Izuchukwu OkosiManchester United on Wednesday evening secured three huge points at Old Trafford to climb to fifth place in the Premier League table as they defeated third placed Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 with goals from Fred and Bruno Fernandes.
Erik ten Hag made just one change from the team that drew with Newcastle at the weekend, with Cristiano Ronaldo replaced by the fit-again England international Marcus Rashford.
Fernandes was at the heart of everything good that came out of United’s build-up play and it really looked like he finally found himself in his new role.
Under Ten Hag, the Portuguese midfielder has played in a somewhat more reserved role and is not as involved in the penalty area.
His beautiful right-footed curler gave United the platform to comfortably stroll around for the final 20 minutes and after the game, it has now been revealed that Fernandes set a new record in the Premier League this season.
According to the statistical website WhoScored, Fernandes strung together a whopping nine key passes against Tottenham, a new record in a Premier League match this season. In addition to his goal, he had another strike ruled out after being marginally offside.
Collectively, it was a masterful team performance but Fernandes’ personal efforts helped set the tone and Ten Hag will now be hoping for another three points on Saturday.
Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag after the game described Spurs as a “magnificent team” in a show of respect to the good job the latter’s manager has done.
“Against a magnificent Tottenham we played very well. Games don’t always go like this – they are not always easy. Today was a brilliant performance and we could have scored three or four goals. I am happy. From a good defence we are very proactive in pressing. That is a base to win games.”
Meanwhile Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo angrily walked away from the pitch and entered the dressing room before the end of the game after the manager conducted the mandatory substitutions without bringing him on.
United manager Ten Hag insisted after the game in his post match press conference that he will resolve the matter internally.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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