- 1 hour ago
Results show no signs of improving for Man United and, after Sunday's 0-3 derby defeat to Manchester City, fingers are starting to point at their captain. Adam Clery has a look at why Bruno Fernandes is causing all sorts of problems for his team, but why the causes of those problems are actually the real story here.
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00:00Right, hello there everybody, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel, Adam Cleary, obviously, and Bruno Fernandes, he's Man United's
00:07biggest problem.
00:09Just going to let that hang.
00:11Now, okay, yes, that is a very dramatic way to title a video about a team's best player, but one,
00:18welcome to YouTube, and two, Bruno Fernandes is Man United's biggest problem,
00:23from a tactical perspective, and purely within the context of Reuben Ameren persisting with his patented 3421, would not have
00:33fit in the title bar, so...
00:38And just before we start, right quick, a reminder that we have launched Channel Memberships, which is incredibly fun and
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00:59It's going to be the best value channel membership in the world, in my opinion, so if you like all
01:04this, you probably like that even more, so join!
01:07Anyway, though, Bruno Fernandes, we are going to have a look at what is going wrong, why they are persisting
01:12with doing that, and potentially, how they could even fix it.
01:15And the thing that seems to have set this entire conversation around him off is the Phil Foden goal in
01:21the Manchester Derby,
01:22because first off, Jeremy Doku goes past Luke Shaw, like he is some sort of nebulous concept, rather than a
01:29physical entity.
01:30And eventually, the ball arrives on Foden's head, and he buries it.
01:34But a few seconds prior, Fernandes was goal-side of Foden, and you would say here, regardless of any prior
01:41instruction,
01:43you've just got to take responsibility there, especially if you're the captain.
01:46Just go, it doesn't matter where I'm meant to be, that's my man, I'm going to track him and stop
01:50him scoring, which he does not do.
01:53Now just, if it's me, right, and remember I am famously difficult and obtuse, a complete nightmare, right,
01:59the question I would have in this situation is not about Fernandes.
02:02I'd sort of want to know why a team that has five defenders and three centre-backs is expecting the
02:08least defensive of its midfield two
02:10to be responsible for Phil Foden when he is one of only two city players liable to be found by
02:18Doku here.
02:19I mean, honestly, just go and look at what's happening in the box when that cross comes back in, right?
02:24Like, your left wing-back is here, and your left centre-back is here, and this is a midfielder.
02:30Like, the shape they're defending this situation in, admittedly because Doku has just burst through,
02:35has so many things wrong with it before you start pointing fingers at Fernandes.
02:40But again, that's just me.
02:42And this isn't anything new, by the way.
02:44Like, Fernandes got absolute pelters in the Fulham game.
02:47Yes, for missing the penalty and having that really weird,
02:49you-just-spilled-by-pint-mate interaction with the referee,
02:53but also for losing Emile Smith-Rowe for the equaliser.
02:56Like, if you're happy to attach Inbermo to Oobi here,
02:59then Man United have eight bodies defending a scenario against six.
03:03Like, it just really does not feel to me like the expectation should automatically be
03:08that you need Bruno Fernandes to track runs into the six-yard box
03:13to stop situations like this happening when you've got three centre-backs,
03:18and yet, somehow, game after game, it is.
03:21There's a moment in the Man City game where he just does enough to put Reinders off here.
03:26Like, he doesn't stop the shot or win the ball,
03:28but he is at least goal-side and makes that chance a lot harder.
03:33And if you want to pull apart his sort of, like, awareness and his determination to do these things,
03:37look how far back from Reinders in this move he has to come to even get goal-side.
03:43Like, he is clearly instructed to do this,
03:46and trying to do this just is not very good at it.
03:49And if you just go back to the moment in the move where he clearly decides,
03:52oh, I better get in there and help out here,
03:54Man United are 3v2.
03:57He's not leaving them short by not joining in.
04:01Instead, he recognises that the centre-backs are only interested in defending on this line,
04:05just like they were for the Foden chants,
04:08and gets in to cover the space in front of them.
04:10And obviously, like, I'm not a Man United fan,
04:12but if you may permit me to just editorialise slightly here,
04:16and inject a little bit of opinion, right,
04:18I think this scenario happening repeatedly is f***ing mad.
