Michael Carrick Dismisses Crisis Talk Ahead of Fulham Clash
Michael Carrick has no time for crisis talk. Not yet.
The Manchester United manager dismissed the idea that he should be worrying about his job after what he called "two or three" bad results, branding such thinking "ridiculous" as his side prepare to face Fulham on Sunday.
United head to Craven Cottage on the back of a bruising week at Old Trafford. First came a home defeat to Manchester City, who played with 10 men from the 23rd minute yet still left with the points. Then Brighton arrived in the Carabao Cup and did something no visiting side had done there in 50 years – come from two goals down to win.
The reaction from the stands was sharp. Boos at full-time. Chants turned against the team. The mood, as so often at Old Trafford in difficult moments, shifted quickly.
Carrick, though, insists the noise will not knock him off course.
"I know the club, I know the role, I know what's expected here in terms of playing to a certain standard and achieving certain things on the pitch," he said as he faced the media before the Fulham trip. "I get all that.
"In terms of future and ownership and how long I've got in the job, that's totally not in my thinking. It's ridiculous to think that way in the position I'm in, that's just not on the radar.
"It's two or three games. It's two or three games too many because I really hate losing, but that doesn't mean the world caves in. In some minds it does, it can't for us."
Inside the club, there is no sign of panic. Senior figures at United are not viewing Carrick’s position as under threat. Their concern lies more with the level of performance from a squad that surged under him last season, winning 12 of 17 matches in the second half of the campaign.
This season has started with a very different rhythm. Two wins from six games is a thin return: a comeback victory over newly promoted Ipswich and a Champions League success against Azerbaijan champions Sabah FK.
"It's not a catastrophe or a disaster," Carrick said. "It's not the end of the world."
It rarely feels that way around United, though. Every setback is magnified, every flaw dissected. Carrick knows that as well as anyone, having lived it as a player and now as the man in the dugout.
He accepts the scale of the club distorts the picture.
Issues "are frequently amplified," he admitted, making them look bigger than they are. Yet he still relishes the challenge and the weight that comes with it.
"There's great feelings, and there's obviously disappointments, and sometimes the smaller disappointments lead to being a little bit bigger," he said. "It's just part of coping and being at this great football club.
"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, genuinely.
"It's the best place for me to be, in part because of the times when it's maybe not going to plan. Sometimes they are best times to work your way through, to find out a few things and come out an awful lot stronger."
While supporters debate systems, signings and standards, the external scrutiny has zoned in on familiar pressure points. Recruitment, particularly at left-back. The club’s finances and debt. Carrick’s relative inexperience and the lack of top-level coaching miles in his backroom staff, aside from assistant Steve Holland.
Carrick is not interested in spreading the responsibility around.
"It's not a blame game," he said, revealing that Luke Shaw and new signing Carlos Baleba "have a chance" of being fit to face Fulham.
"We all search for things to look at and point at, or whatever reason it may be and find a blame. Blame me. No problem. I will take the responsibility.
"But it's not about blaming people. It's about us, it's about us finding solutions and being better. That's as a whole football club."
The questions will keep coming if results do not turn. Carrick knows that. For now, he is betting on resilience, not resignation, to define his time in the job.
