Michael Carrick looks set to remain in charge at Manchester United. Photo: Manchester United / X
Premier League legend Mark Schwarzer has accused Manchester United’s players of putting self-preservation ahead of the team with their public criticism of the club’s leadership and tactics, while backing Eddie Howe as the manager best equipped to work within the existing structure.
United’s latest setback was a 3-0 Premier League defeat by Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday, which extended their winless run to eight matches in all competitions with captain Bruno Fernandes left on the bench throughout. Carrick described the midfielder’s omission as a footballing decision, rather than confirming it was punishment for his criticism of the coaching staff after the 4-1 Champions League loss at Como.
Fernandes had questioned United’s reluctance to press more aggressively in Italy, but Carrick disputed that explanation, saying his side had attempted man-to-man pressure in the second half and conceded, while challenging the players’ running and intensity. That public disagreement followed Lisandro Martínez’s criticism of United’s recruitment and technical leadership after their defeat at Atletico Madrid earlier this month.
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Speaking to host David Weiner on The Mark Schwarzer Podcast on Football360, the Australian argued that those interventions risked making an already struggling squad look divided and turning the pressure on Carrick into a power play over the club’s next decisions.
The Mark Schwarzer podcast is available via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or enjoy it below.
“It’s self preservation,” Schwarzer said.
“We saw comments being made after the Champions League defeat, Martinez coming out and criticising the club and recruitment. They did spend a lot of money in the summer and yeah, you can criticise the recruitment. I don’t think it’s his position to do that. You can express your frustration, but to publicly criticise in that sort of scenario, I don’t think a player should be doing that.”
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Bruno Fernandes and Matheus Cunha. Photo: Getty Images
Martínez had singled out Jason Wilcox over United’s summer recruitment after the 2-0 Champions League loss at Atletico Madrid, although he also acknowledged that the players needed to do more. Two days later he met Carrick and club executives and apologised for the timing and setting of his comments; it was reported that a club source said any disciplinary action would remain private and all parties considered the matter closed.
For Schwarzer, Fernandes’ subsequent comments about the pressing plan at Como amounted to indirect criticism of Carrick and his tactics, with the captain distancing the players from responsibility for another damaging defeat.
“There is obviously huge amount of frustration in the way that they play,” he said.
“Again, openly that’s really poor. That’s a selfish self-preservation and pointing the finger because that’s kind of like, it’s not my fault. It’s not our fault as players. It’s how we’re being led.”
He continued: “And I get it, United it’s been ongoing for quite a number of years.
“And Bruno Fernandes is obviously one of the big name players there and he’s been the captain and he probably feels like he has an obligation to say stuff.”
He added that Fernandes is at times criticised unfairly and too severely, and that he may feel he has to stand up for himself and get his point across.
“I just don’t think that ever ends well,” he added.
Eddie Howe. Photo: Getty Images
“And it looks bad on Bruno Fernandes and it looks bad on his teammates and it looks bad on the club. Now it becomes a case of the players are divided.”
He said it now looks as though the manager has lost the players, “and it just seems like a power play.”
“And generally when that happens, it’s players trying to influence decision making. And I think that’s really poor.”
Eddie Howe, Julian Nagelsmann and Antonio Conte are the names being floated should Michael Carrick be sacked.
“I don’t think Nagelsmann or Conte is going to fit into the club in its current shape. I think Eddie Howe could,” he said.
He explained: “It’s been for such a long period of time now where they’ve had limited amount of success and it seems like every time they go on a bit of a bad run, it gets blown into an enormous issue and it kind of unveils or reopens the wounds of previous wounds that people are still disgruntled about,” he said.
“We’ve seen it with directors of football and they’ve had and then they get rid of and then they bring some more in. I don’t know, the whole chopping and changing all the time can’t be good. And I don’t see that changing much from above. I think that’s going to stay.”
That is why he ruled out Conte, the former Chelsea and Tottenham boss.
“I think Conte, we all know what Conte is like, he’s a whirlwind. He will say whatever he wants to say and again it will cause more chaos,” Schwarzer said.
He was just as wary of former Bayern Munich and Germany coach Nagelsmann.
“I think with Nagelsmann, again I’m not quite sure. His last couple of runs, obviously the German national team, it didn’t work out well at all,” he said.
“There were a lot of question marks. I think with Bayern at times as well, dealing with big name players at a big, big club with a very strong-minded leadership. And that’s what you have at Man United.
“Maybe not as well organised as Bayern, but certainly at the time even at Bayern were probably in a similar kind of state as what Manchester United are in at that time when Nagelsmann was the manager. So again, I don’t see that working well.”
Howe left Newcastle in July after taking the club from a relegation battle to Champions League football and ending their long wait for a major domestic trophy with the 2025 Carabao Cup.
Schwarzer said he had doubted Howe before that job, but he’s now proven himself and is arguably the prime candidate should Carrick be sacked.
“For me, the person that kind of fits that profile at the moment is Eddie Howe to kind of come in, toe the line, coach with the players,” he said.
“He did it at Newcastle really well. He got a really good tone out of the players. And I was sceptical whether or not Eddie Howe could do that at Newcastle. And I thought he did an exceptional job. And I could see him coming in and doing a similar job at Manchester United. And that’s kind of what it needs, I believe.”
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