Carragher calls Carrick sacking 'ludicrous' despite United's poor start to the season

Jamie Carragher has described calls to sack Manchester United manager Michael Carrick as “ludicrous”, despite United winning just one of their opening five Premier League matches and sitting 12th in the table after a late equaliser salvaged a point at Fulham before the international break.

Carragher had provoked a sharp reaction from United supporters two weeks ago when a column he wrote for the Telegraph suggested Carrick “would never have been approached by another elite club” based on his CV. The former Liverpool defender was widely criticised for what many fans saw as a dismissive assessment of the manager, who took the job permanently after impressing as interim following Ruben Amorim’s sacking.

Speaking on The Overlap, Carragher moved to clarify his position. “I think it would be ludicrous to get rid of Michael Carrick,” he said. “Maybe this is where people think I’m having a go at him. In my mind I don’t see Michael Carrick as the Man United manager. I feel like he’s in there doing a job for the club to get them through a rocky period and then almost to pass on the baton.”

Carragher was keen to stress that his original column had been misread. “Like always happens, nobody really reads the column, they read the headline and it was seen as though I was having a go at him when it was actually the opposite,” he said.

The pundit pointed to Carrick’s record over a longer stretch as evidence of his value to the club, noting that his interim spell helped United qualify for the Champions League — a result he views as financially critical. “Man United need to be a Champions League club again,” Carragher said. “It’s not about ‘wow we’re going to win the league again’. Calm down.”

His view is that United should allow Carrick to steady the ship for another season, with the aim of securing Champions League football once more, before pursuing a higher-profile appointment in the summer. “I don’t like the idea of changing Michael Carrick now or in the next international break — it just needs to be relaxed,” he added.

United return to action on October 10 against fellow early-season underachievers Tottenham in the Premier League.