'They don't believe in the manager!' - Michael Carrick under growing pressure as Man Utd legend Ashley Cole delivers damning verdict after Chelsea loss
· Yahoo Sports
Manchester United legend Ashley Cole has raised serious concerns regarding Michael Carrick's future at Old Trafford, suggesting the squad has lost faith in their manager. The Red Devils' dismal form continued on Saturday as they suffered a demoralising 2-0 home defeat to Chelsea, extending their winless streak to nine matches.
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Crisis deepens at Old Trafford
Manchester United’s season reached a new low on Saturday as a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea left the club languishing just a single point above the Premier League relegation zone. The result marks a devastating nine-game winless run in all competitions - the club's poorest sequence of results since 1988.
Carrick, who only narrowly survived an emergency board meeting earlier in the week, now faces intense scrutiny as his position looks increasingly untenable despite his insistence that he expects to lead the team in their upcoming Champions League fixture against Roma.
Cole's scathing assessment of the squad
"I really really don't know but I say that in the politest way," Cole said when asked who could potentially step in to replace the under-fire Carrick. "There are ways to change the dynamic of this team. You talk about the players not believing in the manager at the moment. Well, you need to find someone who the players will believe in. But the manager has to really demand more from the players. And I keep going back to it, it drives me nuts: more personality! More personality to have the ball more, to control games."
Cole’s analysis highlighted a perceived lack of technical bravery and character among the United stars compared to their opponents. "Chelsea are a young team, but they have the ball, the made Manchester United come out into positions where they don't want to be! Manchester United don't seem to play with that confidence, so I think it's going to have to be a [new] manager and some personnel that come in in January that can work in a similar way to the top teams," he told beIN SPORTS.
A lost aura and recruitment failures
Reflecting on why Carrick remained in the dugout for the Chelsea clash despite last week's 3-0 loss to Bournemouth, Cole admitted his surprise at the board's patience. "I'm a little bit shocked, because by his reaction to the fans he must have felt something boiling behind the scenes," Cole noted.
"But on the other side of that, Carrick is a young manager, he has an aura and a way about him. You saw the impact he had when he came into the job, to take them from where there were to the back end of last season, there were very good performances, you could tell the team were playing for him, they had belief."
Beyond the managerial failings, Cole also pointed to systemic issues within the club's recruitment strategy, particularly the failure to secure a specialist left-back to compete with the injury-prone Luke Shaw. Diogo Dalot was forced to deputise in that position again on Saturday, highlighting a lack of depth that Cole believes has hampered Carrick's tactical plans.