With Manchester United on its worst run of results in nearly 40 years, Michael Carrick isn’t looking beyond the upcoming week amid fevered speculation about his future.
Carrick is limping on as United manager amid a nine-game winless streak in all competitions that has featured desperate performances, critical post-match outbursts and audible fan disgruntlement toward the team's underperforming players.
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A two-week international break, starting next Monday, is fast approaching and looks an ideal time for United to make decision on whether Carrick is still the man for the job.
Before then, United plays Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday and Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.
“I don't know what’s going to happen,” said Carrick, sounding very much like someone not in charge of his own destiny.
Whatever happens, Carrick wants to go out with a bang — beginning with the visit of Roma in a fixture that holds sweet memories for him. Back in 2007, when United was one of Europe's top teams and Carrick was bestriding its midfield, he scored twice in a 7-1 rout of the Italian club in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.
No wonder some enthusiasm was heard in his voice ahead of the game at Old Trafford.
“You may think I’m crazy with the results we’ve had and what’s going on,” Carrick said, “but I genuinely really can't wait for the game tomorrow. That is what I’m focused on. I really am.
“Whatever happens is going to happen after that, in whatever direction it goes in. But we want to make it a big night tomorrow night first.”
Carrick said the United locker room “is a good place,” despite the club's longest winless run since 1988 and the fact that the once-feared Red Devils are in 17th place in the Premier League — only out of the relegation zone on goal difference — and 20th in the 36-team Champions League standings.
“The commitment of the players to the club, to me, to each other, I don’t question that at all,” Carrick said. “We need to play better, we can make better decisions, but the commitment is not a thing at all.”
Nowhere is the scrutiny stronger than on Lisandro Martinez, the Argentina defender who blasted club officials in media interviews after last month's Champions League loss at Atletico Madrid and then collected two yellow cards in four minutes in an act of self-destruction that led to United losing 2-0 at Chelsea on Saturday.
Carrick refused to even look at Martinez as the defender walked off the field following his red card. Yet, it doesn't appear he has given up on him just yet.
“I've got no concerns about the commitment at all,” Carrick said of Martinez. “Things happen in football — sometimes you do things, sometimes you make a decision, sometimes you make mistakes, sometimes it goes well for you. The commitment is not an issue for sure.”
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