04 November 2023 , 15:57
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Scott McTominay urged his team-mates to play for the fans ahead of Manchester United's win against Fulham on Saturday.
United won 1-0 at Craven Cottage thanks to a last-minute winner from Bruno Fernandes. The result has eased some of the pressure on Erik ten Hag, who is looking over his shoulder after suffering humbling 3-0 home defeats to Manchester City and Newcastle.
Red Devils fans made their feelings known about United's poor form by holding up a banner that read "play like you mean it" before Saturday's game. The banner was noticed by McTominay, who told his United team-mates to "fight like dogs" for the paying punters.
McTominay was asked about the banner during his post-match interview with TNT Sports. He said: "We saw the banner before the game, and a few of us said to the rest of the lads that these fans pay good money to come down and see us play.
"They support us every single week and we just want to repay them the best we can. Obviously, things aren’t going super well at the minute but we'll use this win as a building block to get better, with the manager and his coaching staff that we trust a lot. We can go on, kick on and do better."
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McTominay, who had a goal disallowed for offside during the first half, also urged his team-mates to fight in every game. United are sixth in the Premier League table and will need to put a good run together to challenge the leaders.
Manchester United fans held up a banner before their game against Fulham (Getty Images)What did you make of Manchester United's performance against Fulham? Let us know in the comments below!
He added: "It shouldn’t just be this game, but when everyone is against you, you have to come together and fight like dogs and that’s what we did today. It’s a building block we can work with and I thought we did more than enough to win the game in the end."
The banner in question was also spotted by United legend Rio Ferdinand. He told TNT Sports: "When you’re a player and your own professionalism, your own character is being questioned by your own fans, that’s piercing.
"I’m pleased it got a response, I’m pleased that they saw it and I want to give credit to McTominay for his honesty there when he admitted that they’re all behind the management, they’re behind the staff, they’ll work like dogs.
"Look, it wasn’t a fantastic performance, there wasn’t any flashy finishing or well-put-together passing manoeuvres but they ground out a result and that’s what they needed - it’s not always pretty but you have to say well done to them for coming to a tough place like Craven Cottage and getting the job done."