Erik ten Hag plans to keep Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United after their valuable win at Southampton, as he revealed his club are "alert" to the possibility of incomings.
Bruno Fernandes scored a terrific goal to guide United to a 1-0 win at St Mary's on Saturday, doubling their Premier League points tally for the season and handing Ten Hag his first back-to-back victories at the helm.
As well as claiming their first consecutive league wins since February, when they beat Brighton and Hove Albion and Leeds United, the Red Devils ended a seven-match away losing run.
While United offered a glimpse of their potential under Ten Hag with a professional display on the south coast, movement is expected at Old Trafford before the transfer window closes on Thursday.
Ronaldo continues to be linked with an exit after starting just once this season, while Eredivisie duo Antony and Cody Gakpo have been touted as attacking targets.
While Ten Hag is still eyeing further additions, he insists Ronaldo remains in his thoughts, telling BT Sport: "We plan with him, we stick to the plan.
"If a good player is available, we will strike, because we want to strengthen the squad always. We will be alert until the last second of the window."
United have improved dramatically since they were comprehensively outplayed by Brighton and Brentford in Ten Hag's first two games in charge, and the Dutchman was satisfied with their latest performance.
"I think they learned some lessons from Brentford, it's quite clear. We were compact on their long balls, so that was quite good," he added.
"Of course, we are really happy with this result and also the goal we made. We also made two or three more really good chances, but you hope that you keep more control in the last 30 minutes of the game.
"Don't forget that before half-time we already had the biggest chance of the game, and it was three in one play! I was satisfied and at the start of the game, with better decisions and switches of play, we could have created more.
"But it's the start of the season. It's tough. You have to get into the season, and you have to fight and battle and we did that, then you get rewarded."
Fernandes was the star of the show on Saturday, scoring his 37th Premier League goal for United as he donned the captain's armband – only Mohamed Salah (54), Harry Kane (49) and Son Heung-min (45) have outscored the Portugal midfielder in the Premier League since his 2020 debut.
And Ten Hag said his well-worked strike typifies the style of football he wants to implement at Old Trafford.
"It was a fantastic finish and I'm really happy for him, his first goal of the season, which is really good," Ten Hag said.
"But I think it was the best part from us, straight after half-time. That is what we demand, you get movement around, and straight after half-time we created three really good chances.
"That is how I see football, how I want us to play.
"There is still room for improvement, to control more, break more or keep better positions in some stages of the game. We are not that long in our way, like every team, but there we can improve."
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag hails ‘massively important’ Jonny Evans
Erik ten Hag praised “massively important” Jonny Evans after the defender was drafted into the starting line-up and helped Manchester United to a 1-0 victory against Burnley.
The 35-year-old made his first start for the club since 2015 and, as well as helping secure a much-needed clean sheet, set up Bruno Fernandes for the only goal after having an earlier header ruled out.
Evans re-signed for the club earlier this month following his release by Leicester, and boss Ten Hag said: “We have problems and in this moment a lot is against us: injuries, decisions and we have all seen the examples.
“We are very happy to have a player like Jonny Evans in the squad. He comes in and he is calm, composed, he has character and a good skill-set. Even when you have things against you, you can bounce back and then you have the character in the team to do that.
“In the summer, I heard he was in to train with the under-23s, I said ‘Fletch (technical director Darren Fletcher), come bring him in with the first team. Maybe he can help us’.
“I already saw in pre-season with the schedule, the problems with the numbers in the squad. We decided to sign him because I think he can really contribute to the squad and today you have seen how massively important he can be.”
Fernandes’ first-time volley from Evans’ ball over the top was a moment of real quality in a game where Ten Hag knew United could not afford another slip-up after three losses in a row.
“This was a must-win and we knew that,” said the Dutchman, who had no complaints about the disallowed goal with Rasmus Hojland deemed to be offside and interfering in front of goalkeeper James Trafford.
“The team responded on the pitch. You could see the togetherness in the dressing room. It was a squad performance.”
