"He's just playing for himself" - Micah Richards makes incredible claim against Manchester United superstar after 3-0 derby defeat
Football pundit Micah Richards has hit out at Bruno Fernandes after Manchester United's loss to Manchester City. He has claimed that the Red Devils captain just roams around just to show fans that he is working hard while not doing anything decisive on the pitch.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football show, Richards stated that he was not convinced of Fernandes' credentials as Manchester United captain. He added that former club skipper Roy Keane was right in calling for the captaincy armband to be taken off the midfielder. He said:
"Have you noticed what Fernandez does, though? When Man United go behind and he's not having a good game, what he does [is] he starts running around trying to get the crowd on [his] side, running out of position to make everyone believe that he's working really hard for the team. But, really, he's just playing for himself."
He added:
"I was working with Roy Keane today, and he said he would take the captaincy off him. That's how much of an impact he's having. We're not questioning his ability. He's a quality player, but as a captain, he's just... I don't know if it's the pressure is too much for him or if he's trying to do too much. But yeah, it's not quite working out."
Manchester United lost 3-0 to Manchester City in the derby on Sunday at Old Trafford. Erling Haaland scored twice and set up Phil Foden for the third to seal a comfortable win.
Roy Keane wants Bruno Fernandes sacked as Manchester United captain
Roy Keane called for Bruno Fernandes to be stripped of the Manchester United captaincy armband. He said that the Portuguese star was 'whinging' and 'moaning' all the time on the pitch, which was unacceptable.
He was on Sky Sports when he said:
"Today having watched him again I would take the captaincy off him 100 per cent. I know it's a big decision, obviously they changed the captaincy with Maguire, but Fernandes is not captain material. He is a talented player no doubt about it."
He added:
"But what I saw today - we've discussed many times before, it was last season at Liverpool - his whinging, his moaning and throwing his arms up in the air constantly. It really isn't acceptable. From what we saw today, I'm thinking I would take that off him."
Bruno Fernandes was handed the captaincy armband this summer after Erik ten Hag made the decision to strip Harry Maguire of the armband.