Man Utd: INEOS give Carrick sack ‘deadline’ as player ‘concerns’ emerge amid Howe decision

Man Utd will give Michael Carrick until the next international break to turn results and performances around, according to reports.

The Red Devils were rescued by Carrick in the second half of last season as the former midfielder led them to a third-placed finish in the Premier League and qualification for the Champions League.

However, a bad start to the new season is currently proving hard to turn around following their latest disappointing result against Fulham.

It was Fulham’s second point of the season and the result means Man Utd have now picked up just five points from a possible 15 in their first five Premier League fixtures.

Man Utd did beat Sabah 4-0, as expected, in the Champions League but they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Brighton last week as they threw away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2.

INEOS were put in a tough situation last term as Carrick’s impressive results made it virtually impossible not to give him the job – but there were some doubts about his long-term suitability.

And now a well-known account on X, made up of ‘five elite reporters’ and over 700k followers, has revealed that Man Utd have given Carrick until the next international break to turn around their fortunes or ‘are prepared to make a change’.

The account posted: ‘Exclusive: Michael Carrick given deadline until the international break. There are growing concerns within the Manchester United squad that Michael Carrick is not the right fit to take this group of players forward. The question is no longer if Carrick leaves, but when.

‘The feeling inside Old Trafford is that Carrick has until the next international break to turn results around. The owners are prepared to make a change if needed. Eddie Howe is very keen to become the new #mufc manager.’

Gary Neville was shocked by what he saw from Man Utd against Fulham with the Red Devils starting XI acting like “mannequins”.

Neville said on Sky Sports: “I’ve never seen a Manchester United team walk as much as that.

“Michael [Carrick] just said there he was happy with the team’s energy – he’s got to stop defending them.

“I get why he’s defending them: he’s loyal; he wants his players to work for him; obviously there’s a long way to go in the season.

“Both teams were the same. I called them mannequins. I’ve never seen a Manchester United team for 15 minutes walk around out of possession as much as that. No alertness, no liveliness, you should be always on your toes.

“Just walking when Fulham were in possession. Fulham had 46 passes in the first couple of minutes of the game. 46 passes Fulham against Manchester United. I don’t know how many over ten pass sequences Fulham had in that match.

“It’s a great time for the international break because there needs to be a rebalance. I wish he could play those attacking players but they’re gonna kill him defensively.

“[Bryan] Mbeumo and [Marcus] Rashford are too wide and too high and they don’t narrow back in. You’ve then got [Youri] Tielemans and [Kobbie] Mainoo in midfield who are a bit one paced so [Carlos] Baleba probably will come in there.

“And then Bruno [Fernandes] floats around and [Matheus] Cunha floats around. So you’ve got these five or six players who are all better with the ball than without the ball.

“It will be great to see them go and score loads of goals and maybe concede one or two and win games. But there’s going to have to be a defensive reset because there are far too many of them walking on the pitch who don’t think they have to do the ugly part of the game.

“Very rarely do I say that a team doesn’t work hard or is lacking in effort because that is the ultimate criticism you can give a group of players, so I’m always very careful about that.

“But that first 15 minutes of that second half, and generally for the first 60 minutes, Manchester United without the ball were an absolute disgrace. Nowhere near good enough without the ball. Nowhere near good enough.”