24 April 2024 , 22:08
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Bruno Fernandes believes Manchester United proved to Roy Keane that he and his team-mates do have "character" after coming from behind twice to beat Sheffield United.
Fernandes' double helped give the Red Devils a 4-2 victory at Old Trafford on Wednesday, with the bottom-of-the-league visitors having taken leads either side of half-time. But Erik ten Hag's men responded through Harry Maguire and then captain Fernandes, who hammered home from the penalty spot and then unleashed a rocket with his left foot.
Rasmus Hojlund's late clincher secured the three points and earned the Red Devils a more comfortable win than in their FA Cup semi-final against Championship side Coventry. After Sunday's dramatic victory via a penalty shootout, Keane claimed that he didn't "see character" in United's squad.
Fernandes refutes that, though, saying after beating Sheffield United: "At the end we came back. We put ourselves in a position where it's tough to win games. But also it shows a bit of character.
"We also need to be aware that if we control the game like we did in the first half, we have to score our chances. We're scoring lots of goals. It's just about that compactness we need to have as a team."
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It was Maguire who praised United's character after scraping past Coventry to reach the FA Cup Final for the successive second season. Keane disagreed, saying on ITV : "Maguire got interviewed at the end there and said they showed great character, I don't see character in this group of players, I really don't.
"It's getting to the stage that I'm almost disliking them. I see a group with bad habits, they were almost frightened to win the game. There's huge problems for Manchester United going forward but they got the job done. In extra-time Coventry looked like a Premier League team and Manchester United looked like a Championship side."
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Bruno Fernandes scored twice in Manchester United's 4-2 comeback win against Sheffield United (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)That was just one portion of criticism aimed at the Red Devils after their narrow victory at Wembley, but now it's back to winning games inside 90 minutes. "I'm really happy to score," Fernandes added. "But I want to win games more than score goals. It's part of my role also, to score goals. But the main thing for me is winning games.
"Lately we haven't won as many as we should have. It's part of the job. You can win eight or nine games in a row, and then as soon as you lose you know you will be criticised. Being a Manchester United player demands winning games."
The match-winner, who's now scored seven goals in his last five games, also said: "We talk about clean sheets all the time and we want to keep them. Credit to Sheffield United."
Next up for United is game against another team batting relegation, Burnley, on Saturday.