Wayne Rooney has hit out at Manchester United duo Lisandro Martínez and Bruno Fernandes for their recent criticism of the club, accusing the pair of being “babies” and throwing the rest of the team under the bus.

Just as United were trying to move on from Martínez’s comments against the recruitment department, a tough 4–1 defeat to Como led to Fernandes questioning Michael Carrick’s tactics.

It has turned into an ugly situation, with the pressure on Carrick’s shoulders growing with each passing minute. In Rooney’s eyes, this past week has shown exactly what is going wrong at Old Trafford.

“When Martínez came out, I said this is an absolute nightmare because it will rip the dressing room apart, and that was the start,” he told The United Stand. “We’ve seen it now with Bruno and you’re going to see it with more players. The reason why is because them players, they don’t want to take responsibility.

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“You can say whether Bruno was right or wrong in what he said, but you have to take responsibility on the pitch, you have to take responsibility as a group of players and never mind who your manager was. There were times when me and Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t talk, but I’d run through a brick wall for him on the pitch because I want to play for myself, I want to play for the club, I want to play for the fans.

“These players, they’re selfish. They care about themselves, they don’t care about their teammates, don’t care about the manager, about the staff or the fans, they care about themselves.

“If they're not getting what's right for them ... they’re like babies and just throwing their toys out of the pram and go and try and deflect the blame on to anyone else but themselves. They have to look at themselves. If they’ve looked at themselves, if they’re honest with themselves, then start looking at other people.”

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Rooney went on to claim that this United squad is full of enough talent to succeed, but challenged the players to prove their worth to the team.

“Martínez, for instance, as much as the fans will agree and say, ‘oh yeah, this is brilliant, he’s coming out and speaking against the club,’ he’s doing it to take heat off himself,” Rooney continued.

“Bruno, he’s having probably the worst run of form he’s had since he’s been at the club and again, it’s no coincidence, he’s putting pressure on someone else because he doesn’t want to face it. He doesn’t want to deal with it himself.

“If he looks at himself in the mirror, if Martínez looks himself in the mirror, all the players ... they’ll find what is looking back at them is them and it’s not good enough. They need to show more.

“They’ve been brought into this football club for a reason, because they are good players. World Cup winner, Premier League Player of the Year last year ... where are you? Show me. Show me why you deserve that title.”

The pressure remains on Carrick heading into Sunday’s visit from Bournemouth. He is expected to remain in charge for that fixture, but an extension to a seven-game winless run would undoubtedly raise further questions about the manager’s future.