Manchester United duo Bruno Fernandes and David De Gea helped their side to a 1-0 win over Brentford on Wednesday night.
Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes was caught on camera giving David De Gea a little kick during their 1-0 win over Brentford on Wednesday night. Marcus Rashford’s goal gave the Red Devils all three points. And the result has boosted their hopes of finishing in the Premier League top four after a tight affair at Old Trafford.
With United leading Brentford 1-0, De Gea required treatment after making a stunning save to keep the Bees at bay.
But Fernandes, keen for the game to resume, then gave his goalkeeper a little kick as he received treatment on the pitch.
The Portugal international was clearly keen for the game to get underway again, with United looking to close the positive result at the time.
And though De Gea was down for several minutes, the 32-year-old was ultimately given the all clear to carry on.
The shot-stopper didn’t have much to do during the contest but Erik ten Hag, speaking after the game, hailed the veteran for his heroics.
“When you need David, he is there and when you lose focus, mistakes can happen,” the 53-year-old told BBC Match of the Day.
“We want to play as a machine and don’t make mistakes. We make one mistake and luckily they didn’t benefit from it and also it was the performance form David de Gea.
“Of course, this is a a massive win for the Premier League, especially over Brentford.
“In 16 games they have only lost one. It is always difficult to play against them and to beat them but we did so I am proud of my team today.
“This gives us energy so we have to keep this and go to Saturday [against Everton], another big game.”
In a separate interview with Sky Sports, Ten Hag praised Rashford as well – though did say the forward needs more support when it comes to scoring goals.
“Very good but we can talk almost every game about it and when he is not in the game like on Sunday, it is no good for us,” he stated.
“We have to bring him in the game but also he has to take responsibility and also other players.
“So I was really happy with the performance from Jadon Sancho, Antony and Marcel Sabitzer because all game they were a threat and they can do it. The retune of Anthony Martial can help us so we have options there.
“We didn’t get the second goal, life would have been easier but now you have to fight to the end.
“The passion and desire that was missing on Sunday, we showed today. We forgot our standards but we have to return to that if you want to be successful in the final stages of the season.
“This has to give us energy but we go again. Saturday is a big game again, it is going to be a hard game and we know we need energy to beat Everton.”
Brentford boss Thomas Frank, meanwhile, was disappointed with his team’s failure to find the net.
“I think it’s a very good picture of the fact we are disappointed we didn’t get something from this game, it shows how far we have come when we go to Old Trafford against Manchester United and the disappointment is big among the players and myself,” he said.
“In some ways we didn’t play well especially in the first half.
“In the second half we had the big chance through Kevin [Schade] and we forced them to play a back five in the end.
“We didn’t play well in the first half and didn’t create any chances at all and then, ironically, we concede on a set piece which we are very good at.
“Disappointed but again it is a very good sign of how far we have come.
“The funny thing, after the goal we got more into the game and were more on top and could and should have scored. Kevin’s chance was the chance.
“We didn’t hit the highest level on the ball and players didn’t keep the ball well enough and that cost us.
“It shows a lot of the mentality in this team, the discipline to keep going. We had a chance to come back and we forced some situations without creating enough.
“We need to bounce back straight away and we have a game on Saturday, everything to play for.”
source: express.co.uk
