Bruno Fernandes believes Manchester United's game plan helped give Como confidence in their Champions League clash on Wednesday evening, after the team suffered a 4-1 defeat at the Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium.
United conceded within two minutes and struggled to recover, with Carrick apologising to the away section after the full-time whistle in scenes reminiscent of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's final game against Watford at Vicarage Road before he was sacked five years ago.
Fernandes on the early setback
Fernandes, who has been playing through the pain barrier in recent weeks, was substituted in the 66th minute. He shook his head as he left the pitch and received no acknowledgement from Carrick as he walked past.
"It's not the first time, we started on the wrong foot, and they scored very early," Fernandes told TNT Sports. "Not much pressure on the ball, not many good movements with the ball, not many things going our way. Conceding early makes us go into game with a mood of defeat, it's difficult to get out of that, trying to be brave, to have the ball and make something happen."
Tactical decisions questioned
"If we are not able to do that, it is going to be very difficult to get out of this situation. 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."
When asked if Carrick got his tactics wrong, Fernandes responded: "That's on the manager and staff to see, 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 [Como], 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."
He added: "A team that plays through the middle with small connections, if you give them too much time and space then they can hurt you out wide."
