Redknapp hails ‘magnificent’ Man Utd star as Bruno Fernandes lauds ‘mentality’ of Red Devils duo
Jamie Redknapp claims one “magnificent” Manchester United star “carried the fight” for Ruben Amorim’s side in victory over Chelsea on Saturday.
The Red Devils claimed a 2-1 win over the Blues at Old Trafford to give Amorim some breathing space amid constant speculation over his future and instead pile the pressure on Enzo Maresca.
Robert Sanchez was shown a straight red card in the fifth minute after ploughing into Bryan Mbeumo as the last man before Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro gave the hosts a 2-0 lead.
Casemiro was then also given his marching orders for a second yellow just before half-time to even things up, but Chelsea struggled to break United down in the second half after Maresca had taken off most of his attacking players in response to Sanchez’s sending off.
Trevoh Chalobah’s fine header made for a nervy end to the game, but United remained resolute and claimed all three points to lift them into the top half of the Premier League.
Redknapp hailed Fernandes’ role in the “chaotic” victory.
He said: “This is Amorim’s biggest result as Manchester United manager, certainly at home. This was huge for him today. It got edgy once Casemiro got sent off, you weren’t sure they were going to be able to see it out.
“But Bruno Fernandes was magnificent, second half especially. He carried the fight. It feels like a big occasion but they’ve got to build on it. They’ve got to go and win two, three, four games.
“It was a mad game, I have to be honest. Some of the substitutions, some of the tactical changes. It was hard to keep up with at times. But it was a joy because it was so chaotic.”
Fernandes’ opener was his 100th goal for United but the captain was more focused on a “massive” day for the club.
Fernandes said: “Every three points is massive in this moment because we haven’t started the season as we wanted. But we go game by game. Today was massive and the next one will be massive too.
“Every goal is important. It doesn’t’ matter the moment. A big moment for me, reaching that milestone for a massive club. I’m very happy, I won’t hide from that, but it wasn’t something I was trying to achieve when I came to the club. It was about trying to do the best I could and obviously if I can get more goals to help the team win games, that is what matters the most.”
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The Red Devils skipper also picked out two teammates who epitomised their “strong mentality” at the start of the game.
“You want to perform, but at the end of the day, what matters is points,” he told BBC Sport.
“We haven’t been getting the points we wanted. At the end of the game, we were very strong in defending our box and putting them in positions of crossing.
“We got the [Chelsea’s] red card because our mentality was starting the game so strong. The players have to run behind whenever Ben goes for the ball and that’s what Bryan did.”
Speaking on Casemiro’s red card, Fernandes said: “It didn’t change anything. We wanted to close the middle.
“Without [Liam] Delap, who makes the runs for the team, Joao Pedro wants to link up. We gave them the chance to go down the side and then close them with our wing-backs.
“Our centre-backs were very good to defend the box.”
