Manchester United got absolutely thrashed, a brutal 4-1 loss to Como in the Champions League, and honestly, it feels like Michael Carrick’s time at the helm is pretty much done. The worst part of the whole mess wasn’t just the scoreline, it was the blatant lack of effort from the Red Devils and a clear, glaring absence of any real coaching from the staff. It was tough to watch.
Bruno Fernandes Pulls No Punches After Shocker
Just like Lisandro Martinez called out the team after that Atletico Madrid defeat last week, this time it was captain Bruno Fernandes who stepped up to the mic. And man, he did not hold back. Speaking to TNT Sports, the Portugal international put his head coach and the staff on blast for their fuzzy tactical clarity. His words made it sound like the entire dumpster fire of a performance was squarely on the former United midfielder.
Fernandes spelled it out, “It’s a decision from the staff to not press man to man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball, wait for them. But sometimes when you give too much the ball [away] to these teams, they get confident, they have so many bodies behind the ball that make you run a lot which makes people get frustrated. And then, when we recover the ball, the legs and the brain are much more difficult to make it work.” You can just hear the frustration in that, right? He’s basically saying they were told to stand around and hope, and it completely backfired.
Carrick’s “Bizarre Tactical Calls” Laid Bare
Fernandes wasn’t done, either. He really dug into the weird tactical choices. He pointed out how Como’s aggressive pressing had their center-back pushing way up, squeezing the pitch deep in United’s half. Meanwhile, what did United do? They showed zero bravery with or without the ball, and let’s be real, that’s been a recurring theme under Carrick all season.
The 32-year-old midfielder said, “That’s on the manager and the staff to see. That’s not on me, I just said that I think sometimes we have to be more brave on the pressure. Try to take a risk of getting that press very high and making them uncomfortable as they did to us. Their center-back was coming to mark me all the way into my own half. I think sometimes we had to do that as a team and we were not really able to do it.” That’s a captain saying his team isn’t playing with guts, and he’s basically putting it on the coaching staff. Ouch.
This isn’t just a one-off thing either. United has given up early goals in back-to-back European games now, with Atletico scoring in the very first minute and Como breaching the defense in the second minute. Fernandes hit it on the head: “Obviously it’s not the first time, and I think again, we started with the wrong foot , they scored very early. Not much pressure on the ball, not really many good moments without the ball. It’s many things not going our way. Conceding the goal very early, makes us feel going into the game already in a mood for defeat and it’s very difficult to get out of that at the moment, without being ourselves and trying to push and be brave, trying to have the ball.” It sounds like the team is completely demoralized before the game even properly starts. This kind of toxic vibe isn’t going to help anyone. You gotta think it’s time for INEOS to step in, make a move, and put Carrick out of his misery. The season is still early, but this can’t keep going.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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