Michael Carrick patted his chest and gave an apologetic salute to Manchester United fans who applauded him before trudging down the tunnel after another bruising afternoon at Old Trafford.
The players walking behind him, however, were met with a chorus of boos.
United had suffered another 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday, prompting disgruntled home supporters to make their feelings clear about a team that was once the pinnacle of English football.
The only person to escape their criticism was Carrick, despite overseeing an eight-match winless run that has brought further embarrassment to one of the country’s biggest clubs.
“It hurts an awful lot to see us going through this at this moment in time,” said an emotional Carrick, who described his feelings as mixed after a match that exposed further weaknesses in his struggling team.
“It wasn’t a farewell from me,” Carrick said of his decision to lead his players on a walk around the pitch after the match.
“What it looks like, what is next — I really don’t know. But I’ll always do what’s best for this football club.”
Fernandes dropped as pressure mounts on Carrick
Carrick is trying everything to lift United out of their precarious position, with the club languishing in 16th place in the 20-team Premier League.
That has included dropping captain Bruno Fernandes.
The defeat to Bournemouth came four days after United suffered a humiliating 4-1 loss to Como in the Champions League. Fernandes subsequently criticised Carrick’s tactics in comments to the media.
Carrick responded by leaving the Portugal international, who was named England’s player of the year last season, out of the starting line-up in what he described as a “pure football” decision.
Fernandes briefly went out to warm up but never entered the match as United defended poorly and conceded goals from Rayan, Marcus Tavernier and Evanilson.
Asked about leaving Fernandes on the bench, Carrick told BBC Sport: “He’s fit and available but we decided to pick the team that we did today. Unfortunately for everyone we didn’t manage to get the right result.
“We want to push forward and create more, we could’ve done certain things but not enough really and that’s pretty clear.”
Carrick’s position is under serious threat less than five months after he signed a permanent contract, having guided United back into the Champions League during a short-term spell in the second half of last season.
However, sacking Carrick would not resolve the club’s deeper problems.
United supporters also chanted against Jason Wilcox, the club’s director of football who had recently faced criticism from defender Lisandro Martinez, as well as the Glazer family, the club’s majority owners, before turning their anger towards the players.
United have won just one of their eight league games this season, a home victory over promoted Ipswich on Aug 30.
“It’s nowhere near good enough,” United defender Harry Maguire said. “Something needs to change.”
Bournemouth, meanwhile, have now won 3-0 at Old Trafford in three of the last four seasons. Their other visit during that period ended in a 4-4 draw.
Liverpool end Brighton’s unbeaten run
Brighton, one of the Premier League’s surprise packages this season, suffered a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool, ending their unbeaten run since August.
The south-coast club had enjoyed an impressive spell that included two 5-0 victories and a 3-0 win over defending champions Arsenal.
Their run ended at Anfield in a closely contested match, with Liverpool scoring twice within four minutes midway through the first half.
Pascal Gross deflected Florian Wirtz’s shot into his own net before Alexander Isak converted Bradley Barcola’s cross.
It was Liverpool’s first home league victory under manager Andoni Iraola, who was appointed over the summer. The result lifted Liverpool into fourth place, one point and one position behind Brighton.
Brighton enjoyed 64% possession and recorded 17 shots, although only one was on target.
Manager Fabian Hurzeler described the defeat as a “missed opportunity” to further establish his team as a growing force in the league.
“I think everyone in the stadium saw that there was one team who really tried to create and try to win this game,” Hurzeler said, adding that he had to praise his players.
Newcastle secure victory
Newcastle United beat Crystal Palace 2-0, with second-half goals from William Osula and Harvey Barnes securing the victory.
Elsewhere, Hull and Brentford drew 1-1, while Sunderland and Leeds United played out a goalless draw.
