Petulant Fernandes adding to United’s woes

BAD EGG? Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes looks dejected after Bournemouth's Philip Billing (not pictured) scores their side's second goal. Pic: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.

ANOTHER Manchester United collapse was accompanied by an equally predictable event, a Bruno Fernandes booking which rules the captain out of next Sunday’s daunting visit to Anfield.

If United’s campaign last season was dominated by the figure of Cristiano Ronaldo - jettisoned by Erik ten Hag as a symbol of a supposed new broom sweeping through the club - then his fellow Portuguese is in danger of serving the same purpose in the current one.

For as Fernandes goes, so do United. Many of this season’s finer moments - and at times like this, it easy to forget that there have been some - have usually featured playmaker Fernandes performing at the peak of his considerable powers.

But conversely, when Fernandes has been at his petulant, ill-disciplined, unfocused worst, then so, too, have United tended to be.

That was the point we reached on 84 minutes as United were being humiliated by Bournemouth, visitors who were supposed to be among the Premier League’s relegation favourites. A long, running series of complaints to referee Peter Bankes ended in predictable fashion - a fifth league yellow card of the season, to go with two in the Champions League.

Those five bookings - two more than his number of league goals - earned Fernandes a one-game suspension for Sunday’s trip to Liverpool, the scene of a 7-0 humbling just nine months ago.

During that game, pundit Gary Neville accused Fernandes of calling for the United bench to substitute him; an unsubstantiated claim that club and player denied. But his booking on Saturday was undisputed, completely avoidable, and a dereliction of duty by the captain of one of the world’s biggest football clubs.

“Your captain knows his manager is under pressure and knows it’s Liverpool next week and knows he’s a yellow from a suspension,” wrote former Scotland captain and now TV pundit Craig Burley on they social media platform X.

“Booked for dissent and constant whining. Bruno Fernandez (sic) is a disgrace.” 

Fernandes had been at fault for Bournemouth’s opening goal, a stray pass that led to Dominic Solanke scoring, and, as the afternoon degenerated, with goals from Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi, his body language and application went with it.

There was one episode, just before his caution, when play went on around Fernandes as he gestured furiously at the referee over some perceived injustice he had suffered at the hands of the officials.

It was United’s fourth home league defeat of the season already and in three of them now, Fernandes has earned a caution; an indication, perhaps, that the pressure of captaining the team affects him in the face of adversity.

The passion and commitment he displays when United are enjoying one of their better performances - the midweek win over Chelsea and recent 3-0 stroll at Everton fall firmly into that category - are obvious plusses but, when United are toiling and under pressure, those some characteristics are allowed to go unchecked and are, without doubt, a hinderance.

It is one of the reasons, although there are many others, that United have struggled so badly for consistency this season in which they have, almost incredibly, won 11, lost 11 and drawn just one of their 23 league and cup games.

“It’s been consistently like this when we win a game, [in] the next one we don’t perform,” said Fernandes to the United media channel who, of course, did not mention his yellow card.

“We don’t perform the same way we did before. I don’t know if it’s a lack of concentration or focus or something else, but it is something we have to be aware of after winning a game.

“We have to get that consistency of winning games, even sometimes [if we are] underperforming, but getting the result.” 

Tuesday leaves no such margin for error when Bayern Munich visit Old Trafford for a Champions League group game which United must win to keep alive their faint hopes of qualifying for the knock-out stages.

Meanwhile, that Liverpool contest awaits, bitter rivals who have handed United defeats of 7-0, 4-0 and 5-0 over the past two seasons.

Ten Hag must decide who captains the team in Fernandes’s absence at Anfield although it seems certain he will not return the armband to Harry Maguire, the England defender from whom he took it in favour of Bruno and who has done an admirable job of forcing his way back into the United first team and regaining his old form.

Luke Shaw would appear to be favourite for the job and, although he will presumably not be bold enough to do it, ten Hag could do worse than appoint the left-back as a permanent replacement for Fernandes.

In the meantime, a week is looming that may have a major bearing on United’s season and, of course, by association the longer-term fate of ten Hag at Old Trafford. Recent levels of inconsistency certainly offers United little hope of recording two wins in the coming days.

"First, we have to put this in the right place,” said ten Hag. “And of course, we know what is coming up and we have to do things better. And as you said, the difference between the start against Chelsea and today was massive and that shouldn't happen."

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): Onana 6; Dalot 5, Maguire 6, Shaw 6 (Evans 79, 5), Reguilon 5; McTominay 5, Amrabat 5; Antony 6 Pellistri 79, 5), Fernandes 6, Garnacho 5 (Rashford 79, 5); Martial 4 (Hojlund 55, 6). Substitutes (not used) Bayindir, Varane, Wan-Bissaka, van de Beek, Mainoo.

Bournemouth (4-2-3-1): Neto 7; A Smith 7, Zabarnyi 7, Senesi 7, Kerkez 7; L Cook 8 (Rothwell 87), Christie 7; Semenyo 7 (Billing 57, 7), Kluivert 6 (Sinisterra 71, 6), Tavernier 9 (Ouattara 87); Solanke 8. Substitutes (not used) Mepham, Brooks, Sinisterra, Moore, Kilkenny, Billing, Travers.

Referee: P Bankes 7