Manchester United were thrashed 4-1 by Como in the Champions League as Michael Carrick’s time at the helm seems to be almost at an end.
What was most concerning about the whole affair was the lack of effort on show from the Red Devils and the clear lack of coaching from the staff.
Carrick’s tactical calls have been bizarre for weeks now, and the way the team is asked to press and progress the ball also makes very little sense.
Cesc Fabregas’ side ran rings around the 20-time English league champions, who were laborious both with and without the ball.
Bruno Fernandes calls out Carrick
Just like Lisandro Martinez’s shocking interview after the Atletico Madrid defeat last week, this time it was Bruno Fernandes’ turn on Wednesday.
The club captain called out the head coach and his staff for their lack of tactical clarity and his words made it seem like the poor performance was largely down to the former United midfielder.
Speaking to TNT Sports, the Portugal international explained, “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.”
Carrick’s weird tactical calls laid bare
Bruno Fernandes further illustrated his point by explaining how Como’s aggressive pressing often saw their centre-back try and squeeze the pitch in the opposition half.
On the other hand, United lacked any real bravery with and without the ball, a recurrent theme under the current boss this term.
“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,” the 32-year-old added.
“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.”
Time for INEOS to step in
United have now conceded early goals in back-to-back European games, with Atletico finding the back of the net in the very first minute while the Serie A side breached United’s defence in the second minute.
“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.”
Such a toxic atmosphere will do little for the club moving forward and it is time for INEOS to step in and clear this mess by putting Carrick out of his misery.