Ruben Amorim has unsurprisingly stuck up for his captain Bruno Fernandes after he came under heavy fire from Roy Keane.
Former Manchester United captain Keane, who ranked at no.12 in FourFourTwo's list of the best Premier League players of all time, made no bones about his feelings towards current skipper Fernandes on the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast.
Keane expressed his disgust at seeing fans singing for Fernandes, branding him and his United teammates 'f*cking imposters' and comparing the Portuguese midfielder's leadership skills unfavourably to the likes of former Arsenal captain Tony Adams.
Ruben Amorim tells Bruno Fernandes not to listen to Roy Keane
As reported in the Mirror, Amorim said: “I heard about that - I have a different opinion. Bruno is really important for us in the club, especially for me.
“He's playing well in a difficult context and he always wants the responsibility. I know as a captain he does things sometimes with his arms, criticising his team-mates, but most of all it's a bit of frustration.
Amorim went on in his defence of Fernandes, adding: “He wants to win and sometimes it's difficult to deal with that frustration.
“Roy Keane has big standards from his time. But I think my opinion is more important than Roy Keane's because I am the coach.”
Manchester United will take on Fulham in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday afternoon as they try to retain the trophy they won under former gaffer Erik ten Hag last season.
United were surprise 2-1 winners over Manchester City in last year’s final at Wembley, with Jeremy Doku’s late strike for City not enough to overcome first-half goals from Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.
That FA Cup win seemingly earned ten Hag a reprieve after he was strongly rumoured to be in line for the sack - only for Untied to dismiss the Dutchman in October following a poor start to the season.
His successor Amorim is still yet to have any discernible impact at Old Trafford, however, and United now sit 14th in the Premier League table.
