Under-Pressure Michael Carrick Shrugs Off Speculation Regarding His Manchester United Future

Manchester United manager Michael Carrick faces mounting pressure ahead of their upcoming Premier League fixture at Fulham, following a difficult start to the campaign. Despite securing a permanent position after a successful temporary spell last season that yielded a third-place finish and Champions League qualification, United have managed only four points from their first four league matches. Their struggles were compounded by a 3-2 League Cup defeat to Brighton in midweek after relinquishing a two-goal advantage at Old Trafford for the first time in half a century.

“In terms of the future and ownership and how long I’ve got, it’s totally nothing. Thinking about it is ridiculous in the position I’m in. It’s ⁠just not on the radar. We’ve got to ⁠perform and we’ve got a lot of games to plan for,” Carrick stated ahead of the team's visit to Fulham on Sunday. He added that successful teams inevitably encounter challenging phases that require hard work and improvement.

Reflecting on recent misfortune, the former United and England midfielder noted that refereeing decisions had gone against them, including an apology from referees’ chiefs regarding Erling Haaland’s winning goal for Manchester City, where a VAR review missed an offside against Enzo Fernandez. Carrick also pointed to a late long-range strike by Everton defender Ainsley Maitland-Niles that denied his side victory the previous Sunday.

“It is a week or two, the games haven’t gone our way,” Carrick said. “It’s tiny margins in some of those games. We will work through it. Winning games is always the answer, it can cover up a lot of things at times as well.”

Looking ahead to the match at Craven Cottage, United could welcome Luke Shaw back from injury, while Carlos Baleba is in contention to make his debut following his 70 million pound ($94m) transfer from Brighton.