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Club legend and pundit Paul Scholes says he wonders where Manchester United would be without the contributions of Bruno Fernandes.
The Portuguese midfielder made the difference again on Saturday.
United entered the game against humble West Brom having lost all three of their Premier League home games so far.
That included an embarrassing 6-1 hammering from the Spurs.
But Fernandes broke that sequence by scoring the only goal from the penalty spot.
His original effort was saved by Sam Johnstone. But a new take was ordered after the West Brom goalkeeper illegally jumped off his line before the penalty was taken.
Fernandes was not wrong a second time and United stood firm for a much-needed, if unconvincing victory.
That was his 19th goal in just 34 United appearances.
After watching Fernandes’ last winning goal, Scholes says United are becoming too dependent on the 26-year-old.
Speaking in BT sport, the former Old Trafford star said: “It was an ugly victory. Hopefully that will give them a little confidence. Sorry for West Brom.
“You wonder where Man Utd would be without Fernandes. Before Bruno came, United couldn’t create an opportunity. “
Scholes, former teammate Rio Ferdinand, agreed.
The former Red Devils defender added: “Everything happens for him (Fernandes).
“He is a player who creates and assumes responsibilities. He seems to like that. “
Solskjaer says United have to improve
Boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer he was happy with the result for West Brom. But he emphasized that performance levels must improve.
He said: “It’s always tight and has good margins.
“I am delighted with the clean sheet and we could have made it more comfortable, but international breaks never help.
“We had everyone back yesterday, but we didn’t know the test results and we hadn’t had the COVID tests before the session, so all of our preparation was this morning.
“So it’s not easy when you only have 20 minutes or half an hour preparing for this game.
“But now we are ready to go back on Tuesday. Three points, home win, no more talk about that, but we must maintain consistent performances, better performances than this one.
“We know it. If we want to go up in the table, we have to play better.”
United finished in ninth place in the Premier League on Saturday.
They will face Istanbul Basaksehir at Old Trafford on Tuesday.
The Turks achieved a surprising 2-1 victory in the first group meeting. However, United top Group H after starting with impressive victories over PSG (2-1 away) and RB Leipzig (5-0 at home).
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