- Bruno Fernandes went down injured during Man United’s 2-1 defeat by Fulham
- Erik ten Hag says the backlash towards Fernandes on social media was ‘pathetic’
- Chelsea were gutless to play for penalties. Liverpool have a cause, Mauricio Pochettino’s side are soulless – Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off podcast
Erik ten Hag has demanded an apology from Fulham for mocking Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes for allegedly feigning injury in Saturday’s game at Old Trafford.
Fulham posted a clip on their official TikTok account of Fernandes going down heavily under a challenge from Sasa Lukic and then quickly getting up again, along with a sarcastic caption that read ‘so glad he’s ok’.
By Thursday morning it had 43,000 likes.
United sources said Fulham’s post was regrettable and Ten Hag called for the London club to say sorry.
‘So I didn’t know this but if they did it I would say it is not right,’ said the United boss.
‘It is absolutely not right that a club makes such statement because it is totally out of order and wrong and they should apologise for this.’
Erik ten Hag has demanded an apology from Fulham for mocking his captain Bruno Fernandes
Fulham’s posted on TikTok alleging that Fernandes had feigned injury in Man United’s 2-1 loss
The Man United boss insisted on Thursday that the post was ‘totally out of order and wrong’
Ten Hag also feels that Fernandes should have more protection from referees after claiming that the Portugal star was targeted by Nottingham Forest in Wednesday’s FA Cup tie at the City Ground on the back of the publicity surrounding his injury against Fulham.
Fernandes limped out of the City Ground afterwards but will be fit for the Manchester derby at the Etihad on Sunday.
‘I thought it was definitely on Saturday a foul and really misjudged from media, from social media, to blame him.’ added Ten Hag.
‘That was my point yesterday and opponents are targeting him and that is not right. There were fouls on him even after the ball was kicked away.’
Immediately after the Forest game, Ten Hag had said: ‘You saw that Forest were targeting him,’ said Ten Hag.
Fulham mocked Fernandes over his ‘injury’ during Saturday’s win against Manchester United
Fernandes went down under a challenge from Fulham’s Sasa Lukic and looked to be in pain
However, moments later the United captain got up off the floor and continued to play on
‘There were many fouls on him. You see when he is getting the ball, they are really tight on him.
‘I don’t say what it is, but it was a serious injury. I see social media criticise him. It is pathetic. He has a serious injury, he continued to play on Saturday and then also he fought to be part of this game.
‘He has a very high pain threshold. Last year he did something similar against Spurs. It shows his leadership.’
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