Carragher says Fernandes ‘would not have won award without Carrick’

Jamie Carragher has called Bruno Fernandes’ criticism of Michael Carrick “shameful” and said the Manchester United captain’s conduct was not worthy of leading the club.

Fernandes questioned Carrick’s decision not to use man-to-man pressing after United’s 4-1 defeat by Como in the Champions League on Wednesday. Carrick responded in his news conference: “If you don’t run back, you won’t win.”

The exchange came just over a week after Lisandro Martinez criticised Manchester United’s hierarchy following the 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid. Carragher had already said the Argentina defender had “completely overstepped the mark”, and he took a similar view of Fernandes’ comments.

“We said Lisandro Martinez completely overstepped the mark when he criticised the hierarchy,” the former Liverpool defender told CBS Sports.

“But Bruno Fernandes doing it is shameful. Last season he won the player of the year award, and Michael Carrick, who was in charge, deserves credit for that. He would not have won that award without Carrick, who put him back in his proper position.”

Carragher also accused Fernandes of reacting badly because he had been substituted and embarrassed by Carrick during the match.

“His behaviour and the way he deals with things are completely wrong,” he said. “He behaved like that because he was taken off and felt embarrassed by the manager.”

Fernandes’ comments about pressing were also challenged by Carragher, who said the midfielder had long represented United’s inability to press effectively.

“When he talks about pressing, whether it is man-to-man or zonal, Bruno Fernandes has meant for years that Manchester United cannot press,” he said.

“He runs everywhere like a child in a schoolyard for the supporters. They all think he is working extremely hard, but he is not. What he does exhausts the rest of the team.”

Carragher compared Fernandes with former United captain Bryan Robson, saying Robson had not played for a team that won the league or European trophies every season but remained one of the club’s greatest players.

“He never betrayed the manager or his team-mates. He always defended Manchester United with everything he had,” Carragher said.

He added that Fernandes’ regular gestures towards team-mates made his criticism of the manager particularly inappropriate.

“Watching Bruno play every week, constantly throwing his arms up at players, it is shameful for him to criticise the manager given his performances on the pitch this season,” he said. “It is very poor behaviour and not worthy of a Manchester United captain.”

Carragher questioned how many managers Fernandes had worked under and whether all of them had lacked a clear identity. He praised Como head coach Cesc Fabregas as one of the best young coaches technically, but said Manchester United were “rotten from the top to the bottom”.

Carragher welcomed Carrick’s response and the decision to remove Fernandes, but suggested the defeat could have serious consequences for the manager.

“It is an embarrassing result, but I do not think many people expected Manchester United to win tonight,” he said. “The shocking part is the way it happened.”

He added: “It was such a poor result and performance that it could have serious repercussions for the manager, unfortunately. He is a good young man and a good Manchester United player who had an outstanding season last year, but it appears another United manager could fall again.”