Michael Carrick Delivers One-Word Assessment of Man Utd Future After Chelsea Loss

When asked if he will still be in charge when Manchester United face off with Roma on Tuesday, under-fire Michael Carrick delivered a simple reply: “Yes.”

The English boss was once again forced to face the music—in this case, swarms of journalists questioning his job security—following United’s 2–0 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday. The Red Devils are now winless in their last nine matches across all competitions, their worst run of form in 38 years.

With each new defeat, Carrick’s future in the dugout becomes more uncertain. It doesn’t matter that his men outplayed Chelsea in the first half, or that they were virtually hopeless once Lisandro Martínez was sent off in the 63rd minute; results reign supreme at United.

Yet Carrick was fairly confident he will still be the man on the touchline when Champions League action rolls around next week. He told TNT Sports he expects to still be United’s manager for the all-important clash with Roma, and later reiterated: “I’m just looking forward to getting the boys ready for midweek now.”

It will be an interesting few days to see if Carrick’s confidence is well-placed or just a pipe dream.

Poor Luck Doesn’t Erase United’s Shortcomings

Lisandro Martínez (left) received his marching orders in the second half against Chelsea. | Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Much like last weekend following the club’s defeat to Bournemouth, Carrick received applause and support from the United faithful after the final whistle at Stamford Bridge. The players, though, were serenaded with boos from the traveling fans.

“There is a lot of emotion,” Carrick said. “We’re a great football club, and we want to win football matches. The supporters come, make a lot of effort, pay a lot of money to watch us play. You can see from today the boys had the game in the right place and things have gone against us.

“Things have gone against us and gone against us in a big way. Unraveled quickly. There’s a lot of emotion right now. We have got to move forward and take the things that worked for us today. A lot of the good things, especially in the first half and use that moving forward.”

Carrick isn’t wrong when saying things have gone against United during their winless spell. An incorrectly given goal from Enzo Fernández condemned the Red Devils to defeat in the Manchester derby. Leny Yoro left the team with 10 men in its 2–0 defeat to Atlético Madrid. This time, it was Martínez ruining what had been a largely positive performance against Chelsea.

Bruno Fernandes — Nothing is going right at Manchester United. | James Gill/Danehouse/Getty Images

Injuries have also left Carrick without many of his starters, like Kobbie Mainoo, Benjamin Šeško, Luke Shaw and Patrick Dorgu, for long stretches.

But there are hardly any excuses for United’s disastrous collapse to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup third round, or their horrendous defeats to Como and Bournemouth. The club’s midfield rebuild looks largely like a failure, and its defense needed improving about three seasons ago.

There’s blame to be shared among the players, United sporting director Jason Wilcox and Carrick, but only the latter is in danger of losing his job.

Carrick’s Final Chances to Save His Job

It remains to be seen whether Michael Carrick can survive this poor spell from United. | Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Should Carrick remain in charge until at least the November international break, he has two more chances to win back the favor of United’s hierarchy. First up is the team’s Champions League clash with Roma on Tuesday.

The Italian outfit has only lost one match this season across all competitions, a 4–3 defeat to Real Madrid it undoubtedly should have won. Roma also have only been held blank once in 2026–27, a daunting statistic for a leaky United defense.

If Carrick survives the midweek match, he then will lead the Red Devils against Aston Villa. Unai Emery’s men were shaky at the start of the season, but have since found their form, winning seven of their last eight matches across all competitions.

Poor results in either—or both—of the matches will likely cost Carrick his job. Potential replacements Eddie Howe or Julian Nagelsmann are waiting in the wings, but it will take more than just a new face on the touchline to get this United team back to the club’s long-forgotten standards.

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