Bruno Fernandes called out for two reasons as Man United star leaves Paul Scholes fed up

Paul Scholes has lamented Bruno Fernandes' petulance and lack of positional discipline following the Manchester United captain's sending off against Tottenham Hotspur.

The Portugal international was shown a straight red card in the first half of Sunday's (September 29) 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford after a challenge on James Maddison.

His early shower capped off what has been a forgettable start to the season for the 30-year-old who has yet to score in nine games across all competitions.

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Discussing United's third league defeat of the season, the Red Devils icon took aim at Fernandes, specifically his consistence petulance on the pitch and habit of vacating his position.

"Look, I think that he needs to play with more discipline, there's no doubt," Scholes said. "When I say discipline, I mean the position where he plays on the football pitch. As a number 10, he has the responsibility to make his team play good football.

"But for me he vacates that area too much, the amount of time you see him dropping into midfield and sometimes left-back, sometimes right-back, it can sometimes mess the whole method or function of the team up."

The 11-time Premier League winner had sympathy for Fernandes' sending off, claiming referee Chris Kavanagh drew for his red card too quickly.

"It wasn't a sending off, there's no doubt about that. I think the referee acted a little bit hastily, he was a bit too quick to go for it without actually having a little word with his linesman and thinking about it."

Scholes slammed Fernandes' petulant action that led United to go down to 10 men and holds a pessimistic view in whether the skipper can rid himself of that part of his game.

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"But again, it was petulant and it gave the referee an opportunity to do it," the Salford City co-owner added. "We've seen a lot of petulance from our captain over the last couple of years, throwing arms about and he knows himself that it needs to get out of his game, but realistically, is that going to happen?

"He's of an age where you don't really change that much. The captain has to set an example and yesterday just wasn't good enough."

Due to his sending off, Fernandes will miss United's next three league fixtures next month against Aston Villa, Brentford, and West Ham United.