Michael Carrick, manager of Manchester United, attempted to hold onto the positive signs he witnessed during his side’s 1–1 draw against Fulham, despite the Red Devils’ continued disappointing start to the Premier League season.
Fulham opened the scoring in the 63rd minute through an own goal credited to Lisandro Martínez before Matheus Cunha rescued United from defeat with an 89th-minute equalizer after his strike took a heavy deflection off David Affengruber to beat goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
When questioned about the mounting speculation surrounding his managerial future, Carrick responded: “The noise? No, what bothers me is that we want to get better results.”
The English manager added: “We don’t think things are perfect by any stretch. We need to win football matches.”
Addressing the United support directly, Carrick stated: “The fans were top class again today, and we have to give them something to keep singing about and supporting the team.”
Despite the draw, the United boss expressed satisfaction with key aspects of the performance: “I’m pleased with the energy we showed today. I think we can take a lot of positives.”
Carrick conceded: “I also think we can learn a lot. We can improve on certain things—that’s abundantly clear—but there were good signs.”
United have secured just one victory through their opening five Premier League fixtures, suffering a 2–0 loss to Hull City, securing a 5–2 win over Ipswich Town, drawing 2–2 with Everton, and falling 1–0 to a ten-man Manchester City. Additionally, the club exited the EFL Cup following a 3–2 defeat to Brighton after squandering a two-goal lead.
Amassing just five points, United match their lowest tally through five rounds in Premier League history (equaling the 2014–2015 season) to sit temporarily in 12th place. Nevertheless, there are no definitive indications that the board plans to immediately dismiss Carrick, whose contract runs until 2028, despite media speculation linking Eddie Howe, Julian Nagelsmann, Antonio Conte, Fabian Hürzeler, and Thomas Tuchel as potential successors.
Carrick will utilize the international break to regroup ahead of three consecutive Premier League tests: hosting Tottenham at Old Trafford on October 10, traveling to face Leeds United on October 17, and welcoming Bournemouth to Manchester on October 24—a sequence of matches likely to dictate the trajectory of the season and the manager’s future.
