Change captain? Play the kids? How to solve the problems at Manchester United

The beleaguered Michael Carrick’s job is on the line, but there are steps he can take to revive the stricken club

The big question as Bournemouth arrive for Sunday’s 2pm kick-off at Old Trafford is whether Michael Carrick will show his authority by stripping the captaincy from Bruno Fernandes and/or dropping Manchester United’s five-times player of the year. On Friday, Carrick refused to deny he may do so, but the bigger picture concerns whether cashing in on the Portuguese and his fellow mutineer, Lisandro Martínez, in the winter window would be prescient to initiate a new era. Fernandes and Martínez are out of contract in the close season (the club has an extra year’s option in both cases) and, judging by recent behaviour, intend to leave. So yielding, say, £40m and £25m respectively for them in January would allow investment as the rebuild begins. Even a few days on, Fernandes’s words in Como seem incredible: “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,” he said after Wednesday’s 4-1 humiliation. Fernandes’s open questioning of the tactics is a challenge to the head coach’s authority and we wait to see how/if Carrick will face it down. If Carrick acts and proves he is not a lame duck then even if he is removed a favour is done for his successor.

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