Michael Carrick is in regular contact with Sir Alex Ferguson and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as he fights to survive Manchester United’s disastrous start to the season.

Carrick is under huge pressure going into Sunday’s game against Bournemouth at Old Trafford after a run of seven games without a win.

United have made their worst start to a league season in 40 years since Ferguson was brought in to replace Ron Atkinson, and Carrick apologised to fans in Como in midweek after the club’s heaviest defeat in Europe since 1994.

The 45-year-old gave an impassioned speech before his press conference at Carrington on Friday, in which he summoned the spirit of Ferguson by calling on everyone at United to put the club first, and later revealed that he has been speaking regularly to the legendary Old Trafford boss.

Carrick, who was first-team coach under Solskjaer and beat him to the job of head coach in January, has also been in close contact with the Norwegian.

‘I speak to both of them quite regularly, to be honest,’ said Carrick. ‘There's nothing in particular from that. I'm close to both of them and we do have regular conversations. It's nothing different this week.’

There have been concerns over dressing-room unrest after captain Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez gave interviews criticising Carrick and director of football Jason Wilcox, but the United boss denied the club have become ‘unmanageable’ and backed his players to come good.

‘I definitely trust them. One hundred per cent I trust them,’ added Carrick. ‘It wasn't a very good night (in Como) at all for so many reasons, we all know that. I think that's pretty obvious. We'll be a different team on Sunday. We have to be a different team on Sunday.’

Carrick was asked why he gave a five-minute monologue before his weekly press conference on Friday, and replied: ‘Because I understand the situation, and I understand my position and I know what this football club means to so, so many people.

‘The history doesn't give you the right to keep winning. Teams that win earn the right to win. So it's important that we draw inspiration from history and the past of what's gone on.

‘But our responsibility is to carry that forward, and it's so important to me that we do that.’