Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes brought his typical ferocious protagonist energy to the pitch at Old Trafford on Monday night as his side scored twice against Bournemouth.
Bruno Fernandes was absolutely furious with Manchester United’s wide-open defending after they conceded a three-goal lead and drew at Bournemouth. The end-to-end match at Old Trafford on Monday night ended 4-4, much to the frustration of the United captain.
Amad Diallo, Casemiro, Fernandes and Matheus Cunha all found the back of the net for Bournemouth, but their impressive attack yielded just one point. Antoine Semenyo, Evanilson, Marcus Tavernier and Junior Crupi broke through United’s leaky defense and scored past Senne Lamence.
Bournemouth’s first goal came after Luke Shaw had the ball dispossessed, their second goal came from a throw-in after United gave the ball away, their third goal came from a free-kick given away by Casemiro on the edge of the box, and their fourth goal came when they were once again forced into the defense. Lamence then had to watch out for a save from David Brooks when the visitors almost took the lead in the closing stages.
The situation provoked a familiar reaction from Fernandes, who was showing passion. After taking a stunning free-kick from the edge of the box into the top corner to make it 3-3, Fernandes waved his arms at the crowd and encouraged them to make some noise.
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But what really caught my eye was his body language towards his teammates. After Casemiro brought down Tavernier to stop Bournemouth’s dangerous counter-attack and received a yellow card himself, the onus was placed on Fernandes to keep the team together.
A video of Fernandes gesturing for Lamence to cross the goal went viral on social media before Tavernier’s free-kick was taken. In it, Michael Owen explains what Fernandes is trying to say to the goalkeeper.
Owen told Premier League Productions: “So you see Bruno telling the goalkeeper, ‘Cross, cross! We’ve already sealed off this side of the goal. This is the side of the goal you have to protect.’ Ramence hesitated, but Tavernier’s shot went between Fernandes and Cunha and into the bottom corner.
Even after the final whistle rang, Fernandes remained enthusiastic. The player was filmed from the stands looking dejected in the center circle as the players circled around to applaud the Old Trafford supporters. The Portuguese playmaker spoke to Manuel Ugarte and Casemiro, waving his arms and shrugging his shoulders as he appeared to chide United about their problems.
United fans on Reddit, where the video was posted, speculated that Fernandes was angrily trying to show off a gaping gap in his team’s defence. One fan wrote: “This clearly shows why the spacing between the CBs is so wide. It’s a shame because our attack was so fluid.”
Another wrote: “Looking back at the game, they weren’t even going wide. It’s just that each centre-back had no idea where to run or who to follow when coming back. It was especially obvious with the fourth goal.”
Ruben Amorim hinted at something similar in his post-match analysis. “It looks like there are a lot of good things, but there are also a lot of things to work on. Sometimes the details don’t win the game,” he said.
“It doesn’t mean it’s a four-back, it’s a three-back, it’s not a five-back. It’s the details that we need to work on to understand the momentum of the game. Again, we’re playing a very good team today so we have to be more clinical. We created so many chances to win the game and we should have gotten the three points.”
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