Michael Carrick comes out fighting: Under-fire Manchester United boss insists it is 'ridiculous' to question his Old Trafford future amid dismal start to the season

Michael Carrick insisted the Manchester United job is still the right one for him as he hit back at the ‘ridiculous’ speculation over his future at Old Trafford.

The under-fire United boss came out fighting at Carrington on Friday after his team’s poor start to the season continued with back-to-back home defeats against Manchester City and Brighton.

Carrick took the blame for a dismal run of results but argued that United are not in the midst of ‘a catastrophe or disaster’, and that losing half of their six games this season ‘doesn’t mean the world caves in’.

When it was put to him that club owners can be influenced by external pressure and kneejerk reactions, Carrick dismissed any concerns over losing his job.

‘That's irrelevant for me,’ he said. ‘I know the club, I know the role. I understand where we need to be as a football club for the owners, and what they expect. For the supporters, as much as anything, and what they expect. I get all that.

‘But in terms of future and ownership and how long I've got in the job, that's just totally not in my thinking. Not one part of it. Like, how long have I got. It's just ridiculous to think that way in the position that I'm in. That's just not on the radar.

‘We're living in a world of instant reaction, instant judgement, which is fine. It's how it is. But it's not in my world.’

Asked if United still feels like a great club at times of crisis, he added: ‘Yes, 100 per cent. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, genuinely. It's the best place for me to be.

‘You've got to put things in a little bit (of perspective). It's not a catastrophe or a disaster. It's not the end of the world. We're not in a place where we've gone on an awful long run of horrific results, you know?

‘We've lost a couple of games recently and we feel like we've been in all the games that we've played, so it's not like we're having a real struggle all the time.

‘It's the beauty of being here at this football club. There's great times, there's things you can achieve and there's great feelings. And there's obviously the disappointments. Sometimes the smaller disappointments lead to being a little bit bigger. It's just part of coping and being at this great football club.

‘That's why I'm here. It's my responsibility, and I'm fine with that. It's not a blame game. We all search for things to look at and point somebody, or whatever reason it may be, and find a blame.

‘Blame me, no problem. I'll take the responsibility, whatever it is. But, for us, it’s not about blaming people. It's about finding solutions and being better.

‘It's two or three games that we haven't had certain results – and two or three games too many because I really hate losing. But that doesn't mean the world caves in.’

Carrick was on the front foot and it was typical of his approach that he challenged the question when asked if he needs to show more emotion. ‘I need to show more emotion?’ he shot back. ‘In what way? How? What do you want me to show?’

United were booed off the pitch by fans after giving up a two-goal lead in the 3-2 Carabao Cup defeat to Brighton on Wednesday night, but Carrick admitted that he was expecting a dip at some point.

‘It doesn't affect of how I think about what we need to do next,’ he said. ‘It doesn't knock us or put us off track or think about things we don't control.

‘I think we're always learning. When you're trying to build towards something, it's not always going to go to plan. History tells you that any team that's been successful goes through periods when you’ve got to work through it.

‘I was expecting at point at some stage that we'd go through it. It was going to come. We had such a good spell last season and going into this season, there was going to be a time when you don't get everything out of it what you wanted.

‘Winning games is always the answer. It's the answer to a lot of things. It can cover up a lot of things as well sometimes, by winning games and people don't see the whole picture, so it works both ways.’