Bruno Fernandes questions Man Utd's leadership - is he right?
Bruno Fernandes questions Manchester United's leadership as Carrick comes under pressure
The show discusses the fallout from Manchester United's heavy European defeat to Como, Bruno Fernandes publicly questioning Michael Carrick's tactics and the wider leadership at the club. The consensus is that Carrick is under severe pressure and may not survive, but the hierarchy and transfer strategy share more of the blame; it also touches on Como, Nico Paz and possible successors.
- This defeat to Como is worse than the loss to the fourth-tier side and may cost Carrick his job; with Bruno publicly questioning the manager's tactics, one of them probably has to go. — The performance was spineless, the captain undermined the manager, and sacking the head coach and his staff is cheaper than clearing out underperforming players.
- The root problem is a lack of leadership at the top, and Carrick was let down in the transfer window. — They needed full-backs and a backup striker but did not get them, the midfield signings have not been good enough, and the Glazers have never taken responsibility while Ratcliffe and others also need to examine what went wrong.
- Carrick is under huge pressure and probably will not last much longer, but the club hierarchy should be facing these questions. — He is not a big-name manager who can shield himself and is seen as disposable; with two players questioning the club in a week, he is the one repeatedly sent out to defend it.
- Bruno's public criticism of Carrick and the coaching staff is embarrassing and a failure of captaincy. — He had enough time on the pitch to change the game but did not lead by example; a captain should rally the team and raise his own level rather than air tactical divisions.
- Carrick is right that the team did not run enough; United have long lacked mobility, intensity and running. — That was visible on television and fans have said it for a long time; the running numbers were probably even worse than recently.
- United have tried every type of manager without success; if they change again, Conte or Eddie Howe are worth trying, but the club does not know what it needs. — Conte has openly angled for a job in England and United are the only realistic club of that stature, while Howe is available and less abrasive; the deeper problem is United's lack of clarity.
- Nico Paz is a top young talent worth watching, and United could not handle him. — He comes from a footballing family, wears the No 10 shirt, is developing well under Fabregas, took his two goals with confidence and precision, and kept running at United all game, drawing rash challenges.
- Carrick's job is under greater threat than ever, and the international break could be when the owners act; but the hierarchy should be blamed more than Carrick for the club's disappointment. — Fernandes's comments suggest a divided dressing room and doubts about the manager, the fixture run is tough, and owners often sack managers during international breaks.
► Subscribe to Sky Sports News: http://bit.ly/SkySportsNewsSub ► Watch Sky Sports with NOW: https://bit.ly/NOWSkySportsYT Henry Winter (The Football Boardroom) and Nick Miller (The Athletic) join Paper Talk to discuss Manchester United's 4-1 defeat to Como in the Champions League. They debate Bruno Fernandes' comments after the match, whether his criticism of the club's leadership is justified, and what the result could mean for Manchester United's management moving forward. SkySportsNews SkySports championsleague ► For the latest developments on this story: https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/topstories ► For the latest transfer news: https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/TransferCentre More from Sky Sports on YouTube: ► Sky Sports: http://bit.ly/SkySportsSub ► Sky Sports Boxing: http://bit.ly/SSBoxingSub ► Sky Sports Cricket: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyCricket ► Sky Sports Darts: https://bit.ly/SubSkySportsDarts ► Sky Sports Football: http://bit.ly/SSFootballSub ► Sky Sports F1: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyF1 ► Sky Sports Golf: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsGolf ► Sky Sports Premier League: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsPL ► Sky Sports Retro: http://bit.ly/SkySportsRetroSub ► Sky Sports WSL: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsWSL ► TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skysportsnews ► X: https://x.com/SkySportsNews ► Website: https://www.skysports.com ► To enquire about licensing Sky Sports content, you can find out more here: https://www.skysports.com/more-sports/news/31754/11434270/license-sky-sports-footage
Transcript