04:26Amazon, of all people, whipped out this stat last week that said,
04:29since he arrived in the Premier League,
04:30Fernandes has created 138 more chances than any other player.
04:36Like, granted, yeah, okay, three of the people in this list have left this summer,
04:40so they're four games behind him, right?
04:42But even then, that's five years of being the league's single most reliable
04:47and prolific creator of chances.
04:51So are we, like, are we honestly all going to stand here
04:54and actually have a conversation about whether or not he needs to get better
04:58at heading the ball away from inside his own six-yard box,
05:02when, again, you've got three centre-backs?
05:05Like, can you even imagine having that conversation about Kevin De Bruyne?
05:11I feel like I'm going insane.
05:12But the reason we are even here in the first place
05:15is all because of the reasons why Ruben Amorim has moved him
05:18from one of these front two positions to the base of this midfield.
05:23Last season, they were discounting penalties,
05:25the worst finishers in the league,
05:28over 11 goals down on where the boffins at the XG factory
05:32said they were supposed to be.
05:34So the priority this summer, clearly,
05:37was to add more reliable finishers at the very top end of the pitch.
05:42And they spent a whole load of money,
05:43and I would argue they've gone and done that.
05:45So much so, in fact, that if you go and look at the exact same stat
05:49for both Brian Umbermo and Matthias Cunha,
05:52they were actually the league's biggest over-performers.
05:55They were getting so many more goals than they were supposed to.
05:58You've got one lad who's in the top 2% of the division for that stat,
06:02and one lad who's in the top 1% of the division for that stat.
06:07And then you combine all of that with the fact that Manchester United
06:10were really insecure with the ball at the back last season.
06:13They kept giving it away inside their own third.
06:15And you can sort of see the logic.
06:17You pack these positions with better finishers,
06:19and you move your most technically capable,
06:22assured-in-possession player further back,
06:25so he is around when you're building out.
06:27And then, theoretically, you stop making that number of mistakes,
06:30you move the ball forward a lot better,
06:32and then when you get it there,
06:33you've got better players to finish those chances.
06:36I do, if nothing else, see the vision.
06:39But would you like to see, so far this season,
06:42what difference that has made to Man United?
06:45Of course you would.
06:46And it's absolutely fucking nothing.
06:49Man United are already, after four games,
06:53more than halfway towards their numerical underperformance from last season.
06:58In fact, and this is obviously a ridiculous thing to say
07:00and incredibly unscientific,
07:02but let's just try and have a bit of fun with it, shall we?
07:04If they continue at the rate they're going,
07:06in terms of the chances they're making and how they're taking them,
07:09they will finish this season with 19 goals scored,
07:13despite the numbers saying they should have 72.
07:16And I'm obviously not a professional manager,
07:19or even a qualified data analyst, if you want to be picky about it,
07:22but still, if I was looking at those numbers,
07:25and it was my responsibility,
07:27I would maybe think I'd done something wrong.
07:30And once you really start getting into the weeds
07:32of what's going wrong with Man United this season,
07:35you realise that by pushing Bruno Fernandes
07:37into a much deeper position,
07:40they've gone from being a team
07:41that created lots of good chances,
07:44but just weren't taking them,
07:46to a team that now still creates a lot of chances,
07:49but none of them are really any good.
07:51So they don't go in.
07:53Like, even the two biggest moments against Man City,
07:55neither of these are manufactured in any real way.
07:58The first is just blasted off in Bermos shins,
08:01and the Casemiro one is literally just a shot
08:04that, like, flashes its knickers at him on the way past.
08:07And what's really mad about this, right,
08:08is the metric people use to measure chance creation
08:11is called key passes.
08:13Any pass you make that leads directly to a chance happening.
08:16And even though we're already four games into this season,
08:18and he's playing in a much deeper role,
08:20Bruno Fernandes is still top of the Premier League
08:24for key passes.
08:25A lot of this is dead balls,
08:27or setting his teammates off running from deep.
08:29Like, in the Arsenal game here,
08:30he jumps on a loose ball
08:31and immediately puts Dorgo in
08:32for a shot that hits the post.
08:34Like, that is a chance, and he made it.
