Chris Sutton has argued that Bruno Fernandes should not be the captain of Manchester United, insisting that they have better leaders than the Portuguese midfielder.
Erik ten Hag’s side have been poor during their opening two games of the season, with a perhaps fortunate 1-0 victory over Wolves followed by a disappointing 2-0 loss to Tottenham at the weekend.
Fernandes demanded an apology from officials following the defeat by Spurs, after the Red Devils were denied a first-half penalty when Alejandro Garnacho’s shot struck the outstretched arm of Cristian Romero.
When asked by Mail Sport’s Ian Ladyman if referee Michael Oliver was to blame for Man United‘s defeat, Sutton gave a strong response on this week’s ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ podcast.
He said: ‘Absolutely not (the referee wasn’t to blame). Bruno Fernandes first and foremost needs to sort himself out, his team out, before looking at referees and their decisions.
Bruno Fernandes vented his frustrations after Man United’s loss to Tottenham demanding for an apology after the Red Devils were not awarded a penalty
Chris Sutton insisted that the midfielder should not be captain of Manchester United
‘Bruno Fernandes for me shouldn’t be captain of Manchester United, absolutely not, he’s not a leader. That basically sums him up.
‘It’s about taking responsibility as a captain and the bottom line is, the first two performances of the season for Manchester United they have looked like a testimonial team, like a team that’s still stuck in pre-season and he needs to turn up and show better leadership qualities – not blaming referees.’
Ladyman described Sutton’s comments as the ‘first two-footed challenge’ of his career and saying it was a ‘bold statement’ to suggest Fernandes wasn’t captain material.
Sutton fired back: ‘It’s not a bold statement. There’s an argument when you look into the Manchester United team about how many leaders do they actually have?
‘There must be players better suited like Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw and Casemiro who have better leadership qualities.
‘You wouldn’t want to go into the trenches with Bruno Fernandes.’
Fernandes, during his post-match comments, referenced last week’s penalty incident at Old Trafford during their win over Wolves, when Gary O’Neil was given an apology by referees’ boss Jon Moss for not giving a spot-kick when Andre Onana clattered into Sasa Kalajdzic.
The 28-year-old said: ‘Last week they made a big thing on United not having a penalty against them [Wolves].
Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ debated all the big talking points from the weekend
Sutton said he ‘wouldn’t want to go into the trenches’ with the Portuguese midfielder
‘I want to see what’s going to happen this week if it’s going to happen the same show they did last week.
‘I want to see if Jon Moss also comes to apologise to our dressing room like they said he did to the manager of Wolves.’
‘It’s All Kicking Off’ host Ladyman said that while he believed Man United would finish in the top four, they won’t be able to challenge Man City for the crown this season.
Sutton added: ‘It’s about trying to challenge Manchester City. Erik ten Hag did brilliantly last season but it’s about making the next step, but the truth is at this moment in time, based on the performances of the first two games, I can’t see them touching Manchester City.’
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