Bruno Fernandes was recently deployed in the two-man central midfield by Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim as the team defeated Sunderland and Liverpool.
Ruben Amorim has been told that playing Bruno Fernandes as a central midfielder in the current system will eventually bite him. Manchester United are riding a two-game winning streak heading into Saturday’s game against Brighton, but former United manager Rene Meulensteen believes they are walking on thin ice.
United defeated Sunderland and Liverpool, sparking a new sense of optimism around the club after a poor start to the season. Despite much criticism from experts and fans, Amorim continued to stick to the tried-and-true 3-4-3 formation.
Club captain Fernandes featured in the 2-0 win over Sunderland and the 2-1 win at Anfield as the top two in midfield alongside Casemiro. Although he has shown plenty of desire to roam the pitch, the Portuguese is an attack-minded player and Meulensteen fears a lack of defensive discipline could cause problems.
“It’s not about the system. Every system has its strengths and weaknesses, so it’s about the execution of the system. If you choose a 3-4-3 formation, you expect certain qualities. You need to create chances and score goals,” Sir Alex Ferguson’s former assistant told Casino Hawks.
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“For that you need possession, penetration, movement and all the elements that go with that. You need crosses in the box and numbers in the box. Bruno has dropped a little bit deeper, but he lacks defensive discipline and that will continue to be exposed. That will be exposed by other teams, maybe by different systems.”
“So we can talk about it, but we’ll come back to the same conclusion: Only when United win seven or eight games in a row will you probably start to see that the players have clicked into the system.
“A lot of other teams have the same system and they’re doing really well. There’s nothing wrong with that. But it would be a bit premature to say that just because they beat Liverpool.
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“Again, Liverpool basically missed a lot of chances to get a draw. If it had been a draw, everyone would have said, ‘So-so result. United defended well, but they didn’t create as many chances in the second half or put what they did into the back of the net.'” So I’d like to hold back a bit on that. ”
Fernandes is happy to do what the manager asks him to do, with summer signings Brian Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha up front and support from Mason Mount. The 31-year-old will make his 300th appearance for United on Saturday and Amorim gave his assessment of the player ahead of the match.
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“The frustration he feels is because he wants to help his team-mates a lot,” the United manager said. “Sometimes it’s not the best way to do it, but he’s coming from a good place and you don’t know that until you’re here. He always wants responsibility. He always wants responsibility.
“He really struggles with losing. You can feel it every time we don’t win a game. He takes it personally, as you would expect as a captain. He’s a great leader and a great football player. So let’s see if he can reach that level tomorrow.”
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