Liverpool vs Man Utd will take place after the November international break, but while Michael Carrick remains in post for now, it feels impossible to imagine he will be for long

It seemed impossible that Michael Carrick could survive. Jamie Carragher called for him to be fired on Sunday night simply to put him out of his misery, and even Gary Neville had to agree that was the likeliest scenario.

A player revolt led by Lisandro Martinez and Bruno Fernandes was not a good look, and even Carrick himself appeared resigned to losing his job. That would have been the logical outcome, even if it would only have been the first of many steps towards an actual solution.

Through Monday, though, no news of a dismissal arrived. There were showdown talks, but 48 hours or so after the 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth, it emerged that Manchester United had, somehow, come to the conclusion that sticking would be better than twisting.

For a club legend to be put through the wringer as he has would have been difficult to stomach. It was telling that Manchester United fans turned on the players and Jason Wilcox rather than him.

But even so, the accepted outcome in these situations is that the manager is removed. You can't, after all, fire all of the players, even if it is they who have given up.

It seemed so obvious that Manchester United would be hiring a new head coach this week — the eighth permanent appointment since Alex Ferguson retired — that the conversation had already shifted to whether it would be either Julian Nagelsmann or Eddie Howe.

The reality, though, is that either option — even with talk of them both being open to it — would be mad to even consider the position as the best next step in their careers.

Right now, it is hard to make the argument that Manchester United will win any of its next three games — Premier League clashes with Chelsea and Aston Villa sandwiched by a European trip to AS Roma.

More of the same is likely to be served up, and that surely will see Carrick dismissed. Regardless, the kind of turnaround required to convince anyone that the ex-midfielder is indeed the right man to lead a project that has been set back by more poor recruitment decisions and unjustifiably inflated expectations is improbable in the extreme.

While it will be Carrick taking charge of training this week, the idea that the 45-year-old will still be at the helm when Manchester United comes to Anfield in the first match back after the upcoming international break is almost ludicrous.

Get LFC's 2025/26 season home and away kits

Liverpool's home and away strips for the 2025/26 season are the first in their new partnership with adidas.

Fans can order jerseys in the US at Fanatics.com or via the LFC Online Store in both the US and across the world.

Of course, firing Carrick is just one part of it. Finding the right person to take on such an impossible job after him is the far trickier task.

It may well be that Manchester United has only stuck with Carrick for now because it cannot agree on who should take over, given that Nagelsmann and Howe would come with huge caveats. Meanwhile, Antonio Conte — another touted option — would have huge potential to backfire spectacularly.

Without a change at the top, though — in terms of ownership, clearly, but in terms of the sporting structure too — even a talismanic figure like Jurgen Klopp would struggle.

At Liverpool, the German was a part of a functioning system that pulled together to get a huge club back on track. At Old Trafford, whoever takes over from Carrick — and inevitably that will be sooner rather than later — will simply become the latest public face of an unmanageable team.