Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes has urged the entire squad to take responsibility for the team’s recent results.
Defensive mistakes have cost United in recent games and goalkeeper Andre Onana took the blame for Wednesday’s 4-3 defeat to Bayern Munich after failing to keep out Leroy Sane’s tame opener.
Rather than point the finger at Onana, Fernandes insisted “everything” has been wrong for United, not just in defence.
“The problem is in everything,” Fernandes told TNT Sports. “We have to score goals when we have opportunities, we have to know how to take advantage of them, and we have to defend as a team.
“All 11 players have to defend. We must all be linked and connected so that we help each other, and that means we don’t concede goals. It has nothing to do with the defensive part.
“Many times it even leads to the fact that we don’t press in the best way up the pitch, and we end up giving space in the transition to teams like Bayern who have very fast and strong players in one-on-one situations. It owes a lot to this, but all aspects have to be worked on at this moment.”
Fernandes then proceeded to turn his attention to United’s attack, questioning how they failed to make the most of their opportunities against Bayern.
“We are in a moment that is not positive,” he said. “Even though we scored three goals, the offensive part also has to be worked on because we have to score more goals at every opportunity we have. Due to the quality of the players we have, we have to be able to score more goals.”
United find themselves 13th in the Premier League table after five games, having picked up just six points so far and sitting on a -4 goal difference.
The pressure has ramped up on manager Erik ten Hag, who will expect a response from his side when they travel to face Burnley on Saturday.
What we know
- Defensive errors have cost Man Utd in recent weeks
- Goalkeeper Andre Onana took the blame for the loss to Bayern Munich
- Captain Fernandes wants everyone to take accountability