As the full-time whistle blew on one of Manchester United’s most embarrassing nights in Europe, Michael Carrick walked over alone to the few away fans still left at the Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium and held up his hands in apology.They had stood drenched for two hours, battered by the wind and rain that whipped off Lake Como. This has to be the most picturesque venues in the Champions League by some distance, but on a night like this it was downright ugly and so were United.Carrick’s apology was reminiscent of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s farewell game at Watford in November 2021, which also ended in a humbling 4-1 defeat.Solskjaer knew he was a dead man walking that day. If this proves to be Carrick’s last stand, what a lame surrender it was.How much longer can this go on? How much longer can United sleepwalk through this wretched season as Carrick continues to grasp hopelessly for positives?Statistically the fifth worst European defeat in United’s history was also Carrick’s fifth in 11 games this wretched season as they were torn apart by Como and the excellent Nico Paz. Manchester United were completely outplayed by Como as they lost 4-1 to the Italian side The dreadful result heaps further pressure on under-fire Red Devils boss Michael Carrick This was an incredible night for Como, but one of the worst in United’s European historyThis was meant to be the biggest game in Como’s history and they played like it. Cesc Fabregas’ team are a credit to the former Arsenal midfielder and it’s not by chance that they lie fifth in Serie A.But Manchester United coming to town is no longer what it was. This is a pathetic imitation of the teams that have represented this great club down the years.The 700 fans who made the journey to Lombardy stood in one of the areas of this stadium exposed to the elements beneath Giuseppe Terragni’s Monumento ai Caduti that sits at the head of the lake. It means monument to the fallen, and how much further can United keep falling from here?They were insipid. Lifeless. The confidence and self-belief has been sucked out of this team. It’s eight games since they last won, beating Sabah of Azerbaijan in this competition and recording their only clean sheet of the season. Como 4-1 Man United: MATCH FACTS Como 1907 (4-2-3-1): Butez 6; Couto 7 (Smolcic 80, 6), Ramon 7, Kempf 6, Valle 6; Milla 7, Perrone 8 (Dossena 80, 6); Da Cunha 7, Paz 9 (Ricci 80), Baturina 7 (Caqueret 64, 7); Douvikas 8Goals: Paz (2, 57), Douvikas (49), Ramon (76)Booked: KempfManager: Cesc Fabregas 8Manchester United (4-2-3-1): Lammens 4; Dalot 3, De Ligt 3 (Amass 79, 5), Maguire 4, Mazraoui 3; Mount 3, Santos 4 (Baleba 46, 5); Mbeumo 4 (Lacey 86), Tielemans 4, Cunha 3 (Amad 46, 6); Fernandes 4 (Zirkzee 67, 6)Goal: Zirkzee (90+1)Booked: Santos, Baleba, LaceyManager: Michael Carrick 3Referee: Sven Jablonski 6<!- – ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/us/sport/football/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 – ->
Shortly after the half hour mark, their supporters broke into a chorus of ‘attack, attack, attack’ which is never a good sign for any United manager.From the chance that fell to Diogo Dalot in the opening seconds to Matheus Cunha’s tame effort on the stroke of half-time, they didn’t have another effort on goal in the first half.Yes, Carrick was without nine senior players, forcing him to put Matthijs De Ligt into the starting line-up without playing a minute of football in the last 325 days due to a back injury, and name Jack Fletcher and Tynan Thompson on the bench even though both players had featured in the UEFA Youth League defeat to Como earlier in the day.But that was no excuse for another performance that left you wondering just what these United players are doing on the training pitch all week – and what Carrick is saying to them.If there was concrete evidence that they simply aren’t learning or progressing, it came after two minutes here. A week after United conceded after 50 seconds to Atletico Madrid in Spain, they were behind again.No sooner had Dalot curled an effort wide after mistakenly creating the opportunity for himself by miscontrolling Cunha’s pass than Paz converted a similar chance at the other end.United had been warned about the gifted Argentine, but you wouldn’t have know it by the way Harry Maguire stood off the 22-year-old when he received a pass from Lucas Da Cunha inside the box. Paz looked up, picked his spot and guided the ball beyond Senne Lammens.He was simply too much for United to handle. Andrey Santos was booked for hacking him down with a crude challenge, Cunha resorted to similar tactics, and Lammens was relieved to see the offside flag go up after fouling Como’s No.10 in the box.Carrick made changes at half-time, sending on Amad Diallo and Carlos Baleba for Cunha and Santos so that Bryan Mbeumo could play through the middle. He also asked his full-backs, Dalot and Mazraoui, to switch sides. Argentina wonderkid Nico Paz was Como’s star as he scored twice and laid on an assist Paz put his side ahead in under two minutes after United’s defence mistakenly stood off him United couldn’t match Como’s intensity and were insipid and error-ridden, which included Carlos Baleba giving the ball away for their second goal United were awful and Carrick even hooked captain Bruno Fernandes in the second half Joshua Zirkzee scored a consolation goal in added time but it was barely acknowledgedIt’s another sign of the growing crisis around Carrick that it only made things worse as United conceded another early goal.Martin Baturina had gone close twice before half-time, so it was no surprise to see him extend Como’s lead. Paz was the architect this time with a fine pass to Baturina who got away from De Ligt and powered a shot past Lammens.United were three down eight minutes later. Baleba gave the ball away to Paz close to halfway and no United player looked like getting near him as he surged downfield and finished clinically.Carrick’s misery was complete in the 76th minute when Jacobo Ramon got the fourth. It was a measure of the brimming confidence in Fabregas’ side that his centre-back felt able to charge forward in open play and meet a left-wing cross from substitute Kaiki Bruno. No-one had tracked Ramon and he beat Lammens with a thumping header.Carrick sent on teenagers Harry Amass and Shea Lacey which felt like a pathetically response to a pathetic performance, even though Joshua Zirkzee scored a consolation from close-range in the 91st minute. The damage was done.As Carrick and his players flew home on Wednesday night, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the United board were left with a decision to make about where they go from here.READ MORE: Como 4-1 Manchester United PLAYER RATINGS: Which United stars were totally anonymous? Who looked like a rabbit in the headlights? And who constantly came out second best on a dire night in Italy?