Michael Carrick fights on as Man United manager after surviving initial crisis talks
Michael Carrick remains left in the dark but will stay on as Manchester United manager for now after surviving talks between the club’s hierarchy on Monday.
Carrick had appeared to be on the brink of the sack following the 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth on Sunday and technical director Jason Wilcox and CEO Omar Berrada met to discuss his future at the club’s Carrington training ground and sound out potential replacements.
Carrick then arrived at the training ground shortly before 2pm on Monday afternoon, just in time to watch the club’s Under-21s play a behind-closed-doors match against Hull, before he left Carrington a few hours later.
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But the popular former midfielder – who was backed by the United supporters at Old Trafford despite the abject defeat to Bournemouth – remains in charge and is continuing to prepare for this weekend’s trip to Chelsea in the Premier League as usual. United’s first-team squad will be back at Carrington for training on Tuesday, which is expected to be led by Carrick.
That’s despite United’s hierarchy reportedly sounding out potential replacements for Carrick if they are required to appoint a fourth permanent manager in the three years since the minority Ineos ownership took control of football operations from the Glazers.
Former Newcastle manager Eddie Howe and Julian Nagelsmann, the ex-Bayern Munich and Germany head coach, are both available and are considered the frontrunners for the job if Carrick is sacked. Aston Villa’s Unai Emery and Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler are admired but their clubs would demand significant compensation.
The United supporters made clear who they blame for the club’s worst start to a league season in 40 years and longest winless run since 2015 as they turned on the players and chanted against the Glazers, co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Ineos hierarchy, including director of football Wilcox, on Sunday.
Carrick made the decision to drop Bruno Fernandes and leave him on the bench following the captain’s criticism of his manager’s tactics, a move that appeared to receive support from the United fans as they did not chant for the Portuguese to be introduced despite the humbling to Bournemouth.
Former United defender Gary Neville accused the United players of “downing tools”, meanwhile, as the progress they made under Carrick last season has spectacularly unravelled and revealed a fractured dressing room.
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“Michael Carrick is a brilliant man,” Neville said on Sky Sports. “He’s a man of integrity, of credibility, of decency, of professionalism, of high-quality football and consistency and reliability. Everything the group of players in that dressing room aren’t.
“I know that because if Bruno has turned on him publicly, with that little statement, imagine what they’re like behind the scenes. If that’s your captain saying that, imagine what they’re saying in the dressing room behind closed doors when no one’s listening. That’s horrific.
"There’s a few of them that don’t go to bed at the right time, don’t eat the right things, don’t think about Manchester United every single minute of every day, and aren’t living and breathing this football club as they should be – and as professionals should.
“Why? Because it’s gone to their heads. But they still walk around like King William. They are nothing, some of those players.”
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Carrick initially returned to Old Trafford as interim manager – his second stint in caretaker role – after the dismissal of Ruben Amorim at the beginning of the year. He was rewarded with the full-time position after guiding United to third in the Premier League last term and securing a return to the Champions League.
United spent £155m on three new midfielders this summer – signing Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andre Santos, after missing out on their top targets Elliott Anderson and Sandro Tonali – but failed to sign a back-up left-back to Luke Shaw or another forward to support the injury-prone Benjamin Sesko.
Lisandro Martinez criticised the club’s hierarchy for not doing more to support Carrick following the 2-1 defeat to Atletico Madrid earlier this month while Fernandes questioned his manager’s tactics following the 4-1 loss at Como last week.
Carrick said Fernandes did not play against Bournemouth due to “pure football” reasons while the Portuguese was also present at Carrington on Monday, reportedly for pre-planned treatment on a pre-existing injury.
United will travel to Chelsea on Saturday before playing back-to-back home games before the international break, welcoming Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday and Aston Villa the following Sunday in the Premier League. There are then two weeks before United face a trip to Anfield to play Liverpool on Sunday 22 November.
Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.