“Long time ago, eh?” said Michael Carrick, a smile briefly shooting across his face as he reflected on one of the most “magical” occasions of his Manchester United career.

It is 19 years since Roma came to Old Trafford in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie and were ripped apart 7-1. Carrick scored the first and sixth goals that night, both stunning strikes from distance. “The fact I scored a couple, which was very unusual, gives me great memories, but it was more the whole emotion of the night,” he said.

“It was a special one – one of the best nights, one of the best games, one of the best atmospheres I’ve been fortunate enough to witness.”

United would go on to lose to AC Milan in the semi-finals but, 12 months later, Carrick was part of the side who were crowned European champions after a penalty shoot-out victory over Chelsea in Moscow.

Roma will be back at Old Trafford tonight, but Carrick and United find themselves in a very different place.

It is 53 days since United last won a game of football and, if they fail to beat Gian Piero Gasperini’s team, who are third and unbeaten in Serie A this season, it would extend their winless streak to 10 matches.

You have to go back 48 years, to March 1978, when Dave Sexton was manager, to find the last time that happened in a single season.

‘You might think I’m crazy, but I really can’t wait for it’

With Aston Villa to follow at Old Trafford on Sunday before the international break, fans are wondering if this will turn out to be Carrick’s final week as United head coach. But the man himself insisted he did not feel like someone with two games left in charge.

“No, not at all,” he said. “Listen, I can’t look, you never know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what’s going to happen but that doesn’t change the way I feel or how we’re preparing for the game tomorrow.

“I’m actually really looking forward to the game. You might think I’m crazy with the results we’ve had and what’s going on, but I really can’t wait for it.

“Whatever happens is going to happen after that, in whatever direction it goes, but we want to make it a big night first.”

This will be United’s first outing at Old Trafford since the blood-letting against Bournemouth, when supporters turned on the players at the end of a 3-0 capitulation during which they had hurled abuse at the Glazers, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and director of football Jason Wilcox.

Kobbie Mainoo had been missing through injury that day but, with the club only outside the relegation zone on goal difference from Crystal Palace, the United midfielder believes the reaction from fans this season has been understandable.

“In these tough times, you can’t expect the fans 100,000 per cent of the time to be happy and cheering when we’re not putting out results,” he said. “And we owe it to them to put results out there for them to cheer again.”

United’s problems extend far beyond the absence of a single player. But the defeats by Atlético Madrid, Como and Bournemouth all came in Mainoo’s absence and they were already 1-0 down to Chelsea and moments away from Lisandro Martínez’s red card madness before the England international made his eagerly awaited return at Stamford Bridge after three weeks out.

Whether he can help stop the rot remains to be seen, but he is one of the players the fans would at least trust to pull behind Carrick, who had played a key role in his rejuvenation after the 21-year-old had been frozen out by Ruben Amorim.

Mainoo said it was not lost on the dressing room how Carrick had routinely defended them and sought to shield them from the criticism. “And I feel like our way to repay that is to also be behind the manager on the pitch and off it, and fight for us and fight for us as a team,” he said.

‘The dressing room is a good place’

Whether other players share that view jars with the evidence on the pitch. For one, Carrick must decide whether to keep faith with Martínez after his sending-off in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Chelsea for elbowing Wesley Fofano marked the latest low point in the Argentina defender’s dire season. Despite letting down his team so badly, Carrick continued to defend the player.

“I’ve got no concerns about [his] commitment at all,” he said. “Things happen in football. Sometimes you do things, sometimes you make a decision, sometimes you make mistakes. But the commitment is not an issue, for sure.

“The dressing room is a good place, so perceptions are a funny thing. We need to play better, we can make better decisions, but commitment is not a thing at all.”

Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford are still sidelined, but Patrick Dorgu returned to training after missing the last six games, although the Roma game comes too soon.

Mainoo had listened to Carrick’s call to arms before the Bournemouth debacle to respect the values of hard work, humility, pride and sacrifice that underpin the club’s success and said it resonated.

“I feel like I take some responsibility in that and in spreading the word of what Manchester United has coming up through the academy,” he said. “And I plan to send that message for hopefully as long as I can.”

Roma gave Carrick one of his greatest nights at United. Now he just needs a win of any description against them.