Gary Neville believes Bruno Fernandes 'goes over the top' with his behavior on the football pitch as the Manchester United legend reiterated his criticism of the midfielder.
Fernandes has come in for flak for his expressive body language several times since joining United in January 2020 but things came to a head during the 7-0 defeat to Liverpool when he was seen waving his arms in frustration toward teammates and putting his hands on a linesman. Neville was on commentary for the match and wasn't happy with what he was seeing.
At one of the many kick-offs in the second half, Neville even suggested that Fernandes had asked to be taken off judging from his body language. Fernandes moved to defend himself in a recent interview with Sky Sports, saying a lot of the criticism he received for the Anfield mauling was 'complete lies.'
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"I never try to be disrespectful with anyone. 75,000 in Old Trafford, you have to make gestures with your hand," he said. "We know pundits have to say things. It's about my team-mates being happy, when they are not I want them to tell me."
Discussing the Liverpool match specifically, the Portuguese added: "Most of the things that were said after that game were complete lies. People said because I raised my arms, they supposed I said something that I didn't say. The pundits want always to say something bad, they want to get credit and attention from the people outside."
Despite Fernandes' defence, Neville has doubled down on his stance and believes a lot of United fans don't like the way Fernandes acts when things aren't going well. "I don't talk to any United fan that likes the way Fernandes behaves particularly when the team are losing, when he throws his arms around," he replied when asked by Sky Sports for a response to Fernandes' comments.
"As a football player he's been fantastic for United, his goals and assists. He says he doesn't cause a problem when he throws his arms around, he does. I played with Roy who would hand out the odd rollicking. The last few years there's been players at United tutting which I think is a different type of criticism, it doesn't help young players.
"I called it out when Cristiano was doing it a couple of years ago, I don't like it. Direct criticism is fine. He is passionate, he is emotional, he gets involved with the referee. I've got no problem with that. Every United man I speak to feels the same thing, sometimes he goes over the top."
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