Michael Carrick's job under scrutiny at Manchester United

Michael Carrick has three defeats in six games and a Carabao Cup exit at Old Trafford to show for the start of his first full season as Manchester United head coach, and by all accounts the club have already begun weighing his position.

United led Brighton 2-0 through Shea Lacey and Mason Mount before folding to a 3-2 defeat on Wednesday, a result that had the Stretford End booing at full-time. It leaves Carrick with one win from four Premier League games and just one clean sheet across all competitions this season, four months after he signed a permanent two-year deal.

Reports in Italy name Antonio Conte as the man top of United's shortlist should a change follow, with Eddie Howe's odds for a swift return to management also cut this week after his exit from Newcastle. Conte has been out of work since leaving Napoli, where he won a Serie A title and a Supercoppa Italiana across two seasons, and has turned down approaches from Al-Ahli and Fenerbahce while waiting, in Fabrizio Romano's words, for "the right project". His appearance at San Siro for Milan's match with Benfica has fed separate speculation about a return to Serie A, with Juventus also mentioned alongside United.

Carrick played down the noise around him after the Brighton defeat.

«No pressure anyway. Either way, that doesn’t bother me one bit. I understand what goes on outside and how the world works, but it genuinely doesn’t bother me,».

United face Fulham on Sunday, a fixture Carrick called "a starting point" for turning results around. Should United move for a manager instead, Conte's reported reluctance to jump at Al-Ahli's money or Fenerbahce's interest suggests any approach would need to convince him the project is right rather than simply be the highest bidder.