Fernandes lifts fans but United toil
There was optimism and cheers for Bruno Fernandes on his debut, rather than the protests and jeers expected from Manchester United supporters, yet the Portugal midfielder will have quickly realised he will need help resuscitating his new team.
The mass walkout planned for the 68th minute never materialised. The timing was meant to be a nod to the year United first won the European Cup, but fans who stayed in their seats limited their unrest to groans after another frustrating evening.
Fernandes (right) at least showed signs of promise on his first appearance for the club since his £47 million arrival from Sporting Lisbon, but he will need the support of Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford around him to shine. UnforSix tunately, Pogba will not travel to Spain on United’s winter break, while Rashford is out with a back injury until later in the season. Odion Ighalo’s arrival on loan from Shanghai Shenhua hardly comes with high expectations, but this stalemate showed they need a different angle of attack.
“I don’t think it’s confidence, it’s energy,” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the United manager, said. “We had games on a muddy pitch at Tranmere and at City, where we used emotional and physical energy. Sometimes you get games that look a bit flat. We had 65 per cent possession and didn’t create too many big chances. We’re lacking a bit of that spark. It’s been a relentless run of 18 games in the last two months.”
Fernandes’s debut gave cause for optimism. The only time he put a foot wrong was before kick-off in the tunnel, when he engaged in embraces with his Portugal team-mates in the Wolves team. It was not from the Roy Keane school of preparation. He was dictating on the pitch, with plenty of pointing to his team-mates at where he wanted the ball to be.
“You want him to express himself and spur team-mates on; be yourself. That’s what I told him: ‘Don’t change your character, try to get on the ball, make things happen,’” Solskjaer said.
On the pitch he carried his team forward and was off-target with some long-range shots. With the likes of Pogba and Rashford back, he will improve. With Anthony Martial struggling in attack on his own, Fernandes could also do with Ighalo arriving.
“He’s a different type of striker, a proven goalscorer, a physical presence,” Solskjaer said. “It gives us a chance to rest Mason [Greenwood] and Anthony at times. We want to go far in the Europa League and FA Cup, so it was important we’ll have another type of striker to use.”
Aneke Atta, Ighalo’s agent, revealed he thought the deal had slipped away until Friday afternoon, when United’s move for Josh King collapsed. “It was quiet on Thursday. I got the impression that nothing would happen,” he said. “Suddenly, on Friday, things started to move. It was then at 11pm in Shanghai.”
United’s best chances came when Diogo Dalot headed wide from Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross, while Greenwood and Juan Mata also just missed the target. Wolves’s best opening came when Raul Jimenez raced through and saw his effort tipped over the crossbar.
That came in the minute when supporters had planned to protest against Ed Woodward’s running of United as executive vice-chairman. Woodward was not at the match and only a few fans vacated their seats. “He had other commitments,” Solskjaer said. “I must say there’s been lots written and talked about the fans before the game and they were unbelievable again, supporting the team until the end, and showed they are some of the best in the world.”
Wolves will assess the fitness of Adama Traore after physiotherapist Matt Perry popped a dislocated shoulder back in for the Spanish winger. “He is in a lot of pain,” Wolves manager Nuno
Espirito Santo said. “The physio managed to put it back in but he took another knock. He is a strong boy.” Fernandes looked at home against one of the best central midfield pairings – and his Portugal team-mates – in Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho. Neves, who expects the Premier League to see how good Fernandes is, said: ‘I’m really happy for him. He’s in a fantastic club, now he can show everyone what he can do.” But his Portugal team-mate will need help, too.