Change captain? Play the kids? How to solve the problems at Manchester United

The beleaguered Michael Carrick’s job is on the line, but there are steps he can take to revive the stricken club

The big question as Bournemouth arrive for Sunday’s 2pm kick-off at Old Trafford is whether Michael Carrick will show his authority by stripping the captaincy from Bruno Fernandes and/or dropping Manchester United’s five-times player of the year. On Friday, Carrick refused to deny he may do so, but the bigger picture concerns whether cashing in on the Portuguese and his fellow mutineer, Lisandro Martínez, in the winter window would be prescient to initiate a new era. Fernandes and Martínez are out of contract in the close season (the club has an extra year’s option in both cases) and, judging by recent behaviour, intend to leave. So yielding, say, £40m and £25m respectively for them in January would allow investment as the rebuild begins. Even a few days on, Fernandes’s words in Como seem incredible: “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 after Wednesday’s 4-1 humiliation. Fernandes’s open questioning of the tactics is a challenge to the head coach’s authority and we wait to see how/if Carrick will face it down. If Carrick acts and proves he is not a lame duck then even if he is removed a favour is done for his successor.

Seven hundred United supporters made the trip to Lombardy and witnessed a horror show in incessant rain as their team folded against Cesc Fàbregas’s side. Yet, as always, the faithful will be there on Sunday desperate to cheer their men on against Bournemouth and beyond. Carrick constantly talks of how fans are the club’s lifeblood but do all of the players feel this? Performances such as that at Como will surely be averted if a base creed citing how fundamental supporters are to United is laid down to the squad by the manager.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s flying wingers, Sir Matt Busby’s holy trinity of Best, Law, Charlton, the “attack, attack, attack” mentality: none of this is evident currently on the field; part of what Carrick admitted on Friday had been “lost”. What is needed is a return to this tradition, and this team are capable as was evident in the spirit of Carrick’s first game of his second tenure. Then, on 17 January 2026 at Old Trafford, he sent out an XI that went at Manchester City from the opening whistle, gave Pep Guardiola’s men zero time to breathe, and a rousing 2-0 victory sent all of a United stripe home jubilant. This, basically, was Carrick’s side last season, a proposition that played with a bounce that landed in third place. This term the smile has vanished and a prevailing sense of doom has settled over the club – precisely what Carrick had vanquished after the gloom of Ruben Amorim’s final days. Time to restore the cavalier edge.

United have suffered, in part, this term owing to Carrick’s drive to move to a more possession-based proposition. The problem is one of the key midfielders recruited to execute this, Youri Tielemans, does not have the legs for a central role, and so has been fielded at 10, while Kobbie Mainoo, who can run an engine room, is injured, and Fernandes’ penchant for running about, out of position, means gaps appear where a ball receiver should be.

In Fernandes, Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Diogo Dalot, Marcus Rashford, Amad Diallo and Martínez there is a core of long-serving senior players who are not performing. To wake this cadre and freshen the mood from what feels a pervasive staleness, why not blood, more regularly, the younger players? The “play the kids instead” trope can be a cliche but it is a truism for a reason: youth has zero to lose, should run around with a smile and can brighten the darkest of times. Shea Lacey, a nippy wide man, Harry Amass, a promising left-back, and the Fletcher twins, Jack, a clever No 10, and Tyler, a defensive midfielder, are 19 and have 22 appearances between them. None could do worse than those senior players ahead of them.

In seven of their 11 games this season United have scored either a solitary goal or none, a shocking statistic that shows up how dysfunctional the attack is and, as part of the creative collective, the midfield too. United have only 10 goals in seven league outings and in three Champions League games have managed five – four of these against the minnows Sabah. At Como there was, again, zero pattern of play, control and a paucity of chances that has to be a serious concern. This has to change or a relegation fight could be United’s. A more off-the-cuff style, allied to an attacking outlook, would suit Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and others and start menacing teams again as United did when beating City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool last year.