Carrick's class can't defy the raft of Man Utd problems that will end his tenure

If there was one bigger certainty than Manchester United’s clueless executives pinning the blame on Michael Carrick, it was that they would do it without a hint of class.

And by executives, we are not just talking the wildly over-promoted Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox. We are talking Sir Jim Ratcliffe. We are talking the Glazers.

And we are not just talking about allowing Carrick to drive into training at 7.15 in the morning when the entire professional football community knows he is about to be dismissed. In fact, that says more about Carrick’s professionalism than it does about their lamentable management skills.

No, contrary to a lot of opinion, what would be classless is sacking Carrick ten Premier League games into his first full season as United manager.

They might not do it yet. Monaco Jim might reflect on his initial post-takeover assessment that United have had too many managers in recent times and he might give Carrick more time. But the signs are not good.

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There is no escaping the seriousness of United’s Premier League position. From ten games, they have eight points. Continue at that rate and the season’s total will be 30.

It has been pointed out by many that if a manager of, let’s say, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich had won just one of his opening ten league games, there would be no chance of them remaining in the job.

Perhaps not. But that does not mean United cannot act with class. Carrick did a fantastic job when he took charge last season. He over-achieved to a considerable extent. That has been part of his problem this season. Complacency has been a serious issue with post-Sir Alex Ferguson United.

And when one of the owners boasts that United is a club whose commercial power is not greatly dependent on its on-field success, you can understand why.

Some players think they have made it when they land at Old Trafford or when they sign a new contract, regardless of subsequent results. That is what Carrick and his predecessors after Fergie have had to deal with. This does not look like a squad full of players who go away and do extra graft.

Carrick did a fine job of quickly transforming United’s fortunes, taking the side to this season’s Champions League, where his team have won two and lost two of their first-phase matches.

Since taking over in January, Carrick has been in charge for 32 matches across all competitions and has lost nine of them, drawing eight and winning 15. It is not spectacular but it is not utterly shocking.

Carrick knows the overall standard of performances this season has been nowhere near good enough and he has to take responsibility for that. But fortune has certainly not favoured Carrick. They were denied a win at Everton only by a freakish strike in added time and the home defeat to Manchester City was courtesy of a VAR aberration.

There have been seriously worrying defeats, most notably to Bournemouth and Como, but even in the 4-4 draw against Aston Villa, they had more than twice as many attempts on goal as the away side and almost three times as many touches in the opposition box. And the majority of supporters seem to be behind him.

Of course, the current points-per-game ratio cannot go on for that much longer but having earned the permanent gig with just under half a season’s fine work, he deserves a similar amount of time to prove he is a good long-term fit. Almost certainly, he will not get it. But at least he will stay classy.