‘The geezer’s output has been phenomenal’: Rio Ferdinand defends Bruno Fernandes following Roy Keane’s scathing assessment of the midfielder after he failed to score in United’s goalless draw with Liverpool
- Roy Keane criticised United’s attackers following their draw with Liverpool
- Rio Ferdinand disagreed with Keane’s scathing assessment of Bruno Fernandes
- Ferdinand said Fernandes has been ‘phenomenal’ for the club all season long
- He agreed Fernandes’ final pass was off but said you can’t talk about him like that
Rio Ferdinand has defended Bruno Fernandes after Roy Keane criticised the midfielder for an uncharacteristically poor performance during Sunday’s goalless draw with Liverpool.
Keane was unimpressed with Manchester United’s failure to capitalise on Liverpool’s injury crisis despite the fact they retained their place at the top of the Premier League table.
Ferdinand disagreed with Keane’s scathing assessment of Fernandes and the club, insisting the Portuguese playmaker had been ‘phenomenal’ for the club.
Roy Keane criticised United’s Bruno Fernandes (above) following their draw with Liverpool
Keane recognised the importance of Fernandes’s opportunity in the second, but felt he failed to live up to expectations.
Keane told Sky Sports: ‘When I look at the couple of chances United have created, Rashford never turned up.
‘Fernandes didn’t play that well either, but they still created the two best chances of the game. Huge moments.’
Ferdinand was quick to jump to Fernandes’ defence, saying ‘can’t talk about’ him in such a way.
He told Stretford Paddock’s YouTube channel: ‘They looked off but we’re top of the league so I always look at it like that.
‘Yeah, there might be players off form, but if you’re still nicking results and you’re still winning and you’re still in a healthy position, that’s not a bad thing.
Rio Ferdinand (L) disagreed with Keane’s (R) scathing assessment of the United playmaker
Fernandes was subbed off for Mason Greenwood during Sunday’s clash with Liverpool
‘If we played this game and had zero shots on target and we looked like we had no threat at all, then I’d be a little bit concerned.
‘But I still think there were moments, it was just the final pass or timing of the pass in the final third maybe a couple of times, and then the finish, they were just a little bit off today.
‘But, listen, you can’t talk about [Bruno]. I wouldn’t say Bruno’s looked off recently. The geezer’s output has been phenomenal.’
Fernandes saw his passing accuracy drop down to 58 per cent during the clash with Liverpool.
Bruno Fernandes won the Premier League Player of the Month award for the fourth time
Ferdinand believes United should be happy with their current position at the top of the table
However, the midfielder has been vital to United this season – picking up his fourth Premier League Player of the Month award in 2020.
Fernandes has played a monumental role in getting United to the top of the table and Ferdinand believes United should be happy with their current position.
Speaking of the result against Liverpool, he added: ‘If I look at it as a player, when I played, I’d have taken a 0-0 before the game. I think the players, Ole, before the game would have sat there and said, “If we get a 0-0 we’ll take that, we’re still top of the league and we’ll just build on it.”
‘So I think they’ll be quietly satisfied with what they did. They didn’t pull up any trees, didn’t play particularly well, but we didn’t play bad and we didn’t look like a team inferior to the other, which was a good sign for confidence going forward.’
