Leaving out his captain was doomed to fail but so are the club under the current leadership and the fans at Old Trafford know that all too well

Dropping your captain, who has held the team together for most of the past five years, is a bold move from a man whose job is on the line. It was very much a make-or-break decision from Michael Carrick to leave out Bruno Fernandes against Bournemouth. It did not work and Carrick knew the consequences if it failed and will probably pay the price for it, but he should not be alone.

Carrick said the decision to drop the Portuguese playmaker was purely based on football reasons but criticising his manager after the desperate defeat to Como cannot have helped. Clearly Carrick disagreed with his captain’s comments on the lack of pressing in the Champions League fixture. It was somewhat telling that Lisandro Martínez kept his place despite pointing out the director of football, Jason Wilcox, was a hindrance to the club the previous week.

A lack of offers and problems in finding a replacement may be behind the move, but that does not mean it cannot work

The first chant of the match was for Marcus Rashford, Manchester United’s returning rogue son, the one banished for 18 months, first to the Midlands and then Catalonia. Every football fan loves an academy product who has risen up the ranks, from scrawny child to getting 76,000 off their seats. Rashford is one of these, living out the dream of everyone inside Old Trafford and they are willing to forgive but want something in return.

Not since 7 December 2024 has Rashford been seen in red at Old Trafford. Then it was as a substitute forlornly trying to turn things around in an eventual 3-2 defeat by Nottingham Forest. His relationship with Ruben Amorim was already deteriorating, the second head coach to have become irritated with Rashford. After loans with Aston Villa and Barcelona, everyone is surprised to see him back; it feels like a marriage of convenience because of a lack of offers and securing a replacement was deemed complex.

This is the new, serendipitous Michael Carrick Manchester United era, helped by confusing officiating to edge past Nottingham Forest, on the day Bruno Fernandes equalled the Premier League record for assists in a season. If it was not for a lack of obvious options four months ago, United and Carrick may not have been reunited, nor would they be guaranteed third in the Premier League and heading back to the Champions League.

It is, arguably, fortunate that Fernandes is still here after feeling United were keen to sell him a year ago but now he sits alongside Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry at the top of the creative charts.