Michael Carrick's position at Manchester United is clearly untenable, but there is no easy way out of this mess for the Old Trafford club.

The Red Devils' crisis has hit fever pitch after a ninth consecutive game without a win. On Saturday, Carrick and company travelled to Stamford Bridge to take on a flagging Chelsea side and yet again came away empty-handed.

After either side had a goal disallowed, Morgan Rogers put Chelsea in the lead in the 50th minute. What followed perfectly summed up Man Utd's current situation and season so far.

Lisandro Martinez gave away a penalty - which Cole Palmer converted - and got himself sent off for elbowing Wesley Fofana in the face. It just had to be the underperforming Argentine who publicly criticised the club hierarchy two weeks ago.

Man Utd thus suffered a third chastening defeat on the bounce after Como and Bournemouth. Carrick was expected to be sacked in the wake of both of these games, and it didn't happen. Will he lose his job now? Who knows, but this clearly isn't working.

Can anyone fix Man Utd?

Honestly, it might actually be better to rephrase the question. Perhaps it is more appropriate to ask: does it even matter at this point? Does it really matter if Carrick is sacked or if he resigns?

For his own mental health, it might be better for him to get the hell out of there, but in a managerial sense, there's not much to suggest that a change in coach will fix the situation.

Man Utd have an unbalanced, thin squad and are run by some supposedly "best-in-class" directors who have repeatedly failed to justify that label.

Even if a new manager achieves slightly better results, the underlying problems will remain, and the cycle will repeat itself, just as it has done for the past decade.

Eddie Howe is the favourite to replace Carrick, but if you're the 48-year-old, do you really want this job? You left Newcastle because you were burned out from all of the club's problems, so you walk into one with even bigger issues a few months later? It doesn't make sense.

Surely, the only way for Howe to seriously consider taking this job is if he can trust the structure above him, which he clearly can't right now. Jason Wilcox and perhaps even Omar Berrada would have to go with Carrick.

If Howe is given assurances that he will have an Erik ten Hag-style influence on recruitment and be given a sporting director who acts as his right-hand man, he might be tempted to say yes to the role.

Tactically, there would be major question marks over Howe's approach. He would have to adapt to the players at his disposal because the current crop can't play his high-pressing style.

Then, there is Julian Nagelsmann, who showed impressive tactical flexibility at Bayern Munich, but who faces major doubts over his personality. The 39-year-old couldn't handle the scrutiny that came with managing the Bavarians and the German national team.

Nagelsmann could end up being eaten alive if put in Man Utd's chronically toxic environment. It is understandable that there is a reluctance at Old Trafford to appoint the German.

Antonio Conte has been touted as being best-suited to the task at hand because of his strong personality, but people seem to have forgotten - or they simply ignore - how things went for him at Napoli.

Even when the club were successful, there was constant tension between Conte and Aurelio De Laurentiis, which was evident at their Scudetto celebrations when the manager tried to avoid having to interact with the president at all costs.

There were endless rumours that Conte was threatening to quit his job if he didn't get his way. How would he fit into Man Utd's structure? He wouldn't! The project would crash and burn within a year or two.

Unless Sir Jim Ratcliffe is prepared to admit defeat and accept that what he has been trying to do until now simply isn't working, it is difficult to see Man Utd get out of this vicious cycle. Carrick and the current crisis are just symptoms of a much larger problem.