REDS MUST SIZZLE, NOT FIZZLE
Fernandes demands more effort for final push
BRUNO FERNANDES has called on Manchester United to stop their season from fizzling out before they go for glory in the Europa League final.
United suffered back-to-back home defeats after Thursday’s 4-2 loss to arch rivals Liverpool (below), which came just 48 hours after a 2-1 reverse to Leicester (right).
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side face relegated Fulham on Tuesday and go to Wolves on the final day of the season, before facing Villarreal in the Europa League final in Gdansk on May 26.
Fernandes, who captained United against Liverpool and scored his 28th goal of the season – a Premier League record for a midfielder – said Solskjaer’s side must rediscover their form before the final.
“The confidence has to be high,” said Fernandes. “We know what we’ve done earlier in the season.
“After a defeat, it hurts a lot.
We have to understand, we have to learn from this and not be afraid in the next game to do something.
“We have to keep improving. We know we’re not at our best yet.
“It’s time now to improve from the mistakes we made for the next one.
“We tried to do what we trained at. When you go down, playing 45 minutes against a team like Liverpool, we tried to push a little bit more and create danger.
“We gave more space tothem, and they took that space and we conceded another two goals. Everyone was disappointed in the dressing room because we made mistakes, but we will learn from that and must keep improving.
“We started well, we scored, we created more chances after that.
“But we conceded two goals from set-pieces and we know we have to work on that. We concede many goals this season from setpieces.
“As I said, we’re disappointed in the dressing room and we have to improve, we have to be better and we have to do it in the next game against Fulham to secure second place.”
Reflecting on being handed the captain’s armband for the second time at United, Fernandes said: “Everyone knows it’s the biggest honour to have the armband in a game for the club.
“I’m another one. I’m proud of that. As I said, like after Paris, it’s a dream come true.”