Man Utd players are embarrassed by team-mate, claims Danny Murphy
Danny Murphy #DannyMurphy
Danny Murphy says Manchester United will not win major trophies with Bruno Fernandes as captain and claims some of his team-mates at Old Trafford will be embarrassed by his antics.
Portuguese midfielder Fernandes has attracted much criticism following United’s humiliating 7-0 defeat against Liverpool last weekend.
Old Trafford legends Gary Neville and Roy Keane described his performance and attitude as ‘disgraceful’, while there have been calls for Fernandes to be punished for pushing the linesman towards the end of the match.
On Wednesday, Erik ten Hag defended ‘inspirational’ Fernandes and insisted he would remain Manchester United captain.
But ex-England midfielder Murphy cannot see United winning the Premier League or Champions League with Fernandes the leader of the team.
‘I think short-term Erik ten Hag has done the right thing because he’s not being dictated to by external forces, but long-term I don’t think he’s the Manchester United captain,’ Murphy told talkSPORT.
‘I don’t think you can have a captain consistently behaving like Bruno Fernandes does.
‘Let me get one thing right, he’s a terrific talent, a super player, I’m not judging his playing ability, but as a captain of one of the biggest clubs in the world, you need to have a certain few things about you, and one of them is NOT constantly cheating and diving – that’s his biggest one.
‘He is forever trying to stitch people up, you saw that at least three times at the weekend, the one where he got touched on the chest [by Ibrahima Konate] and he holds his face – that’s a disgrace itself.
‘I hate it when any player does that, and I’d say that if it was a Liverpool player, by the way. That is not a captain of Man United.
‘Diving in the box when there’s no-one around to try and get a penalty, throwing his arms up in the air every time he doesn’t get a pass or when someone doesn’t quite do what he wants – that’s not a leader, that’s not someone encouraging his teammates.
‘He’s an inspiration? No! I guarantee you some of the other players are thinking, “What is he doing?”, when he does some of the things he does.’
The former Liverpool star added: ‘I think if Ten Hag doesn’t see a change in Fernandes and his behaviour, he will change the captaincy in the summer, when he wants.
‘But there has to be a change. You cannot keep behaving the way Fernandes does on the pitch, the hysterics, the whinging, the moaning, the arms in the air, the diving around, the cheating, stitching people up, trying to dig out your teammates and young lads.
‘He’s not the only one who dives, of course, and people will say, “What about Mohamed Salah?” – he’s actually got a lot better.
‘But Salah is not the captain of Liverpool, Jordan Henderson is. When have you ever seen Jordan Henderson going down holding his face when he gets hit in the chest?
‘When have you ever seen Jordan Henderson throw his arms in the air and not tracking someone back because he’s a bit miffed, like a seven-year-old?
‘Manchester United will not win the Champions League or the Premier League with Bruno Fernandes as captain.’
United will look to bounce back from Sunday’s demoralising Anfield defeat on Thursday night when they face Real Betis in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 clash.
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