Erik ten Hag hailed skipper Bruno Fernandes for sparing Manchester United’s blushes against the Premier League’s bottom club.
Twice Ten Hag’s side trailed to Championship-bound Sheffield United, until a Fernandes double put them ahead, before he turned provider for Rasmus Hojlund to net the fourth goal in a 4-2 win on Wednesday night. Fernandes now has eight goals in his last eight games in all competitions and Ten Hag paid tribute to the United captain for his latest match-winning display.
“He’s in very good form,” said Ten Hag. “I think when we put him in the right position, he finds the right spots. When he’s in that position, he makes the right decisions. He can create a lot, score a goal, make assists and key actions. So we’re very happy with his performance.
“He shows his leadership. But also with his energy, in his transition both ways, it’s very important.
He tries to encourage the team. He’s doing very well and we’re very pleased with his performance and with his attitude.
“There were many positives – the resilience to fight back after losing two times.
“But also there were negatives. We gave it away and that can’t happen. Its unacceptable, we have to learn from this. But I’m happy with the win and we need to move on.”Fernandes said: “At the end we came back. We put ourselves in a position where it’s tough to win’games, but it also shows a bit of character.
“Im really happy to score, but I want to win games more than score goals. It’s part of my role also, to’score goals, but the main thing for me is winning games.
Lately we haven’t won as many as we should have. Being a United player demands winning games.” United sub Ethan Wheatley, 18, became the club’s 250th academy graduate to play for the firstteam when he came on in added time – Mirror.