The Old Trafford crisis deepened as Bournemouth thrashed Manchester United 3-0 on Sunday afternoon.
Rayan put the visitors ahead in the 38th minute, slotting home Justin Kluivert‘s free-kick after being left completely unmarked at the far post. Marcus Tavernier doubled the Cherries’ advantage just five minutes later, applying a simple finish after Adrien Truffert forced a slip from Leny Yoro.
Michael Carrick introduced Matheus Cunha at half-time, but it yielded no improvement. Seconds after the restart, Evanilson had a goal ruled out for offside, before Rayan missed a golden one-on-one with Senne Lammens.
Man Utd finally managed to find some momentum, but with Bruno Fernandes on the bench, they failed to translate territory and possession into genuine chances.
The Red Devils were then put to bed in the 71st minute, with Evanilson beating Lammens to Tyler Adams‘ speculative launch forward, rounding the Belgian goalkeeper and applying an incredible finish from distance.
The boos rang out at the end of both halves, and Carrick now appears to be in serious trouble as Manchester United manager.
Bruno watches on as Man Utd produce toothless performance
Most supporters backed Carrick’s decision to bench Bruno Fernandes following his mid-week outburst, with many becoming sick of the effect of player power at Old Trafford.
However, since Carrick’s first game in charge in January, Fernandes has the most assists (14) and has created the most chances (96) of any player in Europe’s top five leagues. With that in mind, the call was still a major gamble.
It’s safe to say that it didn’t pay off.
With Fernandes watching on, Man Utd managed just five shots on target throughout the entire match, combining for a miserable total of 1.00 xG.
Mason Mount (2) was the only Man Utd player to create more than one chance, while nobody in red managed more than one shot on target. It was about as blunt an attacking performance as you could have imagined from Man Utd, especially at home.
Of course, none of this is to say that Fernandes would have turned this game on its head. Bournemouth simply outclassed their hosts. However, the performance does shine a light on just how over-reliant Man Utd have been on a player who has been named on the bench for just six Premier League games since he joined the club in 2020.
Nevertheless, the Man Utd fans made their opinions clear at full-time as they sang Michael Carrick’s name, then roundly jeered Bruno Fernandes as he left the pitch.
Man Utd crumble under Bournemouth pressure
We could sit here all day tearing strips off this Man Utd performance and the wider state of the 20-time English champions. However, that would be doing a terrible disservice to Bournemouth.
The Cherries headed north just days after arguably the most famous night in their history, when they thrashed Italian giants AC Milan 3-0 in the Europa League. If there was meant to be a hangover from that result, Marco Rose and his men didn’t get the message.
Bournemouth brought a stunning level of intensity to proceedings on Sunday and at times, you could almost see individual players sensing fear in the Man Utd ranks.
Whenever the Red Devils tried to build up, there was a Bournemouth player on top of them. Rose’s side pressed with a level of intensity and cohesion Man Utd simply couldn’t deal with, and no metric illustrates how much the Cherries went for the throat more than the fact that 36 of their 64 possessions won came in the attacking and middle thirds — compared to just 25 from Man Utd.
Evanilson was the catalyst, winning possession in the attacking third three times. But the Brazilian was backed up by the likes of compatriot Rayan, the tireless Marcus Tavernier and the lively Justin Kluivert.
Man Utd panicked in the face of this pressure. Time and again, they were found guilty of errant passes or holding on to the ball too long. And it wasn’t just one or two players. Leny Yoro, Harry Maguire, Diogo Dalot, Ayden Heaven. They were all at it with varying degrees of severity.
There will be another post-mortem at Old Trafford, but right now, it’s important that a Bournemouth side enjoying their fourth straight win without conceding a goal are given the credit they deserve.
Tavernier and Bournemouth continue to haunt Old Trafford
There are plenty of demons that have made Old Trafford their home in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, but few have been more potent than Bournemouth or Marcus Tavernier.
The latter’s strike just before half-time put the Cherries firmly in control, but it was also his fifth direct goal involvement at Old Trafford in the Premier League. The only Englishmen with more as visiting players are Harry Kane and Steven Gerrard on six each — both players Man Utd were glad to see the back of.
What’s more, this is the third time that Bournemouth have taken a 3-0 lead in a Premier League game at Old Trafford, following on from their December victories by the same scoreline in 2023 and 2024.
Only Liverpool and Manchester City have done this as many times in the competition, making Bournemouth an unexpected name for Man Utd to dread on the fixture list.