{"id":299586,"date":"2023-12-16T23:26:05","date_gmt":"2023-12-16T23:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=299586"},"modified":"2023-12-16T23:26:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T23:26:05","slug":"danny-murphy-bruno-fernandes-absence-will-help-manchester-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/danny-murphy-bruno-fernandes-absence-will-help-manchester-united\/","title":{"rendered":"DANNY MURPHY: Bruno Fernandes&apos; absence will HELP Manchester United"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> DANNY MURPHY: Believe it or not, Bruno Fernandes&#8217; absence will HELP Manchester United against Liverpool&#8230; and out-of-form Marcus Rashford should get the armband<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Bruno Fernandes&#8217; absence will make Erik ten hag&#8217;s game plan easier to carry out<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Does Marcus Rashford make a combined XI of the two teams? Find out below<\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Do Man United have what it takes to exploit Liverpool&#8217;s defensive vulnerability? It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With Manchester United visiting Liverpool and facing a potential third loss in the space of a week, Danny Murphy answers the biggest questions ahead of the clash.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Red Devils will be without Bruno Fernandes for the tie after he was booked for dissent in the 3-0 defeat against Bournemouth.<\/p>\n<p>However, Murphy writes that missing Fernandes will make an easier game-plan for Erik ten Hag, with a more solid midfield.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He also argues that Marcus Rashford should be named as captain despite his ailing form, answers whether another 7-0 is on the cards, and gives a surprising combined XI of the two sides.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/21\/79043697-0-image-a-83_1702762613528.jpg\" height=\"416\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Manchester United have to pick themselves up to avoid a third loss in the space of a week\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>NO BRUNO, NO PROBLEM?<\/h2>\n<p>The United captain&#8217;s suspension makes the manager&#8217;s game-plan easier. Bruno is a great player but to shoehorn him into the team at Anfield, Erik ten Hag would have needed to play him out wide.<\/p>\n<p>Without him, United can be more solid with a midfield three of Sofyan Amrabat, Kobbie Mainoo and Scott McTominay, and have pace on the flanks for counter-attacks by Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Antony.<\/p>\n<p>If Bruno occupied one of those positions, he wouldn&#8217;t be quick enough in transition and this way McTominay can get forward to support Rasmus Hojlund.<\/p>\n<h2>WHO TAKES UNITED ARMBAND?<\/h2>\n<p>If I&#8217;m Ten Hag fighting for my job, I am putting Rashford straight back in the team after illness \u2014 with the armband.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m sure some fans won&#8217;t like it given his disappointing form this season but a manager&#8217;s job is to get his best players playing. Rashford is one of them so take a risk, give him extra responsibility and see how he does.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not as if Antony or Garnacho are undroppable. Garnacho has been great this season but looked jaded of late. But he might still be worth deploying on the right so Rashford can go into his preferred position on the left.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/21\/79043711-0-image-a-84_1702762653755.jpg\" height=\"406\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Bruno Fernandes will be missing after being booked for dissent against Bournemouth, but that could benefit Erik ten Hag\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>PLAY NATURAL GAME OR TWEAK TACTICS?<\/h2>\n<p>We all know the United tradition of playing on the front foot but sometimes you need to respect the opposition \u2014 it&#8217;s the best way to get a result.<\/p>\n<p>I played in many Liverpool-United games when they were the best team in Europe and we were underdogs like United are now.<\/p>\n<p>If Ten Hag tries to go toe-to-toe, United will lose heavily. They should be pragmatic and use the pace of Rashford and Garnacho down the wings to give Liverpool problems.<\/p>\n<p>United have to put their egos at the door, accept they are not as good as Liverpool and find a plan to win any way.<\/p>\n<h3>Danny Murphy&#8217;s combined XI<\/h3>\n<p><span>Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Varane, Van Dijk, Robertson; Mac Allister, Casemiro, Szoboszlai; Salah, Nunez, Rashford\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The easiest thing given United&#8217;s current woes would be to name 11 Liverpool players but that would be disrespectful. Raphael Varane and Casemiro have won nine Champions League between them and they&#8217;re still in their early thirties.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s odd that Varane hasn&#8217;t played more for United. I think it&#8217;s a Dutch coach thing in overthinking if a player should be on the right or left. I had the same at Fulham, as a midfielder, with Martin Jol!