Fernandes committed to taking risks but United need defensive security
➤ Playmaker set up two goals in comeback win after early errors ➤ Midfielder insists Solskjaer retains the squad’s full backing
Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes said he had no intention of curbing his risk-taking and insisted manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer retained the full backing of the players.
Fernandes recovered from a poor opening 45 minutes to set up United’s first and second goals against Atalanta before Cristiano Ronaldo’s stunning header secured a crucial 3-2 comeback win in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Portugal playmaker has endured a mixed start to the season and questions have been asked about whether Solskjaer can accommodate him, Ronaldo and Paul Pogba in the same team as there are concerns that it leaves United too exposed defensively.
Solskjaer reacted to Saturday’s woeful 4-2 defeat at Leicester by dropping Pogba and it remains to be seen if the Frenchman is restored to the starting line-up for the visit of Liverpool on Sunday, when United will be under huge pressure to win after taking just one point from nine in the league.
But Fernandes – who has remained one of the manager’s untouchables – insisted he would not rein in his risk-taking, despite criticism, at times, for turning over the ball too easily and his work out of possession.
“You have to take a risk,” said Fernandes, who was guilty of a series of overhit or cavalier passes against Atalanta before he teed up Marcus Rashford with a superb assist for the opener and crossed for Harry Maguire for the second.
“Maybe not as many as I did in the first half [against Atalanta] when I missed many passes. Sometimes I know the pass is difficult or the chance to get in is not quite there but I want the respect of my strikers and try to make them score. It’s the way it goes with trying to make the passes. Some work, some don’t, but I have to find the strikers.
“I missed some passes but I will keep playing this way. I’m trying to help my team-mates. People expect a lot. We are a big club.”
Solskjaer has been assured his job is safe by United’s hierarchy, despite a poor start to his third full season in charge, and Fernandes said that the manager retained the trust of the squad, even though he acknowledged there had to be improvement, starting against Liverpool.
“Of course, obviously, he is our coach – we follow him every day,” Fernandes said. “We show that. We follow his ideas and we will continue to do so. We believe in our coach and our staff. We need to do what the coach tells us because our coach in the maximum exponent of what we must respect. He has been here for three years and we’ve done good things.
“It’s true that we haven’t won anything up to now but the team has shown it has grown a lot. We have a lot to improve on and the coach also knows there has to be some improvement at their end but that is part of football.
“Every day we are learning something new but football is the present and it’s the now.”
Rashford is expected to be fit to face Liverpool and was receiving physio treatment yesterday after being substituted in the 66th minute against Atalanta with a dead leg.
United have kept one clean sheet in their past 20 matches but Fernandes said the team as a whole needed to take greater collective responsibility for the way they defended. Individual errors, lapses in concentration, vulnerability at set-pieces, players not tracking back or pressing quickly enough and a disconnect between the attack and defence have all been cited as factors behind United’s dismal defensive record.
“We have to concede less and score more,” he said. “We can’t just blame the defenders. We train to attack and defend as a team. Individual mistakes happen, we have to just try to understand what is wrong and do it better.
“We have a big game coming up [against Liverpool]. It is a game that we need to win, an important one against one of the biggest rivals of this club. We need to get something from that game. We must do it. We have taken one point in three league games and it’s not enough.
“We need to prove that we are here, that we will be in the fight but to be in contention we have to game after game.”
Donny van de Beek was again overlooked in midweek as doubts continue to grow about the Holland midfielder’s future at United. Solskjaer insisted United never got an offer from Everton for Van de Beek in the summer but the manager could not say when the player’s chance would come.
“I understand Donny is frustrated, he’s disappointed but he keeps on working every day with a big smile,” Solskjaer said. “I know he’s not happy but he works hard and he’s a top professional. I hope for him that he gets his chances.”