Manchester United skipper Bruno Fernandes turned on head coach Michael Carrick following one of the most humiliating nights in the club's European history.
A 4-1 Champions League hammering at Como led to Carrick fielding questions about his future.
He apologised to the 700 travelling fans, having ignored his beaten players after the final whistle to march across the pitch and repeatedly hold his hands up - in a manner similar to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following a 4-1 defeat at Watford in November 2021 which led to his dismissal as United boss 24 hours later.
However, Fernandes - widely accepted as a football obsessive who watches games regularly as he understands the tactical side as well as any player in the United squad - inflicted more damage when he spoke to TNT Sports.
"It's a decision from the staff to not press man to man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball, but sometimes when you give space to these teams they get confidence," he told TNT Sports.
Asked directly whether Carrick got his tactics wrong, Fernandes added: "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."
Told of Fernandes' comments in his post-match press conference, Carrick offered a curt response: "There's a little bit of 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 aren't going to win."
Carrick also refused to answer questions about his own future.
Instead, he described his own feelings about United's performance and focused on taking responsibility.
"I have to apologise to the supporters," said the former player. "I care about this football club as much as anyone, if not more, with the position that I'm in and what I value this football club. For us to play in that way is not acceptable.
"I always go over to the fans anyway, regardless, so it wasn't a particularly different kind of reason why I went over.
"It's the appreciation and acknowledgement of what they've gone through and have done over a period of a few weeks now. As I said, I was one of them.
"I'm feeling the same as them. We've got a lot of values in this football club; what we represent and how we want to go about it. We might win, we might lose, but the way we went about it tonight wasn't acceptable. I just wanted to let the fans know that I feel for them.
"Listen. I've not given my own position any thought - this is for the supporters - I was one of them watching that and I wasn't happy all."