The Manchester United captain has responded to Roy Keane’s scathing critique of him and his team‑mates, after the former skipper questioned the squad’s priorities
Bruno Fernandes has dismissed the suggestion that he chases individual accolades rather than helping his Manchester United team, responding to Roy Keane’s criticism of the players’ mentality. The former United captain, Keane, argued that too much emphasis was placed on Fernandes’ assist record instead of beating Nottingham Forest last weekend.
The midfielder equalled the Premier League assist record with his 20th of the season to set up Bryan Mbeumo in the 3-2 win over Forest. He matched the tally previously set by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne but Keane was left unimpressed by the team’s attitude and launched a scathing attack on the squad.
Keane insisted the focus should be on winning rather than focussing on what he suggested was a distraction. “You’re going to get assists in that position he plays,” he argued on Stick to Football podcast. “20 would be better if you’re winning trophies. When you’re the captain of the club and you’re supposed to be driving the club forward, do not be getting bogged down by your role in the team, just assists.
“I think what I heard at United at the weekend, I was raging with it. The whole chat about his assists and players talking about assists. He got interviewed after the match, and I was watching and everyone was talking about assists. The game was about his assists.
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“After the game he got interviewed and he said in his interview, the captain of Man United, ‘A few times I should have shot but I made them passes’ [Fernandes actually said he should have passed rather than shot]. How can your mindset about football be going into a match and talking about an individual record? He’s going to get all of them stats anyway but to become the main point of Manchester United’s performance at the weekend, I was cringing with all of them. And all of the players going over to him when he got the assist. What about the guy who scored the goal?”
Fernandes, who became the first male United player to pick up the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award since Wayne Rooney in 2009/10, was then quizzed about Keane’s comments. “It is not something that I will ever chase,” the midfielder explained.
“I know people can have different opinions about me but they cannot say that I am not someone that looks to [help] the team and tries to make the team the most successful one. I will always try to win trophies and not individual accolades.”
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Meanwhile, Gary Neville disagreed with Keane, saying: “There was nothing on the game, United had finished in the Champions League, Forest had already stayed up.”
But Keane fired back: “If your mindset is like that going into the game, what’s to say it’s not like that in other games? You say there’s nothing in the game, there’s always something on the game. There was 70,000 at the match yesterday. I’m just saying, all the players talking about Bruno’s assists, when you’re not winning anything. If you’re winning stuff and players are getting individual awards, fantastic. Golden Boot, thumbs up to that, player of the year, no problem. But that’s further down the line.
“The priority is the team. Man United’s priority this weekend was Bruno getting an assist. Not winning a football match. Not strikers getting goals or defenders or being good at set pieces or keeping a clean sheet. There’s other parts of football that are really important so for one player to get bogged down with assists and his team aren’t winning anything, that’s my issue.”
United interim head coach Michael Carrick praised Fernandes and stressed that he is very much a team player.
He said: “He’s going through at times and you’re thinking, ‘what’s going through his head, is he looking for a pass, is he looking to just score? Is he second guessing it?’ He coped with it fantastically well and to get the moment today the way he did, was a really nice moment for everybody.
“Credit to him for that because it’s not easy, but he always puts himself behind the team and the team first and today was another one of those days. Even though he’s going to get the praise because it is a fantastic achievement obviously.”
Fernandes has produced 21 assists and eight goals in 34 Premier League games this season.
The Portugal international has one year left on his contract, with the option of a further 12 months, and has been open about his desire to win more trophies, having lifted the League Cup and FA Cup during his six‑and‑a‑half seasons at United.
