Manchester United coach Erik Ten Hag has requested an apology from Fulham for a social media post that seemed to ridicule Bruno Fernandes as he got his team ready for the challenging Manchester derby on Sunday.
Erik Ten Hag responded to accusations that his team captain pretended to be injured following their 1-0 FA Cup victory against Nottingham Forest. The Dutch manager was questioned about a TikTok video posted by Fulham, which depicted Bruno Fernandes falling during Manchester United’s 2-1 loss to Fulham at Old Trafford, along with a caption: “So glad he’s OK…”
“I didn’t know this, but if they (Fulham) did it I would say it is not right,” Ten Hag said on Thursday.
“It is absolutely not right that a club makes such a statement, because it is totally out of order and they were wrong so they should apologize for this.”
Erik Ten Hag was firm in his belief that Forest had singled out Fernandes, whom he characterized as a player who is both “passionate” and “creative.”
“You see opponents are targeting him and especially after Saturday when he had the knock and they see it, and then I feel the referee should protect him there,” he said. They had to change at the start of the game because it was so obvious they were looking for him.”
Erik Ten Hag anticipated that Bruno Fernandes and Raphael Varane would be ready to play against City, but Harry Maguire and Rasmus Hojlund are likely to remain on United’s extensive list of injured players. United currently trails City by 15 points in the Premier League and is eight points away from securing a Champions League spot. City has not lost a match since early December and has emerged victorious in 16 of their last 18 games across all competitions.
Erik Ten Hag has been defeated in three out of four matches against Pep Guardiola’s talented City team, with United suffering a humiliating 6-3 loss during last season’s visit to the Etihad.
But the United manager said: “We are also in a good run and the spirit is very good, we are united, we have the togetherness to make a good game plan.
“We have done it before against City, lately also against Liverpool. The players are ready for it, the players are looking forward to it. I can smell it when I am around here, when I speak with the players. We’re excited.
“They have a good team but there are more good teams. They have won in the last season everything so we know that that’s the challenge, but also Liverpool have a very good team and there are more. We like such challenges.”
Last week, Jim Ratcliffe, a new co-owner of United, expressed his desire to make the Old Trafford club the leading force in English football again within a three-year timeframe.
“You always want to play against the best so most of the times we feel and you can also see it that the opposition get their best outputs against Manchester United, and maybe this game is the other way around,” said Ten Hag.
“We know we have to give everything and show really a team performance if you want to get a result. If you do it, it is possible.”
