Carrick trains with United amid winless run

Michael Carrick was photographed training with Manchester United on Monday, alongside DARREN, as the club goes through a run of nine games without a win. At the Camp Nou, Barcelona lost to PSG and Real Madrid, prompting talk of a “black week”.

An unprecedented crisis

In Italy, Juventus and Napoli are more than ten points behind the Serie A leader. In France, Monaco has only one point from the twelve contested. In 2018, Manchester United was listed as the second most valuable sports entity in the world by Forbes, only behind the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. A Manchester United fan who bet on not cutting his hair until achieving five consecutive wins has gone more than two years without visiting the barber.

The team sits in seventeenth place in the Premier League, level on points with Crystal Palace, who are fighting to avoid relegation. Supporters, fed up with the Glazer family, have voiced their displeasure after being shaken in the Champions League by Como and Atlético and knocked out of the League Cup by Brighton. The players have been booed, and Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martínez have received the harshest criticism. Michael Carrick, former player and former assistant to Mourinho and Solskjaer, returned to Manchester United in January 2026.

Last season, as a manager, Carrick won twelve of the last seventeen Premier League matches, but this campaign has not found the light at the end of the tunnel. Manchester United has not won since its 4‑0 victory over Sabah on September 10. Tonight they must react urgently against Roma to try to escape the nightmare.

Manchester United overturns Roma with a decisive brace

Carrick's legacy

Carrick said: “I’m looking forward to it. Maybe you think I’m crazy because of the results we’ve had and what’s happening, but I’m eager for the match to arrive. Then whatever has to happen will happen.” On 10 April 2007, Roma visited Old Trafford for the first time and Carrick scored his first two Champions League goals, retiring with four in total.

Since his retirement in 2013, Manchester United has gone through managers Moyes, Van Gaal, Mourinho, Solskjaer, Rangnick, Ten Hag, Amorim and Carrick, representing a Scot, two Dutch, two Portuguese, a Norwegian, an Austrian and an Englishman. The Red Devils, Europa League champions in 2017, have not reached a Champions League semi‑final since 2011.

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Carles Ruipérez Tirado, journalist covering sports news for La Vanguardia, specializes in football and cycling. Since 2006 he has covered sports information for the newspaper.