Manchester United remain in the Premier League relegation zone despite a dramatic late comeback to draw 2-2 at Aston Villa on Sunday, with Patrick Dorgu scoring a 96th-minute equaliser. The result leaves manager Michael Carrick under renewed pressure as the club prepares for a trip to Anfield after the international break.
United trailed by two goals on two separate occasions against Aston Villa, and Joshua Zirkzee had given the side a lifeline just four minutes before Dorgu's leveller. The Red Devils have won only three matches across all competitions this season, and their league record is even worse.
Eight league games without a win
The 5-2 victory against Ipswich Town on August 30 remains United's only top-flight win of the campaign, and they have now gone eight league matches without a victory. Carrick had already been handed one stay of execution this season after a 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth.
In midweek, United came from 2-0 down to beat Roma 3-2 in the Champions League, but the draw at Villa Park may not be enough to save Carrick's job before the trip to Merseyside.
Candidates linked with the job
Among those linked with the role are Eddie Howe, Julian Nagelsmann and Antonio Conte. INEOS could also look towards a shorter-term appointment such as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer until the end of the season, while Kieran McKenna, a former assistant at Old Trafford, has also been touted as a possible candidate.
Carrick has ruled out any prospect of walking away from the job, but that might not stop INEOS from making a change. United legend Gary Neville has labelled the ownership 'clueless' and said he does not have confidence in them to make the right decision.
Neville criticises ownership
Speaking on NBC, Neville remarked: "Michael Carrick did that last season [interim until the end of the season] - so you can paper over the cracks and get a new manager bounce. When the new manager comes in, everybody's happy for a couple of months and all of a sudden, six months later, it happens again.
"You can keep changing the manager and thinking that's going to be the answer. But this has been proven now over eight managers in 12 years, that's not the answer. Michael could leave, Michael might stay, we don't know, the ownership don't have a clue what to do.
"It's rinse and repeat. Amorim, Ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Carrick, Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal, David Moyes, Ralf Rangnick - some of them are world class managers who have had success, there are a lot of promising young managers there, ex players who know the club as well."
Neville added: "None of it has worked because if you recruit badly, if you've got poor performance department, poor recruitment department, you've not got leadership that is strong right through the spine of the football club you will fail. Every organisation in the world will fail if you've not got an aligned leadership from top to bottom - your board and your ownership right the way through to the person who is stood on the pitch trying to play football."
United did record an unlikely win against the then-champions at Anfield last season, but with Liverpool having clicked into gear under Andoni Iraola, the trip to Merseyside looks a daunting task for the Red Devils.
