Michael Carrick’s future at Manchester United has never been more uncertain, with Saturday’s 2–0 defeat to Chelsea extending the team’s winless run to nine games across all competitions.

Not since the 1988—before the Premier League existed—have United ever failed to win nine matches in a row, with Carrick now officially overseeing the team’s worst run in 38 years.

It was, surprisingly, under the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson that United last went nine games without a win. The boss was two years into his reign at the time but found himself desperate for a victory across October and November, only turning things around with a 3–0 win over Charlton Athletic.

Unfortunately for Carrick, his side’s current struggles can hardly be compared to Ferguson’s nadir. The 1988–89 Red Devils only lost two of the matches in question, drawing the remaining seven before returning to winning ways.

As for Carrick’s side, they have lost six of their last nine games across all competitions, only picking up three draws.

Will Man Utd Fire Michael Carrick?

The overwhelming belief after the 3–0 defeat to Bournemouth was that Carrick’s time was up. Crisis talks were held and it was eventually decided that the boss should be given another chance.

While it would be easy to simply react to the scoreline against Chelsea to pile on the Red Devils, the reality is they were the better team for the first 45 minutes, with Carrick clearly bringing a positive response out of his side to start things off.

Whether that will be enough to convince the board to persist with him is an entirely different matter. There is an obvious acceptance that results and performances are not good enough, with club officials already considering potential replacements, such as Eddie Howe or Julian Nagelsmann.

One thing that could work in Carrick’s favor is the fact that he was let down by some of his players at Chelsea. Lisandro Martínez’s foolish decision to lead with his arm as he jumped with Wesley Fofana is clearly not Carrick’s fault, and there were suggestions after the Bournemouth game that some upstairs at Old Trafford recognized the fault of the players in this recent slump.

That will, however, only last for so long. United must now decide whether to persist with Carrick up to the international break, before which the team could extend their winless run up to 11 with difficult fixtures against Roma and Aston Villa.

United’s longest winless run of all time remains 16 games—a miserable record set all the way back in 1930.