Man United Make Major Michael Carrick Decision Despite Worst-Ever Premier League Start

Manchester United have decided not to sack head coach Michael Carrick, even though the club has made its worst-ever start to a Premier League season and now sits in the relegation zone. 

The bosses at Old Trafford plan to use the international break to review the campaign instead of making a rushed change in the dugout.

United have won just one of their first 10 league games and are 18th in the table. That is their lowest position at this stage of a season since 1986-87. Sunday’s wild 4-4 draw with Aston Villa did little to calm things down, even though United twice came back from two goals down to rescue a point.

Carrick and his players got Monday off after that game. The head coach and his backroom staff are due back at Carrington on Tuesday. 

Most of the first-team squad are away with their national teams, so there is no training to run, which gives the decision-makers some breathing space to look at the bigger picture.

Sky Sports understands that there are three main reasons United are slow to move on from their former midfielder. The first is that the fans have not called for him to go. 

That is not a surprise, as Carrick is a club hero who won 11 major trophies at Old Trafford, including five Premier League titles and the Champions League.

The second is that the board does not believe he has lost the dressing room. United’s recent fightbacks have backed that up. 

They came from two goals down to beat Roma 3-2 in the Champions League, and then twice recovered from two-goal deficits to draw 4-4 with Villa. Those games have convinced the club that the players are still fully behind Carrick.

The third is perhaps the most telling. The leadership is not yet sure that a new man in the technical area would fix the problems. If they were, Carrick could already be gone, with out-of-work managers such as Julian Nagelsmann and Eddie Howe understood to be open to talks if a job came up.

United’s next game is a tough one, a trip to Liverpool on November 22. After that, the fixture list looks kinder. Five of their next seven league games are against sides currently in the bottom half of the table, including home games against fellow strugglers Coventry, Nottingham Forest and Sunderland.

The biggest issue for Carrick is at the back. United have conceded 19 league goals, a number only Crystal Palace and Ipswich have beaten. Their only clean sheet this season came in the Champions League against Azerbaijani champions Sabah FK.