Michael Carrick expects to remain in charge of Manchester United despite the 2-0 defeat at Chelsea confirming the club’s worst winless run for 42 years.
Manchester United imploded in the second half at Stamford Bridge, with Lisandro Martinez sent off after conceding a penalty that allowed Cole Palmer to put the result beyond doubt. The defender had earlier been at fault for Morgan Rogers’ opening goal, capping a disastrous afternoon for United.
Carrick’s side have not won any of their last nine matches across all competitions, their worst such run since September 1984, and could end the weekend in the Premier League’s relegation zone.
But the United head coach, who was widely expected to be sacked after last Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth, is anticipating he will still be in post for Tuesday’s Champions League game against Roma at Old Trafford.
Lisandro Martinez is sent off by referee Peter Bankes
Asked by TNT Sports if he expects to be in charge for that game, Carrick said: “Yeah.”
Pressed further on his future in the post-match news conference, the United head coach said: “I’m just looking forward to getting the boys ready for midweek now.”
United have failed to win any of their first seven away games in all competitions in a season for the first time since 1973-74, when they were last relegated.
Asked if the team is equipped for the mentality shift of being around the bottom three, Carrick said: “You can look at it like that. You can also look at how far you can move up the league quite quickly if you win football matches. That’s the way it has to be approached for sure.”
Morgan Rogers made Man Utd look silly when walking through the defence for his opener
Carrick continues to enjoy the backing of United’s matchgoing fans, who sang his chant as he approached the away end to applaud them at full-time at Stamford Bridge.
The players received a much more positive response from the supporters than after the defeat to Bournemouth, although there was a smattering of boos that were drowned out by the majority.
Asked about those boos, Carrick told TNT Sports: “There is a lot of emotion. We are a great football club but we want to win football matches. The supporters make a lot of effort and pay a lot of money to watch us play.
“You could see today [Saturday] the boys had the game in the right place and things have gone against us in a big way and unravelled quite quickly. There is a lot of emotion right now.”
“The supporters have been absolutely amazing,” Carrick continued in his post-match news conference. “The way they’re not just turning up, it’s the effort, the money they spend for that for sure.
“They’ve been really tested at the moment and they’ve gone through some really big highs over the years and it’s easy to go the other way, but the way they’ve stuck by all of us and supported the team and went through the second half in difficult circumstances, stayed behind, that sums up exactly what they’re all about.
“We’ve got to give them something to really get their teeth into in a good direction.
“I’m not clinging to the first half as a huge positive, but I think that’s the type of feelings and performances that we’ve got to give to them. Massively appreciate them for being what they are and they’re showing everything they are at the moment.”