FULHAM ‘OUT OF ORDER’ IN BRUNO VIDEO
ERIK TEN HAG has branded Fulham
“out of order” and demanded they apologise for mocking Bruno Fernandes on social media.
Fulham posted a clip on their official Tiktok account, digging out Fernandes for perceived play-acting in their 2-1 win at Manchester United last Saturday.
United boss Ten Hag said Fulham were wrong to post the clip, which clocked up more than 54,000 likes and fuelled the perception of Fernandes as a play-actor.
“I didn’t know this but, if they did it, I would say it’s not right,” said Ten Hag (above, with Fernandes after the game).
“It’s absolutely not right that a club makes such a statement, because it’s totally out of order and they were wrong, so they should apologise for this.”
Ten Hag also demanded greater protection from referees for the 29-year-old midfielder, ahead of Sunday’s derby showdown at Manchester City.
“You see opponents are targeting him, especially after Saturday, when he had the knock,” said Ten Hag.
“I feel that the referee should protect him there. It was so obvious they were looking for him. I thought it was definitely a foul on Saturday and it was really misjudged, from social media, to blame him for that. Then opponents are targeting him and that’s not right.
“The referee should protect him because there were fouls on him, even after the ball was kicked away.”
The provocative clip posted by Fulham shows Fernandes going to ground late on in the game at Old Trafford, under pressure from Sasa Lukic. When his protests are ignored, Fernandes gets back up and asks for the ball, appearing to have made an immediate recovery.
The clip, accompanied by the caption “So glad he’s ok” and an eye-rolling emoji, was set to comical music, to underline the perceived element of farce to Fernandes going down then leaping to his feet again.