to United, though. They stood strong, just as Carrick had asked them to, even after they were reduced to ten men when Leny Yoro was sent off in the 74th minute and Ademola Lookman added a second. They rode their luck a little at times as Atletico had another goal ruled out and hit the woodwork twice.

But a 2-0 defeat here isn’t the worst result in the world, and there were some positives to be found in United’s refusal to lie down and the performances of Youri Tielemans as a No10 and Carlos Baleba on his first start. Lisandro Martinez take note.

Man United were the victims of a shock early goal but avoided a thrashing in Madrid

Michael Carrick's dismal start as permanent head coach rolled on away from domestic action

The Argentina defender launched into an incredible defence of Carrick and his teammates after the game, accusing the United hierarchy and director of football Jason Wilcox of letting them down by only signing Baleba, Tielemans and Andrey Santos in the summer.

It will be interesting to see how that plays out in the coming days, but there is certainly a sense that Carrick deserved more backing after guiding the club into the Champions League last season.

Nights like this require the highest standards and the United team that took the field here looked some way short.

The choice of defence, in particular, did not bode well as Ayden Heaven came in to play left-back for the first time next to Martinez, Yoro and Diogo Dalot. The last time those four played together at Leeds in January, Ruben Amorim was sacked the next day.

The coincidence will not be lost on Carrick that United return to Elland Road on Sunday with his future under increasing scrutiny. He is running out of games to prove that he can halt a dreadful start to the season.

United have now failed to win in any of the five matches since beating Sabah of Azerbaijan in their Champions League opener last month, losing three of them.

In contrast, Atletico were on a four-game winning run since losing their Champions League opener to Liverpool at Anfield.

Diego Simeone was without his captain Koke, who had been given compassionate leave following the death of his mother, but the minute’s silence for Ana Merodio Borja lasted longer than United’s clean sheet as they fell behind from the first attack of the game.

Leny Yoro's second-half red card added insult to injury after the Man United star was dismissed for a challenge on Ademola Lookman

A simple throughball split the defence, and Alex Baena was onto it. He squared for the unmarked Barrios and his shot squirmed under Heaven’s body before trickling agonisingly over the line.

It felt as though United were teetering on the point of collapse at that stage but they cleared their heads and came close to an equaliser on several occasions as Bryan Mbeumo, Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes all missed clear chances.

‘We had a bad start to the game and gave ourselves a lot to do in a place that's difficult anyway,’ said Carrick. ‘I thought we responded and were in the game pretty well.

‘We could argue we had the best chances. We had four one-on-ones effectively. It could look different. But I don't think it's confidence, players can miss chances, you know.’

However, Atletico were able to attack into acres of space every time they beat United’s four-man press, and they had chances too. Alejandro Grimaldo and Julian Alvarez hit the bar and post and the Spaniards had a goal ruled out when Johnny Cardoso scored after Rashford switched off in defence and Marcos Llorente got in behind.

However, VAR official Pol van Boekel spotted Cardoso’s handball as he went into a challenge with Heaven and sent Swedish referee Glenn Nyberg to the monitor.

Carrick’s hopes of salvaging anything from the game all but disappeared when Yoro brought down Lookman when he was through on goal 18 minutes from time and Nyberg produced a red card after another VAR intervention. It felt harsh.

‘I just don’t see it as red card, I really don’t agree with the decision,’ said Carrick. ‘I don’t understand it. The red card obviously had an impact.’

Atletico took advantage in the 79th minute when Senne Lammens kept out Jonathan David’s effort but Lookman followed up to score.

It wasn’t the result Carrick wanted, of course, but it could have been considerably worse.