Carabao Cup Exit: Is Carrick nearing the exit at Old Trafford?

Michael Carrick's reign at Manchester United is headed in only one direction. Does the latest loss increase his chances of getting sacke...

Michael Carrick's reign at Manchester United is headed in only one direction. Does the latest loss increase his chances of getting sacked soon? (Photo credit: Sky Sports)

"If Michael Carrick had started the season at United last term, the Red Devils would have rivalled and beaten Arsenal to the league title." - Popular social media take.

The above was one of the most circulated posts on social media at the end of the 2025/2026 season, in which Arsenal rose the highest to claim the Premier League title; you can't blame the people with those thoughts; they based their submission on the evidence before them.

Looking back at the statement and the current state of things at Old Trafford, you must wonder where United would have finished on the log last season had Carrick started the campaign as the head coach.

There's a lot to unpack at Manchester United, and the epic cup loss to Brighton only added to what people already fear. How do you lose at home to the Seagulls when you went up by two goals in the opening ten minutes?

At the weekend, United played three-quarters of the game with a man advantage and still lost. There's an alibi they hoped to ride on, which was the wrongly allowed Erling Haaland goal, but how did they play that badly against ten men at home?

Optimism among Manchester United fans at the start of the season was as high as many thinking they could rival Arsenal for the title. After four games, the Red Devils are already eight points behind the league leaders with only one win in that sequence.

In the opening-day loss to Hull City, last season's ghost crept in. Poor defending, poor sense of responsibility, and profligacy up front. It's obvious again that Bruno Fernandes is the game plan. Get the ball to the Portuguese, and hope he creates magic. How sustainable is that?

The upside of their elimination from the Carabao Cup is that they now have fewer games to worry about, but when they had only 40 games to play last season, how did they fare? They're still in the Champions League, where they will play at least seven more games. Can they cope?

Michael Carrick is now almost neck-and-neck with Roberto De Zerbi on the sack race list. We expect the former United midfielder to get more time, but if results remain poor, United might be shopping for a new manager soon.