Michael Carrick says Manchester United job is not under threat despite poor run

Michael Carrick says it would be “ridiculous” to question his future as Manchester United manager after only a handful of disappointing results.

United travel to Fulham on Sunday seeking a response after a difficult week in which they lost successive matches against Manchester City and Brighton.

Carrick’s team were beaten 1-0 by City in last weekend’s controversial derby, despite Pep Guardiola’s side being reduced to 10 men after 23 minutes. They then surrendered a two-goal advantage against Brighton in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie, eventually losing 3-2 at Old Trafford.

That defeat was United’s first at home after leading by two goals since 1976. It was followed by boos and angry chants from supporters.

Carrick, however, said the possibility of losing his job had not featured in his thinking.

“In terms of the future and ownership and how long I’ve got in the job, that’s totally not in my thinking,” he said.

“It’s ridiculous to think that way in the position I’m in. It’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.”

Carrick won 12 of his 17 matches after taking temporary charge last season, a run which led to him being appointed permanently at Old Trafford.

United have won only two of their six matches in all competitions this term. They also drew 2-2 with Everton after twice allowing their lead to disappear and lost to newly promoted Hull.

The manager accepted that his side’s results had not been good enough, but said the atmosphere around the club had intensified the perception of their difficulties.

“It’s not a catastrophe or a disaster. It’s not the end of the world,” he said.

“We’ve lost a couple of games recently and we feel like we’ve started and we’ve been in all the games that we’ve played.

“We’ve done a lot of good things in them to put ourselves in really good positions. That gets totally lost in some ways in the surrounding feeling, but it doesn’t get lost by us.”

Carrick also rejected the idea that he should display greater emotion after defeats. He said the criticism would not change his approach or affect the way he prepared for the next match.

“We don’t like losing football matches, so it’s not that I don’t feel the emotion of losing football matches,” Carrick said.

“But it doesn’t affect how I think about what we need to do next.”

He remains convinced that setbacks are a necessary part of developing the team and believes United can emerge stronger from their current difficulties.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, genuinely,” he said.

“Sometimes they are the best times to work your way through, to find out a few things and come out an awful lot stronger.”