Michael Carrick on the brink after Manchester United are humiliated by Bournemouth

After Bruno Fernandes was dropped for “pure football” reasons – according to Michael Carrick – could Manchester United actually win a game of football?

The answer, again, was a resounding, humiliating no, and if the manager’s job remains in real peril, you have to wonder, too, if this beleaguered team should steel themselves for a relegation dogfight. They lack imagination, cohesion, fight, confidence, and anything resembling joy and so now hovering a point above the drop zone, survival cannot be taken for granted.

Goals from Rayan, Marcus Tavernier and Evanilson downed United this afternoon yet what has killed Carrick and side in the past fortnight is the insubordination of Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martínez plus the deeper malaise of a club that is riven by factions.

The Sir Jim Ratcliffe-led football department may issue Carrick the bullet but the next man – Eddie Howe is favoured and is open to the job – will surely not break the boom-bust cycle that is each new manager’s fate. Before this latest debacle, you had to flick the calendar back 45 days to 10 September (eight games ago), for the last time United chalked up a “W” and gave their fans reason to cheer.

Once more Carrick’s men failed to do so. Equally as disappointing is how, in the days since Fernandes’s public takedown of Carrick, no apology has been forthcoming from the captain.

Where Martínez did say sorry for criticising Jason Wilcox (though, not to the director of football), the United captain’s silence speaks volumes. If Carrick made an error in not dropping Martínez for his outburst, discarding Fernandes was the correct call and so Harry Maguire’s redemption arc was complete, being handed the armband, after it was taken off him and given to the Portuguese in July 2023.

Now, Carrick surely fears being removed after a buoyant Bournemouth made it four successive wins versus an opponent offering scant resistance, as the boos ringing out at the end signified.

As is the case for this Carrick iteration, midfield control was an issue throughout. Youri Tielemans lost the ball, Bournemouth’s passing went tap-tap-tap, and United were turned.

Even when Leny Yoro fashioned a one-two with Tielemans and swept the ball left to Diogo Dalot, the move foundered, and moments later the young right-back was clearing from beneath his bar as a Rayan cross went close to teeing Evanilson up. All of this, yet again, pointed to a team that seem unable to execute whatever Carrick’s plan is.

Senne Lammens would hoof upfield aimlessly, Maguire heads possession back to a white shirt instead of chesting down, and as the half hour passed a wild Dalot shot was their sole one registered.

So, when Bournemouth scored it was due to United shooting themselves in both feet. First came Ayden Heaven’s wild scissor challenge that had Evanilson leaping out of danger and was adjudged a yellow-card offence.

The second self-inflicted moment came when Justin Kluivert’s free-kick, on a diagonal from Bournemouth’s right, was allowed to drop on Rayan’s boot freely with the Brazilian entirely unmarked.

“Sacked in the morning” came the derisory chants from the travelling faithful and when their men doubled then lead on 42 minutes you wondered if Carrick might not last until then.

Again, this should have been avoided. This time Yoro was to blame as he contrived to slip near United’s area, allowing Adrien Truffert to collect, the left-back squared to Tavernier, who slid into the net.

Cue the unfurling of a Stretford End tifo that said: “STANDARDS” above the faces of Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson and Roy Keane, the Cherries congregation this time offering, “going down with the City”, on repeat.

Carrick’s move for a second half that might decide his fate was to take off Tielemans for Matheus Cunha, Mason Mount (anonymous again), taking the No 10 position. If the manager had, indeed, dropped Fernandes for his form, then the opening period was a fair argument to reinstate him. Yet if Rayan had not fluffed a simple chance to make it 3-0 – the attempt was a pea-roller – even the mutineer would not be able to save United.

Next, though, it was game – and, possibly Carrick’ tenure – over. Lammens charged out to clear a through ball, Evanilson beat him to it, rounded the flailing No 1, and from around 40 yards out on the right sliced a curving finish into the waiting net.

Carrick’s visage was a picture of hurt. On the bench, Fernandes zipped his top right up, while in his posh seat, Wilcox sank lower into his winter coat. This would not stop him hearing, towards the end, the chants of “Jason Wilcox is a wanker”. Cruel but there is true pain being felt in these parts.