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Manager apologises to fans after 4-1 defeat in Como Captain criticises ‘decision from the staff’ not to press Michael Carrick’s future as Manchester United manager is in the balance after a humiliating 4-1 Champions League defeat by Como on Wednesday night. Before Bournemouth’s visit to Old Trafford on Sunday his future may be discussed by Jason Wilcox, the director of football, Omar Berrada, the chief executive, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the co-owner who controls sporting policy. On a torrid night an “angry” ­Carrick insisted afterwards that he had not given his position any thought and was forced to defend himself against Bruno Fernandes after his captain questioned the manager’s tactics of not pressing against Cesc Fàbregas’s team. Carrick also criticised his side for not running. The defeat by Como in the third Champions League group game leaves United with only two wins all season from 11 games. ­Carrick’s side are in 13th place in the Premier League and were eliminated from the Carabao Cup last month. The 45-year-old was asked if he fears for his job. “Listen, I’ve not given my own position any thought,” he said. “[My thoughts are] for the supporters – I was one of them watching that and I wasn’t happy at all.” Carrick was then asked if he could walk away following the latest defeat in Europe. “No. It’s not about me right now and my feelings in that regard,” the manager said. “It’s more of as a team and as a football club, what we want to look like, what we should look like. And as I said, the results can come and go at times, but you got to do it in a certain way. And that wasn’t it.” 700 United sup­porters travelled. At the end around 200 remained and Carrick went to ­apologise to them, noticeably ­ignoring his players. After United conceded Nico Paz’s second-minute goal, Carrick’s men were unable to mount any resistance. By 57 minutes Como led 3-0, due to Tasos Douvikas’s strike and Paz’s second, before Jacobo Ramón completed the scoring for the Italian side on 76 minutes. Joshua Zirkzee netted in added time for the visitors. Fernandes openly challenged ­Carrick’s strategy during the match. “It’s a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball, wait for them, but sometimes when you give space to these teams they get confidence,” he said. The captain was asked if Carrick’s tactics were wrong. “That’s on the manager and staff to see, not me,” he said. “Sometimes you have to be more brave under pressure, take the risk of pressing high and making them uncomfortable. As you saw with them, the centre-back was coming to mark me in my own half. We need to do that as a team but we were unable to.” Fernandes’s criticism was put to his manager after the match. “We actually half-pressed man-to-man the second half and then conceded a goal from that,” Carrick said. “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 was asked how he can raise the mood before Bournemouth’s visit. “I’m bitterly disappointed, I’m frustrated; more than frustrated, I’m really angry. But you’ve got to move on. You got to deal with what’s next and see what that looks like. “At this moment in time, there’s a lot to do before that next game to get the team ready because that was a difficult night for everyone. I have to apologise to the supporters.”

