“Not the end of the world”: Former PL star makes bold claim about Carrick’s United future after Newcastle loss

Manchester United fell to a bitterly disappointing 2-1 defeat against Newcastle United at St James’ Park. Chaos at St James’ Park The Red Devils struggled during the first half an hour, but were handed a lifeline when Jacob Ramsey was sent off for a second yellow card. United almost immediately conceded a penalty but equalised on the stroke of half-time through Casemiro. Disappointingly, despite playing the entire second half with a man advantage, the Red Devils did nowhere near enough to threaten the Newcastle United defence and conceded a last-minute stunner from William Osula to somehow lose the match. It was Michael Carrick’s first defeat as Manchester United boss and the club’s first loss since an FA Cup defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion in January. Former Newcastle United and Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given gave his thoughts on the match and Michael Carrick’s future. Backing for Carrick Speaking to TNT Sports after the match, Given summarised Manchester United’s performance by stating, “they lacked a bit of a spark. Bruno wasn’t involved, he was involved a lot more towards the end of the game. Whatever Newcastle did they didn’t allow him to get on the ball and dominate as he has done.” Nonetheless, in spite of the disappointing result and even worse performance, Given still showed immense support for the job Carrick is doing. He added, “what I would say on the Manchester United thing is that they have lost a game of football, it is not the end of the world. I think Michael Carrick has spoken really well after the game. You don’t want a media pile on now that he’s not the right man for the job after one defeat.” The Irish former keeper added that this sort of result can happen in the Premier League and that it is vital that United maintain perspective. He explained, “this is the Premier League. This is St James’ Park. This is a tough place to come at the best of times and Newcastle had a huge response tonight.” Given also stated that United cannot read too much into this one individual game and instructed them “to keep level heads, where they were at when he took over the football club. Sitting third in the Premier League, so it is not all doom and gloom after one result. Michael said he has to lift the team, he has 11 days before the next game. He’s got plenty of time to work on a game plan and keep calm heads and maybe the powers that be as well.” Featured image George Wood via Getty Images