The final whistle had barely just sounded at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia before Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes condemned tactical “decisions from the staff” in the Red Devils’ humiliating defeat to Como.
United arrived in Italy with the hopes of finally securing their first win since Sept. 10, but they failed to show up under the Champions League lights, falling 4–1 to Cesc Fàbregas’s men. It was as lopsided a match as any, with the visitors looking wildly uninterested and underprepared for the bout.
“It’s not the first time,” Fernandes told TNT Sports about such a lifeless performance from United. “I think we started on the wrong foot; they scored very early. [There was] not much pressure on the ball, not really many good moments without the ball, many things not going our way.”
Indeed, Nico Paz got on the scoresheet within the first two minutes and the Red Devils had no answer for the majority of the match. They were statues as Como passed the ball with incredible ease, carving apart Michael Carrick’s team without hardly having to hit second-gear.
Fernandes had some thoughts as to why it was so easy for Como to dominate. “It’s a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave a little bit of space in behind and try to get the ball in the first moment, to wait for them, to give them the ball.
“But sometimes when you give the ball too much to these teams, they get confident. They have so many bodies behind that ball that make you run a lot, that makes people get frustrated. Then once you recover the ball, the legs and the brain are much more difficult to make it work.”
When pressed if he believes Carrick’s tactical decisions cost the team against Como, Fernandes said: “That’s on the manager and the staff to say it, that’s not on me. I just said I think sometimes we have to be more brave under pressure and trying to take a risk of getting that press very high and making them uncomfortable.”
Carrick Shoulders the Blame—But Also Dishes It Out
Carrick’s postgame comments were not as incendiary as those from Fernandes ... initially. He started off by taking responsibility for the defeat.
“It was more than disappointing,” Carrick told TNT Sports. “Everybody’s got to take responsibility for that. I’ll 100% take responsibility for the overall team and the performance. That’s where it stops, it stops with me. I’m absolutely fine with that. I accept that totally.”
But the English manager quickly called out his team’s lethargic performance, a common theme amid United’s seven-game winless run across all competitions.
“To see a performance like that is unacceptable, I have to say. It’s the motivation, the intension, the purpose, the intensity of a game of football that you have to bring. We didn’t bring that.
“You can’t turn it on and off. You can’t choose when you want to perform and when you don’t want to perform, or when you give absolutely everything or when you maybe don’t so, until you do that, you’re not going to win football matches.
“There’s no excuses at all. I think it’s just not acceptable.”
Will Carrick Pay the Ultimate Price?
Carrick ended his comments by sidestepping a question about whether he still has the backing of the club after such an embarrassing defeat. But pundits were quick to answer for him.
“It’s such a bad result and such a bad performance that it could have serious repercussions for the manager, unfortunately for him,” Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher said on CBS Sports. “It looks like another Manchester United manager is going to bite the dust.”
When fellow co-host Kate Scott asked Carragher to pinpoint whether the blame falls on the manager or the players, the former player had a sweeping response.
“It’s everything about Manchester United,” Carragher said. “Where do you start? It never ends. It’s a never-ending cycle. Is it the owners? Is It the manager? Is it the recruitment, the players? Nobody seems to be able to get this right.”
Carrick earned the permanent role as United’s manager after leading the club to a third-place finish once he took over for Ruben Amorim last season. Yet the results are not there in 2026–27; the club has won just two of 11 matches across all competitions—and a lopsided defeat like the one the Red Devils suffered on Wednesday could be the trigger that makes Carrick the first manager fired in the Premier League this season.
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