Manchester United drop into relegation zone as Carrick faces fresh pressure

Manchester United manager Michael Carrick will spend another international break under pressure after his side fell into the Premier League relegation zone despite recovering from 4-0 down to draw 4-4 with Aston Villa.

United are 18th with eight points from 10 matches, one behind Coventry City. Their latest performance was marked by costly lapses at the beginning of both halves, leaving Carrick’s team looking disjointed and without direction for long periods.

Alysson put Villa ahead after two minutes before Nicolas Jackson doubled the visitors’ advantage two minutes later. United responded before half-time, with Bruno Fernandes scoring from the penalty spot and Youri Tielemans equalising shortly before the interval.

However, Villa restored their two-goal lead soon after the restart. John McGinn and Leon Goretzka scored in quick succession to put United in serious trouble.

Joshua Zirkzee reduced the deficit in stoppage time, before Patrick Dorgu headed in an equaliser in the 96th minute to rescue a point.

Dorgu said the late comeback could not disguise the seriousness of United’s position.

“I don’t feel happy,” he said. “We are in a bad situation. We need to fight together to get out of it. Draw better than a loss, but we had the better opportunities.

“Everyone needs to look at themselves and ask if they are doing enough. We need to fight for the manager, for the club and get out of this together … we need everyone to come back sharp from the international break and start getting wins.”

Carrick believed United had done enough to win but said individual mistakes had proved decisive.

“I thought we were the better team for a large part of the game. We’re making it difficult for ourselves with the goals that we’re giving away, and not just giving away one it’s kind of two in succession that put us in such a difficult position,” he told Sky Sports.

“Then [we] came back into the game and had a lot of the game, and then could have won it in the end, so disappointed that we haven’t won again.”

There was visible frustration among the home support, with fans displaying banners demanding a change of ownership. Some players were booed and whistled when they were substituted, although the stadium erupted when United secured the late equaliser.

Carrick said the supporters remained behind the team despite their dissatisfaction.

“They are desperate to get behind us and for us to give them something to go on, they’ve showed that there’s frustration and disappointment at times, I think we all feel that, but they’re right behind the boys,” he said.

“They were [there] right till the end today, and they were after the final whistle as well.”

Asked about his position, Carrick did not directly address his future.

“We haven’t won enough games, but I expect to move forward and keep working on things that we’ve been working on and showing a lot of the good [we showed] in the game today, tighten up on a few mistakes and win football matches,” he said.