Bruno Fernandes is "perfectly aware" Manchester United are not ready for a Premier League title challenge but has defended his under-fire team-mate Casemiro after Sunday's loss to Liverpool. (More Football News)
United entereඣd the first international break of the season 14th 👍in the table with just three points, suffering back-to-back defeats to Brighton and Hove Albion and Liverpool.
A Luis Diaz brace and a Mohamed Salah strike condemned Uni🐬ted to another embarrassing defeat at the🌸 hands of their old rivals, as Ten Hag became the first Red Devils manager to lose three home Premier League games by three or more goals within the space of a year.
United were also beaten 3-0 by Manchester City last October and fell to the same scorelinꦺe versus Bournemouth 🐟two months later.
Ten Hag is also the only United boss to ever start multiple Premier League seasons with two defeats from his first three games, with the Red Devil𝐆s doing so three times in the last five campaigns overall (also 2020-21 and 2022-23).
Fernandes is under no illusions regarding the chasm that separates United from their ri💟vals at 🃏present, telling DAZN in Portugal: "Yes, I am perfectly aware that this Manchester United is not ready to win the Premier League.
"We are fighting with the concrete and real objective of trying to fini💞sh in the༒ top four, in the places that give access to the Champions League.
🎃"But the༺re is still a lot to improve for the greater objective, and for my dream, which is to one day win this championship."
Casemiro was criticised ;after Sunday's match, having been replaced by 20-year-old Toby Collyer at half-time after making mist𒈔akes in the build-up to both of Diaz's goals.
Fernandes, however, has leapt to the defence of his midfield partner, saying: "Casemiro🌸 is more experienced tha❀n me, he played for the two best clubs in the world in terms of media coverage. He has a lot of quality.
The Brazilian lost possession 14 times in just 45 minutes on the field. Noussair Mazraoui (17) and Diogo Dalot (16) were the only United playe🍎rs to do so more often, with both playing the full 90.
"Mistakes are going to happen to everyone. We just have to be more cautious wheඣn they are about to happen and compensate and correct them in time.
"We have to be more alert when we lose the ball, feel and smeඣll the danger and be more objective.&nb🏅sp;
"Whenever we have opportunities, we have to score more goals. We have attacking quality, b🧔ut few goals."
