Captain midfielder Bruno Fernandes admitted that he and his teammates once lost confidence and doubted their ability to play for Man Utd because of a series of bad results.
“The trust must be there, because if you don’t trust each other, it will be very difficult,” Fernandes said after the 3-2 win over Aston Villa in round 19 of the Premier League at Old Trafford. “Obviously, there were doubts, even within each of us. We wondered, ‘Am I good enough to be here?’ It’s normal when things don’t go well. That’s how you overcome doubts, and get results, even when things don’t go well.”
Before the match against Aston Villa, Man Utd was under a lot of pressure with a four-match winless streak, losing to West Ham 0-2, Bournemouth 0-3, drawing 0-0 with Liverpool in the Premier League and losing 0-1 to Bayern in the Champions League. . This is also the first time Man Utd has failed in four consecutive matches in 31 years. They were also eliminated from the Champions League, League Cup and kicked out of the Top 6 of the Premier League.
The “Red Devils” also got off to a bad start in the final home match of 2023, allowing Aston Villa to take a two-goal lead after just 26 minutes. John McGinn and Leander Dendoncker respectively scored for the away team from set-piece situations.
But in the second half, Man Utd dominated and won thanks to the sublime performance of the strikers. After being denied a goal because of offside, Alejandro Garnacho scored twice to bring the match back to the starting line. “Red Devils” completed the comeback victory in the 82nd minute thanks to Rasmus Hojlund’s close-range kick. This is the Danish striker’s first goal in 1026 minutes, with his 19th shot in his 15th appearance in the Premier League.
According to Fernandes, Man Utd needed this victory and Hojlund also had an important goal. “We want the strikers to be confident to score more goals,” the 29-year-old midfielder expressed. “Hojlund knows he will be under great pressure playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world. You have to get used to it. Hopefully he will be more confident, because we need Hojlund and the strikers to score goals.”
Garnacho’s first goal in the 59th minute helped Man Utd end a streak of 439 minutes without scoring in all competitions. At 19 years and 178 days old, Garnacho became the youngest player to score at least two goals on Boxing Day December 26 in the Premier League, surpassing Michael Owen’s milestone – 20 years and 12 days – in the match against Newcastle in 1999.
“Too many people talk about Man Utd strikers never scoring or assisting. But today Marcus Rashford assisted, Hojlund and I scored. Everyone is very happy,” the Argentine player responded to the criticism. Quote about Man Utd’s attack from the beginning of the season.
Garnacho also considers scoring a double to help Man Utd win on Boxing Day in the final match at Old Trafford in 2023 as the best day of his life. “I wanted to try to control everything,” the 19-year-old added about Man Utd’s approach in the second half. “I said we only needed one goal to come back. We never gave up, and kept the pressure on after scoring the first goal.”
In round 20 of the Premier League, Man Utd will march to Nottingham Forest’s stadium to play the last match of 2023 on December 30.