Man Utd 0-3 Bournemouth: How Carrick’s decision doomed the Red Devils

Manchester United are struggling for points, and Michael Carrick needs all the help he can get. Yet, he doomed himself to defeat when he benched the most influential player he has ever had the privilege of coaching: Bruno Fernandes.

Fernandes had practically criticised the coaching staff after the club’s defeat to Como in the Champions League during the week. This sparked debate, and rightly so. Whether he should have done it or not is irrelevant. What matters is whether he had a right to, and he did. Obviously, doing it publicly was unnecessary and ill-advised.

Carrick may deny that he benched Fernandes because of those comments, but it would be difficult to convince people that his decision had nothing to do with what was said after the game.

Let’s clear this up: Carrick has every right to bench Fernandes for whatever reason he sees fit. However, he has to own that decision and face the consequences of it.

Fernandes is Man Utd’s best player by a country mile. He either leads the statistics or ranks in the top two for goals, expected goals (xG), assists, expected assists (xA), distance covered, total shots, key passes, shots on target and accurate long balls completed.

In addition to that, he was the single biggest reason for Manchester United’s participation in this season’s Champions League. Even this season, he has produced some stellar performances for club and country. He has, quite literally, carried the club on his shoulders.

Playing with him never meant the Red Devils wouldn’t lose, but going without him almost guaranteed they would.

Man United needed Fernandes, and he was right there

Against Bournemouth, Carrick’s men lacked Fernandes’ quality in ball progression and chance creation. Youri Tielemans constantly lost the ball, offered little in chance creation and wasn’t particularly useful in ball progression.

The whole team looked like it was without a leader, and, predictably, the team was off-colour.

“We want to push forward and create more… we could’ve done certain things, but not enough…” Carrick said after the game.

If you don’t see the irony, here it is: if you want to create more, there is someone who currently holds the record for big chances created and assists provided in a season, who is “fit and available”, and who you decided to leave on the bench.

Actions have consequences

If Carrick was trying to avoid getting sacked, benching your best player and captain before losing 3-0 at home is a very poor way of doing it.

Obviously, if he had won, the story would be different. However, this game never looked like one Manchester United could win. If they had, you could make the argument that it was simply a game of margins.

As it is, it seems Fernandes’ exclusion can be directly linked to Carrick’s men getting pummeled, and that doesn’t look good for the Manchester United gaffer.

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