Michael Carrick facing Manchester United axe amid review by Jason Wilcox

Manchester United are moving towards sacking Michael Carrick, though no final decision has been made by Jason Wilcox, the director of football, who is leading the review after the head coach was given the Chelsea, Roma and Aston Villa games to turn results around.

Wilcox has been consulting with Omar Berrada, the chief executive, before a recommendation regarding Carrick is made to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who controls sporting policy.

United are in the Premier League relegation zone and have three victories in 15 games in all competitions. Carrick came close to being removed after the 3-0 defeat by Bournemouth on 25 October. But after Wilcox and Berrada met the following day at the training ground to discuss his position, Carrick was given the three games until the international break to prove he and the players could reverse a dismal start.

A defeat, a win and a draw in those matches plus the team’s displays in each compounded with the overall run of form has moved Wilcox and Berrada towards a position where they are minded to remove Carrick. There is a growing expectation within the club that he will lose his job.

The final decision is yet to be made, though. When contacted on Monday night by the Guardian the club declined to comment.

In what may prove Carrick’s final three games in charge, United lost 2-0 at Chelsea, beat Roma 3-2 at Old Trafford and drew 4-4 at home against Villa on Sunday. In each game United were uneven. At Chelsea, Carrick’s side impressed in the first half but failed to convert chances before conceding twice after the interval, the second from a penalty after Lisandro Martínez was sent off.

In the Roma victory they were 2-0 behind in a poor opening 45 minutes before three goals in a rousing second one. On Sunday United twice trailed by two goals and entered added time 4-2 down, strikes from Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu rescuing a point.

After the Roma game Carrick urged his team to build momentum but within four minutes against Villa they were 2-0 down, continuing a pattern of conceding very early. In the 4-1 defeat at Como last month, Nico Paz scored after two minutes. This followed Pablo Barrios’s opener one minute into the 2-0 defeat at Atlético Madrid the previous week.