Man Utd need positive end to week

[Getty Images] Michael Carrick really needs a good end to this week. The extended first international break of the new season means after Manchester United's trip to Fulham on Sunday, there will be a three-week gap to the home match with Tottenham on 10 October. That is a long time for analysis around what has gone wrong for United and Carrick so far. A place in the Carabao Cup fourth round – to be played at the end of October – and a victory at Craven Cottage, would take some of the edge away from the current debate. If results go badly, it will feel as though United are in full blown crisis mode barely a month into a new campaign for the third successive year. Brighton did knock Manchester United out of the FA Cup on their last visit to Old Trafford in January. However, United's 3-0 win at the Amex on the final day was one of the best performances under Carrick, who took charge immediately after the FA Cup tie. Concern persists that summer recruitment was not extensive enough, and it will be interesting to see what changes the United boss makes for Wednesday evening's tie. "It's important for us to win football matches, and it's important that we manage the squad as well, to keep everyone up to speed, keep everyone ready and keep everyone part of it," he said before the match. "But we're certainly going into Wednesday trying to win the game."