Erik ten Hag held face-to-face talks with Man United captain Bruno Fernandes about his on-field behaviour

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has spoken to Bruno Fernandes about how the midfielder can better channel his emotions on the field.

Fernandes was widely criticised for his on-field antics during United's humiliating 7-0 defeat to Liverpool last weekend, particularly in the second half.

With club captain Harry Maguire unable to get into the team, Fernandes has been wearing the captain's armband in his absence. But rather than rallying his teammates as Liverpool repeatedly tore through United's backline, the Portuguese midfielder completely lost his cool.

Fernandes started pointing fingers and moaning at his teammates and soon stopped tracking back to help out. Later in the second half he appeared to push the linesman and appeared to ask to be substituted despite not being injured but these claims have since been refuted.

Plenty of fans and pundits called for the vice-captaincy to be taken away from Fernandes, but after United bounced back with a 4-1 win against Real Betis in the Europa League on Thursday, Erik ten Hag backed the 28-year-old.

"His emotion is his weapon but sometimes it's too strong and, yes, of course I help him, I support him and I give him feedback," Ten Hag said of Fernandes.

"Sometimes, he has to show more control of his emotions and that will help him to stay rational in the game.

"He has to fight the balance - when to use the rational and when to use the emotion. But I'm very pleased with his captaincy, because he's given the team energy.

"He's not only given the physical output, the best of the whole team, but also running the right direction, coaching the team and leading the team in a tactical perspective."

Ten Hag has given Fernandes a big vote of confidence but he hasn't done it just for the sake of steadying the ship. The Dutch coach admitted he was impressed with how his stand-in captain responded against Betis.

"I think he showed a big personality by giving this performance and leading the team, so it was brilliant," Ten Hag said.

"I think he has so much skill and now is scoring with his head from a corner.

"He scores with his right, with his left, with his head and he's creating with final passes. Of course, he's very happy when he scores a goal, because that’s important. Then you can celebrate and he did that together with his fans."