Manchester United suffered their second defeat in their last four games as relegation-threatened Leeds United secured their first-ever Premier League win in Old Trafford, compounding the recent woes under Michael Carrick.

Despite his promising return to the club, recent performances will likely prompt the hierarchy to reconsider what initially seemed like a straightforward decision to hand Michael Carrick the role permanently. However, his recent struggles have only highlighted the difficulties faced by his predecessor, Ruben Amorim.

Carrick replaced Ruben Amorim in January after the Portuguese manager failed to justify the trust management had in him earlier in the season, when Manchester United squandered a host of chances to join the title race.

However, four months after taking over, Michael Carrick is on the verge of falling into the same pit, one that will cost him the chance of landing the Manchester United coaching role permanently.

The former midfielder has the opportunity to turn things around with six more games to go, but this dry spell will not be overlooked when the boardroom debates his future at the club.

Michael Carrick's struggles highlight Amorim's difficulties 

Earlier in the season, Ruben Amorim had United playing the best football they had ever played under his watch, but positive results were not consistent, a factor that was also attributed to the former Sporting CP boss's reluctance to compromise on a philosophy that did not seem to work.

Nevertheless, injuries and the lack of availability of players led to many of the poor results, and it is no coincidence that the situation reached a point of no return when Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo left for the AFCON.

Fortunately for Michael Carrick, almost all of the players returned from injuries and AFCON engagements before his first game against Manchester City, and they continued to stay fit until recently.

The growing injury list has seen performances drop recently, and results have plummeted, leaving them in the race for Champions League qualification when they should have blown away their closest rivals.

Yet, amid their poor showings, Michael Carrick can be thankful that none of their rivals have also been on form, with none of them earning more than the four points United have in the last four matchdays.

A Michael Carrick red flag for Man United 

As the season nears its ending, recent signs would suggest to Manchester United's leadership that Michael Carrick is not worthy of leading the club going forward, because of the different situation the club will be in next season.

His success has come from using the same type of players, and have a lot of difficulties when he has to rotate, something he'll surely be forced to do several times when Manchester United play in more competitions next season.

Despite averaging a game every 8.3 days since his appointment as interim boss for the second time at Manchester United, the results from the last four games will be a huge concern for all involved in a potential decision to hand Michael Carrick the role.

A difficult road to UCL return to come

Arsenal's victory over Sporting CP last weekend helped Premier League clubs secure a fifth Champions League spot, which is good news for Man United, who are seven points ahead of sixth-place Chelsea.

However, the road to Champions League return just got a tad complicated for the Red Devils as a trip to Stamford Bridge awaits them next weekend, which will be followed by the visit of another Champions League hopeful, Brentford.

Liverpool then visit Old Trafford before the trip to the Stadium of Light, completing what is expected to be a decisive run of games in their quest to return to the Champions League.

A task that looks very likely just before the loss to Newcastle United could end in heartbreak for Michael Carrick and his minions, even though they still hold the advantage at this stage of the season.

What this mean for Michael Carrick?

Maybe the good fortune and committed players are what Michael Carrick has over Ruben Amorim after all, but the final weeks of the season will have to validate these claims, because there's still a lot more to come.

For the former Manchester United midfielder, convincing the hierarchy will not be easy, especially after the recent results, but in the end, six games are still a lot of opportunities to continue to audition, and he'll hope to have his players back for the challenge.

Harry Maguire will return from suspension against Chelsea, but Lisandro Martinez will miss that trip, while an update on Kobbie Mainoo, who missed the loss to Leeds United due to a minor injury, remains pending.

Injuries were the biggest nightmare in what appeared to be a promising season under Ruben Amorim, and it is turning out to be the same reason Michael Carrick lost his shot at managing Manchester United on a permanent basis.