Casemiro needlessly gave the ball away with a misplaced pass, allowing Liverpool to open the scoring via Luis Diaz in the first half. Minutes later, he tried to dribble up the pitch but was dispossessed by Diaz, who raced through to double his tally before the break.
Erik ten Hag decided he had seen enough and replaced Casemiro with Toby Collier at the interval, but the change did little to rescue United's hopes of an unlikely comeback with Mohamed Salah adding another for Liverpool before the final whistle.
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Casemiro was singled out for criticism by Keane and Neville in their post-match analysis, with the former slamming his decision-making process on the ball. Neville, meanwhile, suggested that his errors were 'terrible mistakes' which ultimately cost United the game.
Quizzed on United's poor display, Fernandes admitted their defeat was self-inflicted but urged those criticising the Red Devils to avoid digging out individual players. He also defended Casemiro, pointing to his experience in a public show of support for the 32-year-old.
"The goals are always self-inflicted," said the United skipper. "You need to commit a mistake to give them the goal. We don't need to be pointing fingers at everyone, that won't help us now. When you concede a goal you can't just point at one mistake.
"What's the point in saying Casemiro lost the ball or Kobbie [Mainoo] lost the ball? They lost the ball because they wanted to be brave. It's part of football. Don't make it individual.
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"Casemiro is more experienced than me. I don't need to tell him anything, he knows what football is about. He's played for the two best clubs in the world."
Ten Hag also backed Casemiro in his post-match interview, insisting that he will recover from his error-strewn display against Liverpool to establish himself as an important cog in the United machine.
"You know the game, he knows the game," said the Dutchman. "He will go on, we will go on. He's a great player. We will continue this season to improve the team and the players. He improved, and showed so often, that he is a great character.
"We all have seen great moments from him, being decisive in the midfield. He will show it again, I am sure he will bounce back."
