The captaincy situation at Manchester United this season hasn't been particularly clear and when the club lifted its first trophy in six years at Wembley recently, the Carabao Cup was hoisted up by Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes.
Maguire remains club captain, a point he reinforced when speaking to reporters at Wembley a week last Sunday, but on matchday, it is Fernandes who tends to wear the armband. Maguire has started just 10 of United's 42 games this season.
Fernandes hands over the captaincy when Maguire comes off the bench but the picture isn't ideal and it could come to a head this summer, when the centre-back might seek to find first-team football elsewhere. But the question then is whether Fernandes is the man to take over as club captain.
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The attacking midfielder has generally led well this season and clearly takes pride in wearing the armband, but there are days when he looks a poor fit for the role and the shambolic destruction at Anfield on Sunday was one of those. Fernandes is a dreadful loser, which isn't necessarily a negative and his demanding standards when he first signed were hailed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But it does become a problem when his own frustrations supersede the role of being United captain, which is what happened in the second half against Liverpool. While this team continues to throw in games where they just fall apart, they need a leader who can steady the ship, rather than accentuating the problem by losing his own head.
Being a captain isn't just about leading during the good times. It's arguably more important that you can lead when all around you are beginning to panic, but Fernandes didn't do that on Sunday. As he lost control of his own emotions he failed to offer any guidance to his teammates.
The 28-year-old isn't the only leader in this side. Erik ten Hag has players with the experience of Raphael Varane and Casemiro on the pitch as well, but it's the captain who should be setting the tone. For 45 minutes at Anfield, Fernandes was too busy fighting the officials, the opposition and his own emotions to offer any semblance of leadership.
It was evident that the team needed to calm down. Liverpool continued to run riot because there was nobody on the pitch calling the players together, telling them to shut up shop and escape any further punishment. They lost their shape in a desperate bid to keep chasing the game when they needed someone to grab them by the scruff of the neck and take control.
Liverpool had just gone 3-0 up when Fernandes first lost his head at Anfield. He fell over Alisson as he tried to close the goalkeeper down but then screamed at the officials in fury because he didn't get a penalty. He spent almost a minute berating the linesman, despite the fact it was never a penalty. It set the tone for Fernandes tearing strips off referee Andy Madley at various points in the second half.
At 4-0 down he chased back with Ibrahima Konate, but when the Liverpool defender put his arm across Fernandes' chest to hold him off, the United captain fell to the floor and rolled about holding his face. Given this is an era of VAR, it's not clear what he thought he would achieve with the play-acting. "Embarrassing" was the verdict of Gary Neville.
When he then reacted to Trent Alexander-Arnold keeping the ball away from him and wasting time with 10 minutes to go, Fernandes produced arguably his most inexplicable moment, shoving the linesman out of the way. Let's be clear, there wasn't a huge amount of force in this, but you just can't do it. He was fortunate the officials let the moment slide because had he been sent off there could have been no complaints.
If that was the epitome of Fernandes losing his head, then a couple of minutes later came the moment he seemed to lose interest. Rather than tracking 18-year-old substitute Stefan Bajcetic, he tried to foul him, failed and then just stopped running with him. It was an abysmal piece of play from a Manchester United captain, essentially waving the white flag at Anfield.
On Monday sources at United had to defend Fernandes from Neville's accusation that he had asked to be substituted in the second half. It never seemed particularly likely and it's not really his style. He wants to play every minute because he cares deeply.
But when things begin to go wrong, as they still have a habit of doing for United, he needs to channel that passion in a better way than he did on Sunday. He didn't have a particularly good game, that can happen.
What can't happen is losing his head and losing control in the way he did in the second half. If he is to be the next permanent club captain, he needs to set a better example than that.
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