Man Utd crisis deepens as Carrick faces axe

Winless in eight games and hovering just above the Premier League relegation zone, struggling Manchester United are facing the prospect of yet another managerial change, with Michael Carrick likely to pay the price. The former United midfielder was warmly applauded by fans as he made his way down the tunnel after his team’s chastening 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday. Moments later a chorus of boos erupted as the players left the pitch — with fans clear in their minds where the blame lies for United’s current malaise.

Carrick was handed a two-year deal in May after inspiring an impressive revival following the team’s struggles under Ruben Amorim — United secured third place in the Premier League and a return to the Champions League. But a drastic decline this season is an all-too-familiar story for United supporters, who last witnessed a Premier League title triumph 13 years ago under Alex Ferguson. An emotional Carrick denied his lap of the pitch at full-time on Sunday was a goodbye as he struggles to come to terms with his team’s precipitous decline.

“I definitely knew that we hadn’t cracked it and there was a lot of work to be done, but that doesn’t mean to say that it should have gone this way,” he said. Carrick, 45, is clinging on but his position appears increasingly precarious, with former Newcastle boss Eddie Howe and ex-Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann apparently in the frame for the job. The United boss, who won multiple titles in the club’s golden era under Ferguson, was the seventh permanent appointment since the Scot retired.

David Moyes was proven in the Premier League, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho had stellar records and Erik ten Hag and Amorim were seen as rising stars of coaching. – Sentimental choice – Carrick is in the same category as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was in charge for three years from 2018 — a sentimental choice as a former player who played a major role in the club’s glory years under Ferguson. “The Manchester United fans are singing the Michael Carrick song because I think they know what’s going to happen here.

He’s one of their own and he’s popular,” former United captain Gary Neville told Sky Sports. “But the owners, the sporting department and the players are not popular and they’ve badly let this football club down.” The problems at the club, as Neville points out, go far bey… Manchester – Winless in eight games and hovering just above the Premier League relegation zone, struggling Manchester United are facing the prospect of yet another managerial change, with Michael Carrick likely to pay the price.