BRUNO FERNANDES said Manchester United have the quality to do “much better” after his twice-taken penalty saw off lowly West Brom 1-0 to end a run of six games without a Premier League win at Old Trafford.
The Portuguese midfielder got a second chance after Sam Johnstone had saved his first spot-kick, but came off his line in doing so.
United also got a break at the other end moments earlier when a penalty given for a foul by Fernandes on Conor Gallagher was overturned after a VAR review.
“First it was very important to win the game, not because it’s the first win at Old Trafford, but because we need the points,” Fernandes told BT Sport.
“We can do much better, we have the qualities to do much better.”
Just as in United’s Champions League win at Paris Saint-Germain last month, Fernandes made the most of his reprieve of seeing his first spot-kick saved after the goalkeeper came off his line.
But he was still frustrated at missing a third penalty this season, albeit two were retaken, after a perfect record with his first 10 for United.
“Ok, I scored the second one but I need to score the first one,” added Fernandes.
Victory moves Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men up to ninth and within seven points of early pace-setters Tottenham with a game in hand.
However, there was little to appease the unease over where the Red Devils are going under Solskjaer as West Brom threatened to collect their first league win since returning to the top flight.
- ‘Small West Brom’ -
West Brom have now scored just once in their last six games, but Slaven Bilic was left fuming at the game changing decision not to award his side a penalty early in the second half.
Fernandes looked to have caught Gallagher inside the area when referee David Coote pointed to the spot.
But he infuriated Bilic by overturning the call after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor.
“Throughout the whole second half I felt like small West Brom. All those crucial decisions went against us,” said the Croatian.
“The penalty against Gallagher is a clear penalty. The other penalty, with the new rules, it’s handball. But before the handball it was a clear foul on Gallagher.
“Instead of 1-0 for us it is 1-0 for them. It’s a huge difference.”
Even Solskjaer admitted he thought the Baggies’ penalty should have stood.
“There is contact on the ball and the man. In my head it might be a penalty, but maybe the rules are different to how I interpret them,” added Solskjaer.
Moments later Gallagher was denied again, this time by the legs of David de Gea with the biggest chance of the game to that point.
Yet, it was United who were gifted the chance to win the game from the spot when Juan Mata’s cross struck the arm of Darnell Furlong and this time Coote’s decision to award a penalty was not overturned.
Second time round Fernandes smashed home the penalty, but United still had to ride their luck to hold out for the three points.
Callum Robinson was inches away from an equaliser as his dipping shot from outside the area came back off the crossbar.
Defeat leaves the Baggies still rooted in the relegation zone with just three points from their opening eight games.
United are 1 point ahead of City with the same games played…Let that sink in!
@Terence Buckley: Wow 1 point ahead of the team in 11th with only 3 league wins this season. Massive achievement
@Phil Redmond: think the point is that there have been countless articles here and in the papers about utd being in crisis and ole being out of his depth etc and nare a word about pep or city yet after 8 games utd are ahead of them
@Brian Dunne: the difference being is that Pep is an outstanding manager who’s achieved great things in his career. Solskjaer will never win anything with United. It will be this constant “we are building” phase and then maybe finish 4th/3rd.
@Robert O Farrell: pep is outdtanding when taking over brilliant teams with money to burn. I’ve said on here before that klopp winning europe and the league with liverpool trumps anything pep has done. Ditto for fergie building an empire at old trafford. Jose winning europe with porto and inter. Clough winning europe twice. Is pep exempt from criticism when his team is performing way below expectations?
@Brian Dunne: No he certainly isn’t but where a poor start like this is an anomaly for city, they have been much more of a constant for Utd. Good performances for Utd are the exception and will continue to be so long as they persist with a manager that hasn’t a breeze what he’s doing and a transfer policy that focuses on quick fix “big name” signings such as pogba and van de beek instead of building towards a defined style and system. Still baffles me why they didn’t get poch or Ancelotti when they had the chance
@Phil Redmond: but the point is ole gets it in the neck everytime utd drop points or in last night’s case even when he wins sometimes. Pep seems to get a free ride in comparison. Surely the proven manager with a better team at the moment should get more stick than the “p.e. teacher” with a team of wallies?
@Brian Dunne: That’s not exclusive to pep. The same goes for the likes of Klopp, Mourinho or Ancelotti or any other top manager. They don’t get a free ride but nobody makes a big deal of it either because it so rarely happens. With Utd they drop points or put in abject performances like that far more frequently and ole doesn’t seem to have an answer for it hence the continued critisism. West Brom are third bottom with no wins and the worst defence in the league. Utd at old Trafford should not be relying on a dodgy retaken penalty to beat them
@Phil Redmond: we’ll agree to disagree Phil!