Nothing is straightforward for Manchester United at the moment. Not holding on to a three-goal lead against Coventry City, and not even beating a Sheffield United team heading for relegation back to the Championship.

Three days after their Wembley wobbles almost cost Erik ten Hag’s side a place in the FA Cup final, they were at it again last night. Twice they trailed to a club seven points adrift at the foot of the table with the worst defensive record in Premier League history.

Where would they be without Bruno Fernandes? The United captain pulled his side level at 2-2 and then scored the decisive goal in the 81st minute before setting up a fourth for Rasmus Hojlund.

That’s eight goals in the last eight games for a man who has been ever-present for United while everyone around him have been dropping like flies. Incredibly, Fernandes hasn’t missed a game through injury for the club during an Old Trafford career spanning more than four years.

But he can’t keep doing it on his own. His heroics papered over the cracks of another unsteady United performance against a team who can hardly be described as stellar. When he scored his first goal from the spot just after the hour mark, the Blades broke Derby’s record of conceding 89 goals in a 38-game Premier League season.

Jayden Bogle (left) opened the scoring for Sheffield United after pouncing on a mistake by Andre Onana (right)

‘We put ourselves in a position where it's tough to win games, but also it shows a bit of character,’ said Fernandes.

‘We also need to be aware that if we control the game like we did in the first half, we have to score our chances.

‘I'm really happy to score, but I want to win games more than score goals. Lately we haven't won as many as we should have. Being a Manchester United player demands winning games.’

This was United’s first in five league games. No team is too bad for them right now. No challenge too easy for Ten Hag. The sight of Jason Wilcox, here at Old Trafford for the first time since being appointed technical director on Friday, talking tactics with Sir Dave Brailsford in the directors’ box should be a concern for the Dutchman.

The pieces are falling into place for Ineos and Ten Hag continues to give his employers plenty of reasons to decide he won’t be part of their plans.

For United – Manchester, that is – this was the ideal fixture to get over the trauma of tossing away a three-goal lead against Coventry at the weekend, then surviving a penalty shootout to reach the Cup Final against Manchester City next month.

Instead, they failed to put Sheffield United away despite creating a string of chances. Much of the credit goes to goalkeeper Wes Foderingham who turned over Diogo Dalot’s effort at full stretch after 28 seconds and just got better after that. 

The pick of his saves in the first half were three one-handed blocks to keep out efforts from Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho and Antony.

Andre Onana was largely redundant at the other end but an error from the United keeper gifted a goal away in the 35th minute when Jayden Fogle intercepted his wayward pass to Dalot and beat him at his near post.

‘How s*** must you be, we’re winning away,’ sang the visiting fans, sensing only a second league victory on the road this season.

Harry Maguire finally found a way past Foderingham to equalise against his old club in the 42nd minute, flicking a header inside the far post from Garnacho’s cross.

But United fell behind again from another error five minutes after the interval when Dalot was guilty of losing the ball close to his own box and Ben Osborn pulled the ball back for Ben Brereton Diaz unmarked and he converted from close range.

‘We can't keep making such mistakes,’ said Ten Hag. ‘At the top level, if you want to achieve your targets, if you want to win trophies, then you have to stop this process. You make your life easier when you don’t make mistakes.’

Step forward Fernandes, again. When Auston Trusty held onto Maguire at a corner and the United defender didn’t need any more encouragement to go down, his captain scored from the spot.

Then in the 81st minute, he received the ball 20 yards from goal and fired a wonderful shot inside Foderingham’s left-hand post.

Victory is never assured with this United team, though, and it felt like they needed a fourth goal. Fernandes set it up when he guided the ball across the six-yard box for Hojlund to score his first since mid-February.

‘I don’t go with the narrative that Man Utd aren’t a good team – you have world-class players all over the park,’ said Blades boss Chris Wilder.

‘We have to rebuild a side again to be successful. It’s going to be hard and intense summer, and we have to get it right.’