Fernandes produced a virtuoso performance to fashion a come from behind win for Manchester United at Goodison Park as the pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was eased.
Bernard gave Everton the lead on Merseyside, but Fernandes produced a brilliant header to get the Red Devils back into the game and also gave the lead to Manchester United ahead of the break.
Manchester United kept the home side to very few clear cut chances in the second half and they polished off the win when Edinson Cavani scored in injury time, with Fernandes producing the assist.
The Portuguese insisted that after the disappointment in Istanbul on Wednesday night the Manchester United players knew what they had to do get the team back on track at Goodison Park.
He admits that the second-half performance was not the best, but he is happy that they got the job done.
The midfielder also stressed that players need to stand up during difficult moments and emerge as leaders.
Fernandes told BT Sport: “It was a great end to the game. We knew what we had to do 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.”
“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.”
Manchester United have not lost a league game away from home since being beaten by champions Liverpool at Anfield in January.
