Defining images of a Manchester United manager under pressure New York Times (Online) Cerys Jones Michael Carrick will be in charge when Manchester United host Bournemouth on Sunday but, as The Athletic reported on Friday, nobody is making any predictions beyond that . The 4-1 Champions League defeat by Como on Wednesday has put his position in sharp focus. Carrick walked to an all-but-empty away end and repeatedly held his hands up in apology, before holding one over his heart. His pain at the defeat, and the manner of it, were clear. Another memorable image has also emerged from this week: Carrick in his usual seat in Carrington's press room, but this time, taking his place and telling reporters he would start the day's proceedings. He delivered an impassioned five-and-a-half-minute speech about the state of United's performances and results. Carrick is still in post, and his words on Friday also made clear his conviction and desire to turn the team around. But these were the latest iterations of a scene supporters have seen too regularly over the past 13 years. The Athletic has gone through the archives to find some of the most memorable images of what Manchester United managers under pressure look like, running the full gamut of contrition, defiance, disbelief, and defeat. A 1-1 draw at Leeds United in January, and the surrounding fallout with executives, triggered the end of Ruben Amorim's Manchester United tenure. But the image that defines Amorim's lowest point came months before. Manchester United were 2-0 down to Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup. The fact they pulled level to force a torturous, long, unsuccessful penalty shootout is something of a footnote; it belies how much of a let-off progress to the next round would have been. United were overrun physically and shell-shocked by going behind early. The defeat was one of the most humiliating results in the club's history. The image that endured was of Amorim, around the hour mark, sitting in the dugout at Blundell Park in the pouring rain, moving pieces around a tactics board as though searching intently for solutions. None could be found. Amorim would continue in the job until January, but no picture from the four months of his reign that followed that Grimsby defeat has come to sum up the lows United experienced through 2025, and Amorim's struggle to right the ship, quite like that one. Manchester United's trip to Selhurst Park was not their worst result under Erik ten Hag. That mantle, for reasons of rivalry, weight of scoreline and sheer shock, will always belong to a 7-0 thumping by Liverpool at Anfield. But that took place in March 2023, a better season in which United finished third, and did not create as many questions over the manager's future as the 4-0 humiliation against Crystal Palace in May 2024. It was a truly bleak performance, with an injury-battered team outfought across the pitch and the manager lacking solutions. Winding back the TV coverage of that match, where cameras predictably cut to the Dutchman after each goal, tells a story. Ten Hag looks hurt, almost wounded at the ease with which his defence has been sliced open for Michael Olise's opener and is quiet in the dugout when the cameras seek him out after Jean-Philippe Mateta adds a second. The third sees him pursing his lips and pacing across his technical area as Sofyan Amrabat prepares to come on, and by the fourth, his expression is inscrutable. That was May 6. On May 14, at a meeting of executives in Monaco, the consensus was for Ten Hag to be relieved of his duties. The Athletic reported that , in the days following the 4-0 defeat, executives considered sacking the manager before the visit of Arsenal on May 12. He remained in post, and a shock FA Cup final victory over Manchester City helped earn a reprieve until his eventual sacking in October. But the pressure after United's humiliation in south-east London was very real. The eeriest parallel to Carrick in front of the away end in Como is his predecessor-twice-removed, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, in what proved to be his final outing in the dugout in November 2021. The scoreline was the same; the setting — even the proudest Watford local would probably concede — was somewhat less glamorous. After United fell to a 4-1 defeat, Solskjaer walked over to the travelling support to literally hold his hands up. As we can see in the picture, there was little goodwill or forgiveness to be found. Carrick has already lasted longer than Solskjaer did after his apology. News of the Norwegian's dismissal came the day after that defeat at Vicarage Road. “Nobody told me, but I knew at half-time against Watford,” Solskjaer told The Athletic in September 2023 . “We didn't look like a Man United team; the players weren't running for each other. “At half-time, I told the players it was probably going to be the last time we worked together and to play with pride.” You can pick many adjectives to describe Jose Mourinho, and one would surely be 'defiant'. If there is a defining image of that from his time at Manchester United, it is this, in the aftermath of a late Manchester United comeback against Juventus in November 2018. United had trailed to a Cristiano Ronaldo goal until the 86th minute, only to recover through Juan Mata's 86th-minute free kick and an even later own goal. Mourinho responded at full time by cupping his ear to the fans who had jeered him. He said afterwards it was a reaction to insults from the home supporters. It was a classic Champions League win that harked back to other storied European comebacks. It also turned out to be just over a month before the end of his tenure. United recorded just one more win in the Premier League — a run that included defeats against Manchester City and Liverpool — after that result in Turin. Mourinho was dismissed that December. Now, this may not look like a man under pressure — and to be fair to Louis van Gaal, maybe he thought that winning the first trophy of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era would buy him time. This was the Dutchman celebrating Jesse Lingard's 110th-minute winning goal against Crystal Palace in the 2016 FA Cup final, five minutes after a red card for Chris Smalling had added an extra obstacle for United. It was ironic that Van Gaal's last act as United manager was to oversee a thrilling late comeback, with Juan Mata's equaliser courtesy of a beautiful slalom run from Wayne Rooney. Flair and excitement were not exactly the watchwords of his reign. Rumours that Mourinho was being lined up to replace him predated the win at Wembley. Perhaps as Van Gaal celebrated in the dugout there was hope in his mind that bringing a trophy back to Old Trafford would save his job, but it was not to be. This looks like a picture of jubilation. It is actually the image of a man on the chopping block. David Moyes cut a happy figure as he walked to the Old Trafford dugout on March 16, 2014. By full time, his Manchester United side had succumbed to an abject 3-0 defeat against Liverpool courtesy of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez. He was photographed frowning at the ground as he made his way to the dressing room at half-time, at which point United trailed by only one goal. This image from that match, though, is an even better summary of the dejection and disbelief. Though United fans remained defiant and Moyes praised their “phenomenal support” post-match, it was a chastening day. Manchester City would later beat Liverpool to the title, but at the time the result was touted as Liverpool demonstrating their title credentials at the home of their great rivals, while United were on their way to a seventh-placed finish. “I think the job was always going to be hard, but if you are asking me if it is harder than I thought, I would say so, yes,” Moyes said after the game. He was only the first in the line of post-Ferguson managers to learn that lesson. Moyes did not even get a full season; his tenure ended on April 22, two days after gambling company Paddy Power sent a spectator dressed as the Grim Reaper to lurk in the stands near Moyes as United faced Everton at Goodison Park. It was a publicity stunt that proved, unfortunately for Moyes, eerily prescient. That 2-0 defeat was his final match in charge.