Manchester United playmaker Bruno Fernandes accepted responsibility after his poorly taken corner contributed in the lead-up to Everton’s equalising goal in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Red Devils led 1-0 at the interval thanks to Anthony Martial’s strike. The Toffees levelled the proceedings following the hour mark after a superb counter-attack.
Fernandes’ disappointing corner contributed to Demarai Gray launching the counter-attack.
United were unable to halt his advancing run from their own half. Fred failed with two attempts to intercept play.
Gray went on to pass to Abdoulaye Doucoure, who laid the assist for Andros Townsend.
Townsend had plenty of time and space to slot his right-footed effort beyond David de Gea.
The Red Devils could not find the winning goal despite the introductions of Paul Pogba, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo off the bench.
Following the game, Fernandes acknowledged that it was a ‘really bad corner’ from him and added that the team should have done better and committed a foul to stop the play.
He told Manutd.com: “Of course, it’s a really bad corner from me. We didn’t close down well enough outside the box – we didn’t clear the ball, we made many mistakes starting with my corner.”
“That’s down to the players, not someone else. We have to make a foul, stop the game – I have to take a better corner. Many, many things have to be done better.”
Our view:
It is not the first time Fernandes has taken a poor corner, and his teammates should have done better to stop the anticipated counter-attack from their own half.
Several United players failed to do so en route to goal. Fred could be partly blamed after making two attempts to stop Gray in his stride with a tactical foul.
The Brazilian instead tried to intercept to no avail. Luke Shaw was also caught ball watching in the lead-up to the goal, failing to spot the run of Townsend behind him.
It was a culmination of several errors that led to the goal. United can’t afford similar instances in the future if they want to seriously compete for the league title this term.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com.
Read: Manchester United fans frustrated with Fred’s performance against Everton.
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