It is never a good sign for a manager when stories start to emerge that a player is ‘liking’ social media posts about how nasty he is, but that was the supplementary headache for Erik ten Hag after Manchester United’s sleepy showing in Bournemouth.

There is always the Joleon Lescott defence – he once claimed it was not him but his pocket that tweeted a picture of a £121,000 Mercedes while driving after Aston Villa were humiliated 6-0 by Liverpool – as Alejandro Garnacho faced accusations of a public response to Ten Hag substituting him at half-time during Saturday’s disappointing draw followed by his post-match explanation for that tweak.

Screenshots were shared of Garnacho apparently showing his appreciation for messages written by a YouTuber called Mark Goldbridge, among them mentioning how Ten Hag was ‘throwing a 19-year-old under the bus who has actually delivered for you this season’ and that he is ‘scared of upsetting the bigger earners’ in the dressing room.

Those in the room for Ten Hag’s press conference heard the full reasoning behind why he made that half-time change. It would be a stretch to say he explicitly blamed the teenager, as United’s manager explained he saw the need to tactically repair the right-hand side that Bournemouth had been targeting and that Garnacho had missed most of the training week through illness.

Sensationalist though the response may have been, it is never nice for a footballer to be hooked at half-time, even if Garnacho had already put in a performance which had Bournemouth fans booing because of his antics in trying to buy fouls and cards.

Alejandro Garnacho faces accusations of a public response to Erik ten Hag substituting him

In this modern age, some United supporters will happily take this as a sign of a lack of trust in Ten Hag from inside the dressing room, while the stories will not go unnoticed by the club’s new overlords ahead of a summer in which they were likely to make a managerial change.

Garnacho was not alone in putting in a substandard performance at Bournemouth. On the opposite wing, Marcus Rashford showed nowhere near the intensity required, doing little to dispel the idea that he is disinterested. 

Casemiro underlined why he no longer up to scratch at a club striving for the next level, while Rasmus Hojlund was largely lost at the head of the attack.

Bruno Fernandes will never win any popularity contests among football fans, as the Premier League player who moans more than most, yet there is a flip side to his strops.

They show that he cares. That is a characteristic which seemed lost among many of his team-mates. 

Ten Hag insisted afterwards that they are ‘motivated’ in spite of this draw dropping them to seventh ahead of Sunday’s fixtures – a position which would equal their worst-ever finish in a Premier League season. 

United manager’s made a hasty exit from his press conference when that topic was broached, saying he did not want to comment and showing it was not worth his time discussing it.

Love him or loathe him, Fernandes gives a damn, yet Ten Hag might be heading into the end of this Premier League season not knowing who he can trust to perform for him.