Jamie Carragher has taken aim at Manchester United's interim setup, arguing that a key tactical decision made during their defeat to Manchester City ultimately backfired and hindered the team's best player, Bruno Fernandes.
Speaking on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, the former Liverpool defender turned pundit dissected the changes made during the match, focusing particularly on the decision to withdraw Youri Tielemans in the 67th minute in favor of introducing striker Benjamin Sesko. While United were trailing 1-0 and facing a Manchester City side reduced to ten men, Carragher acknowledged that many managers would have opted for the same swap, sacrificing a midfielder for attacking reinforcement. However, he insisted the consequences of that switch were overlooked.
According to Carragher, removing Tielemans forced Fernandes into a deeper central midfield role, a positional shift he believes robbed United of their most influential attacking threat at a crucial stage of the game.
"Sesko comes on and they take a midfield player off in Tielemans," Carragher said. "You might say 'you're losing 1-0, against ten men, you bring a striker on and take a midfielder off', most managers would probably do that and say that's what you should do. But the knock-on effect for Manchester United is that means Bruno Fernandes goes to central midfield. That was the change Michael Carrick made going the other way when Ruben Amorim was the manager. That's why I go back to the tactical change and think they got it wrong. It wasn't just about bringing Sesko on and who they brought him on for, it's what happened with Bruno Fernandes."
To illustrate his point, Carragher referenced a still image from late in the match showing United's forward line consisting of Patrick Dorgu, Joshua Zirkzee, Harry Maguire, and Diogo Dalot, questioning why Fernandes was not positioned further up the pitch to influence the game going forward.
"The best player in the Premier League, the best player by a mile in the Manchester United team is Bruno Fernandes. Where is Bruno Fernandes here?" Carragher asked. "Bruno Fernandes is here (on the halfway line), he's marking Erling Haaland. This is in the 88th minute, there's a couple of minutes left until we get to added time and the best player in the Premier League is marking Erling Haaland."
Carragher suggested that this outcome was an unintended consequence of Carrick's tactical reshuffle rather than a deliberate plan, noting that pulling Fernandes deeper effectively neutralized his attacking influence during a period when United desperately needed a spark to salvage a result.
"Michael Carrick wouldn't have wanted that but the point being, because he made that tactical decision to put him in central midfield, he's ended up there because Bruno likes to get involved in everything," Carragher explained. "That was the knock-on effect of Michael Carrick's decision to take Tielemans off and drop Bruno Fernandes deeper. He didn't want him to be looking after Haaland, he didn't want him deeper but, unfortunately, that was the knock-on effect of bringing a midfielder player off and Sesko not coming on for Cunha at half time."
Carragher's comments add to the growing scrutiny of United's in-game management, with the substitution pattern coming under fire despite the numerical advantage the team held for much of the second half. The defeat to City leaves further questions about how United's coaching staff manage personnel changes in high-pressure matches, particularly regarding the positioning of key creative players like Fernandes.
Based on reporting from Standard Football.