Alan Shearer claims Michael Carrick ‘clearly doesn’t fancy’ Man Utd star – ‘I’m not convinced’ | OneFootball

Alan Shearer has explained why he has sympathy for Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick, even though he is “under pressure”.

Carrick‘s future appears uncertain because Man Utd have made a poor start to the 2026/27 campaign.

Under Carrick, Man Utd have only picked up five points from their opening five Premier League games, while they have lost to Brighton to exit the Carabao Cup.

The Red Devils have produced disappointing results and performances against Manchester City, Fulham and Hull City, and there are doubts whether Carrick is good enough to turn around their situation after the international break.

Shearer has admitted that Carrick is “under pressure”, but he feels that INEOS “didn’t back” him enough in the summer after they only spent around £150m on a midfield rebuild and did not strengthen other areas.

“Michael Carrick is under pressure, but I guess you know the rules in football if you don’t win, and particularly more so at the bigger clubs, and there’s not many bigger than, if any, than Man United, the noise gets louder. They haven’t had a great start, they have just been average at best,” Shearer told Betfred.

“However, I really do think that they didn’t back Carrick as they should have in the summer.

“When you think about what they have spent and wasted over the years for them to only go in and get what they did after what he achieved last season, I do think they haven’t given him the best possible tools going forward this season.”

“Clearly Michael [Carrick] doesn’t fancy him…”

Shearer also does not think that Carrick is a fan of striker Benjamin Sesko, and he has questioned the quality of Man Utd’s attack.

“They need to turn things around after the international break but I’m not sure they’ve got a lot of options to help them do it,” Shearer added.

“There’s been a lot of talk with United strengthening in forward positions last year, strengthening the midfield this year, and perhaps defensively they haven’t, but I’m not convinced they’ve got enough up top anyway.

“They invested heavily in Sesko, as we know and clearly Michael doesn’t fancy him that much because he’s not starting him.

“Defensively, I think they’ve been really poor. So, there’s plenty to work on for them and I’m not sure that they’re quite ready to get into the top four this season.”

Regardless, Shearer has noted that Man Utd are experiencing Deja Vu at the start of this season.

“The problem is that we’ve seen this sort of script before with Manchester United and hiring interim managers. We’ve seen what happens,” he continued.

“But I do think it’s slightly different in terms of them not giving Carrick the tools from what they should have. I don’t think he was backed as much as he would have liked to have been in the summer after what he achieved last season and getting to them where he did.

“I did expect them to go in more and buy more and they should have really as at the start of this season the proof is in the pudding. I do have a little bit of sympathy for Carrick.

“Having said that, they have to do better, have to play better and they have to get more points.”