Chelsea icon Joe Cole has come to the defence of under-fire Manchester United duo Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes.
Manchester United’s narrow victory against Fulham may have papered over the cracks of the growing problems at the club. The win would have come as a relief for Erik ten Hag after a period of intense pressure on the Dutchman, but the criticisms over some of their high-profile players continued to rumble on.
Right from when the season began, Manchester United and Ten Hag have endured problems owing to their terrible performances on the pitch. The Dutchman can surely blame the list of injured players, which has made his side weak, especially in those big games.
Earlier in the season, Gary Neville hinted at problems inside the dressing room, while others have steadily taken swipes at the manager and the under-performing players. Chief among those are star attacker Marcus Rashford and club captain Bruno Fernandes.
After a recent defeat to Manchester City, former skipper Roy Keane insisted Ten Hag should strip Fernandes of the captaincy, insisting he did not like how he behaved. Similarly, many had called for the manager to drop Rashford from the team, which the attacker missed at the weekend owing to a pre-game injury.
Now, former Chelsea icon Joe Cole has lent his support to the under-fire Manchester United duo. Cole, through his comments on the Mirror via TNT, explained some critical problems with the star duo and insisted that these players may have struggled due to the added responsibility of being the senior stars in the dressing room.
Cole said, “Rashford and Fernandes are both world class players. They’re outstanding footballers but they’re in a system that’s not allowing them to express their creative abilities. Rashford is the face of Manchester United and Bruno is the captain but I wouldn’t want my creative players to be the main leaders.”
“I think the captain should be someone like Varane, a player behind the rest of the team who can say to Fernandes and Rashford’ you can be the difference-makers for us’.”
“When Marcus plays and there are no other thoughts in his head – like when he played for England the other day against Italy – he’s outstanding. He’s a world-beater.”
“The same applies to Fernandes. Don’t get me wrong, they still need to be leaders but the body language of the whole squad needs to improve. I would be putting more pressure on the players that are at the back, who can see the whole game, to drive the team and lift the dressing room.”
Indeed, Cole has a point to his argument, as many have also suggested Fernandes does not have the attributes to be a solid captain. Similarly, Rashford does not thrive under pressure for reasons outside of the pitch. As the Chelsea icon suggests, the winger has been playing well for England but soon capitulates when starting for Manchester United.