Nine matches without a win leaves little room for the idea that this is a short-lived dip. The Chelsea defeat has sharpened the pressure, while the possibility of a relegation-zone finish makes the league position an immediate concern rather than a distant one.
Carrick dismissed talk of a survival battle after the loss, the report says. Yet the table risk and the run of results point to the same urgent task: United need a win to change the direction of the story. Staying in charge for Roma would give Carrick the chance to respond, but it does not remove the pressure around the team.
The match against Roma now carries weight beyond the fixture itself. A victory would end the nine-game winless sequence and give Carrick a concrete result to build on. Another failure to win would extend the run and leave United’s league position under even greater scrutiny.
For now, Carrick’s reported expectation of leading the side offers no guarantee of what follows. The Roma match is the next clear test: whether United can turn a run of nine without a win into a result, or whether concern over the manager and the table deepens.