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In the shadow of the Alps, a boat ride from George Clooney’s villa, Manchester United’s torrid season plunged into chaos and infighting just 11 games in. Michael Carrick’s status as United manager is now precarious because witnessed here by Lake Como was a humiliation of the three-time European champions by Cesc Fàbregas’s competition debutants. At the end about 200 of United’s 700 travelling fans remained. Carrick walked over to say sorry, raising his hands three or four times in supplication. But, markedly, he ignored his players, the manager later admitting to “anger” at what was witnessed. He was then embroiled in a wrangle with his captain after Bruno Fernandes stated “the staff” decided on a tactic not to press. Carrick’s riposte, deep in the stadium at the post-game media conference, was pithy. “We actually half-pressed man-to-man the second half and then conceded a goal from that,” he said. And so, after Lisandro Martínez called out Jason Wilcox last week following the 2-0 defeat at Atletico Madrid (for the director of football’s recruitment; the defender later apologised), we now have the spectacle of the manager and his captain at loggerheads. Whether the 45-year-old will be in place for the visit of Bournemouth on Sunday is the searing question because Carrick was unable to rouse his players when 1-0 down at half‑time after a dire start, and if he has a tactical plan this is a mystery. Carrick brushed away questions about quitting and fearing for his job, but the executive will surely discuss this. The manner of the defeat will be top of the agenda because by 57 minutes this was over: Como were 3-0 ahead, and Nico Paz had destroyed Carrick’s men with a scintillating display featuring two goals and the assist for Tasos Douvikas’s strike. When the Italian side attacked and defended it was as a unit drilled supremely by Fàbregas. Carrick, on this and the evidence of only two wins all term, is a coach struggling to match this. Como’s supremacy in the most famous victory of their 119 years came with only 62 total Champions League appearances by their players to United’s 242. Or, more simply, this was the Italians’ men against United’s boys at a sold-out Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, where the visitors went down to a club whose tagline is “the most beautiful football in the most beautiful location”. For United, though, this was an ugly night in Lombardy. Disaster struck two minutes in. Carrick’s men snoozed, allowing a Paz curler from the right to beat Senne Lammens. This was a whole 60 seconds longer than Atlético were kept out, as United became the first English team to concede inside two minutes in consecutive major European matches. The opener came moments after Diogo Dalot spurned a simple opening to dizzy the hosts, so here was United, in microcosm, at each end of the pitch: a basic lack of quality. Mason Mount lined up alongside Andrey Santos in a midfield that had Matheus Cunha, Youri Tielemans and Bryan Mbeumo ahead, with Fernandes a false-ish 9. As Como hogged possession throughout, any United foray needed to threaten Jean Butez’s goal: Mbeumo’s corner from the right patently did not when failing to clear a first defender. After a near 24-hour deluge the rain finally stopped but Como’s blue wave continued relentlessly. United’s press was piecemeal, as Fernandes identified, maybe involving one or two, but never a group act. At the interval, Carrick had to earn his corn. In missing nine players because of injury, suspension or illness, there was mitigation. Matthijs de Ligt, partnering Harry Maguire in central defence, being thrown straight in for a first appearance in 325 days after a serious back injury illustrated Carrick’s straitened resources. Carrick’s move was to take off Cunha and Santos for Carlos Baleba and Amad Diallo in a reshuffle that took Tielemans into central midfield, Fernandes to No 10, and Mbeumo leading the line. The net result: Como’s second. Paz enjoyed a universe of time to thread in Douvikas, and he powered past Lammens. This was a mere four minutes into the second half and thoughts turned to the clock ticking on Carrick’s tenure, before Como scored twice more. First came Paz’s second, the Argentinian skating along the right and beating Lammens for 3-0. Then, on 76 minutes, Como waltzed through for a fourth time. Up rose Jacobo Ramón to head in Kaiki Bruno’s cross from the left and United’s disintegration was complete – Joshua Zirkzee’s stoppage-time goal not even a consolation. By the end Carrick seemed as broken as his team. Even if Carrick survives until Sunday, who knows how much longer he will remain after Bournemouth’s visit. He was let down in the summer market but at this club the manager usually pays, not the hierarchy.

UEFA Champions League·4–1

Matthijs de Ligt comes in for Manchester United, making his first appearance since November last year, as Michael Carrick makes four changes. Como make three changes, with Trevoh Chalobah missing out. Como: Butez; Yan Couto, Ramon, Kempf, Valle; Milla, Perrone; Da Cunha, Paz, Baturina; Douvikas. Subs: Ginelli, Sanchez, Caqueret, Dossena, Kaiki Bruno, Ricci, Smolcic, Liberali. Manchester United: Lammens; Dalot, Maguire, De Ligt, Mazraoui; Andrey Santos, Tielemans; Matheus Cunha, Bruno Fernandes, Mount; Mbeumo. Subs: Darlow, Heaton, Zirkzee, Diallo, Baleba, Thompson, Lacey, J Fletcher, T Fletcher, Amass, Kamason, Armer. Referee: Sven Jablonski (Germany).