Nick Henry, great to have you back on paper talk. I think you know where we're going to start and that's with Manchester United, of course. Let's go to the back page of the star. We saw that picture there of Michael Carrick, Bruno Fernandez looking worse for wear. Comos is the headline. Bruno and Carrick war as United flops pass out. They say Henry, we're just over a year away uh from that shocking loss by Manchester United to fourth tier Grimby in the Caribel Cup. Is this result on par with that? >> Um, that's a good question. No, I actually think it's worse because it looks like it's going to cost or it may well cost Michael Carrick his job. He went straight over to to the fans to applaud them, the 700 [snorts] Hardy souls who had to put up with that absolute shambles, pathetic, spineless performance for from the team tonight. And then you had, as you've been trailing all evening, you had effectively the war of words. His captain has thrown him under the bus, Landro Martinez. His quotes uh last week were bad enough, but now you got Bruno Fernandez just questioning the manager's tactics and and probably one of them has to go. We've been down this road with many clubs and particularly Manchester United before and there can really only be one outcome because it's cheaper to get rid of the head coach and his assistants than it is to get rid of a bunch of underperforming players. But look, Manchester United, the once great family under Sir Alex Ferguson, have now become a dysfunctional divided family and they're people up top who've got to look at themselves. you know, we're not expecting any semblance of of common sense or responsibility taken from by the Glazers because they've never done that since 2005. But I think that Barada and Will Cox and Ratcliffe have just got to look at what they've gone wrong got wrong and just very simply they let Michael Carrick down in the transfer window. They needed fullbacks. They needed a backup striker. They bought two out of the three midfielders really are not good enough. Andre Santos and Yuri Tielemans. Why was there a release clause on him? you know, he was getable. So, look, it is a chronicle of a death foretold. There are issues all over the club, but it comes down essentially to lack of leadership. Carrick's made mistakes, selection, tactics, inspiration, not particularly inspiring in in press conferences either, but he is the one person who's probably going to pay for this shambles tonight with his job. And he is the one of all those I've named who cares most about this great club. >> Yeah, lots to unpick. Nick, let me bring you in here as we look at the back page of the Daily Express. Carrick plays blame game. Boss blast flops as side hit new low. Usually what we see from Carrick Nick is him defending his players at all costs. This is a change of tact from Carrick. Is this a sign that he is under more pressure than ever before? >> Yeah, I mean for sure. I I'm always slightly reticent about judging managers too much when they're kind of being grilled by the press in the aftermath of a result like this. You know, not that not everything is necessarily kind of thought through. and you know he he obviously when presented with you know the second player in the space of a week questioning the the some way that the club the or the team is being run um after a European defeat then you know he got more defensive than he should have been but that but that is obviously because he knows the the pressures on him he knows that you know he is not the kind of bigname manager that um you know that might have insulated him from uh from you know if this was this these results also were happening under someone else then you know he he he's possibly seen as slightly disposable even though as as Henry says the um the problems at the club are you know not really his fault. It's and he is sort of forced to go out there all the time and um you know a couple of times a week and defend this. It's just another example of how [snorts] people from the club's hierarchy should be um should have these questions asked to them. So yeah, he is under a huge amount of pressure. He he probably isn't going to last too much longer. Um and you know that's a that's a real shame as Henry says he's he's very passionate about United. >> Okay, let's look at the Telegraph now. They've splashed on Michael Carrick and their headline Fernandez turns on Carrick. captain calls out tactics in latest show of disscent. If you don't run, you don't win, manager retorts. Also reflected in the times as well, Bruno turns on Carrick. United captain questions tactics after humiliating defeat by Ko. Look, you've already picked up on this um Henry, the fact that we had just a couple of weeks ago Nissandre Martinez coming out criticizing the hierarchy. Now you've got the captain criticizing the manager and the coaching staff. Is this a sign that perhaps there is a lot of dysfunction and perhaps he's lost the dressing room Michael Carrick? >> Yeah, and Bruno Fernandez has lost leave of his senses as well as Michael Carrick probably losing the uh the dressing room. It's embarrassing all over. It's particularly embarrassing from Bruno Fernandez because he actually has a certain amount of time in the game before he was rightly hooked to actually do something about this performance. I mean what we tend to expect from uh from captains is that they rally the troops. They raise their own game. They set their example. This is the club of of Brian Robson, you know, and and others since then who have worn that shirt with pride who have taken that armband as a sort of call to arms and actually rallied the players. Did Bruno Fernandez did that do that tonight? No, not at all. These war of words, when you look at them, are pretty specific about tactical flaws. Bruno Fernandez effectively saying that his manager got the the tactics wrong. There wasn't sort of man-to-man pressing and then Carrick hit