Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes is reportedly not displeased with Ruben Amorim personally, but he is far from happy with the deeper midfield role he’s been asked to play.
Journalist Ben Jacobs says Fernandes retains a “positive relationship” with the manager but is frustrated by the positional change, a situation that could force Amorim and United’s recruitment team to rethink how best to get the most from their captain.
United captain has struggled to perform this season and it is not a surprise since the manager has changed his position and has played him in a deeper role, something the Portuguese midfielder is not comfortable with.
Ruben Amorim has changed Bruno Fernandes’ role
It is a new role for Fernandes who has mostly played in an attacking role where he has managed to contribute more in terms of goals and assists. However, that is not the case this season.
Jacobs, speaking on The United Stand, claimed that even though Fernandes has no issues with the manager, he is unhappy with the position he is being played in.
“You have Bruno Fernandes, who I wouldn’t call unhappy with his manager. If anything, they’ve got a positive relationship, he’s the captain of the football club. But he’s unhappy with playing that deeper role.
“So this is where a 4-1-4-1 formation might allow you to play Kobbie Mainoo or Manuel Ugarte in a deeper role, Bruno Fernandes and one of Mbeumo or Cunha.
“And then the other, if it’s Mbeumo, it could be wide right, or alternatively, Benjamin Sesko might not start every game, and Cunha can play as a number nine. Cunha can also play wide left as well.
“But in this current formation to bring in the goal power and really get the new signings going, Bruno Fernandes is deeper and is obviously either not as effective or not as content in that role.”
Man United need a new central midfielder
Fernandes’ best performances come from a freer attacking remit where he can pull strings, arrive late into the box and create overloads in the final third.
Asked to sit deeper, he is required to shield the backline, track runners and prioritise structure over instinctive forward play.
Fernandes’ unhappiness is not a crisis, yet. It’s a tactical tension that demands solutions.
The logical solution would be United signing a new midfielder who can sit in the central midfield position and that would allow Fernandes to have the freedom to attack and move forward.
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‘Man United need a new central midfielder’
…correction, two.
…and we fans have been saying this for 6 months
How sad! Hard to feel sorry for him for some reason.
Actually about 10 years…since Carrick retired, and think! loads of fans were never convinced totally by Carrick, still pining for Keane lol
Some players are multi tasking, some sharpen their skill in one position and become exceptionally good. Change their modus operandi and they are a fish out of water. Amorim’s system has done this to many players which is why you do not get consistency and poor results. Asking a player whose whole career has been built on offense to suddenly become more of a defender is like asking a fan not to swear at the referee.
they need to play Bruno or mount in the left sided 10 position. Cunha can also play in a left wingback positie he did it a few times with wolfs. put a good defender in left cb and let amad en Cunha defend front footed with heaven/Martinez and yoro/ Mazraoui covering there back. Cunha likes to drive with the ball so let him drive inside or outside and let Bruno take op the vacant positie where he can receive the ball and instantly drop a good delivery to sesko or shoot. same for mbuemo on the other side with amad. let mainoo and casimiro play in the dubbel pivot for the defence and buy a casimiro upgrade in the winter. we should be able to get top 6 with that team in my eyes.
I wonder what a mistake United has done again, not hiring you to be the Manager