Michael Carrick has won four of his five matches in charge of Manchester United, but Gary Neville and Roy Keane have been told they are wrong about what should happen next

Gary Neville and Roy Keane have been told they are wrong about Michael Carrick and they must remember that football is unpredictable. Keane last week poured cold water on suggestions that Carrick should be appointed Manchester United’s permanent head coach

The former Republic of Ireland international, who won numerous trophies during his time at Old Trafford, believes Carrick lacks sufficient ‘football knowledge’ to lead his old club to the Premier League title, insisting they must seek a different candidate for the permanent role.

Neville backed Keane’s view and believes that United must ‘get the best’ in their head coach search, with Carrick possibly learning under a proven winner as an assistant, even though the former England international is unbeaten in his first five matches in charge, with the Reds in the Champions League qualification places.

However, former United forward Louis Saha has disagreed with his old team-mates, and he believes the pair have forgotten that football is unpredictable.

“Michael Carrick’s future is a decision for the board and definitely depends on the project,” he told CasinoHawks. “They’ve heard from the manager and others who are interested in the job.

FOLLOW OUR MAN UNITED FACEBOOK PAGE! Latest news and analysis via the MEN’s Manchester United Facebook page

“They know it’s a difficult one. What Carrick has done in the last five games is amazing because he has managed a transition. A lot of players were not fully confident or sure about how they were going to play, and it gelled very quickly. Everyone is on board now. It has changed.

“I think everyone is allowed to have their opinion, and that’s fine. Definitely, Roy and Gary are well placed to have those very strong feelings. I understand them, but I don’t agree.

Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as a Preferred Source in your Google search settings

“I really feel like if someone is doing their best and obviously has to improve, he’s not an experienced manager, but an experienced manager can struggle there too.

“Nobody has any guarantees, so it’s really hard for anybody to predict what’s going to happen. We know that there is a definitely different situation if you qualify for Europe or the Champions League; you have different challenges. It’s going to be a challenge for everyone, and even an experienced manager can struggle there.

“It’s just about having the right communication and the right tactics. We’ve seen that he’s able to learn very quickly. I am backing him up. Definitely, it doesn’t mean that he won’t face any challenges or won’t make any mistakes.

“Any experienced player knows that during a career, there are a lot of situations that you can’t predict. This is football. You may end up with the best tactics and still face a better opponent on the day. And everybody is going to criticise you.

“Very experienced players know that, but they tend to forget when they become pundits. They think that everything is very logical. No, it’s not. Football is very, very, very unpredictable.”

Manchester United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo has the backing of Rio Ferdinand after recent performances have revived his Old Trafford career

Rio Ferdinand has highlighted how Kobbie Mainoo’s performances since getting back into the Manchester United line-up under Michael Carrick disproves a theory Roy Keane aired about the midfielder earlier in the campaign.

Before Carrick had been appointed as United’s interim head coach until the end of the season, Mainoo had not started in the Premier League at all in 2025/26. This has now changed with starts in all four victories since the 44-year-old took the Old Trafford hot seat, and a new contract is on the cards.

Underlining the 20-year-old’s resurgence, he completed 33 of 35 attempted final-third passes during Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, leading the Premier League in this statistic for the weekend.

READ MORE: Man United transfer plan had rival clubs ‘in disbelief’ before Michael Carrick’s interventionREAD MORE: Who is The United Strand and will he get his hair cut if Man United win tonight

This particularly area of Mainoo’s abilities that had once been questioned by previous United manager Ruben Amorim, as had the England international’s work ethic by United legend Keane.

Last October as Mainoo was named on the bench for United’s win over Liverpool at Anfield, Keane told Sky Sports: “It obviously seems to be a problem for Mainoo getting into this team.

“The word coming out is they don’t think he can cover the ground that quickly, but if you look at Man Utd’s other midfielders they’ve got, they’re not great at that either.

“As a young player, he has to suck that up and work hard, and when he gets a chance, he has to take it.

“A young player with good potential cannot be guaranteed a place in United’s team. But it will come down to the player himself. Your job every day, every week, is to make sure the manager puts you in the team.

“If the manager deep down doesn’t fancy him? I don’t know. We will find that out in the next few weeks. Because if he doesn’t fancy him, he might have to move him on.”

FOLLOW OUR MAN UNITED FB PAGE! Latest news and analysis via the MEN’s Manchester United Facebook page

Fast-forward to the present day, and fellow United legend Ferdinand believes the young midfielder’s effort in training should never have been a source of debate.

“We asked the question. ‘Is he working? Is he doing what the manager is asking him? Is he putting physical mileage on the training ground?’ There’s no doubt in my mind that you run the amount that he has; it’s concrete that he was working when he wasn’t in the team,” the former defender said, speaking on his Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.

“The tank is empty at 60 minutes, you are on the floor when you haven’t been playing for a while, and then you start. He must be doing some real work. I tip my hat to Kobbie Mainoo.”

Also wading in on the subject after United’s fourth consecutive Premier League victory was Gary Lineker, who went as far to jest Mainoo should consider taking legal action again his former boss Amorim.

“He’s taken a year out of that kid’s career. This kid is a wonderful footballer,” Lineker told The Rest is Football podcast.

“God, he makes it look so easy. He wants the ball, he receives it with anyone around him and he turns, always makes the right decisions, he’s graceful.

“I mean, come on! He’s been absolutely detrimental to his career.”