Fernandes gets Man United out of jail after tepid display،
LONDON — It wasn’t pretty, but Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag doesn’t care.
At the end of a week that saw the Dutchman’s position at Old Trafford seriously called into question for the first time, Bruno Fernandes scored a stoppage-time goal to give United a scrappy 1-0 victory at Fulham.
The ball bounced and ricocheted around the box, past Facundo Pellistri, Scott McTominay, João Palhinha and Tim Ream, before falling to Fernandes on the edge of the box and he pushed his finish into the bottom corner via outstretched hand by Bernd Leno.
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At best it was a comedy of errors and when the final whistle blew it was Ten Hag who was laughing. He won’t win a single goal all season, but after back-to-back 3-0 home defeats to Manchester City and Newcastle United, he’ll take whatever he can get. He can breathe again, until his visit to FC Copenhagen in the Champions League on Wednesday.
“It’s a good win, a solid performance,” said Ten Hag, who was without Marcus Rashford through injury 24 hours after branding his behavior “unacceptable” after the Manchester derby.
“Every game we have to win. I think it was a solid performance and I’m happy with it.
“I’m happy with the mindset of the team and the way we pressed. They play very decent football from the back and we never allowed it. We were very good in the pressing and in the recovery of second balls and in the progression of the ball, but it is clear in the match. “In the box, we have to create more. But I think the composure with the ball was a step forward. “
It was a vital victory, but the performance will do little to allay the concerns of fans who held up a banner before kick-off that read: “Play your way”.
This is a team that looks capable of losing any game and they could have lost it quite easily, particularly during a period of Fulham pressure immediately after half-time when Andre Onana had to make good stops by Harry Wilson then Palhinha.
Until recovering the ball out of his net in added time, Leno had to make only one notable save from a late Fernandes free-kick.
Subsequently, Fulham manager Marco Silva was left furious after seeing United score an injury-time winner at Craven Cottage for the second season in a row.
“It’s really hard to accept,” Silva said. “We wanted to be the better team and I think we did that. At this level we can’t be punished like we were. In 10 seconds there were three or four mistakes from three or four different players and it’s hard to understand. It was clearly our fault that we didn’t win the match.”
The question now will be whether Fernandes’ goal can be a platform for United to build on, but Ten Hag still faces a number of problems. Among them is the inability to score early.
After seeing an eighth-minute McTominay goal ruled out by VAR for offside, their first Premier League goal this season came 17 minutes in against Nottingham Forest when they were already 2-0 down – one of the four goals they scored in the first half. in 11 league matches.
Only once have they led at half-time – against Burnley in September – and against a Fulham team who failed to score in the first half of a home league match, it is no surprise that the match was 0-0. to break.
Another problem is Antony, the second most expensive player in the club’s history when he signed for Ajax in an £85 million deal 18 months ago.
The Brazilian winger was substituted early in the second half after a largely anonymous display. As the 23-year-old trudged towards the benches, his number held up by fourth official Rebecca Welch, the cheers from the visiting fans were dispersed.
Overpriced and underwhelming, Antony is starting to become the latest poster boy for United’s failed recruitment strategy, but similar questions are being asked about Mason Mount, just months after his £55million summer move from Chelsea .
Left on the bench against Manchester City last weekend, the England midfielder was once again named among the substitutes against Fulham as Ten Hag opted for a midfield of Fernandes, McTominay and Christian Eriksen.
Mount had two impressive seasons at Chelsea between 2020 and 2022, but at the moment it looks like United have made a signing that Ten Hag has no room for, although he’s certainly not alone in a team filled with underperforming players. .
The most important factor, however, is that victory over Fulham triggers an upturn in form ahead of games against Copenhagen and Luton Town before the international break. The questions have not been answered, but Ten Hag hopes they have calmed down, if only for a few days.
