Bruno Fernandes has revealed the part he played in a team meeting that dissected Manchester United 's abysmal defeat to Manchester City.
The midfielder played all 90 minutes of the game at the Etihad Stadium and captained the team in Harry Maguire 's absence. Unfortunately for the Portuguese international, he was unable to inspire his side, who have been brought crashing down to earth after a run of four successive wins.
The United squad held a team meeting in the wake of the embarrassment at City, with Fernandes leading the analysis of their mistakes. And he picked out three of the goals his side conceded in particular as he encouraged his team-mates to improve.
"We had a meeting, we went to see the tough things, our mistakes. After the game I said, we conceded three goals on the counter against a team that plays with possession," Fernandes said.
"We could have avoided that - we didn't. We know the mistakes and we can't repeat them again. We don't have to focus on anyone else. We have to focus on ourselves. That has been the problem for the club in previous years, that we want to compare ourselves with other teams.
"We can't do that. We have to do the best we can for this club because this club wants to get to the top. But we have to do it ourselves. We have to look inside and decide from problems or mistakes, what we can improve."
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He continued: "You cannot change anything away from here.. You can change what you're doing here, on the day by day, in the games. We have been doing really well in the previous games before City. It is a setback and you have to get up, and as everyone knows, when you start getting a good result we will be back and that is the most important thing."
Fernandes has clearly bought into the project that boss Erik ten Hag is looking to implement at United. And the midfielder called for patience as the Red Devils prepare to face Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League on Thursday.
"We start this season with a project, I think it's really clear from the club that we want to make a standard with the manager, an idea of play and I think everyone has to be on the same page," he added.
"It has been like that, even in the defeats, because we did really well in the pre-season, we get back and we understand that the Premier League is not that easy. We have to be at the high standard and the high level and understand that every game will be difficult.
"We beat teams - with Arsenal who are doing well, with Leicester that is always tough to play away. Southampton is always tough to play away and obviously with Liverpool - and now we have this setback. But this setback hasn't changed our ideas or our way of playing for what we want to do as a team.
"We had a bad result against one of the better teams in our league so it's tough because it is a rival, it's a derby. The result was [bad] but now it is time to get back and win straight away tomorrow, and, after, get away again [at Everton on Sunday] to win consecutive games."
