Michael Carrick's Defiance Amid Manchester United's Struggles

Michael Carrick insists it would be "ridiculous" to start wondering how long he has left as Manchester United manager after what he dismisses as "two or three" bad results.

United head to Fulham on Sunday carrying the weight of a wretched week and the sound of their own supporters turning on them. The mood around Old Trafford has darkened quickly.

A brutal week at Old Trafford

First came the derby. United were beaten at home by Manchester City, who played with 10 men from the 23rd minute yet still left with the points and the bragging rights. The damage to confidence was obvious.

Then Brighton arrived in the Carabao Cup and did something no visiting side had managed in half a century: they came from two goals down to win at Old Trafford. Fifty years of history, gone in a single, dismal night.

The response from the stands was immediate and raw. Boos at the final whistle. Chants against the team. The kind of soundtrack that tells a manager exactly where he stands with a fanbase that has seen enough false dawns.

Carrick’s reaction? Defiance.

He said straight after the Brighton defeat he was "not bothered" by the pressure. Sitting in front of the media before the trip to Craven Cottage, he doubled down.

"I know the club, I know the role, I know what's expected here in terms of playing to a certain standard and achieving certain things on the pitch," he said.

"I get all that.

"In terms of future and ownership and how long I've got in the job, that's totally not in my thinking. It's ridiculous to think that way in the position I'm in, that's just not on the radar.

"It's two or three games. It's two or three games too many because I really hate losing, but that doesn't mean the world caves in. In some minds it does, it can't for us."

Board calm, fans restless

Inside the club, there is no sense from senior figures that Carrick is on the brink. The hierarchy remain more concerned with why so many players are underperforming compared with the surge they produced under him last season.

Across the second half of that campaign, United won 12 of 17 matches with the 45-year-old in charge, a run that helped steady a listing ship and earned him trust upstairs.

This season tells a different story. Two wins from six. One of those came against newly promoted Ipswich, a match in which United had to come from behind. The other arrived in Europe, against Azerbaijan champions Sabah FK in the Champions League.

"It's not a catastrophe or a disaster," Carrick insisted. "It's not the end of the world."

It rarely feels that way at a club of United’s size, where every wobble is dissected, replayed and magnified.

Carrick knows that. He lived it as a player. He accepts that problems at Old Trafford can look bigger than they are once the outside noise starts to swell.

Loving the heat

For all the scrutiny, Carrick made it clear he is exactly where he wants to be.

"There's great feelings, and there's obviously disappointments, and sometimes the smaller disappointments lead to being a little bit bigger," he said. "It's just part of coping and being at this great football club.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, genuinely.

"It's the best place for me to be, in part because of the times when it's maybe not going to plan. Sometimes they are best times to work your way through, to find out a few things and come out an awful lot stronger."

That is the challenge now: to turn a sticky spell into something that hardens the squad rather than breaks it.

Injuries, recruitment and the blame game

Outside the dressing room, the debate has turned to recruitment – or the lack of it. Questions have circled around United’s planning at left-back, their finances and debt, and whether Carrick’s relative inexperience, along with that of his staff beyond assistant Steve Holland, is catching up with them.

Carrick refuses to bite.

"It's not a blame game," he said, while confirming that Luke Shaw and new signing Carlos Baleba "have a chance" of being fit to face Fulham.

"We all search for things to look at and point at, or whatever reason it may be and find a blame. Blame me. No problem. I will take the responsibility.

"But it's not about blaming people. It's about us, it's about us finding solutions and being better. That's as a whole football club."

Fulham away will not decide Carrick’s future. It will not fix United’s problems either. But in a season already crackling with tension, it feels like the kind of afternoon that tells you who is really ready to fight their way through the storm.