August 26th 2024.
In the aftermath of Manchester United's unfortunate defeat to Brighton, former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright shared his thoughts on the game. He expressed his belief that United's star player Bruno Fernandes was left bewildered by manager Erik ten Hag's tactics.
Despite starting the season with a convincing win against Fulham, United failed to maintain their momentum and suffered a 2-1 loss to Brighton. The Red Devils seemed to have a chance of turning things around when Amad Diallo equalized Danny Welbeck's first-half goal, but a series of VAR decisions went against them and Joao Pedro scored a last-minute winner for the home team.
Wright was left perplexed by the events of the game, particularly by ten Hag's decision to substitute off Fernandes in the latter stages. He couldn't understand why the manager chose to take off their captain and replace him with Scott McTominay, while also bringing on new signing Matthijs de Ligt for Harry Maguire at the same time.
The former striker even claimed that Fernandes himself was surprised by the substitution and could be seen laughing and shaking his head as he made his way off the pitch. "That's the vibe I got from it," said Wright, "If anyone could have turned the game around for United, it's Bruno Fernandes."
Ten Hag had only narrowly avoided being sacked over the summer and is now under pressure after just two games of the new season, according to Arsenal legend Martin Keown. It was reported that United had spoken to several candidates about replacing the Dutchman, including former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel, but ultimately decided to stick with ten Hag in the Old Trafford hot seat.
Keown believes that the pressure is already mounting on ten Hag, especially with their next game being against fierce rivals Liverpool. "Their next game is Liverpool at home," he said, "so let's see how they do there. They did well in that fixture last season, so maybe their season hinges on that game."
United will need to bounce back quickly if they want to stay in the race for the Premier League title, especially with Liverpool already taking six points from their first two games. It remains to be seen how ten Hag and his team will respond to this early setback, but one thing is for sure - they will need their star player Fernandes to be at his best if they want to compete at the top level.
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