Manchester United made a nervous start to last night’s match against Brighton and seemed too content to let their visitors play around them in the first half.
It needed a moment of quality from Cristiano Ronaldo to lift the performance before Bruno Fernandes sealed the win deep into stoppage time with a calm finish having dummied Robert Sanchez.
As per WhoScored, the stats paint the picture of an impressive all-round performance, even setting aside his late, late goal.
Fernandes created five chances, which is two more than the next best United player, Ronaldo.
He made two on Saturday against Southampton and seven last Tuesday at Burnley, bringing his tally to a hugely impressive 14 from United’s last three matches.
Ronaldo and Bruno should have combined for a second half goal, but the former missed the target with a free header from a sumptuous cross from the latter.
That meant that Bruno actually had more shots on target than Ronaldo on the night; three against two.
Fernandes also had more touches than any other United player with the exception of Diogo Dalot at right-back, who had another impressive game.
Bruno’s pass accuracy was the second lowest of any United starting outfield player, but that underlines that he kept trying to make things happen.
We have long since been able to see that Fernandes will try the searching, spectacular passes rather than just keep the ball moving sideways.
That ambition is sorely needed on nights like last night, when the performance was flat at times, and the crowd got nervous.
United needed that late second goal to show they can see games out after being pegged back so often in recent weeks, and it was Fernandes who provided that killer blow.
- Newcastle’s £46m rejected bid proves that Man Utd have completed the best deal of the summer
- Michael Carrick might have provided a hint on Patrick Dorgu plans as transfer priority becomes clear
- Who is Tynan Thompson? Exciting Spurs wonderkid linked with move to Man Utd
- Ruben Amorim’s biggest wonderkid success story is ending brutally as Man Utd pre-season begins
- Dan Gore will hope for better Man Utd pre-season outing vs Wrexham than he had in 2023
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
