Man Utd legend Scholes identifies major ‘worry’ about Fernandes despite Real Betis win
Paul Scholes thinks Man Utd need “a captain who’s less emotional” after Bruno Fernandes received criticism for his performance against Liverpool.
Fernandes was named as captain again versus Real Betis on Thursday night as the Red Devils won 4-1 thanks to goals from Marcus Rashford, Antony, Fernandes and Wout Weghorst.
But Gary Neville and Roy Keane were amongst the former players to criticise Fernandes for his behaviour last weekend as Man Utd lost 7-0 to arch-rivals Liverpool at Anfield, while other pundits called for the Portugal international to be stripped of the captaincy.
Fernandes was criticised for waving his arms in the air at team-mates and officials, shoving the assistant referee, as well as play-acting and diving during the match.
And Scholes is worried that Fernandes – who is vice-captain to Harry Maguire – won’t provide the calm head Man Utd need towards the end of the season.
“Your captain has to be a calming influence, really. He almost has to be the one who calms characters like him down,” Scholes said on BT Sport.
“I worry about him if Manchester United, in March or April time, are going for a league title. I don’t think having Bruno as your captain would be ideal.
“But we know he’s only the vice-captain at the minute, we know Harry Maguire’s not playing.
“Going forward, bigger games, bigger parts of the season, going for trophies and big Champions League finals and stuff, I think a captain who’s less emotional might be better.”
But Scholes thinks some of the criticism was over the top and has sympathy for the Man Utd midfielder.
Scholes added: “You have to remember that he has been asked to play in positions that he is not comfortable in and I think he has sacrificed himself for the team for that.
“He was clearly frustrated with his team-mates and he shows it in a way that I don’t think, when he looks back at it, he will be proud of what happened, throwing his arms up in the air and pushing the linesman.
“I think he will look back at that and learn from that. He has also come from a different culture and they do that all the time; in England it is not quite acceptable as much.
“I think, going forward, he will learn from that and he will try and get rid of those little, annoying things in his game.”