Burnley are still looking for their first win following promotion back to the Premier League and have picked up only one point from their first five games.
But manager Vincent Kompany was pleased with the performance of his side, who hit the post in the first half through Zeki Amdouni and had several other good opportunities.
“We had two or three massive chances, really big,” said the Clarets’ boss. “The one from Jay Rod (Rodriguez) where he is controlling the ball in front of the keeper and then slices it, the one from (Jacob) Bruun Larsen, one-on-one with the keeper, just takes his touch a little bit too far.
“Then obviously the one from Zeki Amdouni that hits the post and rolls out. I don’t think you get many more big chances against a team like United. We have to take the positives from it and learn from the things we could do better.
“I am a rational mind, I thought 14 new players, and you see City, United, Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Tottenham all within the first 10 games and you know this might be a difficult start but, if I look at the performance today, our moment will come.”
Bruno Fernandes scores stunner as Man Utd beat Burnley to end losing run
Bruno Fernandes’ stunning volley secured absentee-hit Manchester United a much-needed victory as Burnley’s wait for a Premier League win continued.
Injuries and off-field issues have been compounded by poor performances in some tough fixtures, with the Red Devils losing four of their opening six matches in all competitions for the first time since 1986.
United ended a run of three successive defeats at Vincent Kompany’s Burnley, where Erik ten Hag’s team were not entirely convincing but ran out 1-0 victors thanks to Fernandes’ moment of magic on Saturday night.
The Portugal midfielder showed exceptional composure and technique when providing a fitting finish to a brilliant pass from Jonny Evans, who was making his first start for the club since 2015.
The 35-year-old recently rejoined the club and thought he had scored shortly before Fernandes’ goal, only for the VAR to intervene in a first half that Burnley had held their own in.
Zeki Amdouni struck a post during the opening period and Kompany’s side threatened towards the end of the second half, but the Manchester City great was unable to celebrate a late equaliser.
Grant McCann believes Doncaster are heading in right direction after Gills scalp
Doncaster boss Grant McCann believes his side are only getting better after making it back-to-back wins with the 2-1 triumph over high-flying Gillingham.
Two excellent strikes from Ben Close, including an 87th-minute winner, saw Rovers collect their first home league triumph of the campaign, a week on from finally picking up a maiden victory at Forest Green.
And McCann feels his side are firmly heading in the right direction as they seek to make up ground on the promotion-chasing pack in the division.
“We had to be very good to win and I felt in the second half we were as good as we have been this season,” he said. “I thought we were really in control.
“We’re yet to have that full 90-minute performance. We’re still searching and that takes some doing, every manager will tell you that. Teams will always have a spell against you.
“I felt that Gillingham didn’t really have much of a spell against us and on a whole, I felt the second half was a real performance from us.
“I could feel the team taking on board the information we had given them, particularly in taking up the pockets of space to have that control of the game against a top, top team.”
Gillingham manager Neil Harris is still looking for his team to find the balance between defensive solidity and creativity after dropping points in South Yorkshire.
The Gills set the early pace in League Two with five 1-0 wins from their opening eight matches. But with Harris encouraging them to deliver more decisive scorelines, they have shown vulnerability in defence, which he is keen to see quickly banished.
“In the last couple of weeks we’ve been a lot more creative, we’ve had sparks, we’ve shown class and we want to continue that because if we do, we will wins games of football comfortably,” Harris said.
“We’ve won a lot of games so far 1-0 by being resilient. In the last couple we’ve not been as resilient as I would have liked but we’ve been really good with the ball. We’ve just got to find that balance between the two.
“The winning goal for Doncaster – he stuck it in the top corner but it’s poor from the restart, and it was from the first. To be a top team in League Two, we’ve got to be better than that from restarts.”
Despite his frustrations, Harris felt Gillingham should have won the game comfortably.
He said: “I’m baffled how we’ve not won the game. We’ve not won the game because we weren’t clinical enough. We should have been coming off (with) four or five goals but if you don’t take your chances, you don’t win games.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
