Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes has been singled out for criticism after yet another below-par performance for the Red Devils as they stumbled to a 1-1 draw at home to Dutch side FC Twente in the Europa League.
Man Utd fans will no doubt already be aware of some damning Fernandes stats from so far this season, with the Portugal international clearly not himself when it comes to the quality of his finishing and some of his passing.
Watching last night’s game at Old Trafford, with Erik ten Hag’s side once again far from good enough against opposition they should really be able to beat quite comfortably at home, Samuel Luckhurst commented on the fan frustration with so much sloppiness from the players, and from Fernandes in particular.
See below for the Manchester Evening News journalist’s take on Fernandes on X, formerly Twitter…
United fans becoming increasingly hacked off at some of the sloppiness and Fernandes has been guilty of it more than most tonight. #mufc
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) September 25, 2024
Fernandes not firing for Man United – should he now be dropped?
Fernandes can be a world class attacking midfielder on his day, as he’s shown with so many meaningful goal contributions and moments of quality in the last few years at the club.
However, there’s a major question mark over the 30-year-old now, so surely Ten Hag needs to be brave enough to give him a rest and try something different.
Even if this is just a temporary blip, Fernandes isn’t doing enough for the team at the moment and it surely couldn’t do any harm to give someone else more of a run of games in his role, whilst giving him the chance to refresh and refocus.
United have a similar playmaker in Christian Eriksen, who is in fine form at the moment, though perhaps there is a bit of a lack of depth overall that is leaving Ten Hag with little choice but to keep using Fernandes week in, week out.
Zirkzee is better at link up play than Bruno lately and would probably benefit from playing a bit deeper instead of being point man. Would like to see him play with 3 of 4 (Garnacho, Rashford, Hjolund, Amad) ahead.