Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho comments show who Manchester United's next captain should be

Opinions can shift quickly when it comes to Bruno Fernandes, the Manchester United midfielder who is leading by example one minute and being castigated for petulance on the pitch the next.

At 28, there is little point in expecting Fernandes to change. The Portugal international has high standards and a burning desire to win and when it comes to the heat of combat, that doesn't always manifest itself in the best possible way.

The prime example of that this season was the 7-0 defeat by Liverpool, when Fernandes looked unable to cope emotionally when the game fell apart for United in the second half. He lost self-control and discipline and arguably harmed his team rather than helped them.

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He was heavily criticised for his approach on the pitch that day and it was clearly less than ideal that the captain would allow himself to show those emotions so visibly when what the second half needed was some cool heads to limit the damage and stop the flow of the game.

But Erik ten Hag has defended Fernandes as a leader and after he played through the pain barrier a couple of weeks ago he took another shot at the player's critics.

"A couple of weeks ago there were questions about his captaincy, which was crazy because he is such a big leader," said Ten Hag. "He leads by example, gives so much energy to the team, so much desire and determination. If you want to win games and trophies, you need such players."

Fernandes certainly puts his body on the line for his club. His tally of 4,808 minutes played this season is the most of any outfield player at the club, 749 minutes more than Marcus Rashford in second. The next player on the list is Casemiro,