Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has explained his decision to substitute Bruno Fernandes during Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest.
The United boss was dealt his second consecutive defeat on a chaotic day at Old Trafford, having lost 2-0 at Arsenal earlier this week.
Amorim’s side fell behind in the opening minute after Nikola Milenkovic powered home a header from a corner, though Rasmus Hojlund would respond.
Still, the visitors took the lead early in the second-half after Morgan Gibbs-White’s effort from just outside the box somehow evaded goalkeeper Andre Onana.
The visitors were in dreamland not long after when Chris Wood’s looping back post header bounced between the goalkeeper and Matthijs de Ligt.
United found a way back into the game after skipper Fernandes smashed in a second for the hosts just after the hour mark but his involvement quickly came to an end.
The Portugal international made way for Mason Mount for the final 15 minutes, a slightly surprising decision given United were chasing a goal.
Speaking after the game, however, Amorim revealed Fernandes was suffering from fatigue.
"Bruno was too tired and I wanted Mount to play that position of second midfielder who opens a bit on the left,” he told Sky Sports.
Of Onana, Amorim added: “Onana already has saved us a lot of times. We have to find a way when this happens to Onana or Altay [Bayindir] or Tom [Heaton] to turn around the game and score to help our goalkeeper. The same way he saved us against Ipswich.”
United are back in action on Thursday when they travel to FC Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League.
