Carrick under scrutiny as 10-man United surrender two-goal lead to crash out against Brighton

Michael Carrick’s position at Manchester United is facing growing scrutiny after his side were booed off at Old Trafford on Wednesday, surrendering a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 to Brighton in the Carabao Cup third round.

United had raced into a commanding position inside the opening 10 minutes, but Brighton fought back to eliminate the hosts and compound what has been a deeply troubled start to the season. It is the latest in a string of damaging results for Carrick, who has now overseen just two wins from six matches across all competitions — a Premier League victory over Ipswich Town and a Champions League win against Sabah.

The campaign began with a defeat to Hull on the opening day, and United have since dropped points against Everton despite leading twice, and failed to capitalise on a numerical advantage against Manchester City after Phil Foden was sent off in the 23rd minute of the derby. The Brighton loss, Carrick acknowledged, felt like a new low.

“A couple of smallish things end up accumulating into, let’s be honest, it feels bigger,” Carrick said at his post-match press conference. “I totally take responsibility. We can’t put ourselves in that position after being ahead in the game and the game finishing like it did.”

Carrick was also asked directly whether he saw enough resilience in his squad to respond. “It’s happened so quickly to have the feeling,” he said. “It’s happened quickly tonight in the game, it’s happened over a couple of weeks where there’s a lot of frustration and disappointment around, and we need to flip that and start winning games again.”

United face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday before the September international break — a fixture that is rapidly taking on the feel of a must-win for a manager whose honeymoon period appears to have ended abruptly.