Michael Carrick 'deliberately tried to embarrass' Bruno Fernandes by dropping him against Bournemouth, claims Jamie Carragher - as Gary Neville labels 'whingeing' Man United captain 'an excuse merchant'

Jamie Carragher has claimed Michael Carrick left Bruno Fernandes on the bench during Man United's defeat by Bournemouth to 'embarrass him in front of the supporters'.

Fernandes, 32, was dropped from the starting XI by the under pressure Carrick after his explosive outburst following United's shambolic 4-1 defeat away to Como in the Champions League on Wednesday.

That represented the first time Fernandes has been pulled from the line-up for non-fitness reasons since Carrick, again, took him out against Villarreal in November 2021.

The move didn't have the desired impact though as United were dominated by Bournemouth, yet Carrick refused to turn to his club captain.

Lisandro Martinez and Matheus Cunha were initially summoned from the bench, and even when United went 3-0 down after 71 minutes, Carrick brought on Joshua Zirkzee and youngster Shea Lacey instead as he only used four of his permitted five substitutes.

Fernandes looked subdued on the bench throughout the game, and Carragher felt Carrick never had any intention of using him.

Jamie Carragher claimed Michael Carrick 'tried to embarrass' Bruno Fernandes by leaving him on the bench against Bournemouth

Carrick dropped Fernandes after his midweek outburst in the media and refused to turn to him

'I don't think he was ever going to bring him on,' Carragher said on Sky Sports. 'It was a decision to just leave him on the bench and almost try and embarrass him a little bit in front of the supporters, I don't know.

'He brought him off in midweek and that's where the... what Bruno did after the game was on the back of him getting brought off.

'And I think Michael Carrick never had any intention of bringing him on at all today - that sub was never going to happen.'

Speaking after the defeat, which left Carrick on the brink of losing his job, the former midfielder refused to be drawn too much on the issue.

'He's fit and available but we decided to pick the team we did,' he said. 'Unfortunately for everyone, we didn't manage to get the right result.

'There's always times when you're trying to make decisions that make a difference.'

When the team news was announced earlier on Sunday, Carragher had claimed Fernandes' absence could be a positive for the side and also benefit several individual players.

Carragher explained: 'He's Man United's best player, PFA Player of the Year, but Michael Carrick had to make the stand. But, once you've put him there (on the bench) you need a result.

'You're hoping, could this (the benching) bring us together as a group because there's no doubt about it, even though he's the best player there will be a lot of people who don't like playing with him at Man United because he's permanently throwing his arms up at people.

'He's basically saying "you lot aren't good enough to play with me". That's what we see from Fernandes a lot when things aren't going right for Man United, so hopefully the players in the dressing room will stick together and that's what they'll need today.'

Gary Neville told Fernandes to 'read the room' and accused him of being an 'excuse merchant' on his podcast after Sunday's defeat.

Gary Neville called Fernandes an 'excuse merchant' on his podcast after the defeat

Carragher claimed that Carrick never had any intention of using Fernandes in Sunday's defeat

'Eric Cantona was very unorthodox as a captain. Roy Keane could sometimes be explosive in his interviews after matches, but they weren't whingers about the tactics, about pressing, or excuse merchants.

'Bruno can't press. To come out and whinge after the game about the manager's tactics, when you've just lost 4-1, and a few thousand fans have paid thousands of pounds to travel over in that far corner and get wet through. I'm sorry, read the room, Bruno.

'This is not a time for whingeing, throwing your arms up in the air. This is a time for you to stand up and say, that's not good enough. Be positive. Do something with a positive influence as a captain. But he's not.

'He's gone and basically thrown his manager under the bus the week after [Lisandro] Martinez did the same.'

Nevilled added: 'They weren't singing for Bruno Fernandez to come on today. They're backing Michael Carrick.

'So get in your box. You know where you stand. Michael Carrick's won things for the football club on a constant basis, and proven that he can have the humility, the resilience. And Bruno has got that. Bruno has delivered for Manchester United in more ways than any other player in the last 13 years.

'He's massively talented but he let himself down this week. He didn't need to do that because he's basically stuck the knife into his manager.'

Pre-match, Carrick had said: 'When you're picking the starting XI and you've got options to choose from, it's always a difficult decision. We've got to make what we feel is the right one for today and the team to get the performance that we want.'

On whether Fernandes was dropped after his explosive outburst, he replied: '(The decision was for) pure footballing reasons.'

Fernandes, who is usually very deliberate in what he says in the media, was scathing in his criticism of coaches after the Como debacle.

'It's a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man and sometimes leave a little space in behind and try to get the ball in the first moment, to wait for them, to give them the ball,' he said.

'But sometimes when you give too much the ball to these teams they get confident, they have so many bodies behind the ball that make you run a lot, make people get frustrated, and then obviously when you recover the ball the legs are, and the brain, much more difficult to make it work.'