Michael Carrick’s first six matches in charge of Manchester United have produced only two wins, and the manner of the most recent setback has pushed him to the front of the early-season discussion about which Premier League head coach is under the most scrutiny. United led Brighton 2-0 in the cup before collapsing to defeat, a night on which Carrick was outwitted by opposite number Fabian Hürzeler while his players were picked apart on the pitch.
Carrick was asked about the pressure afterwards and answered defiantly. “Under pressure?” he replied. “That doesn’t bother me one bit.” He added: “I understand what goes on and how the world works.” Whatever reassurance those words were meant to carry, the wider picture at Old Trafford is not easily dismissed, and six games is not a long time in which to change it.
Recent years at the club have followed a repeating pattern. Speculation builds around the head coach, the argument turns to whether he can paper over the deeper problems — penny-pinching in the boardroom, poor player recruitment and continuing dissatisfaction among supporters — and a dismissal follows, with the blame falling on anyone but the owners and their advisers. Whether the man in the job is Ole, Erik, Ruben or the current incumbent, the story has tended to end the same way. Six games into the season, there is already a sense that the cycle is turning again, and Carrick cannot be absolved of all responsibility for United’s shortcomings on and off the field.
The backdrop offers him little cover. This weekend’s round of Premier League fixtures is followed by an international break that leaves the news cycle with very little else to work with: in Europe, the fifth edition of the Nations League is about to begin, while in most other parts of the world the schedule contains nothing more exciting than friendlies. With so little on the agenda, the first top-flight head coach judged to be in crisis is the one who fills the space, and on current evidence that is Carrick.
That makes Sunday’s trip to Fulham the fixture that will shape the next fortnight. Anything other than a win there will leave his position, and how long it lasts, as the unavoidable talking point across what promise to be 16 already very long days.