Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick didn’t appreciate the comments made by Bruno Fernandes in the aftermath of Wednesday’s defeat.
The fallen Premier League giants extended their miserable run as they suffered a humbling 1-4 defeat to Como in the third matchday of the Champions League group stage.
The Red Devils spent their evening chasing shadows, as Nico Paz ran the show for Cesc Fabregas’ men. The Serie A boys outclassed their visitors in every facet of the game. Joshua Zirzkee’s late consolation hardly changed the narrative.
Bruno Fernandes slams Man Utd tactics
(Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
In the middle of the second half, Carrick decided to bring in Joshua Zirkzee for Bruno Fernandes, who played as a false 9. With United trailing by three goals at the time, the manager figured it was best to give the captain the rest of the night off, with Sunday’s game against Bournemouth in mind.
However, Fernandes was seemingly displeased with the decision, as he shook his head on his way out.
After the contest, the 32-year-old publicly criticised the team’s tactics, suggesting that Como were allowed to dominate the pitch because Man Utd’s technical staff instructed the players not to press their opponents.
“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 space to these teams they get confidence,” said the Man Utd skipper in his post-match interview with TNT Sports.
“That’s on the manager and staff to see, not me. Sometimes you have to be more brave under pressure, take the risk of pressing high and making them uncomfortable.
“As you saw with them [Como], the centre-back was coming to mark me in my own half. We need to do that as a team but we were unable to,” added Fernandes.
“A team that plays through the middle with small connections, if you give them too much time and space then they can hurt you out.”
Michael Carrick responds to Fernandes, says Man Utd don’t run enough
(Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Needless to say, Carrick was never going to swallow his captain’s words, especially after feeling hard done by his complacent players.
The 45-year-old had already slammed the team for the lack of effort in his first post-match interviews.
So when pressed to comment on Bruno’s words, Carrick suggested that the real issue lies in the player’s attitude rather than his tactics.
“We actually half-pressed, man-to-man in the second half and then ended up conceding a goal from that,” said the MUFC boss in his post-match press conference (via Hayters)
“It’s a little bit on whatever system you play, whatever tactics you play, if you don’t run and you don’t run forward and you don’t run back, you ain’t going to win.”
With the captain and head coach aiming at one another after a horrific defeat, Man Utd may have hit a new low.
This is only a week removed from Lisandro Martinez’s explosive statement against the club’s Director of Sport, Jason Wilcox, after the defeat to Atletico Madrid.
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