Why Michael Carrick should be concerned despite Man United's thrilling comeback win over Ipswich as Bruno Fernandes comes to the rescue again, writes CHRIS WHEELER

By the time the heavens opened over Old Trafford, the lightning flashed, the thunder rumbled overhead and the roof sprang another leak, the proverbial storm clouds gathering over Manchester United had long since passed.

But for ten minutes before half-time, United were facing the unthinkable scenario of losing their opening two games of the season to newly-promoted Hull City and Ipswich Town.

The visitors from East Anglia led through a Leif Davis goal and were threatening to plunge Michael Carrick and his team into crisis before August is out and the transfer window has closed by winning here for the first time since 1984.

United deserve credit for responding to adversity so emphatically in a quite barnstorming game of football. They got a couple of lucky breaks, not least when Marcelino Nunez’s slip led to the equaliser and the second goal was allowed to stand after Harry Maguire wasn’t penalised for handball. Who thinks up these rules?

Having been given a nudge in the right direction, United took full advantage with a second-half onslaught that was as relentless as the deluge that battered this old place. Carrick wants his team to play on the front foot, and a total of 33 shots – their most in a decade – suggests he is on the right track, whatever concerns exist over his defence.

Once again, United were mightily grateful to their inspirational captain Bruno Fernandes for dragging them out of the mire. Fernandes scored a hat-trick – the third of his Old Trafford career – and got a first assist of the season after making a Premier League record 21 of them last term.

At the end of a week in which he received the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award in recognition of his feat, Fernandes provided yet more evidence of his enduring importance to this team.

There hasn’t been quite the same level of speculation over his future as a year ago, but with ten months left on a contract that includes an option for United to extend it by another year until June 2028, it still feels as though he is the one player that United simply can’t do without.

On the day Carlos Baleba was paraded on the pitch before kick-off, and other midfield signings Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos made their home debuts, here was Fernandes stealing the show again.

There were other big plusses for Carrick. Kobbie Mainoo was selected ahead of Santos and showed how important he will be if the £155million midfield rebuild is to be a success.

Marcus Rashford made his first United start for 626 days and showed the raw enthusiasm that turned him into a local hero before it all went wrong and he drifted away to Aston Villa and Barcelona on loan. We wondered how Old Trafford would react to his return, but there was genuine warmth from the stands.

There are still cracks that this win won’t paper over, in particular the issue at left-back which has lingered all summer and shows no signs of going away with two days to go until the window closes.

Luke Shaw was exposed at Hull and it took Ipswich less than half an hour to do the same. Shaw was left for dead by Abdul Fatawu who got away down the right and crossed to Davis who had been left unmarked by Bryan Mbeumo and met it with a first-time effort.

Senne Lammens had already bailed United out with vital saves from Julio Enciso and Daizen Maeda, but he couldn’t prevent the ball going in off the underside of the bar.

Having failed to sign a left-back so far, surely United have to do so before Tuesday's deadline.

They were presented with a rather fortunate opportunity to level the scores in the 40th minute when Nunez slipped as he controlled a pass close to halfway, and Matheus Cunha guided an excellent early pass beyond Sasa Lukic and into the path of Fernandes.

Did United’s captain have the legs to get away from his opponent? Probably not so he took one touch and then lashed the ball past Kjell Scherpen.

After Mbeumo somehow hit the bar from point-blank range early in the second half, United transformed the game with two goals in the space of five minutes.

The first felt very harsh on Ipswich after Maguire challenged Chuba Akpom just outside the penalty area and clearly used his hands to control the ball. The United defender advanced into the box and fired a low shot which was going wide until it hit Jacob Greaves, which not only diverted the ball past Scherpen but also negated the handball because it was an own-goal.

Ipswich boss Gary O’Neil accepted the ‘strange rule’ with good grace, but summed up the sense of injustice around it. ‘Sometimes you see a goal and think it shouldn’t stand, and that felt like one of them,’ said O’Neil, who also had the misfortune of losing record signing Emersonn to a knee injury at half-time.

It got worse for Greaves when he tripped Cunha as he raced onto Mainoo’s excellent throughball and Fernandes scored from the spot.

Then after Mainoo and Mbeumo both had efforts blocked, the ball ran kindly for the Portugal star to slot home for his hat-trick.

As the storm raged overhead, Fernandes sent Mbeumo through to lob Scherpen for the fifth, before Enciso picked Lisandro Martinez’s pocket and squared for Akpom to score.

It mattered not but was another reminder that United still have work to do despite the scoreline.