Fernandes, Manchester United’s captain, was left among the substitutes for the Bournemouth match, with both Yahoo Sports and Sky Sports reporting that he did not start. The decision came after comments in which Fernandes was reported to have said that responsibility for a heavy defeat was “not on me.”
Yahoo Sports characterized the comments as criticism of Carrick’s tactics, while Sky Sports reported that they had intensified pressure around the manager before Fernandes was left on the bench. The available reporting does not establish that Carrick explicitly described the selection decision as punishment for those comments.
According to Sky Sports’ match report, Manchester United lost 3-0 to Bournemouth at Old Trafford on 25 October 2026. The report said Carrick did not bring Fernandes on during the match, leaving the midfielder on the bench as Bournemouth secured the victory.
Sky Sports framed the defeat as another setback following Carrick’s decision to omit Fernandes, but the reporting establishes sequence rather than showing that the selection directly caused the result. The supplied reports also do not provide the full wording, timing or context of Fernandes’s criticism.