At Manchester United, Bruno Fernandes is on track for his WORST scoring season to date.

 

With his assists drastically declining and his passing accuracy declining, Bruno Fernandes is on track to have his WORST scoring season at Man United. How can Erik ten Hag rejuvenate his star player?

Although United has improved recently, Bruno Fernandes has not scored a Premier League goal since back in November. 

The Portuguese striker is not playing at his best.
Because he won't rotate his team like Man City and Liverpool, Mikel Arteta "does NOT trust everybody" in the Arsenal lineup. 

Bruno Fernandes is undoubtedly the most gifted player in Manchester United's roster, at least when it comes to paper.

The seasoned Portuguese international and United captain is technically brilliant, capable of scoring in a variety of ways, adept at handling set pieces, and exudes leadership traits in spades.

However, Fernandes' lack of tactical discipline is another issue that comes up in discussions about him. At this point, with him failing for consistency and certain to have his lowest scoring season while wearing a United shirt, any shortcomings in his game are being amplified tenfold.

He is sentimental. In order to close the goalie down, he runs thirty yards. Sometimes, people chuckle at it, saying things like, "Look at him working hard". Jamie Carragher stated earlier this year, "No, he's killing the team."

That is the accusation made against Fernandes. He may end up hurting United more than helping them in his attempt to be Captain Fantastic.
Now that Rasmus Hojlund could miss up to three weeks of action, Fernandes will need to shake off his slump—he hasn't scored in the league since November—in order to keep United's hopes of finishing in the top four alive.
Gary Neville stated on the Overlap last month that "Bruno Fernandes is obviously the best player in terms of talent but he's everywhere."

"You have to order him to go do what you desire." Nothing about Ten Hag telling him to "get back in" appears to me. "Get back into your position" is what Pep Guardiola and his coaches will tell a Man City player to do if they are playing out of position for a minute or two.

He's being allowed to go there, there, there by Ten Hag.

"And that implies that since your primary midfield player is present all over the field, you can never have a combination or a pattern."
Neville's evaluation is accurate.

There is a degree of independence that Fernandes enjoys that No 10s at other clubs do not.

And that freedom, although it lets Fernandes drift to the right or left, his preferred side, it frequently creates a chasm that leaves Kobbie Mainoo and Casemiro trailing behind with too much work to accomplish. That was an especially obvious problem at Luton.

"The great players have an intuitive sense of where they need to be," Carragher continued.

"[Kevin] De Bruyne is superior to Fernandes, but Fernandes isn't that far behind him in terms of creating opportunities."

"I saw Fernandes perform this" under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the former United manager. He's rushing around without the ball, so it's not like he's being sluggish.
The main source of annoyance for supporters of Fernandes in recent months has been his passing accuracy; they claim he forces balls to attackers when they aren't even close to being on.

His irresponsibility when in possession at Luton infuriated a few members of the travelling support.

Only three midfielders this season—Pablo Sarabia of Wolves, Lucas Paqueta of West Ham, and Alfie Doughty of Luton—had a lower passing accuracy than Fernandes out of those who have contributed five or more assists.

When it comes to ball control, James Maddison of Tottenham, Martin Odegaard of Arsenal, and Phil Foden of Man City are all vastly exceeding him.

"I am aware that ever since I joined the club, my stature has made me a target," Fernandes declared in November.

Because they will take it from there, it can occasionally be problematic for me to maintain the same goals and assists totals in response to criticism.
Fernandes was a revelation when he arrived from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020 thanks to his stats.

His eight goals and seven assists in his first 14 league appearances. He hasn't scored in 13 games and is currently having trouble.

Hojlund's absence from matches against Fulham, Manchester City, Everton, and maybe Sheffield United puts more pressure on Fernandes to score goals.

His last Premier League goal contribution came on November 4 away to Fulham; going into today's match at Old Trafford against the Cottagers, he has already missed 13 games.

During Fernandes' goal drought, Scott McTominay has stepped up and been a goal danger. Among his four goals this season, the game-winning goal against Aston Villa came on the road.

While Alejandro Garnacho has also shown promise with five goals and three assists, Fernandes will be crucial to United's success in both attack and defence over the coming month.

"You can see that Bruno Fernandes performs the same [floating around] when he plays at the international level." Roy Keane stated on the Stick to Football podcast recently that "it can't be all the coaches and managers."

There is a player out there, and if he's making magic and doing all that things, you almost forgive him, but if you're a member of a failing team and you're doing all that stuff, it sticks out and you feel like you're costing us, killing us.
Fernandes' defenders can point out that his stats might be very different if United hadn't had such a poor offensive start to the year.


For months, the entire front line was unable to manufacture a goal or an assist, all the while Fernandes was creating a number of 'Big Chances'.

This season in the Premier League, none of the midfielders have produced as many 'Big Chances' as the Portuguese playmaker, with twelve. For Arsenal, Odegaard also has twelve.

Fernandes is second only to Odegaard in terms of Expected Assists; Odegaard has been a model player in the No. 10 spot this season.

Despite Fernandes being unwell in the league, United's offensive has found its footing now that they have found their shooting boots.

First of all, as our captain, he frequently sets a good example for the rest of us with his demeanour both on the pitch and in practice.
He infuses the team with vitality and, yes, he is crucial to our success because he creates opportunities. I therefore enjoy working with him. I'm hoping he plays for Manchester United for a very long time.
Increasing control of United's performance is one of the best things Fernandes could do for the team in the remaining games of the season.

His and the team's performance has far too frequently exhibited a franticness that is mostly focused on a ragged midfield. That was undoubtedly the situation when Luton and Wolves played away.

The loss of Hojlund is a huge blow to the team's equilibrium, but with Mainoo playing well, Fernandes should attempt to focus less on his individual numbers and instead use his influence to be the midfield pillar that helps guide United through this striker-less storm.

Even if United managed to win 2-1 in the end, having only 41% of the ball at Luton is hardly a recipe for success.

Another option is to push Fernandes wide to the right, from where he scored an incredible volley in the team's 1-0 victory over Burnley earlier in the season.

"We need to manage our games," he remarked following Galatasaray's 3–3 tie.

You must be sufficiently intelligent and adept at handling the game. Everyone needs to own up to their faults and accept responsibility.

He is aware that Fernandes is among the key players in effecting change, and that the issue has turned into a pattern rather than an isolated incident.
The criticism of Captain Fantastic was given new life by the shooting at Luton, and now, instead of carrying the team on his back, he should calm things down and support those around him.

If you do that, he will return his lick.