Bruno Fernandes was vigorously defended by Erik ten Hag on Wednesday after the Manchester United captain was termed a "disgrace" for his behaviour during the humiliating loss to Liverpool last weekend.
As Liverpool scored six goals in the second half of their historic 7-0 triumph at Anfield on Sunday, Fernandes was accused of giving up and displaying lousy body language.
Several supporters demanded that the captain comes out after the Portugal midfielder seemed to push one of the assistant referees and collided with Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool.
Roy Keane, a former United player, termed Fernandes a disgrace, but Ten Hag believed the 28-year-old was the best choice to captain the squad and would continue to do so even if Harry Maguire were to miss a game.
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Ten Hag told reporters that Fernandes is "playing a wonderful season" and called him an "inspiration" before Thursday's Europa League last 16 first leg against Real Betis at Old Trafford.
"He's had a significant impact on how we got to where we are because he gives the squad enthusiasm".
"He is instructing the players by pointing. The entire squad looks up to him, yet nobody is perfect. Each person must learn from their mistakes".
"He is intelligent, so he will learn just as well. While Harry is not on the field, Bruno Fernandes serves as our captain, which makes me very delighted to have him in my team".
Marcus Rashford, a United forward, defended Fernandes, saying the rest of the team looked up to him.
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"You can imagine how much I enjoy playing with Bruno. He has always been a wonderful leader for us, even when he wasn't the captain," he remarked.
"I have no bad things to say about Bruno. No one is flawless, as the manager said".
"Sometimes, when you want something so badly, you do things that are a little bit out of character, but listen, I back Bruno wholeheartedly and am behind him."
Given that Ten Hag's squad had just ended the club's six-year trophy drought by winning the League Cup seven days prior, United's poor performance against Liverpool was all the more stunning.
The Dutch manager debriefed his team on the disastrous Anfield match on Monday, but he is eager to move on rather than focus on United's worse loss since 1931.
"We discussed the game and had to set conclusions. We have witnessed the game; now we must regroup and recover," Ten Hag remarked.
Ten Hag responded, "No, we are in the same position. The players have not let me down. We both win and lose as a team. We need to clean up the mess we made on Sunday".
"You must act that way because we want to be a large squad and win trophies. Sunday taught us a valuable lesson".
Just following the Liverpool game, Ten Hag had called United "unprofessional," but Rashford argued his squad had not given up as Jurgen Klopp's team piled up the goals.
Rashford argued, "That's rubbish; we didn't give up. "Well, we were disorganized. Yes, poor communication was the reason we gave up the goals".
We attempted to control the game when the score reached 2-0 and 3-0. Although we were conversing, we won't genuinely agree on what to do.
"As the boss indicated, we need to reset right away. All we can do is that. We can't undo what happened, so there's no point in lingering on it".
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