Carrick sack coming after brave Bruno call as Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth

Manchester United boss Michael Carrick was left with little choice but to drop Bruno Fernandes for Sunday’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth.

The United captain openly criticised his manager’s tactics following the embarrassing 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como on Wednesday.

His comments might have seemed fair to some, but it’s a concern you simply must raise in-house, and it didn’t require a chat with Sir Alex Ferguson for Carrick to realise Fernandes couldn’t start his side’s next game.

As soon as the starting XI was confirmed, we had the feeling Carrick needed a comfortable win more than ever. Not only for his own job security and Manchester United’s league position, but also to ensure he didn’t feel compelled to turn to Fernandes to salvage a result against a Bournemouth side that had won only their first Premier League match of the season seven days earlier.

Fernandes’ omission provided an opportunity for Mason Mount, while an untested midfield trio of Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos lined up against Bournemouth’s Lewis Cook and Tyler Adams.

Carrick also opted to play Leny Yoro at right-back again, with Lisandro Martinez dropping out for Ayden Heaven, who partnered Harry Maguire.

The decision to bench Fernandes was described as a “pure football” one, and Carrick has plausible deniability because his captain has been rubbish for a while now.

Yet, with so much pressure on Carrick to turn things around, starting with a victory over Bournemouth, the Fernandes debacle feels secondary.

With his job on the line against the Cherries, Carrick could easily have played his rebellious captain to give his side the best possible chance of a result, but he did not. It was a strong and correct decision, one that should have gone down well with fans and sent the desired message to the players.

But secondary it was because Carrick knew failure to beat Bournemouth would probably have resulted in his dismissal, and a third Ineos managerial sacking in fewer than three years overseeing football operations, either way.

READ MORE: Michael Carrick will be sacked for three main Manchester United tactical failings

Carrick’s big, bold decision didn’t exactly backfire because it was a case of same s**t, different weekend with those selected to play, but it didn’t revitalise or inspire his players to show up and beat a team enduring the brutal Thursday-Sunday schedule.

The first half was nothing short of shambolic. There were no periods in which you could say United put their opponents under any sustained pressure, no real moments of quality from anyone, and both goals were completely avoidable.

Heaven, in for Martinez, gave away a needless free-kick with a very reckless slide that Evanilson jumped out of the way of to save both of his legs. From the resulting set-piece, a completely unmarked Rayan scored his first Premier League goal of the season.

Bournemouth supporters, days after serenading former Red Devils head coach Ruben Amorim, now with four games and no wins against the Cherries, with “it’s happened again” during their win over his AC Milan side on Thursday, broke into the classic “sacked in the morning” chant and “you’re going down with the City”.

They then doubled their lead through Marcus Tavernier.

In unfortunate yet comical circumstances, makeshift right-back Yoro slipped to give Adrien Truffert the easiest of assists and Tavernier the easiest of finishes, with Senne Lammens forced to close down the ball.

Gary Neville, on co-commentary, claimed it was Groundhog Day as those likely to decide Carrick’s fate, Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox, were shown on screen, pointing blame towards the hierarchy for letting it get this bad… again.

The issues clearly run deeper than Carrick, and replacing him is probably the right thing to do, yet you just don’t feel like it would solve a single problem. But, once again, the fact he is permanently in charge after a brilliant interim spell last season was a terrible decision, one that Neville said should not happen even if Carrick won all of his games following the announcement in January.

If Ole Gunnar Solskjaer didn’t teach United, Carrick most certainly will: never appoint an interim.

It’s the second managerial cock-up they have made after going against everything they knew was correct by giving Erik ten Hag a new contract after winning the FA Cup in the club’s worst Premier League campaign ever.

They are clearly not very good at their jobs, yet will remain in their positions for years to come, such is the untouchable nature of the CEO and technical director roles.

With United 2-0 down at half-time, the club’s hierarchy were among those in attendance hoping for a big reaction in the second half after a rousing Carrick team talk and genius tactical tweaks, but within 30 seconds of the restart, Evanilson scored an offside goal after some calamitous play by Heaven and Maguire. United got away with one, but the nature of the goal added even more nerves and frustration.

Carrick’s half-time tweak was to bring Matheus Cunha on for Tielemans, as Fernandes remained on the bench. If Carrick is going down, he’s doing it his way. Dying by the sword and all that.

As United gained more possession and settled into the half after the shambolic start, Carrick looked more and more beleaguered and resigned to his situation, much as Solskjaer did during his final game in charge of United:

“I more or less knew at half-time, so my team talk was about enjoying the last 45 minutes together and giving their all.”

Carrick’s chat would not have been as defeatist as that, but the usually calm and expressionless figure on the touchline looked like he knew what was coming his way.

With his job on the line, he turned to his bench with 30 minutes left, bringing on… Martinez for Heaven. Fernandes continued his warm-up as Carrick refused to swallow his pride. Martinez was instantly put on his arse by Rayan, who should have made it 3-0 after doing so, and United had nobody on the pitch capable of moving the needle to save the manager’s job.

As Joshua Zirkzee prepared to come on as Carrick’s third substitution and Fernandes continued his warm-up, Evanilson was putting the nail in the coffin with an extraordinary third Bournemouth goal, tapping the ball around Lammens and curling it in from a tight angle.

He might be losing his job, but Carrick has gone up in our estimations for refusing to cave with a cowardly substitution that was never going to save the game anyway. The Fernandes we’ve seen in recent weeks wasn’t salvaging anything.

Shea Lacey was the final substitution ahead of Fernandes, who will probably return to the starting XI against Chelsea next week under interim manager Darren Fletcher.

That is because Carrick is done. He is so unbelievably done after a humiliating 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth made it eight games without a win in all competitions.

The supporters know he is done, but they are not turning on their former midfielder. They know the blame lies upstairs and that the rot extends far beyond the dugout.

Carrick will go, just as others have before him, but it is difficult to shake the feeling that Manchester United will be right back here in 12 months’ time. The faces in the technical area may change; the people making the big decisions never seem to. That’s the real problem.