When you consider how Bruno Fernandes has scored all four of Manchester United’s winners this season, you can’t help but get a sense we are very reliant on the Portuguese midfielder.
Fernandes is an incredible footballer and his successful penalty retake yesterday against West Brom saw him scored his 12th penalty for the club since joining from Sporting Lisbon in January.
His winner against West Brom remarkably takes him ahead of club legend Denis Irwin in the penalty scoring charts.
The Portugal international has scored a total of 19 goals in 34 appearances for United and 12 of those came from spot-kicks.
He missed one penalty to date, against Newcastle, and could have added another to that list on Saturday if it wasn’t for the referee to call for a retake.
Irwin’s haul of 11 penalties is still expressive. The left-back was brilliant at set piece and ever consistent in the United line-up.
Fernandes needs only six more penalties to match Eric Cantona’s 18.
“It says everything it should be saying,” Solskjaer said after Sam Johnstone was penalised for straying off his line, as per MEN. “If you play for Man United you should never be afraid of taking a penalty. There aren’t many better opportunities to score a goal and we want players to take responsibility for both good and bad.
“And if some penalty takers change their mind after missing one I’d be disappointed but I know Bruno would want to take every penalty as well, so I was never worried.
Bruno Fernandes when he misses a penalty… pic.twitter.com/9R1X5xyqmK
— Purely Football (@PurelyFootball) November 21, 2020
“It’s much worse doing speech in front of 15 people inside a room. They’ve been playing football their whole lives, it’s a kick from 12 yards.”
United kept a clean sheet and beat West Brom 1-0, thanks to Fernandes’ second half goal.
And the maddest part is, if Bruno Fernandes had missed his second penalty, he would have gotten another.
Sam Johnstone was a mile off. https://t.co/N4RFmKxRVt pic.twitter.com/7h7K83EkCX
— ً (@utdrobbo) November 22, 2020
The performance was far from convincing but we overtake Man City in the table and get to take a big deep breathe.
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