Man Utd vs Bournemouth preview: Carrick's last chance

"Yeah, I do. 100% do. And if you don't, this is not the place for you." That was Michael Carrick on Friday, asked if he still believes he's the right man, two days after Como put four past us. Man Utd vs Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday is where he has to show it, because as of Friday afternoon nobody at the club had decided anything about his future beyond this game.

Look at the table before anything else. We're 13th on seven points from seven games. Bournemouth are 15th on six, one point behind us. Lose on Sunday and Bournemouth go above Manchester United, at Old Trafford, in October. That's where Carrick's "100%" has got us.

And they're coming in flying while we're on our knees. Bournemouth have won three on the bounce, Sturm Graz 3-0, Sunderland 2-0 and AC Milan 3-0, eight scored and none conceded. They've won all three of their Europa League games and lost two of their last ten in all competitions. We've gone seven without a win, and the last of them was the 4-1 at Como, where we were behind inside two minutes for the second away game running in Europe.

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Then there's what Bournemouth do here. Their last three league visits to Old Trafford finished 0-3 in December 2023, 0-3 in December 2024 and 4-4 last December. That's ten goals in three trips and not one defeat. Ten Hag was in the dugout for the first, Amorim for the second, and it made no difference: Bournemouth score whenever they like here. Whatever's wrong with this club, it was wrong before Carrick, and he hasn't fixed it either.

The worst part of that 4-4 was the end. Eli Junior Kroupi came off the bench and scored the equaliser. He's missed this whole season with a broken foot from pre-season, and Marco Rose has said "maybe we can have him for some minutes in Manchester". Racing Post has him available. You can already see it, can't you? 1-1 with ten minutes left and him jogging on.

Our team news is a bit better than Wednesday's, which isn't saying much. Leny Yoro's ban is served and Ayden Heaven is over his illness. Carrick said "Ayden is back with the group". Lisandro Martínez (thigh) and Marcus Rashford (hip) are late fitness calls. Shaw, Mainoo, Šeško, Dorgu and Ugarte are all out, so once again Joshua Zirkzee is the only fit striker. He came off the bench at Como and scored. If Carrick sticks Bruno Fernandes up front again and leaves Zirkzee sat down, he deserves what comes next. For Bournemouth, Alex Scott and Alex Toth are missing.

Bruno is the other story. After Como he said it was "a decision from the staff" not to press man-to-man. He keeps the armband and isn't expected to be disciplined. Carrick's answer was "If you don't run back, you ain't going to win", which is a dig straight back at a captain who played false nine and tracked nobody. Senne Lammens says the squad is "all together behind the coach". Fine. Show it on Sunday, then, because nobody's buying it off a press conference.

Fans on r/reddevils are split on who's actually to blame. One said the board has turned this into "the butler fighting with the gardener" while "the whole house is crumbling". Another was blunter: "Maybe we should stop hiring club legends and get experienced managers. This isnt the Club to learn on the job."

Both are right, and that's the problem. The people who built this squad and handed Carrick the job still back him, and they'll let Sunday decide for them rather than make a call themselves. If it goes the way the last three Bournemouth visits went, it won't need deciding. Carrick will have lost at home to a side that started the weekend below us, and "100%" will be the last thing anyone remembers him saying.

My call: Man Utd 1-2 Bournemouth. They're fitter, in form and they score here every time. I had us losing at Como too and got the margin badly wrong, so check how our past calls went before you take that to the bank. The full record between the two clubs is on our head-to-head page.