MANCHESTER UNITED captain Bruno Fernandes delivered a scathing assessment of his team’s performance following their 2-2 pre-season draw against Everton, labelling their display as “lazy” and urging the club to sign more players.
A second-half strike from Mason Mount had put United ahead after Fernandes’s opener was cancelled out by Iliman Ndiaye, but a bizarre 75th-minute own goal by Ayden Heaven handed Everton a share of the spoils. The result slightly marred United’s otherwise positive US tour, which included wins over West Ham United and Bournemouth.
“It’s been important for developing how we want to play and getting the new players involved too,“ Fernandes told NBC Sports. “We didn’t want to finish in this way. Our performance wasn’t the best and we were a little bit lazy today. We want to avoid that because with laziness you can pay at any moment.”
United endured their worst-ever Premier League campaign last season, finishing 15th, and have since signed Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo—both of whom started against Everton. However, Fernandes believes more reinforcements are needed.
“It’s improving. But it’s not the place it needs to be. I don’t want to take a dig at anyone but the club is doing the best they can in terms of the financial situation they talk about,“ he said. “But it was crystal clear we needed more competition for the players that were here, more quality to get everyone to step up a little more to get to the XI, and I think that is what the club are trying to do. Hopefully we can get one or two players more to help with that.”
Manager Ruben Amorim responded to Fernandes’s remarks, saying: “I think I’m happy for the players to have that feeling. It’s saying that they understand the situation. So, it’s a good feeling. We are going with the feeling that we need to do a lot of things (better).” – Reuters