Under-pressure Manchester United manager Michael Carrick has insisted he expects to remain in charge, despite his side finding themselves in the relegation zone following a dramatic 4-4 home draw against Aston Villa.
Man Utd scored twice in stoppage time to rescue an unlikely point against Villa, but the draw leaves Carrick’s side third-bottom and a point from safety.
The club’s 18th-place position marks their lowest standing after 10 top-flight games since the 1986/87 season, when they sat bottom of the table.
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FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from the Premier League match between Manchester United and Aston Villa
The draw against Villa extends Manchester United’s winless run in the league to eight games, raising further doubts over Carrick’s position heading into the upcoming two-week November international break.
When questioned on his future by Sky Sports’ Patrick Davison, Carrick engaged in a tense back-and-forth, insisting he would remain in charge.
PD: “What do you expect to happen over the next few weeks? If you thought walking away was the best thing, you’d probably do it.”
MC: “It’s not going to happen, no.”
PD: “What do you expect to happen? Clearly there’s going to be conversation?”
MC: “Is there?”
PD: “You would assume so, right?”
MC: “Would you?”
PD: “What do you think, Michael?”
MC: “You’re telling me what you think, aren’t you?”
PD: “I’m asking you what you think. What do you expect to happen?”
MC: “We understand the situation; we haven’t won enough games. But I expect to move forward and keep working on things we’ve been working on, showing a lot of the good in the game today, tighten up on a few mistakes, and win football matches.”
Neville blasts ownership: ‘They don’t have a clue what to do’ regarding Carrick’s future
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Man Utd fans show their love for Michael Carrick at full-time after the 4-4 draw against Aston Villa
Sky Sports’ Gary Neville on NBC:
“You can keep changing the manager and thinking that’s going to be the answer. But this has been proven now over eight managers in 12 years – that’s not the answer.
“Michael could leave, Michael might stay, we don’t know. The ownership don’t have a clue what to do.
“It’s rinse and repeat. (Ruben) Amorim, (Erik) Ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Carrick, Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal, David Moyes, Ralf Rangnick – some of them are world-class managers who have had success; there are a lot of promising young managers there, ex-players who know the club as well.
“None of it has worked because if you recruit badly, if you’ve got a poor performance department, a poor recruitment department, you’ve not got leadership that is strong right through the spine of the football club, you will fail.
“Every organisation in the world will fail if you’ve not got an aligned leadership from top to bottom – your board and your ownership right the way through to the person who is stood on the pitch trying to play football.
“There are real issues within that football club; you’ve got people doing those jobs who have never done those jobs before in senior positions.”
Keane urges Carrick to ‘get moving’ on improvements
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Ex-Man Utd players Roy Keane and Ashley Young discuss whether top players would still consider joining the club
Sky Sports’ Roy Keane:
“It’s obviously difficult for the manager. Under pressure, no doubt. He talks a lot but doesn’t say much. I don’t know if that’s a tactic. Like a politician.
“He keeps saying we need to tighten up and there’s things we need to work on, but they better get moving on that.
“It’s the worst start in how many years; all these stats aren’t very good. If you keep giving up goals and chances, it’s just going to continue.
“What are we expecting to change over the next few weeks and months? What are they working on? They need to do a lot better than that.”