Carragher exposes Carrick and two Man Utd stars for derby disasterclasses

Jamie Carragher feels Michael Carrick was to blame for Manchester United tasting defeat in the derby, while two United stars have been torched for their painful lack of quality.

Despite playing 11 versus 10 for the vast bulk of the contest, Man Utd slipped to a humbling 1-0 defeat to bitter rivals Manchester City on Sunday.

City’s winning goal should not have stood, though playing at home and with a man-advantage for so long, Man Utd should not have allowed the controversial offside call to decide the contest.

Mid-way through the second half, Carrick rolled the dice when substituting Benjamin Sesko on for Youri Tielemans.

Sesko took his usual place at the tip of the attack, with Bruno Fernandes tasked with dropping deeper into central midfield to offset Tielemans’ departure from the engine room.

Unfortunately for Man Utd, that tactical tweak brought the unintended consequence of Fernandes rarely getting on the ball during United’s late attacks.

Instead, the ball was often recycled out wide to full-back pair, Diogo Dalot and Patrick Dorgu, who repeatedly failed to deliver. When the ball was passed back inside, Fernandes – United’s most creative player – was often 10-15 yards behind the play and remained largely uninvolved. At times, he was even seen man-marking Erling Haaland as United’s deepest outfield player.

It was a situation that Sky Sports pundit, Jamie Carragher, analysed in detail during his appearance on Monday Night Football.

And in Carragher’s eyes, it’s Carrick who must shoulder the blame for many of Man Utd’s attacks going through Dalot and Dorgu in the final stages, and not Fernandes.

DON’T MISS: Man Utd reach decision on sacking Carrick as Romano reveals ‘plan’ after Manchester derby defeat

Michael Carrick naivety exposed in Manchester derby

When showcasing two late passages of play while United were on the attack, Carragher explained: “The best player in the Premier League, the best player by a mile in Manchester United’s team is Bruno Fernandes. Where is Bruno Fernandes?

“He’s marking Erling Haaland. This is in the 88th minute. Michael Carrick wouldn’t have wanted that. But the point being is because he made that tactical decision to put him in central midfield, he’s ended up there because Bruno likes to get involved in everything, and again we saw poor quality from Dorgu.

“Now a few minutes later, the ball now comes to the right side and we’ve seen Dorgu with poor quality, he’s about to put the ball in, 90 plus two minutes, Manchester Derby, three minutes to go, 1-0 down against 10 men… Bruno Fernandes is here marking Erling Haaland, the deepest player twice in two attacks going forward than any other Manchester United player there.

“And again you’re leaving the ball with a guy [Dalot] who’s got no quality and the best player in the Premier League looking after Haaland.

“What happens? Ball comes in [from Dalot], misses completely the back post.”

READ NEXT: Jaap Stam destroys ‘walking’ Man Utd quartet and questions Carrick tactics after derby defeat