Danny Murphy has criticised Michael Carrick for leaving Bruno Fernandes on the bench throughout Manchester United’s 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth, arguing that the captain should either have been used or left out of the squad entirely.
Fernandes was an unused substitute at Old Trafford on October 25, four days after he questioned Carrick’s tactics following a 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como. Carrick called the omission a pure footballing decision.
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Speaking to talkSPORT, Murphy said the issue should have been settled before the Bournemouth match.
“I’m surprised they didn’t get it all sorted before the weekend’s game against Bournemouth because he’s your best player,” he said. “He could have given him a rollicking in front of the boys regarding the comments which were ill-advised and bad timing with everything going on.”
His objection was to the half-measure rather than the punishment.
“Even if he was to put him on the bench against Bournemouth to make a point, not bringing him on was silly,” he said. “If you’ve got no intention of bringing him on and punishing him, don’t put him in the squad.”
Trailing 2-0 at the interval, Carrick had, in Murphy’s view, the obvious route back.
“But when you’ve got your best player on the bench and you’re 2-0 down at half-time, that’s the time to say: ‘Go on then, show me how much you care, show me I was wrong,’” he said. “He got that massively wrong.”
Carrick remains in charge of Manchester United for now, with BBC Sport reporting on Tuesday that he will take the team to Chelsea on Saturday.
Manchester United 0-3 Bournemouth: two first-half goals and Evanilson’s second-half lob extended the Red Devils’ winless run to eight games
Rayan Vitor put Bournemouth ahead on 38 minutes from Justin Kluivert’s free-kick, after Ayden Heaven had given the ball away and then fouled Evanilson. Marcus Tavernier made it two five minutes later when Leny Yoro slipped near his own penalty area, and Adrien Truffert set him up. Evanilson added the third after the break, lifting the ball over Senne Lammens from well outside the box.
Harry Maguire wore the armband in Fernandes’s absence, with Mason Mount and Youri Tielemans asked to supply the creativity. Carrick sent on Matheus Cunha at half-time, then Lisandro Martínez, Joshua Zirkzee and Shea Lacey, using four of his five substitutions. The defeat left Manchester United 16th on seven points from eight league games, one point above the relegation zone and without a win in eight matches in all competitions.
Edited by Vignesh Raja
