Bruno Fernandes Was My Man Of The Match Vs Manchester City – Erik ten Hag

Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag has come out to explain the thinking behind his decision to play Bruno Fernandes as a winger against Manchester City. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, Bruno was an important factor in that role, and he was so important in the pressing that he earned the right to be his man of the match.

Ten Hag added that Martial begged to start vs City, but he just was not capable of going 100 percent in the game.

His words, “The idea with Bruno on the right wing and especially in defending, we defended as usual but in possession he had a role to come in between the lines to bring an extra player there and bring the opponent problems and create hesitation and confusion and I thought he played that role brilliantly. The rest of the team adapted well to the situation and we had really good breaks by finding the free man. Bruno was an important factor in that role and important in the pressing as well. I didn’t know he was man of the match but he was my man of the match, definitely.”

On Martial, “I hoped to avoid him getting injured but he was complaining. That’s why he also didn’t train in the week and was a question mark [for the derby]. We decided, and he decided as well, to start. He begged to start. I knew the start would be so important in this game and he is really good at pressing and he is a really big element in our pressing. But I needed to re-evaluate at half-time as you saw he was not capable of going 100% and this is what you need. Also to avoid him getting injured so we took him off but it also had a negative impact on our game after half-time.”