Michael Carrick insists he won’t quit as Manchester United boss despite having to see his team spend the international break in the relegation zone.
United staged another incredible fightback to snatch a 4-4 draw with Aston Villa at Old Trafford after trailing by two goals heading into injury-time.
But it wasn’t enough to spare the club from the humiliation of being in the bottom three for the next two weeks – the longest United have spent there since 1986.
The manner of the performance and result will only heap further pressure on Carrick and when the future of his own position was put to him by Sky Sports reporter Patrick Davison, the United boss took exception to the question in a spiky interview.
‘What do you expect to happen over the next few weeks? You’ve been asked time and again about your future? I know you have said that you walking away was the best for the club, you’d probably do it,’ Davison asked Carrick.
‘It’s not going to happen, no,’ Carrick replied.
Michael Carrick was involved in a spiky interview with Sky Sports about his Man United future
Patrick Dorgu (centre) scored a late equaliser as troubled Man United drew 4-4 vs Aston Villa
Despite Sunday’s draw, Carrick’s position as United head coach looks increasingly doubtful
With United chiefs Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox in the stands, Davison pushed further asking: ‘What do you expect to happen? Clearly there’s going to be conversation?’
This prompted Carrick to quizzically state: ‘Is there?’ as the pair engaged in a back-and-forth on the subject.
Eventually Carrick replied: ‘You know the situation, we haven’t won enough games. But I expect to move forward with things we’ve been working on, showing a lot of the good from today tighten up a few mistakes and win some football matches.’
United’s start of one win in 10 games is still their worst since Alex Ferguson replaced Ron Atkinson 40 years ago this week. They conceded twice at the start of each half against Villa, and have now let in 30 goals in all competitions – the joint highest in Europe’s top five leagues.
‘We’re making it hard for ourselves. Mistakes that the boys know shouldn’t happen,’ added Carrick. ‘Two goals again put us on the back foot. We beat ourselves a little bit with the goals that we’re giving away in tight clusters. It’s hard enough anyway, but we’re making it a lot more difficult than it should be.
‘I thought we were the better team. We never gave up and never stopped believing. I’m disappointed that we still haven’t won the game, to be truthful.’
The United fans kept behind Carrick and his team while once again targeting the club’s owners, chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox.
However, there were loud cheers when Diogo Dalot was replaced in the 66th minute. It was reminiscent of the treatment of Joshua Zirkzee by the home supporters when he was substituted against Newcastle in December 2024, and the Dutchman made a point of giving Dalot a reassuring hug in the dugout.
‘We’ve got to be careful with that,’ said Carrick. ‘I understand the frustration and the disappointment of the supporters, so I get it. We’re all frustrated, we’re all disappointed, and the players are as much as anyone, I guarantee you that.
‘Diogo gives absolutely everything. He’s played in different positions, he’s played left-back, he’s played really well at times.
‘He gave a penalty away today, he knows that. Maybe he can do a little bit better. He’s made a mistake, but he cares an awful lot and he’s giving everything.’
Dalot’s replacement Patrick Dorgu led the fightback, five days after United had recovered from two goals down to beat Roma 3-2, as he crossed for Zirkzee to pull a goal back and then headed the equaliser in the 96th minute.
‘I don’t feel happy,’ said Dorgu. ‘We are in a bad situation and we need to fight together to get out of it. A draw is better than a loss, but everyone needs to look at themselves and ask if they are doing enough. We need to fight for the manager, for the club and get out of this together.
‘Of course, it hurts (to be in relegation zone). There are a lot of games and we need everyone to come back sharp from international break and start getting wins.’
Teammate Matheus Cunha added: ‘We are so disappointed. Before anything else we need to look inside to us – the players, the staff. It’s a huge club and to feel something like this (being in the relegation zone) is not normal.’
It’s not the first time Carrick has engaged in an interesting post-match interview this season. In August, he snapped at a reporter’s ‘ridiculous’ opening question after Manchester United’s shock defeat at Hull City on the opening day of the season.
Carrick was affronted when asked if his players had lost against the newly promoted club due to a lack of ‘passion’.
United’s Premier League season got off to a nightmare start as goals from Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy – both stemming from set-pieces – put them to the sword in Yorkshire.
Carrick was interviewed afterwards by Viaplay broadcaster Jan Age Fjortoft, the Norwegian who played for Swindon, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Barnsley in the 1990s.
In August, Carrick said it was ‘ridiculous’ to suggest United lacked passion after losing to Hull
He was vexed by the question posed by Viaplay reporter and former play Jan Age Fjortoft
‘Would you accept that there was a lack of passion in the first half?’ asked Fjortoft.
‘Oh come on, that’s ridiculous,’ Carrick hit back.
‘That’s not how you would assess it?’ asked Fjortoft.
Carrick replied: ‘Come on, you played football, you understand, that’s a ridiculous thing to say. Just because you got beat doesn’t mean you don’t care about it.’
Fjortoft said: ‘I’m not saying that you didn’t care about it. If you look at it, they came with passion, that’s what I mean. I understand that you care about it, but would you accept that they took you on that front, so to say?’
‘No, no. Their two goals came from set plays. Other than that, we had opportunities,’ Carrick said. ‘That was where the game was. I don’t think it was passion or anything to do with that. I think it was just their moment that made the difference in the game.’
Fjortoft said: ‘Is it these duels? Is that what you mean? That these two duels were the goals? Because they had chances. There were consequences there from the game that you could see that they would get at you.’
‘It’s a game of football, it’s a Premier League game,’ Carrick replied.
‘It’s their first game at home, and we’ve seen it many times before. You know, I said it before the game because it was always going to be a tough game.
‘And set-plays, yeah, that’s it. We’ve been decent over a period of time at dealing with them, and today we didn’t.
‘We can look into that, we can dissect it. We certainly won’t get carried away with the positives or the negatives. We never do. So I think we can stay calm and understand what we need to get better at.’
After the international break though United face the ultimate litmus test when they travel to bitter rivals Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League on November 22.
