Carrick Refuses to Discuss His Job After Como’s 4-1

Michael Carrick said he has not thought about his job after Manchester United lost 4-1 to Como in the Champions League. The three-time European champions were 4-0 down in Como’s first season in the competition, and the result stretched United’s winless run to seven matches.

Captain Bruno Fernandes, taken off in the 67th minute, said the staff had chosen not to press man to man. Carrick’s reply was that a team that does not run will not win.

Two Minutes In, Como Already Had the Night

On Wednesday at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, Diogo Dalot missed a chance inside 90 seconds, and Nico Paz scored with a left-foot curler at the other end after two minutes. It was the second straight major European match in which United had conceded inside the opening two minutes, after Pablo Barrios put Atletico Madrid ahead in the first minute of a 2-0 loss on October 13.

Cesc Fabregas’s side, in a 4-2-3-1, then treated the three-time winners like a home opponent they already knew. Paz slipped Anastasios Douvikas through four minutes after the restart, robbed half-time substitute Carlos Baleba and finished again on 57 minutes, and centre-back Jacobo Ramon headed the fourth on 76 minutes from Kaiki’s cross. Joshua Zirkzee scored at 90+1 from Amad Diallo’s ball, which only changed 4-0 into Como’s 4-1 victory.

THE GOALS AT GIUSEPPE SINIGAGLIA

1. 2 minutes: Nico Paz, left-footed shot, assisted by Lucas Da Cunha.
2. 49 minutes: Anastasios Douvikas, right-footed shot, assisted by Paz.
3. 57 minutes: Paz again, left-footed, after taking the ball from Baleba.
4. 76 minutes: Jacobo Ramon, header, assisted by Kaiki.
5. 90+1 minutes: Joshua Zirkzee, right-footed, assisted by Amad Diallo.

The crowd of 10,875 saw a club in its maiden Champions League campaign go 4-0 up against a side that has lifted the trophy three times. Paz finished with two goals and an assist. United’s only win in this league phase remains the 4-0 against Sabah on September 10. After three games they have one win, two defeats and three points. Como have two wins, one defeat and six points, both home games finishing 4-1.

Carrick Has Not Thought About His Job

Asked about his position, Carrick did not leave a gap for the question. He said he had not given it any thought, then talked about the supporters who had travelled and about a performance he called the total opposite of the spirit United had shown in a 1-1 draw at Leeds three days earlier.

I have not given my own position any thought. For us to play in that way, it’s not acceptable. It wasn’t a good performance at all. We wanted to build on what we brought and the performance we had at Leeds. That bit of intensity, that spirit, that aggression, that real willingness to give everything. Tonight was the total opposite performance. I have to say, it was tough to watch.

Michael Carrick, Manchester United head coach, post-match news conference

He walked past his own players at the whistle and went to the away end with his hands up, a picture that recalled Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after a 4-1 loss at Watford in November 2021, a defeat that was followed by Solskjaer’s dismissal 24 hours later. Carrick said he always goes to the fans, and that this walk was appreciation for what they have sat through over a few weeks, not a special plea. He also said he takes 100 percent of the responsibility, and that it stops with him.

I’m frustrated, more than frustrated, I’m really angry, to be honest, he said. You’ve got to move on, you’ve got to deal with what’s next. At this moment in time, there’s a lot to do before that next game to get the team ready, because that was a difficult night for everyone.

Fernandes Puts the Press Plan on the Staff

Fernandes had already been substituted with the score at 3-0. He did not wait for the press conference. He said United had started on the wrong foot, that the early goal put them in a mood of a defeat, and that the shape of the press was a staff decision.

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. That’s on the manager and staff to see it, not me. Sometimes you have to be more brave under pressure, take the risk of pressing high and making them uncomfortable. As you saw with them, the centre-back was coming to mark me in my own half. We need to do that as a team but we were unable to.

Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United captain, on TNT Sports

Carrick was read those lines and did not argue the diagram. He said United had half-pressed man to man in the second half and then conceded from that, and that the system is beside the point if the running is not there.

