Manchester United have once again reached a familiar crossroads in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, moving on from a manager who once appeared to be the answer.

No side collected more Premier League points after Carrick took over as interim boss last season, a spell that carried United to third place and persuaded INEOS to hand him the job permanently. There was also an understanding that 2026/27 would be harder, with more matches and greater expectation, but few could have anticipated how badly the campaign would unravel.

Just two and a half months into the season, United’s form has become hard to defend, with relegation talk no longer sounding entirely far-fetched. Supporters have made their view clear: the anger is directed less at Carrick than at the players and those above him.

After the 3-0 loss to Bournemouth last month, the squad walked off to a chorus of boos once Carrick had disappeared down the tunnel. The team assembled by Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox has not delivered, and both men now face the task of choosing the next manager. Mauricio Pochettino looks the likeliest candidate.

Injuries have also played a part, particularly Benjamin Šeško’s early-season problems. He managed only 206 minutes in all competitions before Carrick was dismissed, forcing the manager to improvise with Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo in central positions. Joshua Zirkzee, despite Carrick saying in September that he “believes” in him, was largely overlooked.

“I’m telling you, Josh can do some really top things. I’ve seen it myself, and I’m looking forward to him doing that a little bit more,” he said.

Zirkzee has not started a league game this season and has mostly been used in brief appearances, though he did score at Como and helped spark the late comeback against Aston Villa on Sunday.

Marcus Rashford also benefited from Carrick’s arrival. Barcelona declined to keep him permanently, allowing him back into the fold, and he was restored after being frozen out by Amorim. Yet his season has brought no goal contribution, and injury followed after he lost his starting place.

Kobbie Mainoo is another who gained from Carrick’s return. Reintroduced to the side, he earned a new contract in April and a place in Thomas Tuchel’s England World Cup squad. United then tried to prepare for Casemiro’s exit with the arrivals of Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba, but the broader picture still points back to the same issue: the manager has paid the price for failings elsewhere.

Manchester United have dismissed Michael Carrick, ending a stay that never settled into anything resembling control. The club said the decision was taken after concluding that “the club has come to the extremely difficult conclusion that a change is necessary in order to achieve our ambitions.”

Carrick had been handed three more matches in a last attempt to justify the two-year deal awarded in the summer. What followed only reinforced the sense of drift. United lost, won and drew across three wildly different games, each one adding to the disorder around the team rather than easing it.

There was promise before collapse against Chelsea, a recovery from a dreadful first half to beat a Roma side that then went further in the second period, and then 98 chaotic minutes against Aston Villa on Sunday. Across all three, Carrick’s influence appeared minimal. Lisandro Martínez’s head loss, favourable penalty calls and Zion Suzuki’s weaknesses in the air loomed larger than the manager charged with restoring order.

United are now expected to move towards U.S. men’s national team manager Mauricio Pochettino, with formal steps already underway to appoint the Argentine.

Carrick had been brought in to steady the club after Ruben Amorim’s departure in January, much as United once turned to Ole Gunnar Solskjær after José Mourinho. His strongest spell came in the second half of last season, when a return to 4-2-3-1, players in preferred positions and a smaller set of regular starters helped stabilise performances. The calmer tone around him also contrasted sharply with Amorim’s approach. As Carrick said of the word “philosophy”: “I hate that word.”

Yet the effect faded over the summer. Bruno Fernandes summed up the initial idea by saying, “Michael came in with the right ideas of giving the players responsibility, but also some freedom to take the responsibility on the pitch for the decisions that are needed,” but that freedom soon tightened. Fernandes even pushed back against instructions to “half-press” against Como.

By the end, Carrick had become more observer than architect. Even the fans’ support during the slide into the relegation zone hinted at how little he could alter. Starting Diogo Dalot at left back may have been exposed against Aston Villa, but the wider issue remained the same: if the club do not recruit better, no manager can conjure solutions from nowhere. In the end, Carrick paid for the moment when his magic ran out.

Manchester United have reportedly moved quickly to advance their pursuit of Mauricio Pochettino, with negotiations said to be under way over bringing the current U.S. men’s national team manager back to the Premier League.

Reports on Monday indicated United were preparing to dismiss Michael Carrick after the club dropped into the Premier League relegation zone for the first time in 40 years. Carrick has still been overseeing training during the early part of the international break, but the expectation is that a new timeline is in place and that club director Jason Wilcox and CEO Omar Berrada will make the decision on Thursday.

Pochettino emerged as the leading candidate almost immediately once Carrick’s position came under threat. The main obstacle now appears to be financial, with United needing to activate the buyout clause in Pochettino’s U.S. contract. He signed a fresh four-year deal after the 2026 World Cup, and the reported buyout is valued at $10 million (£7.4 million).

The overall cost could be higher still, with the package potentially rising to around $12 million if Pochettino’s coaching staff are included in the move.

There may, however, be limited resistance from the American side. Reports suggest U.S. Soccer have already started planning for a future without him, while United are said to be “comfortable” with Pochettino staying in charge of the USMNT through the November window.

For United, the sequence is now clear: a managerial change appears close, and the club are working through the final steps needed to bring Pochettino into the role.