Carrick under pressure as Manchester United host Bournemouth

Michael Carrick goes into Manchester United’s Premier League home game against Bournemouth this Sunday under pressure. With his job described as being in danger, Bruno Fernandes’s questioning of the tactics has also challenged the coach’s authority. Jamie Jackson is considering the options around Carrick, but no decision about his future has been announced.

The immediate test is whether Carrick can respond and show that he is not simply a lame-duck coach. Even if he were later replaced, a response could make things easier for his successor, according to the analysis reported. The pressure comes after a run of seven games without a win before Sunday’s match.

Carrick acknowledged that the recent spell had been difficult and that his team had not been good enough. He also called the performance in Wednesday’s 4-1 Champions League defeat by Como “unacceptable”. “Wednesday was a bad night for a lot of reasons. It hurt me to see us play like that,” he said, again describing the display as unacceptable.

He also responded to criticism of the team’s pressing and work rate. “You’ve got to be careful with just saying ‘not running’,” he said. Carrick argued for a more nuanced view of pressing, saying it is only one part of football and not always a requirement for winning. Running statistics alone, he added, do not explain match outcomes; the approach must also suit the team’s strengths.

The coach said he speaks regularly with the players concerned, while insisting those conversations were not anything different that week. He promised that his side would be different on Sunday and said they needed to return to things that had worked better last season and at certain points this season. Carrick referred to five months of relative success last season, when he said he won 12 of his 17 matches, before acknowledging that the team had not been good enough recently.

He also said his responsibility was to put out a team that supporters could be proud of. In Carrick’s view, Manchester United had lost some of its way, though he was convinced it could be found again. The Bournemouth game comes amid poor results and internal criticism, but the comments reported do not amount to an announcement of a managerial change.