Bruno Fernandes holds Manchester United dressing room inquest after Liverpool FC thrashing

Bruno Fernandes led the inquest into Manchester United's abysmal defeat at Liverpool in the dressing room at full-time.

Liverpool thumped United 4-0 at Anfield, having pummeled them 5-0 at Old Trafford in October, in what was United's ninth Premier League defeat of the season.

Captain Harry Maguire attempted to gee up his teammates before kick-off but was heavily culpable for United's surrender and Fernandes spoke to broadcasters Sky Sports.

READ MORE: Rangnick suggests United could sign 10 players after Liverpool thrashing

United interim manager Ralf Rangnick was critical in his assessment of United's performance, accusing the players of being 'afraid to be outplayed'. Rangnick admitted he was as blunt with the players kin the dressing room as he was in his post-match press conference.

"I think so, yes," Rangnick replied when asked if the players were self-critical. "We had a conversation in the locker room right now where Bruno also said something towards the team and I said something.

"In the end, right now it doesn’t help. We have to hope for some injured players coming back for Saturday and then just take it game-by-game. I don’t think it helps to speculate about our chances of the top four after a performance like the one today.

"What I tell them in the locker room stays there, obviously. But in general, it is similar to what I say now. We were just not up to it in the first-half, we didn't win a single second ball in most of the first-ball situations we were just spectators, onlookers. If you play like that against a team like Liverpool it's difficult.

"If you cannot get hold of the ball, if you cannot put a little bit of pressure against a team like Liverpool... we just didn’t attack them, we didn't dare to