Manchester United have taken their fair share of knocks since the beginning of the season, yet it was only when the team sheet for their Premier League clash against Chelsea was published that they made their admission: they are now a weak club.

Among the 11 names to face the Blues at Stamford Bridge was Bruno Fernandes, with the ‘c’ denoting the captaincy next to his name.

This was the same Bruno Fernandes who, 10 days earlier, had launched an assassination attempt on manager Michael Carrick, claiming that the team was simply following tactics as they were crushed 4-1 by Champions League rookies Como in Northern Italy.

Yes, the Portuguese was frozen out of last week’s defeat at home to Bournemouth, but after that match the fans made clear whose side of the fight they are on, cheering Carrick as he left the park before loudly jeering the players.

"Bruno is a talented player but it is not enough," Roy Keane, who was a mainstay during United's greatest era, once said of the former Sporting CP midfielder.

Unfortunately, there is nobody within the club holding the players to those same standards.

Bruno Fernandes: Where’s the apology?

What’s most telling about the whole situation is not that Bruno Fernandes is back, but that he has not shown any contrition for the chaos he caused only days ago.

That Man Utd are so ready to welcome one player back into their squad – one who has been out of form since the beginning of the season, only contributing against Ipswich and Sabah – shows how weak the institution has become.

Imagine if a similar scenario had unfolded at Barcelona or Real Madrid. Bruno would have been forced out in front of the press and made to read a prepared statement before being welcomed back into the team.

United no longer hold the standards of the biggest clubs, though. These failings off the field are reflected by the shambolic nature of the team on it.

This latest act, which has presumably been mandated by the under-fire backroom duo of Jason Wilcox and Omar Barrada rather than Carrick himself, only serves to strengthen the grip of player power behind the scenes at Old Trafford.

Bruno absence an exercise in keeping up appearances

Bruno got his slap on the wrist last weekend as an exercise in keeping up appearances but is immediately back involved at the first opportunity with no further sanction or apology.

Similarly, Lisandro Martinez, who openly criticised the club’s transfer policy earlier this month is involved unchecked, selected ahead of the Ayden Heaven and Matthijs de Ligt, who is admittedly lacking match sharpness.

But it’s Bruno who’s meant to set the standards at Old Trafford and it is therefore Bruno that these standards must be applied to most rigidly.

Man Utd’s failure to control their captain is a symbol of their ongoing demise and the type of dissent that must be eradicated if they are ever to regain their previous status.