MANCHESTER UNITED risk having to install a caretaker for their next match at Liverpool amid their farcical delay in sacking Michael Carrick.

Carrick is widely expected to lose his job this week and Mauricio Pochettino is the frontrunner to replace him.

But United States coach Pochettino, 54, is set to take charge of their two-legged Concacaf Nations League quarter-finals against Haiti, with the second game in Cincinnati next Tuesday.

That match in Ohio kicks off at midnight on Wednesday UK time.

If United opt for Pochettino and strike a deal to release him from his USA contract, they face a race against time to finalise his arrival for the fixture at Anfield on November 22.

Pochettino signed a new contract with the USA in August that runs to the 2030 World Cup.

United chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox have risked another fan backlash after flying to Monaco to meet co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe while Carrick continues to work at the club’s Carrington training complex.

Carrick spent more than seven hours on site on Tuesday and took training, with a number of senior players not on international duty.

Berrada and Wilcox did not bother to speak to Carrick at Carrington ahead of a pre-planned meeting with Ratcliffe at his home on the French Riviera.

Wilcox and Berrada are expected to survive the chop despite growing calls from supporters for both to go along with Carrick.

Carrick’s probable dismissal may not be confirmed until Thursday, although United officials maintain no final decision has yet been made.

But Berrada and Wilcox are due to present a succession plan for Ratcliffe to approve before he has it signed off by majority owners the Glazer family in the USA.

Intermediaries approached United about the possibility of hiring Pochettino over the past week.

Pochettino has targeted the United job for over a decade and missed out on the role on at least four occasions in the past.

Sir Alex Ferguson championed Pochettino as far back as 2016 and had lunch with the former Tottenham coach when the Argentine came to Manchester to manage Paris Saint-Germain against City in November 2021.