‘What’s next? I really don’t know’: Manchester United boss Michael Carrick on the brink

Michael Carrick admitted he did not know what the future holds for him after Manchester United were humiliated at Old Trafford by Bournemouth.

United crashed to a feeble 3-0 defeat with his position already hanging in the balance as their poor start to the season was compounded by Wednesday’s calamitous 4-1 loss at Champions League upstarts Como.

“It’s a tough situation, there’s no hiding from it,” United boss Carrick told Sky Sports after a performance that saw boos ring around Old Trafford. “What it looks like and what’s next? I really don’t know.

“I will always do my best for the football club and I won’t change that now. I love what I do and I feel the responsibility – we’ll have to wait and see.”

United are 16th in the Premier League after eight games and just one point above the relegation zone. They have not kept a clean sheet in the league all season and Carrick chose to bench Bruno Fernandes after the United captain criticised the tactics used in the Como capitulation.

Asked about leaving Fernandes on the bench for the entire match, Carrick said: “There’s always times when you’re trying to make decisions that are to change the course of play and made a difference but those are the decisions we made today.

“It’s a tough day for them [players]. We went into the game being rocked a bit and you could feel that on the pitch. They kept going and they’re disappointed, they’re hurt. The players are feeling it. It’s not a nice feeling when you see the disappointment.

“It is what it is, you have to accept it and that’s the situation we’re in at the moment.”

Carrick, who made 464 appearances for United between 2006 and 2018, conducted a lap of the pitch at full-time with the players and looked emotional.

But he insisted he was not waving goodbye to United fans, saying: “It wasn’t a farewell from me. I’m mixed emotions, I’m feeling it for my players, they’re going through a tough spell.

“Some of it we can help, some of it the situation unravels and the boys are feeling it at the moment. Mixed emotions for the supporters to respond in that way. To have that connection with the supporters it’s mixed emotions, it’ll take a bit of time to digest but I certainly appreciate their support.

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“The situation is where we are and we haven’t had results or performances that have been good enough. It’s difficult for me to have a day like this at this club and feel the emotion – the dynamic of what it was like today. Not for me personally but for Man United.

“I feel a lot of responsibility. I’ve been at the club a long time. It hurts an awful lot to see us going through this at this moment in time.”

Gary Neville, meanwhile, accepted Carrick’s departure from Manchester United was “probably necessary” with the club in an “absolute mess”.

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“It’s going to get ridiculously difficult for Michael Carrick to be Manchester United manager moving forward,” former club captain Neville said in his Sky Sports commentary. “It’s horrible to say that. I played with him, I know him.”

Speaking over pictures of disgruntled fans and also those showing chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox sat in the stand, Neville suggested Carrick’s departure as head coach was imminent.

“The Manchester United fans are singing the Michael Carrick song because I think they know what’s going to happen here. They’ve seen this before,” he said.

“He’s one of their own and he’s popular. But the owners, the sporting department and the players are not popular. They have badly let this football club down and those two [Berrada and Wilcox] are probably going to make a decision that will disgust Manchester United fans, but is probably necessary.

“It’s just an absolute mess. The football club is a mess right now.”