Michael Carrick told he’ll be sacked by January as Gary Neville slams ‘worst ever’ Manchester United

Michael Carrick’s days as Manchester United manager are numbered, talkSPORT’s Perry Groves said following a 1-1 draw with Fulham.

Matheus Cunha’s deflected strike in the 89th minute ensured the Red Devils left Craven Cottage with a point after Lisandro Martinez’s comical own goal put the hosts in front.

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The result means United have won just once from their opening five league matches and, perhaps more worryingly, are still yet to keep a clean sheet.

Groves, who was at Craven Cottage on commentary for talkSPORT, was especially critical of United’s urgency, or lack of, throughout the contest.

“I’m looking at this and I said Man United are a half-and-half team,” Groves said.

“When they close down, they do it half-heartedly. When they drop deep, they don’t close the ball down when it’s in their own final third.

“I can’t see Michael Carrick lasting half the season.”

What did Perry Groves say about Manchester United’s display against Fulham?

Groves added that the draw, which helped United to their fifth point of the season, was ‘papering over the cracks’.

“They had a bit of urgency when they were 1-0 down, but it’s a different scenario,” Groves continued.

“When you’re one or 2-0 down, it’s easier because the opposition sits deeper, so you then think you’ll take chances.

“They should be doing that before they go 1-0 down in the 63rd minute.”

Fulham could, and perhaps should, have been ahead by more when Martinez inadvertently poked the ball into his own net after Senne Lammens parried Calvin Bassey’s effort.

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Unfortunately for the Cottagers, summer signing Gonzalo Garcia seemed to have left his scoring boots elsewhere as he spurned a number of good chances.

But the fact Garcia enjoyed a number of promising opportunities against United had Groves believing rival players now circle matches against the Red Devils in their calendar, such is the number of high-quality chances they tend to give up.

Manchester United ‘got away with it’ against Fulham

“From a player’s point of view, I think they’re nice to play against,” Groves said.

“I don’t think they really test you. We’ve seen it in the first half where Fulham played through them fairly easily. There was a period of 20 minutes in that first half where every time Fulham went forward, they looked like they were going to score.

“If Gonzalo Garcia had his boots on the right feet in the first half, this could have been a lot worse.

“I just think Manchester United have got away with it.”

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Neville: ‘The worst 15 minutes from Man United ever’

Man United’s performance in the first part of the second half had club legend Gary Neville seething as he was left astounded by the team’s lack of work-ethic.

Neville said on commentary for Sky Sports: “I’ve watched Man United since the age of 5 and that’s the worst 15 minutes I’ve ever seen them pla.”

Neville added after the game: “Both teams were the same. I called them mannequins. They were 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.

“Always shifting up two or three yards. They were just walking when Fulham were in possession. Fulham had 46 passes in the first couple of minutes to get their first shot.

“46 chances – Fulham against Man Utd. I don’t know how many over-ten-pass sequences Fulham had in that game, but the international break has come at a great time. There needs to be a rebalance.”

Neville continued: “I’ve never seen a Man Utd team walk out of possession as much as that. Michael has just said there was nothing wrong with the team’s energy.

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“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.”

For Carrick, the international break may have arrived at an opportune time given the stark contrast in results from when he first took over to now.

The brutal stats exposing Manchester United’s downturn under Michael Carrick

In Carrick’s 17 league games at the helm last term, United averaged 2.3 points per game.

But that figure has dropped to just one point per game this season, hinting that something is not going according to plan within his set-up.

In another alarming stat, the five points accrued by United under Carrick this term is their joint-fewest from the first five games of a Premier League season.

According to talkSPORT’s chief football correspondent Alex Crook, United’s bleak start is perhaps emblematic of their malaise in recent years.

“There’s just an acceptance of these low standards at Manchester United, that dropping two points away from home at Fulham isn’t a disaster that it maybe once was,” Crook said on commentary.

“I think what Michael Carrick has got to do, and he did it in the second half of last season, is change the whole mindset in that dressing room.”

Carrick now has multiple weeks to re-wire the mentality of his players before they return to action on October 10 at home against Tottenham Hotspur, who sit bottom of the table.