Fernandes responds to claims he ‘raged’ at Man Utd team-mates; silent on Arsenal comparison

Joe Williams
Man Utd midfielder Bruno Fernandes claps the supporters

Man Utd midfielder Bruno Fernandes admits he was frustrated with his team-mates during their 6-3 loss to Man City on Sunday.

The Red Devils were second best at the Etihad Stadium with Erling Haaland and Phil Foden helping themselves to a hat-trick each against Erik ten Hag’s men.

There were rumours yesterday that Man Utd duo Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez ‘raged at their team-mates that they lacked belief’ at half-time with their message ‘heard by City staff outside the visitors’ changing room’.

When asked about claims he was ‘furious’ at his team-mates, Fernandes told reporters: “We had a meeting as the manager said, we went to see the tough things, to see the mistakes that we did.

“After the game I said straight away I think we conceded three goals on the counter against a team that normally plays in possession.

“So we knew that when they don’t have the ball they have some players who stay up front, that want to counter, that want to have the ball straight away when they win it.

“We could have avoided that but we didn’t and they scored the goals.

“But as I said, we saw that, we knew what were the mistakes, and now more than see and understand what mistakes we did [the key now] is not to repeat it again and get back to the best results that we can and win games – which is what counts in football.

“And even if we have done a bad game against City and we have scored six goals and it was 6-6 everybody would probably be happier, but obviously I think the main thing for us now is to get back on the winning track and carry on.”

Man Utd, who have a game in hand on the top three, are currently sixth in the Premier League table but nine points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

When asked to compare Man Utd and Arsenal so far this season, Fernandes replied: “We don’t have to focus on anyone else, we have to focus on ourselves. That has been the problem for the club in previous years that we want to compare ourselves with other teams, but we can’t do that.

“We have to do the best we can for this club because this club deserves to be at the top. But we have to look at ourselves, we have to look inside and understand the problems, the mistakes, what we can improve.

“You can’t change anything away from here. You can change what you do here, on the day-by-day, in the training sessions, in games, you can do different things for yourself, for your team, and that is what we have to think about – not about Arsenal, Liverpool or whoever.

“We have to think about ourselves, doing the best we can, winning every game that we have in our hands and the future will say where we are in the table whether it’s first, second, third or even lower.”

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