Bruno Fernandes under fire again as Man Utd star's 'cry baby' antics slammed

11 December 2023 , 12:29

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Bruno Fernandes under fire again as Man Utd star's 'cry baby' antics slammed

Chris Sutton has slammed Bruno Fernandes for behaving like a "cry baby" during Manchester United's 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.

A deflating day for Erik ten Hag's side at Old Trafford got worse in the final minutes when their Portuguese skipper picked up a fifth yellow card of the season. That means he'll miss Sunday's trip to Anfield to play Liverpool, where the Red Devils were humiliated 7-0 last season.

Critics have since rounded on Fernandes, with Richard Keys controversially suggesting he deliberately got booked so as to avoid the difficult trip to Merseyside. And Sutton has now taken aim at his post-match comments, with the 29-year-old admitting his team took their visitors too lightly.

"There was one quote in particular from Bruno Fernandes which summed up the alarmingly poor attitude among Manchester United ’s players," wrote Sutton, in his column for the Daily Mail. "It was his admission that they thought it was ‘going to be easy’. United underestimated Bournemouth and they were schooled because of that."

Turning his attention to the midfielder's personal display, Sutton noted that he lost possession 22 times, with the team giving away the ball on 161 occasions overall: "He tried to play Hollywood passes and ended up in Hartlepool.

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"Then he earned a yellow card for acting like a cry-baby towards the end of this beating. That was his fifth of the season, so he’s now banned for Sunday’s trip to Liverpool - a fixture United lost 7-0 last season. It was more poor leadership from the captain."

Bruno Fernandes will miss the trip to Liverpool (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Bruno Fernandes captaincy material? Comment below.

Sutton, not renowned for holding back with his views, did concede that Fernandes was far from the only misfiring player at the club. And he accused Erik ten Hag's side of thinking things "will magically happen for them" rather than be prepared to dig deep on the field.

Prior to the Liverpool game, United also have a pivotal home game to deal with against Bayern Munich. Anything less than a win against Harry Kane and co on Tuesday will result in a group stage exit from the Champions League.

Fernandes, 29, was handed the club captaincy in the summer after Ten Hag opted to take the armband off Harry Maguire. He'd previously deputised in the role, and led the side out for the 2022/23 FA Cup final which they lost to Manchester City.

Fraser Watson