Michael Carrick has insisted that Bruno Fernandes has been dropped to the bench for Manchester United's game against Bournemouth for footballing reasons, not disciplinary reasons.
Fernandes aimed a dig at Carrick's tactics after the defeat to Como in midweek. Speaking after the 4-1 thrashing, Fernandes said: "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."
Manager explains decision
When asked to explain how difficult a decision it had been to drop Fernandes to the bench against Bournemouth, Carrick told Sky Sports: "You're picking a team, a starting XI, you've got options to choose from so there's always a difficult decision. We've got to make what we think is the right one for the team to try and get the performance we want."
When asked whether Carrick's decision had been made for footballing reasons or disciplinary reasons, Carrick replied: "Pure football. Pure football."
Captaincy question
Fernandes' comments came just a week after Lisandro Martinez had called out the United hierarchy in an interview following defeat to Atletico Madrid, piling further misery on the club after a disastrous start to the season.
Carrick refused to rule out the prospect of stripping Fernandes of the captaincy in his pre-match press conference, saying he would do whatever was best for the club when making any decision.
When it was suggested that Fernandes' comments could be divisive, Carrick said: "Yeah, the most important thing for me is the team, first and foremost, is the squad, is the dynamics in the squad. And again, it's about the football club. And I'll always do what's best for the football club."
