Manchester United legends Gary Neville and Roy Keane were in complete disagreement over Bruno Fernandes’ role on the pitch under manager Erik ten Hag.
Fernandes secured the club’s captain’s armband for the current campaign after Ten Hag stripped Harry Maguire of the United captaincy last summer.
The 29-year-old Portuguese midfielder has scored six times and picked up five assists in 28 appearances, with Fernandes lacking the impact he previously had.
However, Fernandes had played a key part for United in different matches this season, including scoring the winner in the clash with Fulham last November.
The Portugal international also scored the winner against Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford last August and against Burnley in the 1-0 away win last September.
Fernandes’ last assist in the Premier League came in the 3-0 win over Everton, with the United skipper failing to assist or score in his last seven league matches.
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Roy Keane’s stance on Fernandes
Keane, who has previously criticised Fernandes’ captaincy status, shared his thoughts on the Portugal midfielder’s ‘free role’ under Ten Hag this season.
The Sky Sports pundit insisted that the United star wouldn’t be facing as much criticism for his role if the Red Devils were consistently picking up results.
Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football show, Keane said: “If you watch him [Fernandes] at international level, he does the same [with floating around]. It can’t all be the coaches and managers.
“There is a player out there and if he’s doing all that stuff and producing magic, you almost forgive him, but if you’re in a struggling team and you’re doing all that stuff, that’s where it stands out and you go, ‘You’re killing us, you’re costing us.’ I reckon if you look back at his career, he’s done it in every team.
“It’s a trait – it’s not as if he’s an experienced player – leopards and spots. He’ll get away with it if United were winning more matches and he was producing his bits of magic, which he has done before.”
Neville on tapping into Fernandes’ potential
Neville has insisted that Ten Hag is “giving” Fernandes the freedom to roam around the pitch and claimed the United boss isn’t telling him to return to his position.
The Sky Sports pundit added that Ten Hag should look at what Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola would do if a player is out of position.
“Any team that is anything at all, you see repeated pass patterns and combinations,” he said.
“I think about Bruno Fernandes, and I watched him on Sunday, he’s obviously the best player in terms of talent – but he’s everywhere. He must be being told to go and do what he wants.
“I don’t think Bruno Fernandes is that type of guy. If, for Pep Guardiola, a player plays out of position for a minute or two, he’s on the sideline saying, ‘Get back into your position,’ and I think Ten Hag is giving him the freedom to go everywhere, and actually that means you can never have a combination or a pattern – when you’ve got your main midfield player everywhere on the pitch.
“It’s almost like 20 years ago, where your number 10 was given licence to play.
“That’s gone now, you have to fit within a combination and pattern system and attacking shape, and that’s the bit that I think Bruno is told he must be able to go everywhere.
“I never see Ten Hag going up to him and telling him to get back into position.”
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