Erik ten Hag insists Bruno Fernandes will remain Manchester United skipper – despite his conduct in Sunday's 7-0 mauling at arch rivals Liverpool.
Fernandes, who has worn the armband this season in the absence of club captain Harry Maguire, was singled out by pundits, including former United skipper Gary Neville, for his lack of leadership. Neville branded Fernandes “a disgrace” while other pundits said the forward should never be allowed to pull on the captain's armband again, after effectively giving up at Anfield.
But Ten Hag, speaking ahead of tomorrow's Europa League last 16 first-leg tie at home to Real Betis, said he still has faith in Fernandes and he will continue to captain the team. “Yes, definitely,” said Ten Hag.
“He’s playing a brilliant season, he’s had a really important role in why we’re in the position where we are, and he’s giving energy to the team - not only running a lot at the highest intensity but the right way and right direction.
“He’s coaching players, he’s an inspiration, but no-one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, we have to learn, he has to learn and he will, because he’s intelligent. I’m happy to have Bruno Fernandes in the team and that he’s captain when Harry isn’t on the pitch.”
United striker Marcus Rashford also backed Fernandes and said: “I love playing with Bruno, for a forward like me he’s a perfect player to play with. “He’s been a good leader for us even when he’s not been captain, which is always a good sign, he’s helped other players become better leaders and the reality is we can’t be an organised with just one leader being captain.
“He’s done a lot in terms of bringing his leadership skills in, that was from the moment he arrived. Like the manager said, nobody is perfect, sometimes you want to win so bad you end up doing things a little our of character. But as a team we have to support him because he’s a fantastic player.”
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Ten Hag acknowledged lessons must be learned from the humiliation at the hands of United's biggest rivals and added: “We have to set conclusions, that’s what we did, we talked about it, we’ve seen it and set the right conclusions, then we have to rest and bounce back.
“We are in the same boat, we win together, we lose together, we make a mess on Sunday and we have to deal with it. The players, they reflected well, we know, but we also know in a season setbacks will always be there, it was a huge setback, that’s clear, when you had a run, 23 games with one loss, that was the second, the way it was there as a lot of lessons in it and that can help us for the future.
“That’s the positive - how negative it is - we were really below average, especially mentally-wise. We have to take the lesson, we want to win trophies and if you want to do that you have to act differently. After Sunday we got a big lesson, we take that and know we have to move on and look forward. That’s the way we treated it, all the energy, all the focus has to be on the next game.”
