Michael Carrick
Michael Carrick needs a good week at Manchester United
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The Carabao Cup might be a handy distraction from Manchester United's Premier League woes this week, but how much weight will it carry for Michael Carrick if the pressure continues to build at Old Trafford?
The 45-year-old knows his future in the dugout is almost certainly going to be judged on form in the league. United need regular Champions League qualification to balance the books and if that begins to slip away, a run to the latter stages of the Carabao Cup is unlikely to hold much sway if Sir Jim Ratcliffe's trigger finger begins to twitch.
Carrick is a fair way off the pressure being quite that intense at the moment, but of the two games his side will play this week, Sunday's trip to Fulham is far more important. A return of four points from four league games is a desperately disappointing start.
In his 464-game playing career at United, Carrick won 12 major honours, including three League Cups, and he knows the value of a trophy to the club. The question is how much value it carries for himself.
He was part of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's backroom staff when a failure to get over the line after reaching the Europa League final and four semi-finals was held against him as evidence that he lacked that extra something that the very elite coaches had.
But Erik ten Hag looked to have that. He won a League Cup and an FA Cup in impressive fashion, but those trophies counted for little as his team fell apart in the Premier League.
"Well, there's obviously two sides to that, I suppose," said Carrick. "For me, trophies are the beauty and the feeling of winning. It's what we're in football for, what we're in sport for, and certainly what I'm at this club for is to try and win.
"It's not straightforward, and you decide you want to win and you go and win. Of course not. But it's important, and I think trophies and achieving things and giving supporters that feeling of the emotion of that is important, definitely."
United's poor start could force Carrick to change plans for Wednesday's tie with an in-form Brighton side. The prospect of handing game time to some of the club's promising youngsters might be less appealing when another defeat could be damaging.
Sir Alex Ferguson's consistent success in the Premier League meant he could rotate for these games without fear of the outcome. Carrick is now in the opposite position and knows another setback will only crank the pressure up further ahead of Sunday's trip to the capital.
He did make four changes for the win against Sabah last week and alterations could come again, with the likes of Leny Yoro and Benjamin Sesko set to start, while £50million midfielder Andrey Santos could make his first start since the opening day of the season.
"Obviously, that's decisions that we have to make," he said. "We played Champions League and made changes during the week, and we changed a little bit as we've gone. That's the decision.
"It's important for us to win football matches, and it's important that we manage the squad as well and keep everyone up to speed, keep everyone ready, keep everyone part of it. But we're certainly going into Wednesday trying to win the game."