Bruno Fernandes held clear the air talks with Michael Carrick this week but he needs to show a willingness to work hard on the pitch to win the fans back.
The 32-year-old was left on the bench as the Red Devils’ winless run extended to an eighth match in all competitions with Sunday’s humiliating 3-0 Old Trafford defeat to Bournemouth.
Carrick overlooked Fernandes four days on from the skipper surprisingly taking aim at the under-fire head coach’s set-up in the 4-1 loss at Champions League upstarts Como.
The pair held talks to smooth over the situation after the club decided to stick with the United head coach for Saturday’s trip to Chelsea, where Carrick confirmed the playmaker will remain skipper.
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But the truth is that Fernandes has had a poor start to the season and been unable to lift the players around him as in the past.
And when he is not playing well it is also more evident how little he offers defensively in tracking back and working hard for the team.
It is clear with Youri Tielemans in the team, there is a notable lack of physical presence which has only added to the problems.
The quality of Casemiro was hugely important in the second half of last season and little focus has been put on how much the club are missing him right now.
Meanwhile, Carrick has been clear that Fernandes will not be stripped of the captaincy.
“There’s no decision to be made on that,” he said before nodding when asked to confirm Fernandes remained captain.
“Listen, we’re clear with the situation of the team, and as a football club at the moment.
“He’s an important player for this group. He has been and he will be.
“Between us, we’ve got to make a difference, and we’ve got to push things in a good direction, so he’s fully committed to this football club, he’s fully committed to making things better.
“It doesn’t change for me. He’s the one that’s kind of led the team so well for many a game and many a year, and he’ll continue to do that.”
An engaged, in-form Fernandes will be key to United’s chances of turning around what has been their worst start to a league campaign since 1986.
Kobbie Mainoo could also be involved at Chelsea having returned to training this week after an unspecified issue, but Benjamin Sesko is set to be ruled out for the remainder of the year.
The 23-year-old was lied low by a shin problem in the summer, and the issue had flared up again for United’s only out-and-out striker.
The Press Association understands Sesko will be sidelined until January and head coach Carrick said: “Unfortunately, Ben looks like he’s going to be out for a period of time.
“We’re still not clear of exactly how long but it’s going to be a longer period of time.
“It was the process and, as I said to you before, we had to go through the process, there’s a bit of a healing process for the injury to see how it would react and what direction to go with that.
“So, even now, we’re still working through it but, yeah, it’s unfortunate.
“Obviously, first and foremost, for Ben, for the kind of period that he’s had and tried to get through it, going through this again.
“And for us to not have him available, is obviously a blow, but we’ll try to get him back as quick as we can.”
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