Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has said he and his teammates are not satisfied despite earning a draw at Premier League leaders Liverpool, asking why they cannot perform similarly every week.
Fernandes provided an assist for Lisandro MartÃnez‘s opening goal in the 2-2 draw and was named player of the match for his showing.
The point gives United and head coach Ruben Amorim some much needed respite after four consecutive defeats in all competitions, including league losses to Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bournemouth.
“I’m pretty upset because if we showed this today against Liverpool, why can’t we do this every week?,” Fernandes told Sky Sports after the game.
“We said before the game, we need much more from ourselves to get something from this season. We need to look forward. We need more.
“I wasn’t worried about people putting in effort today because it’s Liverpool, everyone’s going to try to do their best. I’m more worried about Southampton [after playing Arsenal in the FA Cup].”
The Portugal international added that his team’s effort levels were higher than in previous weeks.
“Today was about putting real effort into the game, playing with some passion,” Fernandes said. “You have the tactics, but at the end of the day you need to put effort in and that’s why we got something from the game today.
“It can’t stop here. We have to bring this frustration to the next games. To understand that this has to be our level, and if we can do it at Anfield we need to do it every week.”
Fernandes’ comments were echoed by Amorim.
“I think I get more mad because of the other games,” the coach said. “It’s even harder to understand some things. This is not about the system, the technique, it’s about something else.
“It’s something that we need to be really consistent. We had this talk after [beating] City it was the same. We can talk but we need to show and do it and the best thing is tomorrow we have training and we have to maintain the same level of mentality.”
United’s next game comes against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium next Sunday in the FA Cup third round. The home game against Southampton follows, with United 13th in the league after 20 matches.
