Man Utd midfielder Bruno Fernandes was in sparkling form last season, but he hasn't had the same impact this term.

Michael Carrick has backed Bruno Fernandes to "quickly" rediscover his form, despite reiterating that the Manchester United captain is currently playing through the pain barrier.

Fernandes started on the right side of the attack against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League but struggled to make an impact and was substituted in the 80th minute.

Although Fernandes scored a hat-trick in a 5-2 win against Ipswich in August, he has not been at his best this season and Carrick admitted Fernandes is frustrated with his start to the campaign.

"I think there's no denying there's been a bit of frustration and disappointment with certain things at the start of the season, with results or goals. That's not solely or anything towards just Bruno," he said.

"That's all of us. And again, for me, you know, I understand it, but straight away, a couple of games don't go to plan and a lot of the mentality of is, 'this has happened before, this is going to happen again, this is...'. That's not our focus, you know?

"We're thinking what do we need to do to get back to what we're good at? There's a lot of good, there are a lot of things there from the other night again that we can take forward.

"There are a lot of things in the spirit and the collective and the mentality of the group that cycle, if you like, or that downturn, or that expectation of 'here we go again' doesn't exist, cannot exist in our changing room at this football club.

"We need to think about what's possible, and certainly that's my way of thinking, looking up and looking at what's possible and understanding, no, we need to do certain things to get there. That's not an individual thing, that's everybody."

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When asked about the importance of other players stepping up, he said: "We've got to share the load in all sorts of different ways. That's working, that's quality-wise, that's performing, that's being available.

"It's all sorts of different things and sometimes that's players, sometimes that's staff, sometimes, you know, sometimes that's the supporters, you know, to carry us when we need them the most.

"Again, it's not an individual thing. This is not when it's all good, it's not always just Bruno. When it's certainly if it's not so good, it's not all Bruno. He has a big impact on our group, a big impact on the squad.

"He's a fantastic footballer. And just because he may not be hitting the headlines or the highlights like he did last year doesn't mean that he can't, and that he won't, and I'm sure he'll do that pretty quickly"

.Carrick confirmed Fernandes was not taken off against Atletico due to his knock, but admitted it's an ongoing issue for him.

"Like I said the other day, he has been carrying some sort of issue," he said. "A lot of players do carry them and kind of it goes under the radar and people just think everyone's 100% fully fit and it's probably not very often the case.

"But yeah, so he has been carrying a bit of an issue, but he's pretty much over that now, to be honest, and he'll be back to his best."