Michael Carrick has been heavily criticised for the Champions League defeat to Como but the playing squad are also now coming under fire

Manchester United chiefs are said to believe the players should take a portion of the blame for the awful 4-1 defeat to Como in the Champions League. Head coach Michael Carrick is under mounting pressure but his job is safe for now, with the club's hierarchy stunned by how poor the display was on the pitch from the players.

Nico Paz opened the scoring after just two minutes, and several Senne Lammens saves kept the score down until after half-time, when Cesc Fabregas' side bagged another two goals, with Paz assisting Anastasios Douvikas and grabbing his second.

On a night that was likely to be decided by talismanic attacking midfielders, it was the 22-year-old who stole the show for the Serie A side while Bruno Fernandes was played out of position and then hooked off in the 66th minute.

The United captain was one of many poor performers on the night, with Andrey Santos, who was taken off at the interval after being booked, struggling in midfield. Mason Mount and Matthijs de Ligt were rare starters who looked out of their depth.

Injury problems and a quick turnaround caused Carrick to make changes but a strong XI was still picked and that left United chiefs stunned by such a bad display, as per The Times. Their report has also claimed that the poor recent form is on the players and not just Carrick.

The latter is the one under significant pressure, however, with United having won just twice this season. Carrick is not currently thinking about his own future with his focus firmly on turning things round.

“Listen, I’ve not given my own position any thought,” he said. “[My thoughts are] for the supporters – I was one of them watching that and I wasn’t happy at all.”

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"It’s not about me right now and my feelings in that regard. It’s more of as a team and as a football club, what we want to look like, what we should look like. And as I said, the results can come and go at times, but you got to do it in a certain way. And that wasn’t it.”

Yet again, comments from a player following a European defeat have caused controversy with it Fernandes this time that was left fuming by the display and also the tactical plan.

He told TNT Sport: "It's a decision from the staff to not press man to man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball, but sometimes when you give too much the ball to these teams they get confidence.

When asked point-blank if Carrick had got it wrong, he replied: "That's on the manager and staff to see it, not me. Sometimes you have to be more brave under pressure, take the risk of pressing high and making them uncomfortable."

Carrick was given the opportunity to respond and seemingly threw it back onto the players and their lack of effort on the night.

He said: "We actually half-pressed man-to-man the second half and then conceded a goal from that. And there's a little bit on whatever system you play, whatever tactics you play, if you don't run, and you don't run forward, and you don't run back, you ain't going to win."