The international break is normally not one for club managers to sit back and enjoy national team football, but Ruben Amorim can correct a major Man Utd mistake by watching one team in particular.
The 2-0 win over Sunderland meant Ruben Amorim managed to calm the storm ahead of a two-week international break.
Amorim has received strong backing from Sir Jim Ratcliffe in the break, but the results have been dangerously close to making any backing untenable.
Amidst this noise, he can watch a single national team in action during this break to correct a major mistake he’s making at Old Trafford.
Ruben Amorim should watch Portuguese national team
Roberto Martinez doesn’t have many fans in the footballing world because of his teams’ defensive deficiencies, but Portugal are flying.
Martinez has used the collection of attacking talent in Portugal and unleashed it in a way Fernando Santos never could.
For Amorim, it’s not about the system or the way Portugal play, because he doesn’t have the personnel, and international football is completely different from club football.
One learning he can take, and arguably should have already taken, is how Martinez uses Bruno Fernandes in his attacking setup.
Much like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did when he was at United, Martinez fields Fernandes in the No. 10 position and surrounds him with runners and people who have an understanding of spaces.
Fernandes uses the space created from these runs to wreak havoc, either with his audacious passes or by scoring himself.
More importantly, his defensive duties are not a necessity, but a mere bonus, which he does because working hard comes naturally to him.
An unlocked Bruno Fernandes will save Amorim
None of the strengths Fernandes has that are mentioned above come to the fore with the way Amorim is using him at United.
He’s being forced to track runners, get the ball forward while keeping it safe, and launch into tackles by covering gaps in midfield.
Those three traits are the antithesis of what Fernandes is as a player, which is remarkably bad use of arguably the best creator in the Premier League.
The simple answer is to move him further forward, something that has been written and talked about ad nauseam, yet fails to spring Amorim into action.
The upcoming Portugal games will again show what a fully unleashed Fernandes is capable of. The question is – will Amorim listen this time?
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