How the Old Trafford crowd saved Michael Carrick’s job

Michael Carrick will stay on as Manchester United head coach. With the football world braced for a sacking, Ineos are preaching patience.

After leading training at Carrington, Michael Carrick will remain in charge for Manchester United’s visit to Chelsea this coming weekend. The decision to stick with Carrick comes amid intense speculation and expectation he would be fired.

The statistical case would support his sacking. United are 16th in the table and have not won a Premier League game since August. The team has earned only seven points from eight games. It is the club’s worst start to the season 1986-87.

Fan response changed the mood

Manchester United were beaten 3-0 at home to Bournemouth at the weekend. Evanilson’s 71st minute goal ended the game as a contest.

But instead of boos and jeers dominating the final 20 minutes, the Manchester United fans who stayed, made their feelings clear.

United’s supporters spent the end of the game cheering Michael Carrick’s name and paying their respect to the head coach. The fans feared it would be Carrick’s last game in charge, and made the decision to serenade him out of respect.

The response made a change to the toxic atmosphere you would expect from yet another defeat. It was quite emotional to see.

This is the flip side for Ineos to appointing a club legend. The fans will never truly turn on Carrick, there is just too much respect there.

At the end of the game as Carrick walked slowly towards the tunnel, he was cheered and applauded, before the boos were directed towards the players. This showed exactly which side the fans are on.

shamanth.jayaram 5h Really surprised by this. The reaction from the fans at the end of the last game has probably saved him. Has to beat Chelsea to stay in the job, though 1 Reply Report

Ineos experiencing backlash

The Manchester United fan anger has been directed towards the players, and it has been directed towards Ineos themselves.

The support for Carrick in the crowd was a shot at Ineos. The prevailing feeling among fans is that the board let him down in the transfer market this summer.

Ineos are now facing a dilemma. The attention is on them, so do they accelerate further fan anger by sacking popular head coach Carrick, just eight Premier League games into the season?

Back in May, Ineos put their faith in Carrick by appointing him in a permanent role. They do not want to have to sack him so soon. If the fan anger was boiling over towards Carrick, then it would be the easy decision – but it’s not.

Ineos have instead decided to stick by Carrick, for now, and give him another chance to try and redeem himself away at Chelsea. Most supporters had assumed that the game at home to Bournemouth was his last chance.

Despite the futile pleas of United fans for Ineos to sack themselves, the board can at least try to generate some goodwill by keeping Carrick on and giving him another chance – even if it is a decision that lacks decisiveness and any real strategy.

stevesharkey49 5h You can go on sacking coaches they are not managers. Thy don’t seem to have any say on signings. They ask for certain players but get poor substitutes. Amorim has stated they did not sign the players he wanted. We know MC wanted two different midfielders but got second best. We all know we needed defenders and cover up front. Remove the owners ASAP. 2 Reply Report

Tactical and confidence issues still remain

Despite the show of faith in Michael Carrick, it is completely understandable to have reservations whether this will actually work.

Carrick still has the same limited squad to choose from – as would his successor. If Benjamin Sesko and Luke Shaw remain injured, he will enter the game, again, without a striker and left-back. These are issues that Ineos created with their poor transfer business.

One key problem running through the United squad is a lack of confidence. United’s players are making basic mistakes, playing themselves into trouble with short passes around the box, and not marking opponents adequately.

United’s tactics have been uninspired. In every game this season it has felt like United have been outplayed and out-thought. New signing Youri Tielemans does not seem to fit in, while Bruno Fernandes has been shunted all over the place, including recently to the bench.

Short window to spark turnaround

Michael Carrick needs a result this weekend when Manchester United visit Chelsea, who are reeling from their own recent loss to Tottenham. It could be an opportune time to play Xabi Alonso’s side.

Tough games follow against Roma and then Aston Villa. It is a very short window for a turnaround. The spectre of possible replacement Unai Emery in the dugout could loom large; if he would even consider the United job. And if Michael Carrick can even get that far.

An international break will follow, providing an opportune time to change coach. Manchester United supporters saved Carrick this time – but he cannot be saved if his players continue to under-deliver.