Manchester United oversaw a 1-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers in their opening fixture of the 2023/2024 campaign.
The tide was against United throughout the game and it was evident that the squad were struggling to combat it.
Several counter-attacks went astray for Wolves and for United, they certainly weren’t as clinical as you’d have hoped in their return to action.
Fernandes led out the Reds for the first time as the officially recognised club captain and played a superb pass to Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who then assisted Raphael Varane for the only goal on the night.
Fernandes reacts to Wolves test
Post-match, the Portugal international admitted it was a tough test – but nothing that they hadn’t prepared for.
He told Sky Sports: “Not relief, it was important to start with a win. We wanted the three points, we had a great fighting spirit, obviously, it wasn’t the best game from our side – we know that. But the most important thing was winning the game and we did that so sometimes you have to find a way to win the game.”
Fernandes was then asked why Wolves caused United the problems that they did throughout the evening, he responded: “Because they have quality, they have a good team. Obviously, we didn’t know what to expect from their side because they had a change of manager; they could’ve done what they trained in pre-season [or] they could’ve done something different as [like] Bournemouth was doing last season. It was about adapting on the pitch and understanding what we had to do.
“The manager gave us the options on the way to press,” he continued. “I think on the way to press we did well, we recovered some balls. We should have been a little bit more aggressive sometimes and we could have gone into the goal in good situations but at the end, as I said, it’s about getting the three points, and we did.”
'Not relief… We had a great fighting spirit.' 💪
Bruno Fernandes reflects on Man Utd's 1-0 win over Wolves 🟥 pic.twitter.com/3R2vHUSVVc
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 14, 2023
Footage courtesy of Sky Sports.
