Michael Carrick has been able to shrug off the noise around his Manchester United future for now, but the scrutiny on him is already significant. A difficult start to the 2026/27 season has eroded the stability he brought after returning in January, and the mood around the club can change quickly.

United have often felt only a few poor results away from a crisis, and that tension could intensify if performances do not improve after the break. Tottenham Hotspur visit the Theatre of Dreams on Oct. 10, a fixture that could sharpen the focus even further. There is no clear indication that Carrick is under immediate threat, yet the possibility of another change in the dugout cannot be dismissed if results continue to disappoint.

If INEOS were ever pushed toward that route, there are several names that would come into view.

Eddie Howe remains an obvious point of discussion. He left Newcastle United in the summer after deciding he no longer had the energy to guide them through a rebuild following their exodus. His work there was widely admired, with Newcastle moving away from danger and back into Europe, reaching the Champions League twice and winning the League Cup in 2025. Even so, some will wonder whether he is suited to the unmatched pressure that comes with Old Trafford.

Julian Nagelsmann, once regarded as one of the game’s brightest coaching minds, has seen his reputation cool after mixed spells at Bayern Munich and with the German national team, whose 2026 World Cup ended badly. His link with Christopher Vivell could keep him in the conversation.

Fabian Hürzeler is also drawing attention after Brighton & Hove Albion’s 3–0 win over Arsenal and an encouraging start to his third season in charge. His work and his ideas have made him increasingly prominent.

Unai Emery has shown before how he can manage a rebuild, and at Aston Villa he is again handling a major turnover. The links to United remain limited, though he would require major convincing to leave.

Cesc Fábregas, meanwhile, continues to stand out through the alignment between him and the Como hierarchy, with his rise in management gathering pace.

Manchester United’s draw with Fulham has intensified scrutiny around their approach, with Gary Neville labelling the performance as the “ultimate criticism” a team can face. The former defender said Michael Carrick’s side did not do enough without the ball, following a week that already included elimination from the Carabao Cup at the hands of Brighton & Hove Albion.

Carrick tried to keep the discussion focused on the broader picture, but Neville was blunt in his assessment of United’s movement and intensity. “I’ve never seen a Man Utd team walk out of possession as much as that,” Neville reflected. “Michael has just said there was nothing wrong with the team’s energy. Michael has got to stop defending them.

“I get why he’s defending them; he’s loyal, he wants his players to work for him, and obviously there’s a long way to go in the season.

“Both teams were the same. I called them mannequins. I’ve never seen a United team walk around as much as that. No alertness, no aliveness. No ‘on your toes.’ You should always be on your toes.”

Neville continued: “Very rarely do I say a team doesn’t work hard or is lacking in effort. That’s the ultimate criticism you can give a group of players.

“I’m always very careful to say that, but in those first 15 minutes of that second half, Man Utd and generally for the first 60 minutes, were a genuine disgrace. Nowhere near good enough without the ball.”

Goalscorer Cunha offered a different explanation, pointing to energy rather than effort. “In the beginning of the second half, Fulham put in more energy than us and we cannot accept this,” Cunha said, after United covered six kilometers less than Fulham across the full game.

Limited energy has been an issue for United all season, and the numbers back that up. They rank 20th in time at high intensity, 20th in sprints and 20th in time sprinting, while also sitting 17th for time walking.

Asked if he agreed with Cunha’s view, Carrick was unconvinced. “I don’t, particularly.

“The way we finished the game … it didn’t look like that for me. I was quite happy with the way we finished the game. We kept pushing. I don’t think that’s an issue, no.”

Matheus Cunha rescued a 1-1 draw for Manchester United at Craven Cottage after Lisandro Martínez’s own goal had given Fulham the advantage. It was a result that spared United a defeat, but it did little to calm the criticism that followed a second-half collapse in intensity.

The first half was lively enough without producing a goal, with United showing occasional fluency through quick passing and tidy combinations. After the interval, though, the level dropped sharply. That decline became the major talking point of the afternoon, especially after Gary Neville described the 15 minutes after halftime as the “worst” he’d ever seen his club play since he started watching the Red Devils as a 5-year-old in 1980.

Michael Carrick will take the point, but the performance against one of the Premier League’s early strugglers raised more questions than answers. United looked most dangerous when speed entered their play, yet that rhythm was too infrequent to control the contest for long.

Marcus Rashford’s display summed up the frustration. Having lost some of the momentum that followed his reintegration, the England international wasted several promising openings and never found the conviction United needed. His lack of intensity in front of goal matched the wider drop-off in the team’s attacking cohesion.

There were brighter individual showings. Senne Lammens impressed in the first half despite limited success with Fulham’s goal, while Bruno Fernandes came close to scoring when he struck the post. Kobbie Mainoo also maintained his standards before being withdrawn late on, and Cunha finished with a decisive contribution after earlier involvement in the goal sequence at the other end.

In the end, United left with a draw that felt more like a warning than a recovery.