Jamie Carragher says there was a “mismatch in the dugout” as Manchester United were humiliated 4-1 by Como in the Champions League, a result that has slashed Michael Carrick’s odds of being the next Premier League manager to leave his job.
United were outplayed from start to finish on the banks of Lake Como on Wednesday night. Nico Paz scored twice, with Anastasios Douvikas and Jacobo Ramon also on target for Cesc Fabregas’ side, before Joshua Zirkzee grabbed a late consolation in a defeat that flattered the visitors.
The loss was United’s seventh game without a win and their second straight defeat in the competition, following the full story of the night in our Como match report.
Carragher: ‘Embarrassing — and not even a shock’
Speaking on CBS Sports, Football365 reported Carragher calling the performance “embarrassing” while insisting the worst part was that few expected United to win in the first place.
“In some ways it doesn’t feel like a shock result. I think the manner of it is the shocking part,” Carragher said, warning the display could have serious repercussions for the manager. “In Fabregas, we’re looking at the next big coach in European football. So there is a mismatch in the dugout, but it is everything. Where do you start? It never ends. It’s a never-ending cycle. Is it the owners? Is it the manager? Is it the recruitment? Is it the players?”
Rio Ferdinand was just as damning, claiming Como made his former side look like they had “won a raffle to play in the Champions League”.
A dressing room and a dugout pulling apart
The cracks did not stop with the pundits. Captain Bruno Fernandes questioned the game plan after the match, as detailed in our report on Fernandes and his post-match comments, and Carrick publicly disagreed, saying the comments were not accurate before turning on his players’ work rate.
“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 ain’t going to win,” Carrick said. He also apologised to the travelling supporters after what he admitted was an unacceptable performance.
When a manager is disputing his captain in public and questioning his team’s running on the same night, the problem is no longer one bad result — it is authority draining away in real time.
Odds slashed, successors already priced up
The bookmakers moved fast. According to The Sun, Betfair cut Carrick from 2/1 into 17/20 to be the next Premier League manager to leave, with spokesman James Mackie saying his tenure “took another bleak turn” in Italy.
Former Newcastle boss Eddie Howe is the 9/4 favourite to take over if United act, with Antonio Conte and Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler at 5/1, Fabregas himself at 11/1 and Thomas Tuchel at 14/1. Fabregas, for his part, dismissed questions about the United job before the game as disrespectful to Carrick.
So what happens next?
United cannot keep absorbing nights like this. Seven without a win, a captain at odds with his manager, and senior players questioning the hierarchy in successive weeks point to a club where every layer is now under scrutiny at once — exactly Carragher’s “never-ending cycle” point.
The cruel irony is that Carrick is the reason United are in this competition at all after last season’s rescue job. That credit is not unlimited, and Como may have spent the last of it.
Beyond the Final Whistle: Carragher is right about the mismatch, but wrong if anyone thinks sacking Carrick alone fixes this. Fabregas showed what a coached, committed, clearly-drilled team looks like; United showed a collection of players who did not run and a captain arguing with his manager on television. Change the manager by all means — the results demand a decision — but until the recruitment and the dressing-room culture change with him, the next man will be facing the same verdict within a year.
Should Manchester United sack Michael Carrick now, or is the problem bigger than the manager? Let us know in the comments.
