Kobbie Mainoo urges Man United to fight for under-fire boss Michael Carrick

Kobbie Mainoo has urged his Manchester United teammates to battle for under-fire manager Michael Carrick when Roma visit Old Trafford on Tuesday night. The midfielder’s call comes with Carrick’s position under intense scrutiny ahead of the Champions League fixture. United go into the game on a nine-match winless run in all competitions, their worst such streak since 1988, with Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Chelsea leaving them above by the Premier League relegation zone only on goal difference. Carrick led United into the Champions League last season during an impressive short-term stint in charge before being handed the permanent job. Mainoo’s own fortunes changed starkly under Carrick, having been marginalised by predecessor Ruben Amorim. “I’m very grateful to the boss for putting the trust in me as soon as he came in, and putting that belief in me,” the England international said. Michael Carrick is under significant pressure (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Wire) “Giving me all the advice that he has, knowing he’s a player who’s been at this club and knows the history of this club and knows what it takes to win, I take those words to heart and I try and apply them every day in in training and in games.” Asked if the players appreciate Carrick’s public support of them, the United talent said: “Yeah, of course, and I feel like our way to repay that is to also be behind the manager on the pitch and off it, and fight for us and fight for us as a team. “In these tough times you can’t expect the fans 100,000 per cent of the time to be happy and cheering when we’re not putting out results. We owe it to them to put the results out there for them to cheer again.” The Roma match is United’s fourth in the Champions League this campaign, with the Red Devils having suffered two defeats in their previous three games. It is followed by a tough Premier League meeting with Aston Villa and the November international break. “Of course it’s been a tough season,” Mainoo said. “We’ve not had the results we’ve wanted, but you know we need to look forward now. “There’s big, big games ahead and I feel like we’re one win away from changing that.”