Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has defended his decision to let Bruno Fernandes rather than Cristiano Ronaldo take a stoppage-time penalty during the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
Fernandes rarely misses from the spot but today it wasn’t to be as he skied his effort way over the bar to squander the chance to salvage a point for United.
United need to bounce back soon after losing three of their last four matches. That is not good enough and we will be playing catch up if our form doesn’t improve.
I don’t have a problem with Fernandes taking responsibility for the penalty – it’s one of his roles and I don’t think Ronaldo’s arrival should change that. Unfortunately for everyone who loves United, he missed for just the second time in 23 attempts.
“That is football,” Solskjaer said, as per ESPN. “He will step forward every day of the week for the club and the team and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. It is such a fine line between heaven and hell.”
The manager also played down suggestions Cristiano Ronaldo appeared unhappy with the decision to allow Fernandes take the spot kick.
“This is going to be the headline,” Solskjaer added. “Bruno has been excellent and Cristiano is probably the one who has scored the most penalties in world football.
“It is just a missed opportunity to get a point. You will be making all these assumptions on the reactions of players. Bruno is such a good penalty taker and you would back him with your mortgage.”