Manchester United have sacked Michael Carrick after a 4-4 draw with Aston Villa left the club third-bottom in the Premier League, a point behind 17th-placed Coventry, the Guardian reported.
That is the figure that matters first. United also sit 17th in the Champions League league-phase table, but league position is the harsher measure when the relegation zone is involved. A stirring comeback or two tends to lose some of its glow when the denominator is “places from the bottom”.
Carrick’s side twice came from two goals down to draw with Villa at Old Trafford last Sunday, having also recovered dramatically to beat Roma in Europe five days earlier. Those are the sort of results that can be sold as signs of fight. They are less persuasive when the broader record leaves United in the bottom three.
The Guardian said Carrick’s departure followed a review led by director of football Jason Wilcox and a recommendation to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who controls sporting policy. Even by the standards of large clubs that like to talk in management-consultant dialect, that is a fairly blunt conclusion: the recovery act was entertaining, the table was not.
There is no great mystery about why managers lose jobs in these circumstances. Manchester United remain large enough to make every setback look operatic, but the trigger here is ordinary enough. Third-bottom is not a philosophical debate. It is a league position.
Gabriel Fenech 
Isla Camilleri 
Elena Vella