Man United 0-3 Bournemouth on the day Carrick benched his captain
Four days after Bruno Fernandes questioned the tactics in a 4-1 loss at Como, Michael Carrick left him out of the XI and never brought him on. Rayan, Tavernier and Evanilson scored, and United sit 16th with one win in eight league games.
Manchester United lost 3-0 to Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday, in the game Michael Carrick chose to start without his captain. Bruno Fernandes sat on the bench for the full 90 minutes.
The call had been the talk of the morning. After Wednesday’s 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como, Fernandes told TV that the decision not to press man-to-man had handed the hosts too much space, and that the blame sat with the manager and his staff rather than the players. Carrick answered before kick-off. He described the selection as a pure football decision, and added that a side that doesn’t run forwards and backwards isn’t going to win.
Two goals in five minutes
Bournemouth settled it before half-time. Rayan scored on 38 minutes from Justin Kluivert’s pass, then Leny Yoro slipped, Adrien Truffert pounced and Marcus Tavernier made it two.
Carrick sent on Matheus Cunha for Youri Tielemans at the break, and later Joshua Zirkzee and Shea Lacey. Fernandes stayed put. The third went to Evanilson, the Brazilian who left Porto in 2024, a day after his old club made it nine league wins from nine.
Where it leaves Carrick
The numbers are turning against him. United have one win in eight Premier League games, eight without a win in all competitions, and sit 16th in the official Premier League table. Carrick was handed a permanent deal about five months ago, after steering the club back into the Champions League as interim manager last spring.
He now has a captain who has criticised him in public, a home crowd that watched three goals go in without reply, and an English press openly discussing his future. Fernandes, at Old Trafford since 2020, watched every minute of it from the bench.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Ardfern / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · 2021 photo