Fernandes hammered for ‘out of control’ behaviour since becoming Man Utd captain
Bruno Fernandes has been hammered for his "out of control" behaviour after captaining Manchester United on Monday night.
The Portuguese midfielder was handed the captain's armband by Erik ten Hag for the win over Liverpool at Old Trafford, with regular skipper Harry Maguire dropped to the bench. However, he has come under fire following the match after he was booked for diving and seen repeatedly wasting time during the closing stages of the match.
Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino was especially unimpressed by Fernandes' antics during the match, meanwhile, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp also had an animated chat with him at full-time.
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Writing in his column for The Times, Cascarino explained: "Fernandes takes antisocial behaviour on the pitch to a whole new level, and it all feels so cynical, and so premeditated.
“The former Sporting CP man was booked for a dive in the Liverpool area, but referee Michael Oliver declined to show him a second yellow card for delaying the restart after Mohamed Salah pulled a goal back for the visitors.
"We’ve all seen players do this before, but Fernandes must have set a new record for how long he held onto the ball.
"It was as clear a yellow card for ungentlemanly conduct as you will ever see, but Oliver appeared unprepared to show it, presumably on the basis it would mean sending Fernandes off."
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He also went on to add: “Bruno Fernandes’ gamesmanship is getting out of control, and Michael Oliver’s strange reluctance to send him off against Liverpool on Monday will only encourage Fernandes to behave even worse in the future.”
Klopp has also lifted the lid on his full-time altercation with Fernandes, speaking to reporters in his post-match press conference he revealed: "It was not animated, it was the most harmless conversation I ever had with a player, who was obviously as emotional as I was.
"It was the situation with Martinez, who went down under an 'awful' tackle that was obviously nothing. He [Fernandes] made a bit of it, he was talking to me and saying, ‘you'd do the same’. But it was fine after, he told me he needs these kind of conversations. Okay, it’s fine, use me!"
Fernandes has captained United 17 times in his 129 appearances for the club since signing from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020.
It is currently unclear whether he will retain the armband for Saturday's trip to Southampton, with Ten Hag yet to confirm whether or not Maguire will return to the side.
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