Bruno Fernandes has been dropped for Manchester United’s crucial Premier League game against Bournemouth at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Michael Carrick has decided to drop the United captain to the bench in the wake of his public criticism following Wednesday’s shambolic 4-1 Champions League defeat by Como. Fernandes appeared to call out Carrick’s tactics and has been taken out of the starting XI, with Harry Maguire captaining the team.

The move had looked likely with Carrick refusing to rule out stripping Fernandes of the captaincy when questioned on the matter on Friday.

The under-pressure United manager had responded to Fernandes questioning the set-up and approach by suggesting tactics could go out of the window when players are unprepared to run.

“When you have options it’s always a difficult decision. We have to make the right one for today and the team to get that performance we want,” Carrick told Sky Sports.

When asked whether Fernandes had been dropped for football or other reasons, he responded: “Pure football.”

Carrick appears to have moved to reassert his authority by axing Fernandes, who was the second senior United player in a week to criticise those above following Lisandro Martínez’s outburst at the board over transfer policy following the Atlético Madrid defeat.

Yet it is still a bold move by Carrick, whose position is under threat, after a poor start to the season in which United have won just two of 11 matches. United are exploring all options and Carrick’s future could yet hinge on the outcome of the Bournemouth game.

Fernandes won the PFA and FWA Player of the Year awards last season, but his form has nosedived along with that of the team this term. He was carrying an injury for a few weeks, but his performances have been poor.

Fernandes’s frustration spilt over in the wake of the Como debacle when he appeared to criticise Carrick’s tactics. “It’s a decision from the staff to not press man to man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball, wait for them, but sometimes when you give space to these teams they get confidence,” Fernandes told TNT Sports.

“It’s not the first time, we started on the wrong foot, and they scored very early. Not much pressure on the ball, not many good movements with the ball, not many things going our way. “Conceding early makes us go into game with a mood of defeat, it’s difficult to get out of that, trying to be brave, to have the ball and make something happen. If we are not able to do that, it is going to be very difficult to get out of this situation.”

Asked specifically whether he felt Carrick had his tactics wrong, Fernandes added: “That’s on the manager and staff to see, not me. Sometimes you have to be more brave under pressure, take the risk of pressing high and making them uncomfortable. As you saw with them [Como], the centre-back was coming to mark me in my own half. We need to do that as a team but we were unable to.

“A team that plays through the middle with small connections, if you give them too much time and space then they can hurt you out wide.”

Carrick responded to Fernandes’s criticism by criticising his team’s work rate and effort. “We actually were half-pressed man-to-man the second half and then conceded a goal from that,” the United head coach said.

“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.”