Bruno Fernandes, a player known as ‘Mr G+A’, only managed to get 16 G+A in the league last season, that’s even lower than his goal total in 2020/21! What happened to Bruno, why has he had such a horrible season?
What Went Well in 20/21
In the 2020/21 season, Fernandes played as a very high playmaker, almost a second striker at times with the positions that he occupied. It’s a role that suited him well, he’s an excellent creator and his ball-striking ability makes him perfect for a second striker role. 9 of his goals were scored from the penalty spot, but the others were from inside the box (8), and one from the edge of the box.
He was the 3rd top goal-scorer overall, and the highest-scoring midfielder. He took a total of 121 shots, 48 of which were inside the penalty area, accumulating an xG total of 13.37. Fernandes outperformed his xG by 3.63, so a slight drop-off was expected, but not as drastic as seen last season.
It’s also important to consider how the team was set up last season. Everything and I mean everything, went through Fernandes. He was the focal point of our side. He was in the 95th percentile for shot-creating actions (SCA), and 96th for goal-creating actions (GCA), highlighting his importance in the side. As the focal point, our players would look to give the ball to Bruno who’d then play it off to someone else, he was the main creator in the side.
Come January, Bruno’s job became slightly easier as Shaw was on top of his game, so the creativity became diluted between the pair. Even this drop-off in creativity wasn’t expected, as this season Bruno ranks in the 90th and 49th percentiles for SCA and GCA respectively. So, what is it that caused this major drop-off, both in goal scoring form and creativity?
What Changed?
There were two major changes at Manchester United this season; the personnel and the system. Whilst the two are interlinked, the main changes in personnel were seen at CF and on the wing. Previously, Bruno had played with two inside forwards who’d always try to get in behind, Rashford and Greenwood, whereas this season he played with an inside forward and an inverted winger.
The changes in players here weren’t quite the issue as such, instead it was the lack of goal scoring form that the players brought, as Sancho and Rashford scored a grand combined total of 8 EPL goals all season. They never got firing, and I have no doubt that Bruno’s impact and numbers would’ve been higher if they were scoring frequently.
The other main change in personnel and style was at CF, the signing of the great Cristiano Ronaldo. You may be thinking to yourself, how on earth could signing Ronaldo be a bad thing, however, Ronaldo’s style massively affected the way that we’d set up this season, and hence affected other players. When you play Ronaldo, he is the focal point of the side, the key player, Portugal set up like this, Juventus did, and Manchester United had to last season.
However, we previously established that Bruno was the focal point in the 20/21 season, and it was the reason for his successful season. With the addition of Ronaldo, it then meant that the team had two focal points, which was always a recipe for disaster. Instead of always looking for Bruno this season, the players would often try to force the pass through directly to Ronaldo, which resulted in us creating considerably fewer chances than the previous season. Further, it also meant that Bruno was less significant in this side as the play was no longer going directly through him, which does not suit his play style at all.
In a side, it is key to have multiple creators, but there’s a fine margin when it comes to having two focal points, and it all depends on the profiles in those roles. At Liverpool, Trent & Robertson are their focal points, as the majority of attacks are created by them, the same way that at Manchester City, Kevin de Bruyne and Cancelo are their main creators.
Manchester United found themselves successful with Shaw and Bruno as their focal points since they didn’t interfere with each other’s spaces and were able to co-exist in a side, however, Ronaldo and Bruno do take up similar positions, hence having them as two focal points would always fail for us.
Ronaldo’s Profile and Impact
Next, when looking at the profile of Ronaldo, he is not considered to be a forward who’s able to link up play, and he’s not someone who’s able to support a fluid attack. This is the main difference between him and Martial or Cavani, who Bruno worked better with. You could even look at game week 1 for example, Greenwood and James provided ample fluidity to allow Fernandes to run in behind and occupy CF spaces, resulting in him scoring 3 against Leeds.
A player with the profile of Bruno works best when he’s allowed to play off the CF, resulting in him creating chances and scoring goals much higher than your average playmaker would. This is clear when you compare him to De Bruyne last season, as KDB has 9 less shots inside the box, and 34 less outside the box than Bruno did in the 20/21 season. In this advanced role that Bruno plays, he needs a complementary CF.
This is one of the reasons why I was against the signing of Nunez. Whilst Nunez would most likely score a lot of goals, he’s not someone who will get the best out of Bruno, who is one of our most important players. United need to look for a CF who’s got a similar profile and performance to Martial in 19/20, who was the complete CF that they needed, it’s a shame his performances dropped off.
Off-The-Ball Movement
The other thing that Bruno requires to do well is runners off the ball, this season, he hasn’t had that, mainly due to the player selection of Ronaldo, as well as the decision to sell James, who was an important squad player for United. James helped to spread opposition defences whilst Bruno occupied inside spaces, and his passing meant that our wide forwards (James & Rashford) were always on the ball. Sancho is quite the opposite of James, and doesn’t provide those runs in behind which Bruno is able to pick out perfectly.
