Erik ten Hag hailed “finest participant on the pitch” Bruno Fernandes for his show of “character” as Man Utd improved from what he admitted was “complacency” to beat Betis.
Fernandes was singled out for criticism much more severely than his team-mates following United’s 7-0 thrashing at Liverpool on Sunday, with various moments of petulance elevating questions over his suitability to put on the captain’s armband.
He had been defended by each Ten Hag and Marcus Rashford within the build-up to Thursday’s Europa League last-16 recreation, and responded in one of the best ways doable himself with a player-of-the-match efficiency at Previous Trafford wherein he scored one aim and made one other.
“He was the perfect participant on the pitch and it confirmed his character. He performed in a bit of little bit of a deeper function tonight, he was good,” mentioned Ten Hag.
“He was a frontrunner in playmaking from deep and controlling the rhythm of the sport. He had numerous good passes in between the traces and from there-on we created numerous probabilities.”
Ten Hag added to BT Sport: “He led the crew from the primary minute by his recreation, with possession, make the rhythm of the sport and rating a aim so I am completely satisfied.”
United’s efficiency at Anfield final weekend was the third time they’d collapsed within the Premier League this season, following hammerings at Brentford and Manchester Metropolis earlier within the marketing campaign.
On every event they’ve bounced again from adversity to win their subsequent match, and confirmed their mettle once more to carry off Betis’ rising momentum after their first-half equaliser, to reply with three unanswered targets after the break.
Ten Hag revealed after he had already expressed his frustration at his gamers’ current performances earlier than the Liverpool recreation, however that the end result at Anfield had laid naked what he had been saying.
He mentioned: “It is not about ignoring [Sunday’s game], we made errors and we acquired hammered for that. We did not management the requirements we have now.
“Should you might say we confirmed complacency, you may by no means try this in prime soccer. Within the weeks earlier than [the Liverpool defeat] I used to be not proud of the efficiency towards Newcastle, I used to be not completely satisfied towards Leicester with the efficiency within the first half.
“Typically you want a nasty end result to open everybody’s eyes first.”
United named an unchanged line-up from the Anfield defeat towards Betis, and Ten Hag admitted the choice to stay with the identical crew had been motivated by providing them an opportunity to redeem themselves within the Europa League.
He mentioned: “It was, however I believed it was the perfect line-up once I noticed Betis. We’ve performed 23 video games in a row with one loss, and although the twenty fourth was an enormous defeat you can not ignore the 22 video games earlier than the place this crew has performed very effectively.”
