Bruno Fernandes says Manchester United must “get back to where it belongs” after starring in the emphatic 3-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday.
Speaking to the BBC after the game, the United captain discussed about being back amongst the goals after an unusually barren start to the season: “It was a long time that I wasn’t scoring and now goals are coming in the last few games.
“Another clean sheet was important for us to bring back the fortress we had here. We have to keep doing that and we have to improve.”
Although there is still a long way to go to be able to call Old Trafford a “fortress”, United’s clean sheet was significant as it helped lift their goal difference out of the negative to a mere zero.
The match was also Ruud van Nistelrooy’s last as interim manager, with the Dutchman credited with bringing back some freedom and positivity to the players who laboured under Erik ten Hag.
Fernandes said: “Ruud van Nistelrooy fills the club, he loves the club, he wants to bring joy to the players. He brought everyone with a smile to the games, he just wanted us to enjoy it.
“We wanted to say goodbye as a manager for him properly because he did good things for us.”
The unbeaten Van Nistelrooy era may have been short-lived, but it was just the sort of ship-steadying which was urgently needed given the Red Devils’ dismal form and the fact that new head coach Ruben Amorim couldn’t join immediately.
Amorim steps into the role on Monday, and it remains to be seen what the future holds for Van Nistelrooy, who has made no secret about his hopes of staying on in some capacity.
For Fernandes, some things change and others stay the same: “It’s a new era, a new manager means everything changes but what hasn’t changed is that this club has to get back to where it belongs.”
Even after today’s win United are still in the bottom half of the table in 13th place, but they are now only four points away from fourth.
The pressure awaiting Amorim is immense, but with so long still left in the season and big teams struggling, there is bound to be an air of excitement around the team in the coming months.
Feature image Carl Recine via Getty Images
Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
