Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes says the team’s lack of confidence is what concerns him most after Sunday’s worrying defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.
The game marked United’s first defeat of 2025 after recent results against Arsenal and Liverpool in the FA Cup and Premier League respectively were promising. But it is part of a larger crisis that the team has struggled to break through all season – there are just three wins from Ruben Amorim’s 11 league games as manager, stretching back almost two months, and six defeats in the same period.
Brighton broke the deadlock in the opening minutes at Old Trafford with a simple ball across the goal line. But while United hit back relatively well, dominating the rest of the first half and equalizing when Fernandes himself converted the penalty, they conceded again immediately after the restart and had no further response. It ended 3-1 in Brighton’s favor.
“If the score was 2-1 we could have stayed in the game [but] We also lacked a little faith in the moment when we could come back into the game and change the game,” Fernandes regretted in an interview MUTV.
“Then you concede 3-1 and from then on everything becomes a little more difficult. We still had time to get back in the game, we still had time to do something else, but what concerns me most is the lack of.” “The confidence that we have at the moment to do things, that we can do,” lamented the captain.
“I don’t mind if someone loses the ball because they’re trying to do something to help the team, but we have to get the best out of the players. We need the players to have confidence in their ability to change things for ourselves.”
Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler pointed out that United had “world-class players” as he reflected on the game afterwards. But this level was not visible. Next up are more challenging games, at home against Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday before heading to Fulham on Sunday. Then it’s an away day in Romania against FCSB and Crystal Palace at home.