Lineker and Shearer Back Carrick as United Brace for Fallout

Manchester United are wobbling badly, and after that grim 4-1 defeat to Como in the Champions League, the noise around Michael Carrick’s future has only grown louder. It’s the sort of result that gets the rumour mill spinning at full tilt, and you can bet Old Trafford is already doing its contingency planning.

But Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer are both singing from the same hymn sheet: Carrick should stay put. On the latest chat around United’s troubles, both men made it clear they do not see the manager as the root cause of the mess. Lineker even said he hopes Carrick remains in charge, with Shearer quickly agreeing.

Lineker’s view was pretty blunt, really. His argument is that people too often go after the man in the dugout while ignoring everything happening above him. In other words, the manager may be taking the bullets, but the deeper problems at United are coming from elsewhere in the club structure.

Pressure mounting, but Carrick is still set for Bournemouth

That said, this is Manchester United we’re talking about, and when the results are poor, patience does not tend to last very long. Sources have indicated that there is real pressure on Carrick after this underwhelming start, and the club are believed to have other names on their radar just in case they decide to pull the trigger.

For now, though, the word is that Carrick is expected to be in the dugout against Bournemouth. Business as usual, at least on the surface. But anyone who knows football knows what that usually means at United: one more bad result and the whole mood can change in a flash.

The bigger picture is not exactly flattering either. United are sitting 13th in the Premier League, and that is nowhere near good enough for a club of their size. Whether you blame the board, the recruitment, the players, or the manager, the truth is this side is miles off the pace.

And that’s where the debate gets interesting. Carrick is not solely to blame, no doubt about that. But managers are the ones who end up answering for the lot when things go south. He needs a reaction, and he needs one quickly. Last season he got a tune out of this group, but there’s a fair caveat there: United were not juggling Europe and cup football in the same way. Now they are playing twice a week, and the cracks are showing.

That is the harsh reality. The board must do more in the market, but Carrick also has to get a better performance out of the players he has. Both can be true at once. The problem for him is that in football, when a big club starts looking at other managers, the coach is usually the one left holding the can.

If United do not sharpen up fast, Carrick could find himself becoming the fall guy, even if he is not the main source of the club’s problems. That is the brutal nature of the job — and United, right now, are making life very uncomfortable indeed.

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