Erik ten Hag praised Bruno Fernandes’ persona and described him as Manchester United’s perfect performer as they bounced again from Sunday’s humiliation at Liverpool through beating Real Betis 4-1 within the Europa League last-16 first leg.
Fernandes scored United’s 3rd function and likewise created Antony’s 2d at Old Trafford on Thursday as a part of an outstanding all-round show. It adopted the stand-in captain being roundly chastised for an frustrating efficiency within the 7–0 loss at Anfield.
Ten Hag stated: “He was the best player on the pitch, it showed his personality. He played a little deeper role tonight and he was brilliant, making the game from the back in position, a lot of good passes in between the lines. From there we created a lot of opportunities.
Fernandes’s exuberance caused him to leave a foot in on Claudio Bravo in the second half for which he was booked. The manager, when asked if this part of his game should be curtailed, said: “It’s his strength and his passion but you are right, sometimes he has to control that. He has to bring it, it is his strength and when it’s too much it becomes a weakness, that’s true – he knows that and there are always small margins.”
Ten Hag decided on the similar gamers that began in opposition to Liverpool, giving them the risk to reply. “But also I thought it was the best lineup if I saw Real Betis,” stated the Dutchman. “We played 23 games in-a-row with one loss and the 24th was a huge defeat. You can’t ignore the 22 games before where we played well.
“Definitely [I am pleased], We said we had to reset, bounce back and we played quite well in the first half and we should have been up 3-0 also, but we made one mistake [to concede] and we bounced back and we did.
United’s other goals came from Marcus Rashford and Wout Weghorst, with Ayoze Pérez scoring Betis’s only goal. The home side were loudly backed by the Old Trafford crowd.
“I was curious about that,” Ten Hag stated concerning the supporters’ conceivable response, “and I used to be happy through the reaction from the gang to the group. From minute one they have been at the back of the group, the group gave power through efficiency they usually gave it again. There is a smart bond between the group and the fanatics and we’re happy through that.”