Manchester United are set to hold a meeting at Carrington early next week to discuss the future of manager Michael Carrick, following Sunday's remarkable 4-4 draw with Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
According to TEAMtalk, director of football Jason Wilcox will lead the meeting, with deciding Carrick's fate at the top of the agenda. United have assessed potential replacements, including Eddie Howe, Julian Nagelsmann, Antonio Conte and Unai Emery.
Carrick's Position in Limbo
The draw came after United twice came from two goals behind to seal a dramatic point in stoppage time, with substitutes Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu both striking late. The result left Carrick's position in limbo, having initially looked very much on the wall.
United sit 18th in the Premier League table, one point off the bottom, with only eight points and one win from their first 10 matches. That win came at home to newly-promoted Ipswich back in August.
Players and Fans Still Fighting
The players are clearly still fighting for Carrick, having overturned a 2-0 half-time deficit at home to Roma in the Champions League last week to win 3-2 and end a dismal run of nine matches without a victory across all competitions. Fans once again sang his name loudly at the final whistle, with their anger aimed at ownership and those immediately above Carrick.
Carrick was in uncharacteristically spiky mood when answering questions on his future on Sunday night, insisting that he would not resign. When asked by Sky Sports if he expects to have talks over his future, he said: "You know the situation, we haven't won enough games. But I expect to move forward with things we've been working on, showing a lot of the good from today tighten up a few mistakes and win some football matches."
Replacement Odds and Expert Views
In the betting markets, Mauricio Pochettino has stormed into favouritism to replace Carrick, with odds of 5/2. Eddie Howe follows at 3/1, Julian Nagelsmann at 6/1, and Antonio Conte and Didier Deschamps both at 10/1.
The Athletic's David Ornstein said on NBC Sports: "I think the truth here at Old Trafford is that they do want Michael Carrick to succeed. If they wanted to remove him and make a change, I think they would've already done it by now and found an interim solution. Think the truth is, there isn't a firm plan here at Old Trafford for what to do if they were to make a change."
Manchester United legend Gary Neville told NBC Sports: "Michael Carrick did that last 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."
According to reports, United's football operations leadership, chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox hold all the power with regards to Carrick's future. They, along with minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, would be expected to meet at Carrington following the Villa fixture.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Carrick said: "[We're] making it hard for ourselves. Again, I thought a lot of the performances were very good. We made it challenging for ourselves. Mistakes that the boss knows shouldn't happen. We built our way back into the game and played well, we probably should score more than we did today. The goals are coming from individual mistakes. We need to tighten up."
The club now head into the November international break, which might prove the ideal time for a new manager to start before a hectic pre-Christmas fixture list kicks in, starting with a trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.
