Manchester United manager Erik ten Hague has praised Bruno Fernandes for stepping back from criticism following the 7-0 defeat by Liverpool.
Fernandes wore the captain’s armband for the crushing defeat at Anfield and was widely criticized by fans and critics alike for an undeniably disappointing performance, but the Portugal international returned to Real Madrid on Thursday. managed to overtake him with a brilliant performance in the victory against
Erik ten Hague retained Fernandes as his captain and the 28-year-old was rewarded with a goal and an assist in a comfortable 4-1 win for United.
“He was the best player on the pitch and that shows his personality,” Ten Hague said after the game. “He played a little bit deeper tonight, he was brilliant.
“He was a leader in deep playmaking and controlling the rhythm of the game. He got great passes between the lines and we created a lot of chances from there.”
Read next
The boss also told BT Sport of Fernandes: “He led the team from the first minute through his game, with possession, pacing the game and scoring goals so I’m happy.”
Fernandes was part of a United line-up that was transformed by Liverpool’s defeat and Ten Hague admitted the best way to respond was to give the players involved an opportunity to redeem themselves immediately.
“it was [the plan] But when I saw Bates, I thought it was the perfect line-up,” said ten Hague.
“We’ve gone 23 games in a row with one loss, and even though the 24th was a big loss you can’t ignore the 22 games before that where this team has played really well.”
Listen now.
On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90-minute podcast Network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey. And Toby Cudworth Discuss Man Utd’s transfer needs and strategy for this summer, Tottenham’s interest in Emi Martinez, Liverpool’s pursuit of two rising Benfica stars and more.
Click if you can’t see this embed. Here To listen to the podcast!