In a separate interview with BBC Sport, Fernandes said he had spoken to friends during the week and predicted the likely chain of events.

“I said everything will come to us and people will say we wanted the manager to be sacked,” he added.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, former United skipper Roy Keane was less than impressed by the comments. He has little empathy with claims of loyalty towards Ten Hag.

“We mentioned loyalty last week,” Keane told Sky Sports. “If you want loyalty, get yourself a dog.”

Keane said Fernandes’ comments were “too little, too late”.

“He has not shown enough leadership when the going has got tough,” added the Irishman.

“I wouldn’t want to be in the trenches with these players. A lot of them don’t care that much. They just focus on the next manager.”

Ten Hag repeatedly said this season his side had not converted enough of their chances into goals.

It was the same against Chelsea, with Alejandro Garnacho failing to take multiple chances, Marcus Rashford firing a first-half effort against the woodwork and substitute Joshua Zirkzee caught in possession after appearing to have a clear run on goal.

Watching that must be particularly painful for interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy, who scored 150 goals for United in five prolific seasons.

But he still saw signs of optimism.

“The last games we lost some points because we didn’t take our chances,” he said.

“The good thing is we create a lot during the season so far. When the players get in the flow with results coming, goals will come also.”

Whether Van Nistelrooy is around for that remains to be seen.

He revealed he has not yet spoken to Amorim and no talks are scheduled before his temporary stint in the manager’s role comes to an end after home games over the next week against Greek side PAOK in the Europa League and Leicester in the Premier League.

A lifelong Sporting fan, Fernandes left them to join United in January 2020, two months before Amorim arrived from Braga, and the 30-year-old has witnessed the transformation of his former club.

“I watch a lot of Sporting games,” he added. “Ruben Amorim brought excitement back to the club. It was a little bit split when he came but he transformed everything and brought everyone together.”