Bruno Fernandes accepts responsibility for bad corner and says team have to do better

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Bruno Fernandes has accepted responsibility for his part in Everton’s equaliser.

Everton scored on the break from a corner after Fernandes’s delivery had failed to beat the first man.

The Manchester United star is usually far better than that and he knows he is capable of better.

United still defended atrociously after that, giving away a goal on the counter despite having plenty of players back.

Fernandes spoke after the game and acknowledged his role, and said the whole team need to do better.

He told the club website: “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.

“We should do better, we should learn because it’s not the first time it’s happened. We have to be better next time. We need to change something, something’s not working to concede so many counter-attacks.

“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.”

Woeful defending

United’s defence has now conceded a goal in the last nine consecutive home games.

Usually it is just the one moment of concentration like this one which ends up costly.

Experienced defenders like Luke Shaw completely abandoned positional responsibility for the goal and went chasing the ball, leaving his man unmarked.

Fernandes’ comments also point to the lack of intelligence to make a foul and slow the game down to break Everton’s counter attack, which Fred failed to do.

The words from Fernandes also serve to try and deflect criticism from his manager and onto the players. That may be right, but everybody should be looking at their role right now amid a worrying drop off in form.

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