AFC Bournemouth visit Old Trafford on Sunday buoyed by a European win against seven-time continental champions AC Milan. Bournemouth, who were a third-tier club with average crowds of 5,500 the last time Milan won the Champions League in 2007, drew 4-4 at Old Trafford last season and won 3-0 in two visits before that.
They will meet a United team reeling from a dreadful start to the season, the low point of which was Wednesday’s 4-1 Champions League hammering by Milan’s tiny neighbours, Como.
Michael Carrick’s United side have not won in seven games and while the manager is set to be in charge against Bournemouth, his position is perilous.
Carrick has long needed wins but they have not come. In the Premier League, United are 13th after seven matches and while Bournemouth are on a high, they too have won only one league game.
The addition of European football isn’t helping the domestic form of either side and two United players have blown up the dressing room with their post-match comments after the last two European defeats, in Madrid and now Como.
Lisandro Martinez, who wants a new contract but has made no headway towards getting one, was critical of the club’s technical director Jason Wilcox among others after the defeat to Atletico Madrid, while captain Bruno Fernandes was critical of his boss Carrick and his staff after being substituted in Como.
The Portuguese, who had done no interviews since August, offered to speak to the media and said: “It’s the decision of the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball. But sometimes when you give the ball too much to these teams, they get confidence.”
Asked if Carrick got his tactics wrong, Fernandes added: “That’s on the manager and staff to see it, not me.”
This is an affront to the name of Manchester United.
— Andy Mitten (@AndyMitten) October 21, 2026
Criticism 'for the dressing room'
Fernandes was correct in what he said. Whether he should have said it publicly is another issue. United looked passive, not just against Como but in too many games this season. United played to Como’s style and strengths and the team have struggled to press all season.
Como’s model of extreme possession with penetration by playing through opponents diagonally was a recipe for disaster for United.
Martinez struck a chord with fans, while Fernandes, despite being the club’s best player and captain, saw his actions questioned.
“You do not criticise your manager in public if you are the captain because no good can come from that,” one former Premier League captain told The National.
“This is stuff for the dressing room. As captain, if you smell things are changing on the pitch then you change things. If what the manager wants you to do isn’t working, you can feel it as a player. So you adjust. It’s what leaders do.”
Fernandes normally chooses his words carefully since he is aware of the global impact of them. But these criticism were meant to make headlines. As a result, it doesn’t look like all United players are with the manager Carrick right now.
Onus on players as well
Yet in a rain-lashed Como on Wednesday night, Carrick was right to say that those players should be playing for Manchester United, not him. When the unity goes, players get defensive and lash out. They blame anyone but themselves.
United fans will get behind their team on Sunday. The Stretford End want their players to maintain the standards expected at Manchester United and will make that clear. This isn’t the weight of history crashing on the shoulders of current players once again. Yet, it is another reminder of how things were once great and now they are not.
It’s not the fault of those who wear the red shirt in 2026 that they are not as good as legends of yore who were some of the best in the English league and beyond. It's just a reminder that certain standards are expected and the players fell short of the expected levels in Wednesday’s atrocious defeat in Italy.
"I 100% take responsibility for the overall team and the performance. That's where it stops. It stops with me."
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 21, 2026
Michael Carrick reacts to Manchester United's "unacceptable" display against Como.
🎙️ @LiamMacdevitt 📺 Stream on TNT Sports & HBO Max: https://t.co/fRCRh6tXYB pic.twitter.com/agXYEERLGq
United's leaders want it to work for Carrick and there is little appetite for yet another managerial change. But it’s whether the club have the faith that Carrick can turn fortunes around.
This run cannot continue and the club are privately weighing up other managerial options, just as they did before Carrick got the job permanently after the excellent work he did in guiding his team into the Champions League.
Sadly, this is the time of year that United managers lose their jobs. Erik ten Hag was dismissed in October 2024, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November 2022, Jose Mourinho in December 2018. Sir Alex Ferguson took control of United 40 years ago in November 1986.
Carrick has remained calm amid the chaos, but he is struggling to get a tune from the very same players who couldn’t stop winning under him last season. To make matters worse, United’s injuries are extensive, there is no recognised centre forward and the fixture list is unrelenting.
Manchester United’s problems go well beyond the first team manager. The club operate under the cloud of a vast and continuing debt placed on it when the Glazer family took over in a controversial and highly leveraged takeover in 2005.
Fans have consistently protested this, even when the team are winning. But the problems always come into sharper focus when United are on a losing streak, like they are on now.