‘It’s not going to happen’: Carrick won’t walk away from Man United, as Dorgu tells his team-mates to look at themselves

Michael Carrick has no intention of walking away from Manchester United, even with his side in the relegation zone for the international break and the questions about his future getting louder.

Sunday’s 4-4 draw with Aston Villa was rescued by two goals in stoppage time, but it still left United 18th, a point from safety. That is the club’s lowest position after ten top-flight games since 1986/87, and the draw stretched their league run without a win to eight matches, a club record in the Premier League era.

The late fightback, covered in our Man United 4-4 Aston Villa report, may well have bought Michael Carrick some time. Whether it is enough is now a question for the people above him.

What did Carrick say about his future?

Carrick was pressed on it straight after the game by Sky Sports, and the exchange turned tetchy. Asked whether he would walk away if he thought it was the best thing for the club, he replied: “It’s not going to happen, no.”

When the question came back again, about what he expected to happen next, he said: “We understand the situation; we haven’t won enough games. But I expect to move forward and keep working on things we’ve been working on, showing a lot of the good in the game today, tighten up on a few mistakes and win football matches.”

He would not say whether he expected to be called in by the owners, chief executive Omar Berrada or director of football Jason Wilcox during the break. In his press conference he was calmer, and sounded like a man planning for the trip to Liverpool in two weeks.

“I’m quite clear with what direction the club needs to go in, and it’s got to win games,” he said. “I think there’s more than enough [to turn things around]. Goals change games and you’ve got to deal with it, and it’s part of something we have to improve on drastically, but there’s more than enough. We’re just making it too difficult for ourselves at the moment in certain times.”

The mistakes that keep costing United

Carrick’s frustration was with how the goals went in. “The goals are coming from individual mistakes. We need to tighten up,” he told BBC Match of the Day. “I thought we were the better team. We played some very good football and got back into the game. Two goals again put us on the back foot. In the end, we could have even won it.”

Senne Lammens was blamed for the first two goals, and Diogo Dalot gave away a penalty early in the second half. Dalot was cheered off sarcastically by thousands of fans when he was replaced by Patrick Dorgu.

Dorgu: everyone needs to look at themselves

Patrick Dorgu was back in the squad for the first time since a muscle injury and headed in the 4-4 from a corner in the dying seconds. He was in no mood to celebrate afterwards.

“I don’t feel happy, we are in a bad situation. We need to fight together to get out of it,” the Denmark international told Sky Sports. “Everyone needs to look at themselves and ask if they are doing enough. We need to fight for the manager, for the club and get out of this together.”

He added: “Of course it hurts [to be in relegation zone], there’s a lot of games and we need everyone to come back sharp from international break and start getting wins.”

Is Pochettino the man United want?

If the board do decide to act, a new name has moved to the front of the queue. According to the Evening Standard, USA head coach Mauricio Pochettino is now the favourite to replace Carrick, with Eddie Howe and Julian Nagelsmann also linked with the job.

For now, though, the mood inside the club sounds calmer than the noise outside it. The late comeback appears to have taken the urgency out of any decision. “I’ve been making a few calls tonight and the temperature doesn’t feel like… the way it’s happened at the end [of the Villa game] with two late goals, doesn’t feel like an immediate urgency to make that kind of call again,” Laurie Whitwell of The Athletic told the Talk of the Devils podcast on Sunday night. “I don’t think Michael Carrick is going to lose his job as we speak right now.”

The anger in the stands is no longer aimed only at the dugout. When Villa went two up inside four minutes, around a dozen fans near the directors’ box screamed at Berrada and Wilcox, and green and gold balloons were thrown around the Stretford End again before kick-off. Carrick himself was applauded off at full-time.

Neville and Keane have their say

Gary Neville does not believe another change in the dugout would fix things. “You can keep changing the manager and thinking that’s going to be the answer. But this has been proven now over eight managers in 12 years, that’s not the answer,” he said on NBC. “Michael could leave, Michael might stay, we don’t know. The ownership don’t have a clue what to do.”

Roy Keane was harder on Carrick. “He talks a lot but doesn’t say much. I don’t know if that’s a tactic. Like a politician,” he said on Sky Sports. “He keeps saying we need to tighten up and there’s things we need to work on, but they better get moving on that.”

Carrick’s next two weeks decide everything

Carrick deserves some credit for a squad that keeps fighting back, and Dorgu’s words show the players have not given up on him. But a team that has to come from two down twice at home to get a point is not a team in good shape, and the same individual errors keep coming back.

The worry for United is the timing. If the board are going to make a change, the break is the obvious moment, and waiting until after a trip to Anfield could leave a new man with even more to fix. Carrick says he expects to be in charge for that game, and the early signs from inside the club are that he will be. Our view is that the board have bought themselves two weeks, not an answer.