Ruben Amorim has hit back at Roy Keane’s criticism of Bruno Fernandes by telling the former Manchester United midfielder that it’s the opinion of the head coach which matters most.
Speaking on the Overlap podcast, Keane said that “Bruno’s a talented player, but talent isn’t enough” and “Bruno is not a fighter.” During a heated debate with former Arsenal striker Ian Wright, Keane also labelled the entire United team as “imposters.”
When asked at a news conference on Friday about Keane’s criticism of his captain, Amorim said: “I heard about that. I have a different opinion. Bruno is really important for us in the club, especially for me. He’s playing well in a difficult context. He always wants the responsibility.
“I know sometimes he does things as a captain with his arms and criticising the teammates. Most of all it’s a lot of frustration for this year, the last year and the others. He wants to win and sometimes it’s really hard to deal with that frustration.
“Everybody has an opinion. Roy Keane has big standards from him in his time, it is normal to have an opinion. I have an opposite opinion.
“I think my opinion is more important than Roy Keane’s because I am the coach and I think he [Fernandes] is doing things quite well.”
As well as Fernandes, goalkeeper André Onana has come in for criticism after a number of recent mistakes. He has struggled in games against Everton and Ipswich Town, but with No. 2 Altay Bayindir injured, the Cameroon international is set to keep his place against Fulham on Sunday.
“I think he passed in the last year, for sure, some difficult moments but this season he made some great saves that saved our team,” Amorim said.
“Sometimes [he] has some problems but that is normal. If you look at our team you can find a lot of players with that issue. Sometimes some players have problems. People talk a lot about the second goal of Ipswich. He is waiting for the touch of [Liam] Delap and then the ball continues to the goal. That can happen.”
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