Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has hailed teammate Joshua Zirkzee after the striker netted the decisive penalty in their FA Cup third-round clash against Arsenal.
Two weeks ago, Zirkzee was booed off the pitch by his own fans as he came off in the 33rd minute of the 2-0 defeat to Newcastle.
However, he showed great resilience when he came on vs. Arsenal at the Emirates, eventually securing United’s place in the next stage of the competition by dispatching the fifth and final successful penalty kick.
Let’s relive that @ManUtd winning penalty again 👀 pic.twitter.com/ICeLaCR4gH
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) January 13, 2025
Fernandes spoke to Sky Sports and revealed how particularly pleased he was with Zirkzee. According to Fernandes, it was written in the stars that Zirkzee would be the hero of the hour.
The United skipper said, “The script was already there for a long time. You know, when when you are a good person, when you do the right things, you can have bad moments but at the end everything will come through strong.”
“It was a decision by the staff to pick the five players to have the penalty and they put Josh last. And the only thing it came into my mind was to tell the players that the script is done. So everything is done since that moment against Newcastle that prepared us to, in this moment, give Josh his moment and his credit and his flowers.”
“We can talk about whatever people want to talk about, like ‘penalties, it’s easy.’ It’s how we got to penalties. Altay saved the penalty [in normal time] from Martin Odegaard who hadn’t missed one in his professional career yet. And then Josh, in a moment of pressure with everything he’s been through in his mind, steps up and and gives us the win.”
Fernandes added, “I like everyone to be happy. I want everyone to feel a part, to feel involved. When you are in a good moment, in a high moment, I rather give that to other players – not because I don’t want to have that moment, because obviously every player wants to have his credit, his flowers and his moments of joy – but this is just the way I live my life.”
“I do really think for a team to be successful, it needs everyone to be at the same level of happiness. Even knowing that some players will play less than others, you need to find a way to push them in certain moments for them to feel that they are as much important as I am.”
Fernandes previously called for United to be more consistent rather than only turn up against perceived bigger opponents like Manchester City, Liverpool or Arsenal.
In his sit-down with Sky Sports, he emphasised this yet again, as he warned against complacency when they come up against slightly weaker opponents.
“We can’t look at names, we can’t look at badges, we can’t look at the table, whoever is in front or below us. We just need to look at ourselves and understand that we play for a massive club and we have to set a standard for ourselves. That this is where we want to be minimum and where we have to go still to get the best out of everyone.”
The Portugal international admitted that while it has been good to have a little bit more time on the training ground, the secret behind the team’s resurgence has mostly been due to an improvement in mentality – something Ruben Amorim has talked about on multiple occasions.
“It helps always when you have time to train and to prepare the games a little bit more. It’s important but I think in these two games was more about – and the manager said this to us – it’s more about the passion, the desire, everything you put into the game in terms of how much you want to win the game.”
“I think everyone is really aware of what he wants and he demands from us position-wise, tactical-wise and everything. I think we are now getting into the level that he wants effort-wise, with running and passion and desire to win games. So I think we still have a lot to improve for me in both aspects. But we will do it. And I’m pretty sure that we are in a good path to do it.”
The club captain further stated, “But now we have a massive game where everyone could look at in a different way and probably look at it from the outside and say, ‘United now is in a good moment. They’ve got Southampton at home. They will beat them for sure, but we can’t think that way because Southampton is fighting for their lives.”
“They want to stay in the Premier League and they really need points. But we need to turn this around and look at ourselves and say that we also need really, really, really need points more than them. We have to think that ‘we need points more than them’ and it has to be our aim for every game that we go through. The opponent needs it so much, but we need it more than them.”
Fernandes refused to acknowledge that Amorim’s insistence that they’re in a relegation battle sent shockwaves across the squad.
The playmaker however accepted that the manager’s focus on the psychological part of the game has been vital.
“Probably in some games where you don’t play against the big teams and you think you don’t need to be as much aware and probably you mentally disconnect for five seconds. And in the Premier League, five seconds is too much against any team. And Southampton is one of that games where I don’t want any of us for five seconds to disconnect because they have good players, they have qualities.”
“They could have got more points than they have in the table. I’m not saying that they are a big team. That they are a team that is better than us and we should not win the game. We have to win the game. We should be concerned about every moment and every second through the game because if we do that, and then with everything; the way we prepare the game, tactical-wise and technical-wise, if we do what we’ve been doing, I’m pretty sure that we’ll win the game.”
Fernandes noted that United must improve on scoring goals, which is possible considering the quality of players within the ranks.
He further remarked that even when things were tough at Old Trafford amidst their struggles on the pitch, he and his teammates never lost the belief that they could turn things around and get back on track.
Up next for the Red Devils is a home meeting with Southampton on Thursday. Kick-off is at 20:00 GMT.
Featured image Alex Pantling via Getty Images
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