Manchester United’s trip to Italy on Wednesday night was supposed to be about steadying a shaky Champions League campaign. Instead, Michael Carrick’s side were taken apart by Como, beaten 4-1 in a result that left their manager fronting up to apologise to the travelling fans and their captain, Bruno Fernandes, publicly questioning the tactics that put United in that position in the first place.
United had conceded inside the opening two minutes at Atletico Madrid in their previous European outing. This time it took barely longer, and by the time anyone in red had settled, they were four goals down against a side playing only their third ever match in European competition. Joshua Zirkzee’s stoppage time consolation made the final score look slightly less brutal than the performance had been. Como, promoted from Italy’s lower leagues within the last decade and built around the talented young playmaker Nico Paz, kept the ball with a composure that embarrassed one of the competition’s more decorated names.
Behind Before They Had Settled
The numbers told their own story. Como had almost two thirds of first half possession and completed well over 500 passes on the night, the kind of control sides are rarely allowed against Manchester United in Europe. United were not passive in response. Fernandes himself put in more pressures than any of his teammates, chasing the game in the final third long after it had slipped away, and he was withdrawn in the 67th minute with the contest already beyond saving.
That substitution matters, because it sits at the heart of what followed.
Fernandes Points at the Dugout
Speaking to TNT Sports afterwards, Fernandes did not hide behind the usual platitudes about digesting a defeat and moving on. He said the decision not to press Como man for man had been made above his head. “It’s a decision from the staff to not press man to man, and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball,” he said, adding that United needed to be “more brave on the pressure.” Asked directly whether that meant Carrick had got his tactics wrong, the captain was blunt: “That’s on the manager and on the staff to see it, it’s not on me.”
He went further in a separate interview with Sky in Italy, suggesting United spend too much time looking back at what the club used to be, a comment that landed heavily given Carrick’s own status as a player from that Ferguson era success. Fernandes also described the mood that early goal created, saying conceding so quickly left the team feeling as though they were playing with “a mood of defeat” before they had even found their rhythm.
Carrick Takes It Personally
Carrick did not dodge the question when it was put back to him. “Whatever tactics you play, if you don’t run back, you ain’t going to win,” he said, pointing to effort rather than shape as the real issue. He admitted United had gone to a more man to man approach in the second half and still conceded from it, which rather undercut any suggestion that one system alone was to blame. He called himself “more than disappointed,” said the responsibility “stops with me,” and apologised to the fans who had travelled, insisting the manner of the defeat mattered more than the final score.
What Carrick did not do was throw his captain’s comments back in his face in public, at least not directly. Others were less restrained. Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, working as a pundit on CBS Sports Golazo, called Fernandes’s intervention a “disgrace,” suggesting the midfielder had been stung by his own substitution and was playing to the crowd rather than supporting his manager. It is not the read a club captain wants attached to his name less than a week after his own teammate, Lisandro Martinez, had publicly questioned the club’s recruitment strategy to technical director Jason Wilcox.
A Row Landing at the Worst Possible Time
None of this is happening in isolation. United go into the weekend on a seven match winless run across all competitions, sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League table after seven games, and Gary Neville had already used his platform earlier this week to warn that Carrick would have a serious problem on his hands if that position had not improved significantly by January. The Martinez situation was smoothed over after a meeting between player, manager and Wilcox, but it showed a dressing room already feeling the strain before a ball was kicked in Como.
Carrick now has back to back matches to try to settle things down, a home Premier League game against Bournemouth on Sunday followed by Roma’s visit in the Champions League, where United still have a route back into contention on three points from three games. Whatever happens in those fixtures, the manager now has to manage a very public disagreement with his own captain on top of everything else, at a point in the season when he can least afford a dressing room that looks anything other than united.
For a club with United’s history, moments like this tend to get remembered long after the scoreline from a wet Wednesday in Italy has been forgotten. Whether this one becomes a passing storm or the beginning of something more serious will say a great deal about where Carrick’s reign goes from here.
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