Fernandes likes 'don't care' post and publicly questions Carrick's tactics after United bench snub

Bruno Fernandes made his unhappiness plain after Manchester United’s 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Sunday, sitting unused on the bench before liking a social media post that read: “Never push a loyal person to the point where they no longer care.”

Manager Michael Carrick insisted the decision to leave the club captain out was purely tactical. “Picking the team is always a difficult decision,” Carrick said. “We’ve got to make what we feel is the right one for the team to try to get the performance we want. Unfortunately for everyone we didn’t manage to get the right result.”

The benching came in the wake of Fernandes publicly questioning Carrick’s approach following a 4-1 Champions League defeat. Speaking after that game, the Portuguese midfielder said the coaching staff had chosen “not to press man-to-man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball.” When asked directly whether the manager had got the tactics wrong, Fernandes replied: “That’s on the manager and staff to see it, not me.”

The episode is not the first time Fernandes has aired his frustrations publicly. Before joining United, a voice note he sent to Sporting CP team-mates was leaked in 2020, with Portuguese outlet Record quoting him as saying he thought “very badly of some of the attitude of some players” following a run of poor performances at the Lisbon club.

At Old Trafford, Fernandes has repeatedly been a vocal presence when results have disappointed, a trait that has drawn both admiration for his standards and criticism for the manner in which he expresses them. His latest social media interaction arrived on the same afternoon that United supporters booed the team off the pitch and directed chants at the club’s ownership.

With United mired in a turbulent period both on and off the pitch, the relationship between Fernandes and the current coaching setup appears strained — and the captain has shown little inclination to keep his feelings private.