Whatever tactics you play, if you don’t run, and you don’t run forward, and you don’t run back, you ain’t going to win, he said. The night then split into two versions of the same 4-1: a captain describing a plan that left space, and a coach describing a team that would not close it. Those versions do not cancel each other. They leave a squad that has now gone seven matches without a win arguing about why the second of those matches in Europe looked nothing like Leeds.

Seven Matches, Zero Wins and a 40-Year League Start

United sit 13th in the Premier League with seven points from seven games, a record of one win, four draws and two defeats. The only league victory was 5-2 against Ipswich on August 30. They have not won a Premier League match since, and the one other win in all competitions was Sabah. That is the fewest league wins at this stage of a season since 1986-87, a 40-year low that once ended with Ron Atkinson losing the job in November.

UNITED’S SEVEN-MATCH WINLESS RUN

Carrick had wanted the Leeds point to be a reset. Bryan Mbeumo scored first at Elland Road, Dominic Calvert-Lewin answered, and United at least showed the aggression the manager later said had gone missing in Italy. Genuinely, it’s difficult to understand how it can be so different, he said after Como. The table does not care about the difference. It records two wins all season and a European return that now reads Sabah, Atletico, Como.

The Permanent Deal Came After Third Place

Carrick took the team on January 13 after Ruben Amorim was sacked, first until the end of 2025-26. He won 11 of 16 matches in that spell, finished third, and put United back in the Champions League. The club made him permanent on May 22 on a two-year contract through 2028. Director of football Jason Wilcox said Carrick had thoroughly earned the chance to keep leading the men’s team, and that the approach aligned with the club’s values. Carrick said the supporters deserved to be challenging for the biggest honours again.

The club page still lists him as the man who played 464 games as a player after joining from Tottenham in 2004, with 24 goals, five Premier League titles and a Champions League winner’s medal. He had a three-match caretaker stint after Solskjaer in 2021, then two and a half years at Middlesbrough. The permanent appointment was the bet that last spring’s sample was the job, not a caretaker spike. Wednesday was the first time that bet had to sit through a European night against a club that did not exist at this level four years ago.

The club has not issued a fresh line on his position since the final whistle. Carrick’s own line is that he has not thought about it. The captain’s line is that bravery in the press is a staff matter. Those are the two statements the building now holds at once.

How Paz Picked United Apart at the Sinigaglia

Paz, an Argentina midfielder who left Real Madrid’s reserve side for Como in 2024, scored the first and third goals and made the second. He has said Fabregas taught him practically everything, and that he arrived from Castilla as a young reserve who had played only a few first-team games. Fabregas, speaking before kickoff, called the fixture another historic day for the club and the city, said United’s history deserved respect, and still told his players to compete and try to win as always. Four years ago, he said, Como lived a completely different reality.

COMO’S FIRST THREE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GAMES

• September 10: Como 4-1 RB Leipzig at the Sinigaglia, Paz involved in a home debut that finished with the same scoreline United later suffered.
• October 14: Feyenoord 3-2 Como, the only defeat of their league phase so far.
• October 21: Como 4-1 Manchester United, a second 4-1 at home and six points from three games.

Como did not need a famous squad to do it. The starters included Jean Butez in goal, Lucas Da Cunha, Martin Baturina and Douvikas, with Ramon arriving for the header. United started Senne Lammens, Matthijs de Ligt, Harry Maguire, Fernandes, Mason Mount, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, and still spent the night chasing a playmaker who had time to curl, to slide a through ball, and to run 30 metres after a steal. Fabregas built that habit. Carrick could not explain why his side, three days after Leeds, offered so little of the opposite habit.

Bournemouth Come to Old Trafford on Sunday

Bournemouth visit Old Trafford on Sunday in the Premier League. That is the first chance to end the seven-match wait, and it arrives with the captain and the coach already on the record in different directions. United then return to Europe against Roma at home on November 3, with Sporting away on November 25, Leipzig at home on December 8, Bayern at home on January 20 and Villarreal away on January 27 still on the remaining league-phase fixtures.

Carrick said he is angry, that the manner was not right, and that there is a lot to do before Sunday. He also said his own position has not been on his mind. The 4-1 is already on the board either way.