Football Digest: Man Utd urged to give Ten Hag time he needs
Erik ten Hag has been hit with an unprecedented storm of injuries during his disastrous second season in charge of Manchester United. But he made bizarre decisions with the players available in Sunday’s derby, none more so than his persistence in using Bruno Fernandes as a right-winger.
Fernandes was a sensational attacking midfielder at Sporting Club. He joined United in a £47million deal in January 2020 and has been a sensational attacking midfielder at Old Trafford, too.
The Red Devils have had issues on the right since he landed in Manchester. Mason Greenwood’s emergence was a brief antidote, but Jadon Sancho and Antony have not stepped up since his exit from the frame.
It has left Fernandes having to fill in on the right, where he is statistically significantly less effective than centrally.
But Ten Hag had Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Anthony Martial, Facundo Pellistri and, most damningly, his £85m signing Antony at his disposal on Sunday.
And yet he started Fernandes on the right, to, unsurprisingly, little success. Ten Hag must take a leaf out of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s book and play his best player in his best position.
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Fernandes has registered 16 goals and 18 assists in 72 appearances under the Dutchman, averaging 0.47 goal contributions per game.
That’s a substantial drop-off from his exploits under Solskjaer, who flaunted United’s most potent attack since Sir Alex Ferguson’s 2013 retirement to entertain the masses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a regular fixture at the centre of Greenwood, Rashford and Martial, Fernandes scored 44 times and provided 35 assists in 97 games for Solskjaer. The average? 0.81 contributions per outing.
Ten Hag needs to go back to basics to stop the rot, which has seen his side lose seven of their opening 14 games this term, winning by more than a single goal just once.
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Casemiro’s return to fitness will hopefully prompt that. Ten Hag can field an upgraded version of the famed Scott McTominay and Fred double pivot with Casemiro and Sofyan Amrabat when they’re both fit.
‘McFred’ wasn’t pretty at the best of times, but it allowed Fernandes to operate at maximum capacity, and boy, was that effective enough.
Mason Mount was a strange signing in the summer, made even stranger by his struggle to fit into the team. It would be worth testing him on the right if Ten Hag has already lost faith in Antony.
United can’t start Fernandes on the right against Newcastle United on Wednesday night. It will contribute to a poor performance. Another of those and a Carabao Cup exit would ramp up the toxicity to a new scale.
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