MANCHESTER: Manchester United manager Michael Carrick is facing another international window filled with uncertainty after his side slipped into the Premier League relegation zone despite a sensational comeback to claim a 4-4 home draw with Aston Villa.
United are 18th on eight points after 10 games, one behind Coventry City, and for long periods of Sunday’s game looked like a disjointed, rudderless side, with collapses in concentration at the start of each half proving costly for Carrick’s men.
Alysson opened the scoring for Villa after two minutes and Nicolas Jackson added a second two minutes later, but United looked to be motoring when Bruno Fernandes pulled one back with a penalty and Youri Tielemans levelled just before the break.
United again conceded twice in quick succession at the start of the second half to goals from John McGinn and Leon Goretzka but Joshua Zirkzee threw them a lifeline in stoppage time and Patrick Dorgu headed the equaliser in the 96th minute.
“I don’t feel happy,” Dorgu said, despite his late heroics. “We are in a bad situation. We need to fight together to get out of it. Draw better than a loss, but we had the better opportunities.
“Everyone needs to look at themselves and ask if they are doing enough. We need to fight for the manager, for the club and get out of this together … we need everyone to come back sharp from the international break and start getting wins.”
After the final whistle, Carrick said he thought his side had done enough to win but individual errors had cost them.
“I thought we were the better team for a large part of the game. We’re making it difficult for ourselves with the goals that we’re giving away, and not just giving away one it’s kind of two in succession that put us in such a difficult position,” he told Sky Sports.
“Then [we] came back into the game and had a lot of the game, and then could have won it in the end, so disappointed that we haven’t won again.”
United fans unfurled banners calling for a change of ownership and booed and whistled some players as they were replaced, but the supporters celebrated with abandon when their side snatched a point at the death.
“They are desperate to get behind us and for us to give them something to go on, they’ve showed that there’s frustration and disappointment at times, I think we all feel that, but they’re right behind the boys,” Carrick said. “They were (there) right till the end today, and they were after the final whistle as well.”
Asked about his own future after another underwhelming display, Carrick remained tight-lipped.
“We haven’t won enough games, but I expect to move forward and keep working on things that we’ve been working on and showing a lot of the good [we showed] in the game today, tighten up on a few mistakes and win matches,” he said.
Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2026
