Gary Neville and Roy Keane have been told they have got it all wrong when it comes to who should be the next Manchester United head coach. Keane last week poured cold water on suggestions that Michael Carrick should be appointed United's permanent head coach.

The former Red Devils skipper believes the former England international lacks sufficient 'football knowledge' to lead his old club to the Premier League title, insisting they must seek a different candidate for the permanent role. Neville backed Keane's view and believes that United must 'get the best' in their head coach search, with Carrick possibly learning under a proven winner as an assistant, even though the former England international is unbeaten in his first five matches in charge, with the Reds in the Champions League qualification places.

But former United forward Louis Saha has disagreed with his old team-mates telling CasinoHawks: "Michael Carrick's future is a decision for the board and definitely depends on the project. They've heard from the manager and others who are interested in the job.

"They know it's a difficult one. What Carrick has done in the last five games is amazing because he has managed a transition. A lot of players were not fully confident or sure about how they were going to play, and it gelled very quickly. Everyone is on board now. It has changed.

"I think everyone is allowed to have their opinion, and that's fine. Definitely, Roy and Gary are well placed to have those very strong feelings. I understand them, but I don't agree.

"I really feel like if someone is doing their best and obviously has to improve, he's not an experienced manager, but an experienced manager can struggle there too.

"Nobody has any guarantees, so it's really hard for anybody to predict what's going to happen. We know that there is a definitely different situation if you qualify for Europe or the Champions League; you have different challenges. It's going to be a challenge for everyone, and even an experienced manager can struggle there.

"It's just about having the right communication and the right tactics. We've seen that he's able to learn very quickly. I am backing him up. Definitely, it doesn't mean that he won't face any challenges or won't make any mistakes.

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"Any experienced player knows that during a career, there are a lot of situations that you can't predict. This is football. You may end up with the best tactics and still face a better opponent on the day. And everybody is going to criticise you.

"Very experienced players know that, but they tend to forget when they become pundits. They think that everything is very logical. No, it's not. Football is very, very, very unpredictable."

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