Former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has criticised Bruno Fernandes for failing to track back during the club’s dramatic Champions League victory over Roma at Old Trafford.
Manchester United appeared to be heading towards another disappointing result after falling 2-0 behind against the Italian side, raising further concerns about their poor run of form.
The Red Devils, who were experiencing their worst start to a season since the 1980s, struggled to cope with Roma’s attacking threat in the opening stages of the encounter.
Despite Michael Carrick’s call for an improved performance, United found themselves behind within the first 12 minutes.
Roma capitalised on the space left behind by Diogo Dalot, who had moved forward, with Matias Soule taking advantage of the defensive weakness to open the scoring.
The visitors doubled their advantage after Ayden Heaven was penalised for handball while attempting to block a shot. Donyell Malen subsequently converted the resulting penalty to make it 2-0.
While Dalot received criticism for his defensive positioning during Roma’s goals, Rooney was particularly unhappy with Fernandes’ failure to cover the space left behind by his teammate.
The former United captain insisted that Fernandes should have recognised the danger, dropped into the defensive position and taken responsibility, especially as the current club captain.
Fernandes also had an opportunity to reduce the deficit from the penalty spot in the second half but initially failed to convert. However, he was given another chance after encroachment was spotted, and the Portuguese midfielder made no mistake with his second attempt.
His goal, which came shortly before the hour mark, gave the home supporters renewed hope, although United still had plenty of work to do with 10 minutes remaining.
The game eventually produced a remarkable turnaround as Matheus Cunha scored twice within three minutes, transforming what appeared to be a certain defeat into an unlikely United victory.
Cunha was sent off after receiving two yellow cards, with one of the bookings coming after he celebrated his goal by jumping into the stands. Despite being reduced to 10 men, United managed to protect their advantage and secure an extraordinary win.
Speaking on Amazon Prime during the half-time break, Rooney described United as being ‘shot to bits’ and expressed his disappointment with their poor first-half performance.
Asked whether the opening 45 minutes represented another ‘new low’ for his former club, Rooney pointed to Fernandes’ defensive responsibility during Roma’s opening goal.
“For the first goal, if you’re playing in a system, when Dalot goes higher, Bruno should go into that position.
“He has to run back, you’re the captain of the football club, run back and take responsibility.
“You’re a team and you need to play as a team. If a teammate is out of position, even if you don’t want to be there or run back, you have to run back.”
However, Rooney acknowledged the improvement in United’s performance after the break and praised the players for showing the determination needed to complete the comeback.