08:36But, obviously,
08:38what are the odds of scoring from this position?
08:40Very low.
08:41And then when you move from key passes
08:43to the value of the chances he's making,
08:45like how good are those openings
08:47he's creating for his teammates,
08:49he drops from the very top of the league
08:51to, like, 20th.
08:53When you look at the disparity between these two figures,
08:56the only conclusion you can really draw
08:57is that he's still making a lot of chances
09:00because the team are just reliant on him doing that for them.
09:03But the chances are no longer as good as they used to be
09:06because he can't impact the game
09:08the way he used to be,
09:10slash, do.
09:12So why is that?
09:13Well, my very dear friends,
09:14this is Bruno Fernandes' heat map
09:16from the season as a whole so far.
09:18And yes, you're right,
09:19a very small pinch of salt required
09:21because they have played Man City,
09:22they have played Arsenal,
09:23those are good teams,
09:24but they did have more possession
09:27in both of those matches.
09:29So it's not like he spent a game
09:30camped on the edge of his own box.
09:32This is, by and large,
09:34what he is being asked to do this season.
09:37While there is, of course,
09:38presence in the final third of the pitch
09:40because he is making these chances
09:41and he will push up,
09:42and they do even move in there
09:44in the later part of games
09:45when they're losing,
09:47the bulk of this,
09:48the highest concentration of touches
09:49for Bruno Fernandes
09:51is in his own half.
09:54And that is a genuine first
09:55for him as a player.
09:56Like, if we look at it
09:56from two seasons ago
09:58when Eric Ten Hag was using him
09:59as a 10,
10:00obviously this looks insane
10:02because it's so many more matches,
10:03that's why it resembles
10:04the skin on my face
10:05when I was 13.
10:07He is in his own half
10:08because stuff just happens,
10:10but look at how much more time
10:11he spends in the opposition half,
10:13in the final third,
10:14in these channels
10:15where he's really good.
10:17That's how he impacts games.
10:20But if we then go back
10:21to this season
10:21and overlay his passes
10:23from the Man City game
10:24before they brought Manu on
10:25and pushed him further up,
10:27you can just see
10:28what a whole load of nothing
10:30his role is starting to turn into.
10:32Now, the bulk of his short passing,
10:34the majority of the time
10:35he's spending on the ball
10:36is in his own half,
10:37and most of the time
10:38when he is able to find a teammate
10:40in the attacking third,
10:41it's a really long ball from deep.
10:44There's a lot of really long diagonals
10:46out to the wingbacks
10:47and the tens,
10:48which are really good
10:48and they're accurate
10:49and they're well executed,
10:50but if you're receiving the ball
10:52in those parts of the pitch,
10:53you've still got so much work
10:55to do yourself
10:55before a chance happens.
10:57The really annoying part is
10:58if you look at the amount of them
10:59that are landing
11:00sort of around the box
11:01in these sort of
11:02slightly wide half-space areas,
11:04that's where you want
11:05Bruno Fernandes
11:06on the ball,
11:07not passing the ball into you.
11:08Like, he will make things happen
11:10from these areas
11:11better than anyone else
11:13at Man United,
11:14and he's the one
11:15putting it there.
11:16And let me just quickly
11:17illustrate this
11:18with a comparison
11:19between Bruno Fernandes then
11:20and Bruno Fernandes now, right?
11:22This is in the Manchester City game.
11:24The ball breaks
11:25in the middle of the field
11:25and he jumps onto it
11:27from deep,
11:28gets turned,
11:29sprays a 50-yarder
11:30out to the right-hand side.
11:31It's a good pass.
11:32It's his best option.
11:33Fair play.
11:34And this isn't a perfect
11:36like-for-like recreation,
11:37but just bear with me on this, right?
11:38The other year,
11:39against Arsenal,
11:39he's playing as a 10,
11:41he again gets on the ball
11:42but this time
11:43puts it straight down the middle
11:45for Marcus Rashford
11:46to get in on goal
11:47and score.
11:48And you go back
11:49to that moment
11:49in the City game,
11:50Man United have runners.
11:52Like, as soon as that ball
11:53sort of gets turned over,
11:54you can see two of them
11:55are trying to break in
11:57behind the Man City defence.
