Michael Carrick is expected to remain as Manchester United head of their Champions League clash with Roma despite their latest defeat at the hands of Chelsea.
Carrick’s position is under heavy scrutiny after a dismal start to the season for the Red Devils, which continued with a 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge.
The 45-year-old had been given the chance to turn United’s form around after last week’s 3-0 defeat at home to Bournemouth, and his side improved their first-half performance in west London, with Matheus Cunha having a goal ruled out for offside.
But a fine individual effort from Morgan Rogers gave Chelsea the lead, before Lisandro Martinez’s strange decision to forearm Wesley Fofana in the face at a corner effectively ended United’s hopes. Martinez was sent off for a second foul and Cole Palmer converted the resulting penalty.
United have just seven points to their name from nine games and are just out of the Premier League relegation zone on goal difference, but Carrick will be in the dugout on Tuesday, according to various reports, and his position will be reviewed again during the upcoming international break.
Following Roma’s visit to Old Trafford, United have a tricky final game before the break as they host Aston Villa next Sunday. Defeat for Unai Emery’s men could see United drop into the bottom three.
Asked about his future in the post-match press conference, Carrick said: “I’m just looking forward to getting the boys ready for midweek now.”
Carrick inspired United to a third-place finish as caretaker boss last season after taking over from Ruben Amorim.
Now there is increasing talk that United are in a relegation battle, although Carrick is not paying attention to that.
“We have to keep going and winning games, as simple as that,” he added.
“There are no words that I will explain to you now that will make (being in the relegation zone) any difference, it will not change it.
“We have to go forward and win football games, it’s as simple as that.
“You can look at it like that (negatively) and you can see how far you can go up the league quite quickly if you win football games. So that’s how it has to be approached, for sure.
“I think that was as good as we’ve played in a while in the first half. They looked dangerous, they looked fluid, they looked like a good team and they looked very dangerous.”
“We could, should have scored one or two, maybe three even with the chances and the spaces we created, and then the game got away from us.
“The second half got away from us, which is something we have to deal with, you know.
“Sometimes you have setbacks in games and you have to deal with it better, you know, to be in such a good place in the first half.
“The two halves of football probably couldn’t be further apart in some ways.”