Wright claims Man Utd star was ‘laughing’ at Ten Hag in Brighton loss – ‘I can’t believe this guy’

Ian Wright thinks Man Utd midfielder Bruno Fernandes was “laughing” at Erik ten Hag when he was substituted against Brighton at the weekend.

The Red Devils got their season off to a good start on the opening weekend of the season with a 1-0 win over Fulham but their inconsistent form from last season reared its head again on Saturday when they lost 2-1 to Brighton .

They lost to the Seagulls after a late defensive lapse led to unmarked Brighton striker Joao Pedro heading home in the fifth minute of added time.

Amad Diallo cancelled out Danny Welbeck’s opener at the Amex Stadium before Joshua Zirkzee inadvertently prevented the visitors taking a 70th-minute lead by touching Alejandro Garnacho’s goal-bound effort over the line from an offside position.

Man Utd , who required an 87th-minute debut goal from Zirkzee to beat Fulham on the opening weekend, host rivals Liverpool next Sunday, with manager Ten Hag already under a slight bit of pressure.

And former Arsenal striker Wright insisted there were “a lot of things” that didn’t feel right from a Man Utd perspective against Brighton with the substitution of Fernandes a particularly strange decision.

Wright insists that Fernandes was even “smiling and laughing” at Ten Hag when he was taken off with the Man Utd boss removing one of their biggest attacking talents when they needed a goal.

The Arsenal legend said on his Wrighty’s House podcast : “A lot of things happened in that game that I just couldn’t understand or see happening.

“Like I can’t understand why he took Bruno off and went so defensive. Why are you taking him off?

“When he [Fernandes] ran off, he was actually smiling and laughing. He was like, “what the f***? I can’t believe this guy.”

“That’s the vibe I got from it. If anyone is going to win a game for you it’s Bruno Fernandes.”

Wright’s former Arsenal team-mate Martin Keown reckons Ten Hag is already back under pressure at Man Utd after winning the FA Cup at the end of last campaign.

Keown added: “You feel that pressure is already on Erik ten Hag. The momentum they seemed to get from that opening day win to then have lost this weekend – it is worrying.

“Their next game is Liverpool at home so let’s see how they do there. They did well in that fixture last season, so maybe how their season goes on from here hinges on that game.”

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And even before their loss to Brighton, former Man Utd midfielder Paul Scholes insisted that their performance against Fulham in the opening match was no different to displays last season.

Scholes said on The Overlap last week: “With Manchester United’s opening game against Fulham, I didn’t see many differences from their performances last season. I thought they did okay, and they deserved to win the game, but there were still plenty of times where there were loads of space in central midfield.

“The problem with United is that every time they have the ball, they are trying to attack, which isn’t a good thing. You sometimes need five minutes on the ball to help take the sting out of the game, but constantly attacking, results in end-to-end football.

“If you look at Manchester City and their midfield, they take the sting out of the play and kill opposition teams that way, but with United, there is so much chaos with players running everywhere.”