Press or run? Fernandes and Carrick give different accounts of the Como collapse

Bruno Fernandes says Manchester United did not press Como man-to-man because the staff decided against it. Michael Carrick says that whatever the tactics, his players did not run enough. Both accounts can be true, but they point in different directions.

The two accounts

After the 4-1 Champions League defeat, Fernandes told TNT Sports that it was “a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man”, according to Sky Sports, and said the question was one for the manager and staff. He added that United should be braver in how they press.

Carrick’s reply was twofold. According to Goal, he said United did press man-to-man for part of the second half and conceded from it. He also said he was “really angry” and that the issue was effort as much as shape. The wording of his running comment differs between Sky’s and Goal’s reports, so we have paraphrased it.

What the numbers add

Sky records that Como completed 594 passes, the most by any side against United in a Champions League game since Barcelona in April 2019. It also notes United conceded inside two minutes, as they did at Atletico Madrid the week before. Those figures fit either explanation. A side that sits off an opponent will see a lot of the ball go the other way, and a side that presses without the legs will too.

The detail that complicates Fernandes’s case comes from Goal: Carrick says a man-to-man press was tried and it failed. That does not make Fernandes wrong. It means a press can be the right idea and still be badly executed, and a captain who did not cover ground will be the first to be asked about it.

The substitution

Fernandes was taken off in the 60s with United three goals behind. UtdReport quotes Glenn Hoddle on TNT Sports calling the decision “a shock”, and notes the captain shook his head as he left. Reports give slightly different minutes for the change, so we have not stated one. The same site says he lost possession more often than any other United player.

That matters for Carrick’s argument. If the manager believes effort was the issue, taking off his most senior player is a consistent message. If Fernandes believes the system was the issue, it looks like punishment.

Context

This is the second dressing-room argument in two weeks. Lisandro Martinez criticised the club’s hierarchy after the Atletico defeat, and Sky reports that a meeting between him, Carrick and technical director Jason Wilcox later repaired relations. We compared the verdicts on that episode in our earlier piece.

The question of who is right on the press is one that only the club can answer, because it depends on instructions the public has not seen. What is public is that a captain and a manager have given opposite explanations on the same night, and that Jamie Carragher has already taken the manager’s side on the conduct, if not on the result. The next test is Sunday’s game against Bournemouth, where how United press will say more than either man’s interview.