Bruno Fernandes insists it will take time for Erik ten Hag to change Man United | OneFootball

Erik ten Hag has experienced a mixed start to life at Manchester United, with the Dutchman winning five and losing four games in his first nine matches in all competitions.

Two of those defeats came in the first two Premier League games and understandably, the pressure has been intense since the second of those losses – a four-goal defeat to Brentford.

United followed that disastrous evening up with four consecutive wins in the Premier League, which earned Ten Hag the Manager of the Month award for September.

The Reds were gunning for a fifth straight victory last weekend but were humbled by Manchester City, who put six past United to seal a catastrophic evening.

Bruno Fernandes, who has been captain for each of the last five Premier League games in Harry Maguire’s absence, has now insisted that United will not back down from their beliefs despite the defeat against City.

“I think it should be that the club doesn’t want to change anything at all because it is a process, as the manager said,” Fernandes is quoted as saying by the official Manchester United website.

“And, in this kind of process, if you go to the reality we had three months together with the manager. So this will take time. Obviously, [it is] different ideas and I think the team is doing really well.

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“We had a bad result against one of the better teams in our league so it’s tough because it is a rival, it’s a derby. The result was [bad] but now it is time to get back and win straight away tomorrow, and, after, get away again [at Everton on Sunday] to win consecutive games.

“Everyone knows what we have to do and it is about, as I said before, getting back to the wins, believe in the process, because, as I said before, it’s a process, we will get time.

“We have been doing really well in the previous games before City. It is a setback and you have to get up, and as everyone knows, when you start getting a good result, and we will get a good result tomorrow, we will be back and that is the most important thing.”

SN’s verdict… It can’t be forgotten that Ten Hag has only had three months to work with these players and only one new signing, Tyrell Malacia was with the squad for this summer’s tour of Thailand and Australia.

With time, United will reap the benefits of appointing a coach like Ten Hag, with the Dutchman still very much on an upwards trajectory in his career.

Fernandes is right in pointing out that this group of players are still relatively new to Ten Hag’s methods. Eventually, it will start to click.