Roy Keane has given a scathing assessment of Bruno Fernandes and his Manchester United team-mates’ behaviour, calling them a ‘circus act’ in the hunt for a Premier League assists record for their captain.
Fernandes equalled the Premier League assists record for a single season by setting up his 20th goal of the campaign in Sunday’s win over Nottingham Forest – and will have the chance to move clear of Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne at Brighton this weekend.
But not everyone is impressed. Former United captain Keane witnessed Fernandes and his team-mates being more focused on adding to his assists tally than winning the game against Forest.
United can only finish third in the Premier League – they are nine points behind second-placed Manchester City and six points clear of Aston Villa in fourth. But Keane is raging at their misplaced focus and Fernandes’ own admissions about trying to lay on chances rather than score.
The Portuguese playmaker has insisted he hasn’t changed the way he’s playing in search of the personal accolade but admits it is on his mind.
Bruno Fernandes was the centre of attention at Man United amid his bid for an assists record
‘I think what I heard at United at the weekend… honestly, I was raging with it,’ Keane said on Stick To Football.
‘The whole chat about his assists. And everyone’s talking about assists, he did an interview after the match, after the game, and I was watching him and everyone was talking about assists and even the players were… It was all, the game was about his assists. That’s the whole talk.
After the game he got interviewed and he said in his interview, the captain of Man United, he said, “Yeah, a few times I probably should’ve…” He said this himself, “I should have shot but, uh, I made them passes”. Wow! How can your mindset of a footballer be going out to a match and be talking about some individual recognition?
‘He’s going to get all them stats anyway. But for it to be the main point about Man United’s performance the weekend, I was cringing with all of them. And all the players when he got the assist, going over to him – What about the guy who scored the goal?!’
Roy Keane was unimpressed with the behaviour of Fernandes and his United team-mates
Keane’s former team-mate Gary Neville attempts to stick up for Fernandes by remarking on how he has spoken of trying to win team trophies – but Keane was having none of it.
‘He won’t be winning trophies. Not with that mindset of the team, where they’ve given up two goals and everyone’s getting all giddy because he’s equalled a record for assists. It’s mind-boggling. It’s mind-boggling.
‘It’s a circus act. Bruno gives a pass and he misses it. What did Bruno do after he missed it? You watched it. Why is he falling on the f***ing floor? Excuse me.
‘He wasn’t disappointed for the striker who’s having a bit of a difficult spell and missed a couple of chances. He’s thinking about his assist, and he doesn’t—he doesn’t get his assist.’