<\/p>\n<p>Rashford is struggling. But last season he scored 30 goals \u2014 you won&#8217;t get that return from Luis Diaz or Diogo Jota. But the rest of the team? Has to be Liverpool red!<\/p>\n<h2>ARE INJURIES TO BLAME FOR UNITED&#8217;S POOR FORM?<\/h2>\n<p>Partially. They lost games and conceded goals when players like Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez were fit, so it&#8217;s not the only factor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Of course the number of changes, particularly in defence, aren&#8217;t helpful but it&#8217;s not the reason they&#8217;ve lost more games than they&#8217;ve won this season.<\/p>\n<h2>HOW IS ALEXANDER-ARNOLD BEST USED?<\/h2>\n<p>The hybrid role he&#8217;s playing, stepping out from right-back into midfield, has worked well this season. I know Trent is a full-time midfielder for England but they play a different way \u2014 they don&#8217;t use inverted full-backs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If he went into midfield, Liverpool would lose potency because you&#8217;d get a more defensive right-back like Joe Gomez and have to leave out one of the midfielders like Ryan Gravenberch or Curtis Jones, reducing their overall attacking threat.<\/p>\n<p>England and Liverpool have different personnel \u2014 Jurgen Klopp doesn&#8217;t have a Declan Rice or Kyle Walker, for example \u2014 so it makes sense for Alexander-Arnold to play a hybrid role for his club, and solely in midfield for his country.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/21\/79043733-0-image-a-85_1702762739456.jpg\" height=\"429\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>It makes sense for Trent Alexander-Arnold to play a hybrid role for Liverpool &#8211; they would lose potency with him in midfield<\/p>\n<h2>IS THIS MO SALAH&#8217;S SWANSONG?<\/h2>\n<p>I thought he might go to Saudi last summer but now I feel he may stay next year, too. He seems to believe in the new project at Liverpool and is enjoying his role as a senior player in Klopp&#8217;s latest team.<\/p>\n<p>Salah is already in Liverpool&#8217;s greatest XI and probably the ultimate Premier League XI as well but I can&#8217;t see him superseding Kenny Dalglish or Steven Gerrard because they were at Anfield so long.<\/p>\n<p>One day, Salah may go to Saudi. But he&#8217;s as fit as a fiddle so there&#8217;s lots of time for that.<\/p>\n<h2>IS ANOTHER 7-0 POSSIBLE?<\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;d be flabbergasted. For a 7-0, everything has to go wrong for one team and right for the other. I think this will be much closer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/16\/21\/79043769-0-image-a-86_1702762925772.jpg\" height=\"435\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho must have the mindset of trying to overshadow Mo Salah. Desire can work wonders<\/p>\n<h2>SECRET OF YOUR SUCCESS AGAINST UNITED?<\/h2>\n<p>Tactics were important. We stayed compact, disciplined and tried to make it really hard for a great United team. Individual pride also counts for a lot in the dressing room.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We had guys such as Gerrard and Michael Owen who were fed up with all the trophies United were winning and wanted to show they were every bit as good as United&#8217;s star players like David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.<\/p>\n<p>United&#8217;s players have to try to emulate that. Rashford and Garnacho have to have the mindset of going out there and overshadowing Salah. Hojlund should want to prove that he&#8217;s a better centre-forward than Darwin Nunez.<\/p>\n<p>That desire can work wonders. One of my favourite memories was walking off at Old Trafford with a 1-0 win, me scoring the winner and Stevie G voted man of the match.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12872559\/DANNY-MURPHY-Bruno-Fernandes-absence-HELP-Manchester-United-against-Liverpool-form-Marcus-Rashford-armband.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DANNY MURPHY: Believe it or not, Bruno Fernandes&#8217; absence will HELP Manchester United against Liverpool&#8230; and out-of-form Marcus Rashford should get the armband Bruno Fernandes&#8217; absence will make Erik ten hag&#8217;s game plan easier to carry out Does Marcus Rashford make a combined XI of the two teams? Find out below Do Man United have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>DANNY MURPHY: Bruno Fernandes&amp;apos; absence will HELP Manchester United - Sports Life Tale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/soccer\/danny-murphy-bruno-fernandes-absence-will-help-manchester-united\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DANNY MURPHY: Bruno Fernandes&amp;apos; absence will HELP Manchester United - Sports Life Tale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DANNY MURPHY: Believe it or not, Bruno Fernandes&#8217; absence will HELP Manchester United against Liverpool&#8230; and out-of-form Marcus Rashford should get the armband Bruno Fernandes&#8217; absence will make Erik ten hag&#8217;s game plan easier to carry out Does Marcus Rashford make a combined XI of the two teams? 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