As Manchester United's beaten and battered players waited for confirmation of Brighton's fourth goal at the Amex Stadium, their captain was making his point.
'You're not fit to wear the shirt' was the invective flowing from the away end and this motley crew needed a lift, but Bruno Fernandes wasn't making his point to them. Instead, the man with the armband on was pestering referee Andrew Madley for the umpteenth time in the game.
Madley was waiting for VAR Chris Kavanagh to confirm whether or not a hand had been used in scoring the goal, but Fernandes could not possibly have seen and he was powerless to intervene with the technology anyway.
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What United needed at that point was a captain issuing a rallying cry. Someone trying to lift heads, urging players to salvage pride, to prove the away end wrong. What they got was a player who is earning a reputation of being a constant whinger on the pitch, more concerned with berating officials than encouraging his own teammates, having another go.
Fernandes has the armband in the absence of permanent skipper Harry Maguire, but he is a considerably worse captain than the United centre back. Maguire has had an awful season on the pitch, but he takes responsibility as a captain, he fronts up, tries to encourage teammates and rarely stops talking.
From the moment he arrived at Old Trafford under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in January 2020 Fernandes earned a reputation as someone who would take teammates to task. That has never gone away and he's had plenty to criticise this season, but a captain needs to project positivity as well.
The Portuguese is close to Alex Telles but he spends an awful lot of time berating United's left-back. Recently he blamed the Brazilian for taking a short-corner to him, even though it was Fernandes who hopelessly overhit the cross that followed out of play. At the Amex Stadium, he was on Telles' case in the early stages.
Fernandes' form for United had been fantastic but his standards have dropped alarmingly this season. His performances have gone in the opposite direction to his salary since signing a new contract and he has to get back to his best next season, but having captained the side on 11 occasions this season, he shouldn't do so again.
Maguire was promoted to the role of captain just six months after he signed from Leicester City, in the same month that Fernandes arrived from Sporting Lisbon. It was a hasty promotion for a player still finding his feet at a club the size of United, while processing the fact he was now the world's most expensive defender.
This season he has looked anything but worthy of that tag. The captaincy has become a burden and one of Erik ten Hag's first conversations should be with Maguire, urging him to relinquish the role to focus on rediscovering his best form and proving he belongs in his strongest side. The captaincy will be worthless if he becomes just a squad player.
But if Ten Hag makes that call and decides the negativity of Fernandes is clearly not the answer, then candidates for the captaincy are thin on the ground.
Ralf Rangnick decided against David de Gea earlier this season because he didn't want a goalkeeper to be captain. That's not unusual amongst modern coaches and the Spaniard might still need to prove to Ten Hag he can fulfil the brief he wants from his No. 1.
Raphael Varane has occasionally captained Real Madrid in the past, but he is still learning English and has had an injury-hit season, which might make his own claims untenable.
But maybe the solution is staring us in the face. There is often an argument that in England we overstate the importance of a captain. In Europe, it often goes to the most experienced player, almost as an afterthought.
In which case maybe Ten Hag will make Cristiano Ronaldo captain next season. He wore the armband once this season, in the Premier League defeat to Wolves at the start of January, the first time he has been captain of a club side since February 2018.
In fact, you can count on one hand the number of times Ronaldo has captained Real Madrid or United - he never had the honour at Juventus - since 2014. But he has been Portugal's permanent captain for more than a decade, since June 2011.
In total Ronaldo has captained Portugal on a remarkable 129 occasions, winning Euro 2016 and during other strong performances in major tournaments. He has real, valuable experience in leadership, in helping to get a team to overachieve and inspiring others with his performances.
If anything, it is a surprise he hasn't been asked to fulfil a similar role for a club side more often. But now he might be the only candidate remaining at United, who could do with similar levels of inspiration.
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