back in a slightly unichallike way actually to have a go because Michael tends to want to keep everything within the in the dressing room. And he basically said, well, they didn't run forward enough. They didn't run backwards enough. Which I have to say, just watching the game on on television, you could see that. And Manchester United fans have been saying it for for a long time. There's a lack of mobility, intensity, running in that team. Their running figures were I imagine are even worse tonight than they've been recently. But we also have to take a step back and congratulate Ko Fabregas. What a job he's doing there. Nikopaz, what a player he is. And so look, there two sides to every story and Ko were as good as Manchester United were embarrassing. >> Um Ko were very impressive and it was a deserved win, wasn't it? Um Nick, looking at Manchester United's and the decisions that they've made for their managers, they've seem to have been through every single type of manager. They've had the relaxed former player in Soljar. They've had the authoritarian in Tenhog. They've had something a little bit different and eccentric in Van Hal. They've had the experienced big personality in Mourinho. They've had the young upand cominging manager in Ruben Amaran. None of them have worked. If Carrick isn't the man for the job, who is? Uh well yeah I mean this is the the big question. I think the most obvious name that people will think of is Antonio Conte. Um he gave an interview to my athletic colleague uh James Horncastle a couple of weeks ago in which he was fairly nakedly angling for a job in England. He he was talking about England. And you know when you kind of go through the clubs of the stature that Conte might manage want to manage, it's only really United that's probably the the you know that would be realistic at the moment. He he doesn't like taking jobs halfway through the season. He regretted doing that at Tottenham, but you know that's Tottenham. But I don't know will he take another job mid-season in a dysfunctional club? I mean whether he's the right man for United they might as well give it a give it a try. Um you know as as you say they've tried pretty much everything else. I suppose Eddie how is the other name that might be around. He's available. He would be kind of slightly um less abrasive shall we say. Um so you know maybe maybe that's what Manchester United need. The problem is I don't think Manchester United know what Manchester United need at the moment. So, it's a bit tricky for the rest of us to work it out as well. >> Yeah, but we will continue to speculate, I'm sure, and reflect uh in paper talk. Meanwhile, after the match, Michael Carrick said he's not thinking about his position, which is pretty much what he said all along. Um, now Henry, let me come back to you because you did mention Ko and how fantastic this result is for them. What about Nico Paz? Two goals on the night. An exciting young talent to keep an eye on. >> Yeah, I mean, it comes from good stock. His father Pablo was on the bench at France 98 when Argentina knocked out England in in Sanetienne. So we've we've had issues with his family before. Uh absolute talent wearing the number 10 shirt and there may well be a vacancy. Well, there is a vacancy in the national team. I mean he's what 21 22 is developing superbly under Sesh Fabregas. I it wasn't simply the goals the confident way he took the goals the the technique and and the precision. It was it was throughout he you know the time he was on the field you know he kept on running at at Manchester United you know they dived in on him and it was and he was away you know it was it was fantastic to see but probably very painful for Manchester United to see. >> Um Henry let me stay with you because I'm just looking at Manchester United's next round of fixtures and they've got Bournemouth and then they've got a really critical period coming up where they're at Chelsea. They've got that European tie against Roma. They play Villa who have found their form and then they go to Anfield. We could get to the middle of November where things are even worse for Manchester United. Is Michael Carrick's job under threat more so now than it's ever been? >> 100%. I mean, you know, I have huge admiration for him and I'd like to see him do well. But, you know, if you have performances like that, you have Bruno Fernandez who's such an influential figure within the club, uh, you know, making comments like that which hint at a divided dressing room and doubts about the, uh, the the manager. Plus, we've got an international break coming up at at some point, another one. And, uh, owners tend to sort of often move um, or do their uh, you know, get rid of managers during that period. You mentioned Roma. I mean that'll probably bring back certain nice warm memories for Michael Carrick because he probably had his best game ever for them. Certainly in Europe against against Rome. He scored a couple of goals against them. But you know this is not about going down memory lane. This is about the future and it looks difficult for Michael Carrick now unfortunately. But others should be looking at themselves as well because they're the ones who've let the club down more than Michael Carrick has. >> Yeah. It could be a long road back for Manchester United to get back to successful times.