Bruno Fernandes criticised Manchester United for being ‘lazy’ in their draw with Everton in Atlanta, and claimed that it underlined the need for the club to bring in more new signings this summer.
United ended their US tour by winning the Premier League Summer Series and remaining unbeaten in pre-season, but were twice pegged back at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Although Fernandes scored from the penalty spot and got an assist for Mason Mount’s second goal to take away the man-of-the-match award, the United captain was unhappy with the team’s display in Georgia.
‘Our performance wasn’t the best off the ball,’ he said. ‘We were a little bit lazy and we have to avoid that because the laziness you can pay at any moment.
‘It’s improving. It’s not where we want it to be. I don’t want to have a dig at anyone, but I think the club is doing the best they can in terms of all the financial situations they talk about.
‘I don’t know about it, I’m not involved in that. But obviously it was crystal clear we needed more competition for the players that were here. We needed more quality to get everyone to step up a bit more, to have to do more to get into the starting XI. I think that’s what the club and the manager are trying to do, and hopefully we can get one or two players more to help with that.
Bruno Fernandes wants to see more out of his teammates ahead of the new season
The Manchester United captain said his team were ‘lazy’ at times in their Everton draw
‘Every small detail matters. At this football club you can’t do anything wrong on the pitch and off the pitch because it’s too big worldwide and you get punished by that.
‘You get the attention of the media and your fans and you have to be aware of that. At this club the culture here was winning and we need to bring that back. Not only the winning mentality that we need, and I think that’s always been there, but obviously if you don’t win you don’t show it.
‘The club is trying to improve other things. The facilities have improved, we tried to improve the team, the staff, a lot of things.
‘A lot of people have suffered from this, a lot of people who had been working at the club for many many years had to go. The fans are paying more for tickets, and we appreciate all the effort they put in for us, so now it’s up to us to pay it back on the pitch.’
