Bruno Fernandes has asked his teammates to demand more of each other on the pitch after his actions led to Manchester United snatching a draw from Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.
The captain scored the comeback goal with a sublime free kick and had a hand in ensuring that their errors did not come back to bite them. He was also effective enough to cause Everton to panic a little which led to their second goal, but the Toffees held on to ensure that the Goodison Park faithful did not go home too disappointed.
Following the outcome of the match, the Portuguese midfielder admitted that the lapses in his team caused the near slip-up and then gave a captain’s speech via the media to his team.
He said: “When you are in the dressing room at half-time after a game like this, you just have to focus on yourself and try to lift your standard and your game to try to get something from the game.
“Obviously, it was very tough for us in the first half because we were trying to do the things but it wasn’t working out in the way that we wanted.
“I think in the second half, obviously you’re 2-0 down, you have more freedom because you are already losing, so you have nothing to lose more.
“I think you get more of a try to do something else, and that’s why we get the result.
“Every point now is massive for us because we are in a position that is very tough for us,” the midfielder continued. “Every point counts for us at the moment.
“We need to be aware that the position we’re in is not the best, it’s not where the club needs to be.
“We need to demand more from ourselves.”
Saturday’s result means Manchester United have only gathered one point from their last possible 16 in the Premier League. Ruben Amorim still has the backing of the club but the fans have begun to make chatter.
What’s worse is that the manager has all but admitted that he does not know how to turn things around at Old Trafford.
“I don’t know what I need to do to bring more consistency. If I knew, I would change it,” he said after the Everton draw. “We have to continue to think in the next game, everything we do in the week we have to use it in the game.
“If we do that, we are near to winning games like we did in the second half. In this moment we need to focus on day by day. We need to survive this season, and then to think ahead. We have so many problems.
“Then when we go to the game and let the time pass, it’s really hard. I don’t want to just say the negative part, the second half was so much better in the belief. In the end we were near to winning this game.”
