Man Utd: Neville tells Carrick when to expect the sack after draw at Leeds
Man Utd legend Gary Neville has revealed when Michael Carrick can expect to face the sack if he doesn’t turn around results after the Red Devils drew 1-1 against Leeds on Sunday.
The Red Devils took the lead on 35 minutes when Youri Tielemans’ brilliant ball into the box waas converted by Bryan Mbeumo to give Carrick’s side an early lead.
But it took just six minutes second-half minutes for Leeds to equalise with Dominic Calvert-Lewin emphatically finishing in the box to earn Daniel Farke’s side a point against arch-rivals Man Utd.
In isolation it wasn’t the worst result for Man Utd, especially with the form Leeds are in, but it is now just seven points from seven matches for Carrick’s men this season.
After finishing third last term, Man Utd are now 13th in the Premier League table and a huge 14 points adrift of leaders Man City.
Neville thinks Carrick is likely to be encouraged by the result and the Man Utd legend insists the performance against Leeds could give the Red Devils a “blueprint” to build on.
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The former Man Utd right-back said on his Sky Sports podcast: “[There’s] a depressed standard and a low expectation right now. But it’ll feel like a stepping stone for Michael Carrick, and it’ll feel like the first step on the ladder in the Premier League.
“They may take some confidence from that, and there might be a blueprint there, maybe we have to bring Matheus Cunha, Marcus Rashford and others off the bench, and we might just have to have a go at being more solid.”
However, Neville warned Carrick that being 13th still in January would be unacceptable and the Man Utd boss would face serious questions over his future.
Neville added: “I would say fourth would be a birdie, fifth would be par, and sixth would be a bogey.
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“But they can’t finish outside the top five because then you’re missing out on the Champions League, and it becomes a vicious circle. You can’t get those players because they want to play in the Champions League, and you can’t get the money from it, and you’ve lost the £60m-£70m, and you’re in the Europa League on Thursday nights.
“Fifth is a must for Michael Carrick to continue to grow and Manchester United continue to grow with investment.
“If they’re 13th in January, he’s got a problem because then you are what you are, whereas I think it’s still early enough, seven points from seven games, to say, ‘OK, still early in the season’; you can’t say that after 15 games.
“It has to change in the next few weeks: Bournemouth is really important, and Chelsea away, and how he manages the games in between that.
“You’ve got to say fifth; you know that anything less than fifth is going to be a disappointment and a drop in standard from the start of the season, where everybody expected them to finish, and at the moment, they’re well short of that because you look at Brighton, Liverpool, Aston Villa – they look like they’re picking up a little bit, it’s difficult.”
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