Bruno Fernandes questioned manager Michael Carrick’s tactics after Manchester United were thrashed by Como on Wednesday.
United’s season sank to a new low as they were humbled 4-1 by the Italian side in the Champions League.
It has been a troubled start to the campaign for United with just seven points collected from seven Premier League games, defender Lisandro Martinez openly highlighting the club’s shortcomings, and Carrick under pressure.
Captain Fernandes, who was substituted after 67 minutes at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, delivered a damning assessment after the game.
Fernandes told TNT Sports: “It’s a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave a little bit of space in behind, and trying to get the ball in the first moment, to wait for them, to give them the ball.
“Sometimes when you give too much of the ball to these teams, they get confidence. They have so many bodies behind the ball that make you run a lot, make people get frustrated, and then obviously when you recover the ball, the legs and the brain are much more difficult to make it work.”
Asked further about the tactics, he said: “It’s on the manager and on the staff to say it, it is not on me.
“I just said that I think sometimes we have to be more brave under pressure, trying to take a risk of getting that press very high and making them uncomfortable, as they did to us.”
Fernandes felt United’s attitude was wrong from the moment they conceded the first goal after two minutes.
He said: “Obviously it’s not the first time and I think, again, we started on the wrong foot and they scored very early.
“Conceding the goal very early makes us feel, going into the game, already in a mood of a defeat, and it’s very difficult to get out of that at the moment without being ourselves and trying to push and trying to be brave, trying to have the ball, trying to make something happen.
“And if we’re not able to do that, it’s going to be very difficult to get out of this situation.”