Results a Must for Michael Carrick as Antonio Conte Links Emerge

Antonio Conte has signalled he is ready to return to work with a rather illuminating interview during the international break, and the Italian’s comments are likely to put further pressure on Michael Carrick.

Carrick has done a splendid job with Manchester United to this point. He carried the club back to the Champions League when it looked impossible; however, his first full season in charge has started with a whole host of challenges.

Injuries have prevented the former Middlesbrough coach from ever starting his best XI, but a return of just five points from United’s opening five Premier League games has left the club in 12th.

There was also the small matter of the Carabao Cup collapse, in which United took a commanding 2-0 lead at home to Brighton, but were then played off the park and lost 3-2.

Manchester United have a run of matches in October that could define their campaign.

Carlos Baleba is now fit to play, and United need to start picking up points, or else patience will run rather thin.

The Reds return to action on Saturday with a home game against Spurs, who sit rock bottom of the league. That is simply a must-win match for United.

Then a challenging week comes in the form of away trips to Atletico Madrid and Leeds United, before the month closes with Como away, Bournemouth at home and a potentially scary trip to Stamford Bridge on Halloween.

It’s accepted that a title charge is probably not possible this season, but United need to stay in the Champions League.

The table is still closely bunched enough for United to surge upwards to the top four with some good results, but that won’t be the case if United have a bad October.

Is Antonio Conte Old Trafford Bound?

“If you go to a club where the history speaks for itself, a history made up of trophies, league titles and victories, you can only honour that history in one way: by having the ambition to bring that club back, if it isn’t there today, to fight for those goals”, Conte told The Athletic.

“There are many clubs that have somewhat lost sight of their history. I’d like to go to one of these clubs to dust off that history and make it shine once more.”

That couldn’t be any more of a push for the Manchester United job than if the Italian turned up to Old Trafford on a match day.

It’s clear the Italian has an outstanding CV, but is he what INEOS would want?

Under normal circumstances you would say no. He doesn’t at all fit the coaching model that INEOS have looked to since arriving at Old Trafford.

Conte can be very demanding during the transfer market, and INEOS have worked stringently to their plan during those periods.

However, if Michael Carrick is to fade away without an improvement in results, the pressure is really on United’s technical department.

That would be three strikes against them in such a short period of time: keeping Erik ten Hag on, hiring Ruben Amorim knowing his rigid system and then ultimately having to fire Amorim after a year.

Conte would be a demanding figure at Old Trafford, and would also bring another strict marriage to a wing-back system… but is guidance from an expert exactly what INEOS need?

It remains to be seen if Conte will garner any interest from United, who have been reluctant to consider him at any previous point, but the fact remains that the Italian is an elite, serial winner, and Old Trafford doesn’t have many of them around the place anymore.