LONDON – Michael Carrick’s stay of execution as Manchester United boss may not last long after his team imploded in a 2-0 Premier League loss at Chelsea on Oct 31.

The visitors wasted a string of chances to take the lead at Stamford Bridge before Morgan Rogers waltzed through the heart of the United defence to open the scoring on 50 minutes.

Lisandro Martinez then ruined any chance of a revival from Carrick’s men with two quick-fire yellow cards, the second of which also conceded a penalty converted by Cole Palmer.

Winless in nine games, defeat leaves the 20-time English champions just one point above the relegation zone before the late games on Oct 31.

Asked if he felt let down by Martinez, one of his most experienced players, Carrick, who said he did not see the incident that led to the defender’s sending-off, simply shook his head.

On whether there was a confidence issue, he said: “There’s no hiding from the fact that we haven’t won enough games.

“The boys were in a really good place (in the) first half... We didn’t start the second half particularly great, it was a bit scrappy, we didn’t quite get going and they made the first blow and it ended up making the difference.”

Many expected Carrick to be axed following last weekend’s 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth.

The former United midfielder was instead given the chance to turn his side’s fortunes around and will lament a lack of ruthlessness during the first half.

Carrick recalled captain Bruno Fernandes after he was left out last weekend in the wake of criticising his manager’s tactics during a 4-1 thrashing at Como in the Champions League.

Fernandes should have marked his return with the opener when he blazed over from Bryan Mbeumo’s inviting cross.

The roles were reversed when Mbeumo could not stretch to meet Fernandes’ delivery at the back post before twice Amad Diallo was denied by Chelsea’s stand-in goalkeeper Mike Penders.

United did finally get the ball in the net when Matheus Cunha turned in Harry Maguire’s header from a corner, but the Brazilian had strayed just offside.

Carrick could not hide his frustration in a half-time interview to broadcasters and his mood soured further with a disastrous start to the second period.

Rogers credits Carrick for revitalising his career during a spell together at Middlesbrough but dealt a potentially decisive blow to his former boss.

The England international collected the ball inside the centre circle, but was allowed to drive directly towards the United goal before dinking the ball over Senne Lammens.

Martinez also spoke out publicly in recent weeks to criticise United’s lack of spending in the transfer market to bolster Carrick’s squad.

But on this season’s evidence, Martinez is one of those most in need of replacing.

The Argentinian international could not cope with Rogers’ strength moments later as he was penalised for hauling back the Chelsea forward.

From the resulting free-kick, Martinez then needlessly crashed into Wesley Fofana with a raised forearm.

After a video assistant referee (VAR) review, referee Peter Banks awarded a penalty and showed Martinez a second yellow card.

Lammens got hands to Palmer’s spot-kick but still allowed the ball to trickle into the bottom corner.

On a rare start since Xabi Alonso took charge of the Blues, Estevao had a third goal disallowed for offside when he crashed Palmer’s pass into the top corner.

Cries of “sacked in the morning” rained down from the Chelsea fans as their side toyed with United for the final quarter without adding to their lead.

Another big decision awaits the United hierarchy before a massive Champions League clash at home to Roma on Nov 6.

Asked if he expects to be in charge, Carrick said: “Yeah.”

Beaten in two of their three European games so far, United face both the embarrassment and financial shock of an early exit should they fall to another defeat against the Italians at Old Trafford. AFP