Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes has had a positive start to the season in spite of his team’s poor showing.
Start to season
While United sit in 12th place in the league and have already been knocked out of the EFL Cup, Fernandes has scored four goals, including a hat-trick against Ipswich Town.
The Portugal international also started for his nation in their 1-0 win over Wales in the Nations League last night.
Fernandes played in the unusual position on the left of midfield for new manager Jorge Jesus. The United captain was able to contribute five key passes in the match and boasted a passing percentage of 86%.
In the manager’s press conference after the match, Jesus claimed Fernandes “can do better” in the future in this position than he did against Wales.
Bruno response
Speaking after the match, to Sport TV in comments carried by Portuguese paper Record, Fernandes defended his coach’s selection.
He claimed, “if you notice, I’ve rarely been out on the wing. I’ve been defending, yes—marking the fullback, pressing him in the higher areas of the field.”
He continued to elaborate by claiming, “otherwise, it’s very much about the coach’s vision: having a player in the middle who can link up play, drop back to build from the back, provide support to both the centre forward and the second striker, create a triangle through the middle and on the wings, and help on both sides of the field. That’s what I did.”
Fernandes also asserted that new manager Jesus expects him to play in a number of different positions and roles whilst he is coach of the national team.
The 32-year-old stated, “the coach asked me to play this role for this game. He’s already told me that I can play in different positions under him, so for me, the most important thing is that whatever I do helps the team, and I’ll always do my best in whatever position the coach puts me in.”
Fernandes will next be in action on Sunday against Norway.
He will finally come up against his teammate Patrick Dorgu when they face Denmark on Thursday night next week.
Featured image by Julian Finney via Getty Images
