“We have lost our way a bit, if I’m honest, but I am totally convinced we will get it back.”

That was the opening line Michael Carrick chose at Carrington on Friday, delivered inside a six-minute address to reporters before anyone had asked a question. He was still Manchester United’s head coach, and he was speaking like someone who knew how fragile that status had become.

The admission did not stand alone.

“We are not entitled to be here, we are not entitled to win. It takes hard work.”

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Como 4-1: a night Carrick called unacceptable

The pressure Carrick is trying to answer was earned on Wednesday. Nico Paz scored twice for Como, striking inside the second minute and again on 57, with Tasos Douvikas finishing off a Paz pass four minutes into the second half and Jacobo Ramon heading home on 76 minutes. Joshua Zirkzee pulled one back in injury time.

The 4-1 defeat left United with three points from their first three Champions League matches and no win in any of their last seven games across all competitions. Carrick had already labelled the performance “unacceptable” at full-time, telling reporters: “I’m really angry but you’ve got to move on and deal with what’s next. It’s not about me, it’s about what we all give.”

Fernandes points at the pressing plan

Captain Bruno Fernandes left Italy questioning the tactical set-up in public. “It’s a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man, and sometimes leave a little space in behind and try to get the ball in the first moment, to wait for them,” Fernandes told TNT Sports afterwards.

The complaint was aimed at the coaching staff rather than his team-mates, and it landed on a side that has been out-run in six of its seven Premier League matches this season. Carrick’s own answer to the same problem has been blunter: “If you don’t run back, you ain’t going to win.”

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Bournemouth on Sunday with Carrick still in post

Carrick will take charge of Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Bournemouth at Old Trafford, despite the surrounding noise. The club’s hierarchy, Sky Sports reports, interviewed several candidates in January as part of the due diligence that preceded Carrick’s permanent appointment, though no fresh contact with those names has been reported.

Kick-off at Old Trafford is at 2pm.

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