Shellshocked Michael Carrick implodes in Sky Sports interview as Fabrizio Romano clarifies sack claims

Michael Carrick struggled and stuttered his way through a car crash of a post-match interview, while Fabrizio Romano has clarified suggestions the Manchester United boss could be sacked.

Man Utd fell to their third defeat in six matches across all competitions this term, with Brighton bouncing the Red Devils out of the League Cup at the first opportunity.

United started brightly and quickly took a two-goal lead through goals from Shea Lacey and Mason Mount. Lacey’s superb strike following dazzling footwork in particular caught the eye.

However, familiar frailties at the back reared their ugly heads, with Charalampos Kostoulas, Pascal Gross and then Maxim De Cuyper completing a shock comeback at Old Trafford.

United have thus failed to keep a clean sheet against English opposition this season. Realistically, the only trophy United can now win is the FA Cup.

Speaking to Sky Sports and their reporter, Juliette Ferrington post-match, Carrick said: “The start of the game and the end of the game were completely different. It didn’t feel like the same game and certainly not the same emotions at all.

“We had the game exactly where we wanted it and let it get away from us in a big way. So yeah, that’s the story of the game.”

When asked what he put that down to, a visibly shaken Carrick replied: “A lot of things, there’s a number of things we’ll look at and dissect and… quite a bit of erm, err, where it went wrong. Erm, but we can’t, can’t, we can’t accept that, we can’t accept that, erm, as a group, erm.

“Listen, I take responsibility for it. The performance towards the end of the second half, that’s on me. So erm, we’ll all be better, we all have to get better, we have a big game on Sunday we need to prepare for.

“We’re out of this competition and we have to get back to winning football matches. It doesn’t feel good at the moment, let me tell you it doesn’t feel good at the moment, but we can get back to winning football matches and we’ve got to do a lot of things better.”

Asked if this result makes Sunday’s Premier League game with Fulham even bigger, especially as the extended international break follows, Carrick said: “We want to win, err, and we want to win quickly. It’s as simple as that.

“The next game is Sunday, so that’s, that’s purely all I’m thinking about right now.”

Carrick was then asked to provide insight into what the problems are at Man Utd, but refused to speak about them.

“No, we’ll get better at a number of things,” he stated.

Carrick then praised Lacey who he labelled a “big plus”, though refused to comment on the ongoing situation around 15-year-old JJ Gabriel who has requested to leave United.

Finally, Carrick was asked about the chorus of boos that came at the final whistle and whether he’s hearing it and feeling the pressure.

“Of course, that’s pretty obvious thing to say,” he replied with a shocked look on his face. “Yeah, I totally understand the feelings of the supporters.”

Fabrizio Romano clarifies Michael Carrick sack claims

More questions will be asked as to whether Man Utd made the right call hiring Carrick as the permanent manager following his superb spell as caretaker boss. The parallels with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are there for all to see.

In any case, speaking prior to the Brighton loss, transfer guru, Fabrizio Romano, stressed Carrick retains the full backing from INEOS chiefs.

“Man Utd absolutely remain convinced that the future will be bright under Michael Carrick,” said Romano.

“Manchester United absolutely know that maybe the point about the summer transfer window was to add one more player, a left-back. They tried. It was not possible to proceed with the right options.

“United didn’t want to sign just to say: ‘OK, we signed one.’ They wanted to be convinced about the player they were going to sign, and so that’s why nothing happened.

“But they maintain total faith and confidence in Michael Carrick. They only have four points in four Premier League games, so obviously this is disappointing in terms of results, but Man Utd remain convinced about that.

“Carrick remains absolutely convinced too. What Carrick says in public – ‘We are going to do very well, I am confident, this team is good’ and all the rest – is what he’s saying to the club.

“Carrick remains absolutely convinced that this team can do very well in the next weeks and months, especially after the break. So that’s the feeling of Michael Carrick.”

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