07 November 2023 , 07:09
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Former Manchester United loanee Marcel Sabitzer failed to mention club captain Bruno Fernandes when naming the leading figures in the Old Trafford dressing room.
The Austria international, 29, spent the second half of last season on loan at United and made a positive impact but moved to Borussia Dortmund in the summer after a permanent switch to Manchester failed to materialise.
Despite being brought in initially as cover, Sabitzer made a positive impression with the fanbase and featured regularly under Erik ten Hag. And he is just as surprised as anybody else by United's poor start to the season; their worst in 61 years.
"I feel very positive about my time there and still talk to a couple of people," Sabitzer told The Athletic. "You ask yourself, ‘What’s going on?’ There’s a lot of noise, results are not good, they’ve had defeats at home, which almost felt unthinkable last season. And there’s still the unresolved situation of the ownership. You can see what that does to a team.
"I feel sorry for them because they’re all good guys, and extremely hungry for success. Casemiro, Luke Shaw and Lisandro Martinez – they are leaders that provide structure and stability to the team. Erik ten Hag comes with up very specific match plans and patterns of play. But if you have too many important players missing and too many changes as a result, things get lost between the tactics board and the pitch. The rhythm of players coming isn’t right, processes aren’t right.
Marcel Sabitzer completes Man Utd transfer after last-minute deadline day dash
"In the Premier League and Champions League, you need your best players available. Everything feels a little laboured and uncertain now. They need their big guys to show up and change the course of the season, but I believe things can change quickly once they get important players back."
The decision to hand Fernandes the captain's armband on a permanent basis in the summer has divided opinion at Old Trafford, with many criticising the midfield maestro's questionable on-field behaviour, which often includes poor body language.
Join the debate! Should Man Utd have signed Sabitzer permanently? Let us know here.
Fernandes' position as captain has been debated by fans and pundits alike this season (Getty Images)Intriguingly, Sabitzer's failure to recognise Fernandes whilst talking about United's dressing room leaders comes just a fortnight after club legend Roy Keane called for the Portuguese midfielder to be stripped of the captaincy.
Speaking in the aftermath of United's chastening 3-0 loss in the Manchester derby, Keane told Sky Sports: "The one thing I would do, after today having watched him again, I would definitely take the captaincy off him, 100 percent. I know it was a big decision to change the captaincy with Maguire, but Fernandes is not captain material.
"I think he's a talented player, but what I saw today, we've discussed this before, I was at Liverpool last year, his whinging, his moaning, constantly throwing his arms up in the air. It really isn't acceptable.
"It has to start somewhere and where do you make changes - manager? board level? It starts with that (the captaincy) because the manager is capable of doing that. Hold his hands up and say he got it wrong. Fernandes is a great player, but he's the opposite of what I would want in a captain."