Bruno Fernandes is playing the best football of his career under Michael Carrick, but some credit for it goes to Ruben Amorim.
The Premier League record books are another step closer to Bruno Fernandes after he assisted his 19th league goal of the season in Man Utd’s 2-1 win against Brentford.
Michael Carrick has received a lot of plaudits for platforming Fernandes correctly after Ruben Amorim’s unforgivable decision to play him in a defensive role.
However, a moment in the game against Brentford proved that Amorim forcing a huge change in Fernandes actually benefits the player and Carrick.
Bruno Fernandes gets another assist – the record is almost his!
Do you think he could get two in the next game vs Liverpool?!
Bruno Fernandes’ forced defensive midfield vigil
In theory, taking the best offensive creator of your team and putting him as far away from goal as possible is not the brightest idea.
In practice, it wasn’t so bright either, something which Fernandes and Carrick have proved since Amorim was sacked.
However, the unnecessary defensive midfield shifts under Amorim have changed Fernandes’ game by ironing out a key weakness.
Fernandes has always been a high volume creator who thrives with runners on the pitch he can play audacious passes to.
That results in a barrage of assists, but it also has the flipside of turning the game into a basketball contest with transitions raining down from both sides.
Man Utd fans who watched Erik ten Hag’s 2023/24 side will have enduring trauma from watching those basketball games. Nobody wants a repeat of that.
Fortunately, playing closer to his own goal under Amorim forced Fernandes to take care of the ball more since losing it in a deeper position almost always leads to a chance.
He never lost his creating ability. He just added ball circulation and retention to his skills.
Michael Carrick benefitting from a complete Fernandes
With his newfound penchant for ball retention, Fernandes has unlocked another level to his game at an age where many attackers start to decline.
Where does playing Bruno Fernandes in a deeper role rank among Ruben Amorim’s mistakes?
He is now balancing chance creation with ball retention perfectly, and it is leading to an even higher quality of chances, without losing the quantity.
More importantly, there is lesser frustration around him because he doesn’t try Hollywood passes that are not on, resulting in his team losing possession.
Against Brentford, he ran clean through in acres of space on one transition while United were leading. He had space, but his passing options were marked.
The Fernandes pre-Amorim would have launched the ball into space somewhere ahead of his teammates, but Carrick is benefitting from a more measured version of the player.
Fernandes slowed the game down, allowed his teammates to join him, and calmly passed sideways to retain possession since United were already leading the game.
Amorim didn’t do many things right at Old Trafford, but Fernandes’ unnecessary defensive midfield shifts accidentally made him a better attacking midfielder.
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