Having said that, if Sancho works on his fitness and conditioning then he could come back to pre-season with good explosiveness. He does need a good level of it in order to complete his role effectively on the wing.
A Tactical Disaster Class in 21/22
Next, we look at how the system completely changed this season, taking Fernandes away from his role as a ‘focal point’, and moving him all over the place. Fernandes started off the season well in a side where he co-existed with Pogba, but this all changed the second that Pogba was moved into a 3-man midfield alongside Fernandes. Leicester City away, 4-2 loss, Pogba, Matic and Bruno played together in midfield.
This midfield worked well during Project Restart, but Ole was naïve to think that it would work well this season. Fotmob gave Pogba a 5.2 rating, Matic a 6.7, and Bruno an 8.2 (he got an assist). It was a disjointed game and our midfield was dominant by their Leicester City counterparts. Ole then returned to the ‘McFred’ pivot, which is, our best duo behind Bruno, and it worked well in the next game (Atalanta H).
Post-Ole, Ralf was an absolute mess when it came to player positioning. His initial 4-2-2-2 meant that Bruno would have to play as a wide playmaker, a role which did not suit him whatsoever. It meant that he would disappear from the game, and at times was even played as a 6 alongside McTominay.
Once he realized that the 4222 wouldn’t work with the set of players he had at his disposal, he tried to play a 433, where Fernandes would play as an 8. This wasn’t too bad when he played with Fred and McTominay, but Bruno’s lack of positional discipline was showing when played as an 8 since he no longer had the positional freedom that he had as a 10.
This only worsened when Pogba was introduced as the 2nd 8 alongside Bruno, our team was overrun and destroyed in defensive transitions as neither of the two were defensively sound. Rangnick also had Bruno leading the line in a 442 against Manchester City, a ragged performance which was one of the most infamous during his spell.
Overall, both managers continued to switch Bruno’s position away from the preferred 10, making him less effective in games and resulting in his worst season for us. It also cost both managers their jobs as we weren’t nearly as good last season as we were previously with Bruno as our focal point (Rangnick wanted the permanent job), and affected the team overall as an effect of the lack of creativity.
Penalties and Bruno’s Erratic Style
‘Pen-merchant’ and ‘heroball’ are two phrases that are often used to describe Bruno and his style of play. The underlying figures behind Bruno’s npxG compared to his xG are quite interesting to see; last season his xG was double his npxG, and his Goals p90 was double his npG p90. Last season, his npxG p90 was 0.24 (0.01 higher than 20/21), and his npG p90 was 0.29 (0.03 higher than 20/21).
Last season, it appeared that Bruno’s output from non-penalty goals improved slightly, whilst still outperforming his expected goals. In 20/21, penalties contributed to half of his goals, whereas last season he did not score a penalty at all in the league.
I think it’s important not to discredit the penalties that he’s scored, we won them as a result of using forwards that were skilful in the opposition box, and Bruno’s skill in penalties meant that almost all of them were converted.
On the other hand, Bruno’s ‘heroball’ can be seen as a problem at times. By the term ‘heroball’, I’m referring to his ridiculous pass attempts where he tries to force the ball through, and at times the occasions where he’s lost possession in dangerous areas.
First, to address the latter issue. No player at a top side should be losing the ball carelessly in the defensive third, it puts the team at major risk and under immense pressure. Bruno did that countless times last season (notably vs Watford and Palace), where the result has been a penalty and a goal conceded respectively. He needs to be more aware in that regard, and should not be playing those passes.
The idea that Bruno forces passes through is also true, however, that is due to him being the sole creator in our side. Last season, Bruno has a 75.3% pass accuracy, in comparison to De Bruyne’s 75.5%; it’s clear to see that there isn’t a huge difference but Bruno does need to simplify his game at times and not try to force passes that aren’t on.
Similarly, the club need to address the midfield structure by signing some players. De Bruyne is allowed to lose the ball countless times at City since they will win the ball back with ease, that is not the case at Manchester United as we struggle to recover possession once we lose it. The club must sign 2 CMs during this window in order to get the best out of Bruno.
The Season Ahead
Overall, Bruno Fernandes will most likely be a very important player in ten Hag’s team next season, but it is down to the manager to make the correct team choices in order to get the best out of him. With Frenkie on the way, the club have addressed half the midfield issue which will improve Bruno, but we must also sign a ball winner to complete the midfield trio.
Should Rashford and Sancho start next season well, and Ronaldo is instructed to move away from Bruno, then we will see a much better, more cohesive attack than we saw last season, which will bring us goals!
