Man Utd players acting 'like babies', says Rooney after Martinez and Fernandes outbursts

The recent outbursts from Lisandro Martinez and Bruno Fernandes typify the "selfish" attitude of a Manchester United squad that have acted "like babies" recently. 

That is the view of Red Devils icon Wayne Rooney, who believes United's players must look in the mirror and accept the responsibility for their dire start to the season.

Ahead of Sunday's clash with Bournemouth, Michael Carrick's position as United boss looks to be hanging by a thread, with his team only having seven points on the board after seven Premier League matches.

This is their worst start to a league season since 1989-90 (also seven points from seven games) and just the second time in the last 54 years that they have only had one win by this stage, along with 1986-87.

Wednesday's 4-1 defeat at Como means United have also only averaged a point per game in the Champions League, and in a post-match interview, captain Fernandes appeared to blame Carrick's tactics as he took aim at the team's failure to press high.

That outburst came hot on the heels of Martinez saying everyone at United "expected more" from the club in the transfer market, and during an appearance on The United Stand podcast, Rooney made his feelings clear.

"When Martinez came out, I said this is an absolute nightmare because it will rip the dressing room apart. That was the start," Rooney said. 

"We've seen it now with Bruno and you're going to see it with more players. The reason why is that those players don't want to take responsibility.

"You can say whether Bruno was right or wrong in what he said, but you have to take responsibility on the pitch.

"You have to take responsibility as a group of players and there were times when me and Sir Alex Ferguson wouldn't talk, but I'd run through a brick wall for him on the pitch.

"These players, they're selfish. They care about themselves, they don't care about their team-mates, don't care about the manager, about the staff or the fans, they care about themselves.

"If they're not getting what's right for them. They're like babies and just throw their toys out of the pram and go and deflect the blame on to anyone else but themselves. They have to look at themselves.

"Bruno, he's having probably the worst run of form he's had since he's been at the club and again, it's no coincidence he's putting pressure on someone else because he doesn't want to face it.

"If he looks at himself in the mirror, if Martinez looks at himself in the mirror, all the players... they'll find what is looking back at them is them and it's not good enough."

Bournemouth are unbeaten in their last three Premier League visits to Old Trafford (W2 D1), scoring at least three goals in every match, making them the only team to ever achieve that in three successive league visits to United. 

The last instance of a team scoring three or more goals in four straight away Premier League games against a single opponent was Manchester City at Newcastle United, from 2020-21 to 2023-24.