Fernandes wants United to learn from Liverpool defeat
Bruno Fernandes wants to use the disappointment of Manchester United’s defeat to rivals Liverpool to help accelerate improvement as they look to cut out set-piece slacknessandwrapupsecondspot.
After anti-Glazer protests forced the postponement of the original fixture on May 2, theoldfoesfinallywenttoe-totoe on Thursday as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men stumbled at the end of their run of four games in eight days.
Fernandes skippered the side in the absence of injured Harry Maguire and got United’s night off to a dream start, only for Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino to put Liverpool into a half-time lead.
Firmino added another goal moments into the second half, with Marcus Rashford pulling one back before MohamedSalahmadeit4-2at the death as the Reds won at Old Trafford for the first time since 2014.
“I think the performance was good,” Fernandes said. “We keep the ball well, we play side to side, we try to do what we trained at. But, at the end,whenyougodown2-1and you have to play 45 minutes against a team like Liverpool, trying to push a little bit more and create dangers, you give more space to them.
“They take that space, we concede another two goals.
“I think everyone was disappointed in the dressing room because we know we
made big mistakes but we learn from that and we have to keep improving and understanding we are not at our best yet.”
While United look to end theseasonwithsilverware,JurgenKlopp’sfirstvictoryatOld Trafford has given Liverpool’s
hopes of reaching the top four a huge shot in the arm.
The Reds have a great chance of making the Champions League spots with three matches to play and top-four rivals Chelsea and Leicester playingoneanothernextweek – an opportunity Thiago Alcantaraisdeterminedtograb.
“Ithinkwecorrectacouple of mistakes from the past and we are reaching, not the best, but near a great version of us,” the midfielder said.
“At the end, we have the same goal as each other – that’s to reach the Champions
League and the top four in the Premier League.
“I think the most important message that we have to have now for us, for the fans, for everybody from the Liverpool side is that we have a final (against West Brom) on Sunday.”