Fernandes points to 'factors outside the dressing room' as United sit 17th in Premier League

Bruno Fernandes has attributed Manchester United’s troubled start to the season partly to “factors outside the dressing room”, as the club sit 17th in the Premier League with just one win in their last ten games across all competitions.

The United captain spoke candidly in an interview, acknowledging that pressure from outside the squad has weighed heavily on players. “It’s a question of confidence,” Fernandes said. “At this club, it’s difficult when results are negative. There are a lot of factors outside the dressing room, outside of the players and the backroom staff, which make the performances of the club and what we can do on the pitch more difficult.”

Fernandes added that the mental toll of sustained poor form has compounded the team’s difficulties. “It affects a lot of players. Some deal with it better, some worse. We set high expectations for ourselves, and when things don’t work out, we end up mentally crushed by the frustration of not being able to give the club what we believe we’re truly capable of.”

The Portugal international was also frank about the scale of the problems facing the club. “When the situation is like this, there isn’t just one problem. There is more than one. There are a lot of things to improve, to do in a different way. Unfortunately for us, it’s been happening for a long time, which makes things more difficult.”

United’s winless run came to an end on Tuesday night when they beat Roma 3-2 in the Champions League at Old Trafford. Fernandes opened the scoring from the penalty spot before Matheus Cunha struck twice to seal a dramatic victory for Michael Carrick’s side.

In a separate post-match interview, Fernandes offered his backing to Carrick, weeks after publicly criticising the manager’s tactics — a row that had seen the captain dropped before being restored to the starting line-up. “It’s been tough, there’s been a lot of speculation in the media, a lot of lies around many things that happened in this club between me and the manager,” Fernandes said.

United’s next test comes in the Premier League, where they host Aston Villa at Old Trafford before the international break.