11:58There is potentially
11:59an option on there
12:00if someone was in position
12:01to give it to them.
12:02But the problem is,
12:03Fernandes is getting the ball
12:04between the midfield
12:05and the attack,
12:06not between the midfield
12:08and the defence.
12:09So he has to turn around.
12:10But now imagine instead
12:11if he was here.
12:13Like,
12:13Dogu can slip this pass
12:15through to him.
12:16He can find any of these runners
12:17and City
12:19would be f***ed.
12:21Now, obviously,
12:21you can't just have
12:22a little flight of fan seed
12:23like this.
12:23If you move him here,
12:24you'd need someone else
12:25to fill in behind.
12:26But thankfully,
12:27I don't know if Man United
12:28are aware of this,
12:29you've got three centre-backs.
12:31There's actually an extra body
12:32in this part of the pitch
12:33that could be further forward
12:35to allow him
12:36to be further forward.
12:38Call me crazy.
12:39Or to put that another way,
12:41right,
12:41the man required
12:42to allow your best creator
12:43to be in positions
12:45to create
12:46literally already exists.
12:48And yet,
12:48they are persisting
12:50with this.
12:51Now look,
12:52right,
12:52this video I appreciate
12:53is a lot of your time
12:54for me to basically just say,
12:56hey,
12:56Bruno Fernandes
12:57is a really good chance creator,
12:59but can't really create chances
13:00in Ruben Amarim's system,
13:02so it's not going
13:03very well for him.
13:04But the point I want to make here,
13:06right,
13:07is I could just as easily
13:08have done this video
13:09about Kobi Meynu,
13:11the things he's really good at,
13:12he can't do in this system.
13:14Or Amidiallo,
13:15the things he's really good at,
13:16he can't do in this system.
13:19And if those three players,
13:21players that good,
13:22players who have been
13:23that important
13:24to Man United,
13:25either need to be restricted
13:27on the pitch
13:28in terms of what they do,
13:29or just discarded
13:30from the club entirely
13:31to fit a tactical system,
13:34you change
13:35the tactical system.
13:37Like,
13:37I'll dole my hands up here,
13:39like I was dead excited
13:39about Ruben Amarim
13:40getting the Man United job,
13:41he's an exciting young coach
13:43with a cool inventive
13:44philosophy,
13:45and with a couple of signings,
13:46and adapting a couple of players,
13:48maybe he can make it work
13:49in the Premier League.
13:50Like,
13:50I was sipping
13:51the Kool-Aid,
13:52but it's been
13:53nearly a year now,
13:54and the signings
13:55have not really worked,
13:56and the players
13:56have not adapted,
13:57and you are allowed
13:58to change your mind
14:00upon the presentation
14:01of new facts.
14:03My mind has changed,
14:04and yet Ruben Amarim
14:05sits and watches
14:07these lads struggle
14:08every single week,
14:09and does not
14:11change his mind.
14:12So yeah,
14:13the point I'm trying
14:14to make here
14:14is it's not working
14:15for their best player,
14:16that's why it's not working,
14:17but also,
14:19I don't think that
14:19it doesn't have to work.
14:21He has not suddenly
14:22become bad overnight,
14:23and he should not be
14:24getting pelters
14:25on the internet
14:26for not heading
14:27the ball away
14:28outside the six-yard box.
14:30But if you're
14:30a Man United fan,
14:31guess what?
14:32Your opinion's worth
14:33ten times what mine is,
14:35so please get it
14:35in the comments below
14:36so I can assess
14:37the mood.
14:38If I just slightly
14:38overreacted to a couple
14:39of tweets,
14:40wouldn't be the first time,
14:41but let me know
14:41what you think of him
14:42and the system.
14:43Do you want this
14:44to continue?
14:45Are you done?
14:45Have you had enough?
14:46All thoughts,
14:47feelings,
14:47song,
14:48verse,
14:48lyric in the comments below.
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15:26We are on the way
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15:30but until next time,
15:32they've got Chelsea
15:32at the weekend,
15:33which weirdly,
15:34I think they'll win,
15:35but I'm not sure why.
15:36I'll see you next time.
15:37Goodbye!
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