Bruno Fernandes admits “everyone needs to be a leader” at Manchester United after the Red Devils once again relied on him to inspire a much-needed victory over Everton.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took his side to Goodison Park aware that another Premier League setback could spell the end of his time in the Old Trafford hot seat.
He watched his side fall behind to an early effort from Bernard, but the perfect response was offered after that.
Portuguese playmaker Fernandes led the charge for United, as he so often has done on the back of a January move from Sporting, and he had the Red Devils in front at the interval.
Edinson Cavani stepped off the bench to score his first goal for the club in stoppage-time, with a side that have looked out of sorts at home and abroad of late showing that they do boast the fighting spirit that has been called into question on a regular basis of late.
Fernandes told BT Sport afterwards, with his second goal of the day whipped fractionally over the head of a club colleague: “I don't care if Marcus [Rashford] touched it a little bit, it can be his goal, it is no problem for me - most important for me as a number 10 is serving my team-mates.
“I think we know inside the dressing room what we need to do. Everyone needs to be a leader.”
Fernandes added on the contest as a whole: “It was a great end to the game. We knew what we had to do [today] and we did it well.
“We did some mistakes in the second half, maybe we were a bit more confident and wanted to go forward and we didn't keep the ball too much. After the first goal we had a great reaction and we did what we had to do.
“We know our quality. We worked hard for the game. It was difficult to recover after the [Istanbul Basaksehir] game. This was the moment to do something in this game and we did it.”
With critics silenced by a welcome win on the road, Harry Maguire is another United star looking for the Red Devils to kick on from this point.
The England international defender said: “We knew we had to get three points today. It's early in the season and we don't look at the table but the points we have accumulated isn't good enough for this club.
“It's important to bounce back from setbacks. We did it at Newcastle. We started the game really well but conceded a disappointing goal from a long, direct ball and we should have had better cover.
“We've been questioned but we know we don't answer them in 90 minutes, we answer them day in, day out. The lads are working tirelessly for this club, everyone wants to improve and do better. The manager has to pull the lads off the training ground.
“I think we know the first goal in Istanbul can't happen. We went away to Turkey and knew it would be tough game.
“It made it a frustrating night for us and the individuals knew in the changing room straight after and held their hands up and apologised. We are a good group who work really hard and we're all in this together.”
United suffered a 2-1 defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir in their last outing, as they hit a serious bump in a Champions League road, but are now back on track and have the international break to work on establishing some momentum.