Michael Carrick on the brink after Manchester United are humiliated by Bournemouth

After Bruno Fernandes was dropped for “pure football” reasons – according to Michael Carrick – could Manchester United actually win a game of football?

The answer, again, was a resounding, humiliating no, and if the manager’s job remains in real peril, you have to wonder, too, if this beleaguered team should steel themselves for a relegation dogfight. They lack imagination, cohesion, fight, confidence and anything resembling joy, and so now, hovering above the drop zone, survival cannot be taken for granted.

Goals from Rayan, Marcus Tavernier and Evanilson downed United yet what has killed Carrick and his side in the past fortnight is the insubordination of Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martínez, plus the deeper malaise of a club riven by factions.

The Sir Jim Ratcliffe-led football department may give Carrick the bullet (he admitted to having no hint as to what will happen to him) but the next man – Eddie Howe is favoured and is open to the job – will surely not break the boom-bust cycle that is each new manager’s fate.

Before this latest debacle, you had to flick the calendar back 45 days to 10 September (eight games ago), for the last time United chalked up a win and gave their fans reason to cheer.

Once more, Carrick’s men failed to do this. Equally disappointing is how, in the days since Fernandes’s public takedown of Carrick, no apology has been forthcoming from the captain.

Where Martínez did say sorry for criticising Jason Wilcox (though not to the director of football), the United captain’s silence says it all. If Carrick made an error in not dropping Martínez for his outburst, discarding Fernandes was correct and so Harry Maguire’s redemption arc was complete, with him handed the armband having had it taken off him and given to the Portuguese in July 2023.

Bruno Fernandes stayed on the bench throughout having been dropped. Harry Maguire captained the side instead. Photograph: Gary Oakley/EPA

Now, Carrick may be removed after a buoyant Bournemouth made it four successive wins, the latest against opponents offering scant resistance, as the boos ringing out at the end signified.

When Carrick applauded fans after the final whistle, pumping his hand to his chest where United’s badge is, the Stretford End cheered him. He said it did not feel like a farewell but it might prove to be one.

Clearer was how, as soon as the manager disappeared down the tunnel, boos met Fernandes, an unused substitute, and the rest of the players.

As is the case for this Carrick team, control and composure were an issue throughout.

Even when Leny Yoro fashioned a one-two with Youri Tielemans and swept the ball to Diogo Dalot, the move foundered, and moments later Yoro was clearing from beneath his bar as a Rayan cross went close to teeing Evanilson up.

Senne Lammens would hoof upfield aimlessly, Maguire would head possession back to a white shirt instead of chesting down and, as the half-hour passed, a wild Dalot shot was their only one registered.

When Bournemouth scored it was because of United shooting themselves in both feet. First came Ayden Heaven’s wild scissor challenge that had Evanilson leaping out of danger and was adjudged a yellow-card offence.

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The second self-inflicted moment came when Justin Kluivert’s free-kick, on a diagonal from Bournemouth’s right, was allowed to drop on Rayan’s boot freely, with the Brazilian unmarked.

Bournemouth’s Evanilson (second left) watches his brilliant finish hit the net to make it 3-0. Photograph: Chris Radburn/Reuters

“Sacked in the morning” was the derisory chant from the travelling faithful and when their men doubled the lead on 43 minutes you wondered if Carrick would last until then.

Again, this should have been avoided. This time Yoro was to blame as he contrived to slip near his area, allowing Adrien Truffert to collect the ball and square to Tavernier, who slid it into the net.

Cue the unfurling of a Stretford End tifo that read “STANDARDS” above the faces of Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson and Roy Keane, the Cherries congregation this time offering “Going down with the City” on repeat.

Carrick’s move for a second half that might seal his fate was to take off Tielemans for Matheus Cunha. If the manager had, indeed, dropped Fernandes for his form, then the opening period was a fair argument to reinstate him. Yet had Rayan not fluffed a simple chance to make it 3-0 – the attempt was a pea-roller – even the mutineer would surely not be able to save United.

Next, though, it was game – and possibly Carrick’s tenure – over. Lammens charged out to clear a through ball, Evanilson beat him to it, rounded the flailing No 1, and from a difficult angle out on the right struck a curving finish into the waiting net.

Carrick’s visage was a picture of hurt. On the bench, Fernandes zipped his top right up while, in his posh seat, Wilcox sank lower into his winter coat. This would not have stopped him hearing, towards the end, abusive chants directed at him. They were cruel, but there is true pain being felt in these parts.