It's fair to say that, sometimes, Bruno Fernandes doesn't help himself.
A misplaced pass from a Manchester United team-mate and up go the arms and out comes the sigh. An unfavourable decision and into the referee's face he goes, close enough to smell the egg from his breakfast. A firmer-than-average tackle, down he goes and, honestly, will he ever walk again?
Fernandes' critics argue this is no way for a captain to behave. Even his manager Ruben Amorim suggested his endless arm waving was sometimes 'not a good thing to see' and said he will help him manage it.
That would be nice. Because so often these histrionics take away from what Fernandes is behind it all: a top-class player who delivers when his side need him. Isn't that what leaders do?
It was Fernandes who popped up at the back post on Thursday night to score the winner against Glasgow and spare United's ever rosier blushes.
'When you are under pressure, he's always the guy that wants the ball, he's always available, and that is so important – especially in the Premier League,' said Amorim ahead of United's game at Fulham on Sunday.
The question to ask, then, is where would United be without him?
A TRUE TALISMAN
Fernandes is, and has been since his arrival at Old Trafford in January 2020, United's talisman.
Since his debut, he's scored 59 Premier League goals for United, 13 more than anyone else; provided 47 assists, 25 more than anyone else, and created seven shy of 500 chances – just 362 more than any other team-mate.
Add his 501 shots to those chances he's created and he's seven away from 1,000 – by some distance the most of any player in the Premier League. Before this weekend's matches, Mo Salah sat 33 behind him in second while Kevin De Bruyne lay third, nearly 250 away.
Fernandes is one of only three players ahead of this weekend with at least five goals and five assists in every Premier League season since his first in 2019-20 alongside Salah and Heung-min Son.
It's not just the sheer weight of numbers either, it's that he delivers them when it matters. Of his 106 goals and assist, 66 of them were to either equalise for United or give them the lead.
Only Salah has scored or set up more goals to pull his side level or put Liverpool ahead but they make up a much less bulk of his total contributions.
United don't hammer opponents like Liverpool do so there's less chance for Fernandes to add a third, fourth or fifth. When he chips in, the game is often in the balance and it's him that steps up.
HE DOES DIRTY WORK
What also goes under-rated is Fernandes's defensive work. He's a master of the creative arts but he's often criticised for not putting in a shift when United don't have the ball or when the going gets tough.
That is something else his pantomime act masks. He's the only player in the league before this weekend to win the ball back more than 100 times while also creating at least 45 chances.
No midfielder has applied more pressures to their opponents since the start of last season than Fernandes while Bruno Guimaraes and Declan Rice are the only other central midfielders to have run further.
It's worth noting, too, he almost always plays. He's hardly ever injured. He missed two games at the end of last season with a knee problem, the first matches he'd ever missed with injury for United.
There's no crying off with knocks and niggles. He's played 265 games for United in all competitions, nearly 20 more than any other player from a top-flight side.
BIG GAME PLAYER?
Throughout his United career, Fernandes has been criticised for going missing in the big games. Roy Keane said it back in 2021. Graeme Souness said it again last year. The perception was that he bullied the little guys but flopped against the fellow big guns. It was a perception not, in the early days, without merit.
Fernandes scored once in his first five league games against Man City. None of his first six against Chelsea. Once in his first six against Liverpool. He's scored once in all his eight games against Arsenal.
That's improved in recent seasons. He stepped up to score the late penalty in the turnaround against City. Three goals in his last four against Chelsea. A goal and assist in his last three against Liverpool.
Among players at Big Six clubs, only Salah, Erling Haaland, Buyako Saka and Son have more goals and assists than Fernandes against Bix Six rivals since the start of 2022-23.
He plays for United, too. Don't forget that. That's enough to hold anyone back.
TIME FOR DISCIPLINE
Amorim wants to work with him on his petulance. He would do well to work with him on his discipline too.
Since his debut, he's been shown 50 cards – 47 of them yellow and three of them red. No one has received more cards in all competitions since his debut.
He's been sent off twice already this season, though his straight red against Tottenham was later overturned.
Whenever Fernandes leaves United, where in the dynasty of great leaders will he rank? Will he ever be held in the same breath as Roy Keane or Bryan Robson or Steve Bruce?
Probably not and much of that, sadly, will come down to how Fernandes conducts himself.
What is clear, though, is that United, a club already in disarray, would be in a far, far worse position without him.