'We have to get up and try to punch back'

CAPTAIN BRUNO ISSUES RALLYING CALL TO TEAM

- YRONE MARSHALL

BRUNO Fernandes has urged his Manchester United teammates to climb off the canvas and start throwing a few punches back, telling them they must show they "have the balls" to play for the club.

United are enduring a dismal season and head to Fulham this weekend in the bottom half of the table. They have just seven wins from 22 Premier League fixtures and 10 defeats.

Head coach Ruben Amorim has opted for shock therapy of late, telling the media that his side are in a relegation battle and then claiming after last weekend's 3-1 defeat to Brighton that they are "maybe the worst team in Manchester United's history'.

Amorim has been critical of the state of the club he has walked into, claiming everyone is too comfortable in the current environment and delivering some brutal home truths to try and engineer a reaction.

Six of Amorim's 11 league games have ended in defeat, but captain Fernandes said the players needed to show they had the character to handle the pressure that comes with playing for Manchester United.

"The reality is that to play for this club you have to have that pressure, you have to have the balls to play for this club - because that is what it is," he said.

"You have to feel that in every moment in every game it is a new chance to bring the club back to the position we deserve.