The real reason why Man United are desperate to avoid sacking Michael Carrick

If there were times when Manchester United’s 4-4 draw with Aston Villa tested credulity, the outcome has gone beyond that. It is remarkable that the Premier League’s most successful ever club are in the relegation zone, over a quarter of the way into the season, as late as the November international break... and there is still no action regarding the manager’s position. The entire lack of response feels in-keeping with a general passivity that has allowed historically bad results to become normalised. Carrick's future remains uncertain (PA) It should be stressed that making this point is not a push to sack Michael Carrick . It’s just a reflection on a remarkable turn of events. As one experienced football figure with a lot of knowledge of United put it, “it’s just insane”. Not everyone thinks like that. One source at a rival club told the Independent during the game on Sunday that sacking Carrick would not really change much. And that probably touches on a reason why what looks like mere place-holding can endure. The United hierarchy can tell themselves that the first-half performance offers enough to keep Carrick in a job, especially with the way they ultimately rallied to claim a point. It is probably true that his team could have been out of sight at half-time, as could have been the case at Chelsea. All of that was nevertheless surrounded by problems that look endemic, especially how they were so easily opened at the beginning of both halves and just seemed beaten once Villa got a second two-goal lead. Even describing "a second two-goal lead" seems absurd, and the latter comeback still had a freakish nature. It didn’t come from an impressively concerted team pressure in the way that the first comeback occurred. It came out of nothing but at once seemed dependent on Villa’s substantial complex about playing at Old Trafford. And it’s still just a point, that leaves United 19th and without a Premier League win since August. Little wonder the players looked beaten afterwards. Manchester United's players have shown some fight for Michael Carrick (Getty) They’re aware of more fundamental problems, that many will say they themselves represent. To try to address that would also raise a bigger issue for the hierarchy. Not what to do with Carrick but what next. As was said on these pages and in the Inside Football newsletter last week, no one is actually making the decision on the manager, but they also don’t know who to look to. There are caveats and reservations about every potential candidate. The obvious name that Sir Alex Ferguson represented 40 years ago just isn’t there. It’s not even like six or eight years ago, when Mauricio Pochettino seemed set for the job. His name has subsequently been broached again, but there’s obviously a question of whether he is the same manager. No candidate is currently forcing the call. Manchester United fans with a banner in protest against owners Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family (Reuters) The comeback against Villa, consequently, wasn’t just a badly needed reprieve for the team. It was a reprieve for the hierarchy. They are seemingly spared a decision. They can continue to indulge the thinking that this might just correct itself, even if that feels as much of a Hail Mary as Patrick Dorgu’s late push or Senne Lammens somewhat controversially going up for that corner. That is arguably how you turn a situation that is embarrassing into one that has real concerns; where you might not just temporarily find yourself in the relegation zone but actually face a battle. It’s almost to indulge in magical thinking, rather than addressing the core problems at hand. But, of course, if United do have to make a decision on yet another manager, it is at the point now when much more of the focus is on those making the decision. This is at least the fourth time that the Sir Jim Ratcliffe leadership have been in this position, but it’s probably more than that given all of the three coaches they have worked over have had absurdly extended stays of execution. They should have sacked Erik ten Hag in summer 2024 only to prevaricate and end up doing it a mere four months later. Manchester United fans with a banner in protest against owners Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family (Reuters) Ruben Amorim tested their stance for almost as long. And, now, Carrick’s tenure has tested the very standards of the club. There have been so many records and previous nadirs just plummeted through. The team apparently can get worse. And then you have one of the reasons for that, that goes way beyond Carrick: all of him, Ten Hag and Amorim are very different managers. So are pretty much all of the potential candidates. This does not look like best-in-class practice. Instead, this is Manchester United right now. It’s become a club where the previously unthinkable has become a new normal.