It was a bad performance all round by Manchester United at Liverpool, but Bruno Fernandes’ display outraged former player Gary Neville.
The Portuguese captained the Red Devils for their humiliation on Merseyside as they lost 7-0 in what’s a record Premier League defeat for the record winners of the competition.
Fernandes didn’t cover himself in glory at Anfield having thrown himself to the ground after Reds goalkeeper Alisson won a 50-50 ball against him in the second half.
He also looked to deceive referee Andy Madley when being shrugged off the ball by Ibrahima Konate, Fernandes collapsing holding his face when the Liverpool defender only made contact with his chest.
“The second half has been an absolute disgrace, a shambles,” Neville said on commentary for Sky Sports.
“They have not been epitomised more than Bruno Fernandes, who has been embarrassing – a shambles – in this game.”
“There was a VAR check for an elbow – it was on his chest,” Neville said on the incident with Konate.
“Oh, he holds his face. That’s embarrassing from Bruno Fernandes. It’s on his chest and he goes down. He’s so frustrating at times.”
Fernandes also had an involvement with one of Madley’s linesmen having been filmed nudging one him in the back after a break in play.
And in perhaps the most shocking Fernandes antic, Neville said he saw the player throw his arm up in the air at the Man United bench when Marcus Rashford was substituted after Liverpool went 6-0 up.
Neville didn’t hold back in his assessment of Fernandes’ performance as he questioned the 28-year-old’s credentials as captain of the team.
“I’m going to start with Bruno Fernandes,” Neville said after the match. “I’ve had enough of him throwing his arms around at his teammates, I’ve had enough of him not running back. He whinges at everybody.
“He got pushed in the chest and goes down holding his face… he’s got to put a captain’s performance out there and that wasn’t a captain’s performance by a Manchester United player.
“I think Erik ten Hag will deal with him very, very strongly in this next 24-48 hours.”
On Fernandes, talkSPORT’s Darren Ambrose said: “I don’t know him personally, I don’t know what he’s like around the training ground, I’m led to believe he’s a good character.
“Out of everyone there, who would you have? Casemiro, there’s an argument you could have him. Lisandro Martinez, maybe.
“I always like a central defender to be there as a captain. Raphael Varane, maybe.
“But he’s decided on Bruno Fernandes. We’ve said before that Erik ten Hag can’t do anything wrong apart from him and everyone’s now jumping on the team as it was embarrassing.
“But he’s decided Bruno Fernandes is captain material and who are we to question that?”