Silver-tongued Fletch was our inspiration
UNITED HERO’S PRE-MATCH TALK REMINDED BRUNO & CO HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR REDS TO GET THEIR HANDS ON TROPHIES
BRUNO FERNANDES has revealed how an inspirational team talk from a Manchester United legend helped them reach another FA Cup final.
Former United midfielder Darren Fletcher, 40, now the club’s technical director, spoke to the players before their semi-final with Coventry to remind them of the “pride” in the shirt.
Fletcher’s career was littered with trophies, including five Premier League titles and an FA Cup – and he reminded the current stars just what it means to win silverware for United.
Reds captain Fernandes admitted there were mixed emotions after reaching the FA Cup final because they threw away a three-goal lead against Coventry and needed penalties to go through.
But there was also a message that they want to go back to Wembley 12 months on from last year’s all-manchester final and take revenge against City.
Asked what was said in the team talks by Erik ten Hag before the game and before extra time,
Fernandes said:
“To believe, to believe we can get into the final.
“It’s about pride, it’s about getting to an FA
Cup final, you don’t get here often.
“We had
Fletch speaking before the game. Fletch has been part of one of the best teams for Man United in the past years and he’s been here three times at Wembley for the FA Cup, he played 12 years for the club, he was in the most successful part of the club in the last years. It shows you how big it is to be in the FA Cup, how difficult it is and now obviously we have to be frustrated at the way the game ended up but at the same time proud again to be in the FA Cup final and hopefully we are going to do it differently to last season.”
United find themselves in a strange position given they reached the final with a display against Coventry that still drew fierce criticism.
Fernandes (left, celebrating his Wembley goal) admitted there were mixed feelings but said: “We have to be happy. It’s two years in a row we have reached a final, we know how difficult it is to get to the final of the FA Cup.
“Obviously we wanted to get
there in a different way. For the first 70 minutes, we were so good, we controlled the game and then obviously well done to them, Coventry.
“They believed, they gave everything to get back into the game and they did it.
“We have to have huge respect for what Coventry did but we had everything on our side to get a comfortable result.”
Fernandes, 29, revealed that losing that “comfortable” position is a cause for concern, even allowing for United having a makeshift back four of Harry Maguire and Casemiro in central defence.
Fernandes added: “It’s like some moments, you can probably relax yourself for a little bit, not make the pressure as strong as you should.
“The game starts to get a little more split, more spaces.
“Sometimes we might have to get a little bit more deeper, be more compact to not give much space to them.”