Erik ten Hag and his Manchester United team secured a third away win a row this afternoon against Fulham at Craven Cottage thanks to a late injury time winner.
The decisive goal came from club captain Bruno Fernandes after 91 minutes of the encounter in which United had been quiet for long periods before the moment of individual brilliance rescued them at the death.
The victory leaves United sixth in the table and while the performance was far from pretty they will be happy to have taken the three points following another rough week.
Last Sunday, Ten Hag's men lost 3-0 to fierce rivals Man City and during the week they were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Newcastle on the same scoreline.
It led to many criticising the team with Portuguese international Fernandes being a particular target of the disenting voices.
Roy Keane, who was vocal in his critcism, described Fernandes of not being "captaincy material" and called on ten Hag to remove him from the role.
Erik ten Hag defends captain Bruno Fernandes
"I don't undestand it," ten Hag said when asked by Lynsey Hipgrave on TNT Sports after Man United's win this afternoon.
"Everyone makes mistakes and nobody is perfect, he is doing a lot of things very well. He showed that everytime as a captain that he is an example.
"As you saw today, how he is working, how he is pressing and then in the end he scores the goal. So he’s massively important for us."
“I don’t understand it.” 🤷♂️
Erik ten Hag's message to anyone who questions his decision to make Bruno Fernandes the Man Utd captain. @lynseyhipgrave1 | @rioferdy5 pic.twitter.com/04wQmCPVq5— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 4, 2023
It seems like despite the concerns of some fans, ten Hag has no plans to get rid of Fernandes as captain anytime soon.
Manchester United return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Denmark to play Copenhagen in the group stages of the Champions League.
They are currently third in Group A with one win and two losses from their three games so far.
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