By James Ducker (FAO DAILY TELEGRAPH SPORTSDESK - 07748 673007)
Maybe we should start calling Manchester United the Bruno Fernandes team.
Roy Keane can say what he likes about the current recipient of the United captaincy but no one has done more for this team over the past five years than the indefatigable midfielder from the Norte region of Portugal. And no one continues to do more, either.
Fernandes has been carrying this side on his back for longer than most United fans care to remember and you have to wonder how much further the club might have sunk without him providing persistent resuscitation.
He will at least have been pleased to see so many of his team-mates rallying behind him against Arsenal after his free-kick gave United the lead at the end of the first half, and provided the catalyst for a performance of much greater attacking impetus after the interval. It was also Fernandes who would have won it at the end but for a fine save from David Raya.
“Captain fantastic!” the former United captain Keane said, half in jest, after Fernandes’ free-kick. “I’ve never doubted Fernandes’ quality but thought he could do more for the team”. But what more, exactly, could Fernandes have done?
Sure, there have been times when his gesticulating can discourage team-mates - manager Ruben Amorim referenced that again yesterday (SUN) - and there is little doubt he can be guilty of surrendering possession too cheaply at times by attempting Hollywood passes when the team just needs to play keep ball for a bit.
But one can only imagine how frustrated some of the great players of United’s past would have been playing in this team? And did Keane not berate his old team-mates a lot? By the same token, given how one dimensional United can look at times from an attacking sense, is it any surprise that Fernandes finds himself wanting and needing to take so many risks?
His free-kick here was his 25th goal involvement in 42 matches in all competitions this season and 169th across 275 games for the club since his £47 million arrival from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020. They are startling statistics given United’s long-standing troubles. The goal also illustrated what Mikel Arteta called the “smart street player” in Fernandes, the Arsenal manager appearing to hint that the “clever” Portuguese had either moved the ball or encouraged referee Anthony Taylor to push the wall back. Either way, the Arsenal wall was stood 11.2 yards off Fernandes by the time he whizzed that free-kick past Raya.
It is easier to look good in a team that is winning anything. It is much harder to make the kind of sustained impact that Fernandes has at United in a side constantly teetering on the brink of crisis. If United had signed more players not just with Fernandes’ quality but his mentality and availability then the club might not be in this position. Put it this way, he was signed 5½ years after Luke Shaw but has made five more Premier League starts for United than the England defender.
“What I can say is we need more Brunos, that is clear,” Amorim said. “Not just the quality and the character but in this league the availability is so important. He makes some mistakes but he is so decisive with and without the ball.
“He steps up all the time. Sometimes he can show some frustration in some moments that can hurt him more than anyone but he is always available, he can always play in different positions and when we need a goal and an assist he is always there. He is a very good example for the other players.”
Against Arsenal, Fernandes was deployed deeper alongside Casemiro, rather than in his preferred position at No. 10. There was no chance of Amorim pairing the Brazilian and Christian Eriksen in holding midfield as he had done with calamitous consequences in the 2-0 defeat at home to Newcastle in December. With Fernandes in there, Casemiro was better and so were a depleted United missing 10 players through injury.
At one stage in the first half, after Eriksen had failed to close down a shot by Martin Odegaard, Fernandes stood, arms out, asking why his United team-mate had not done to shut down the space. If others fail to meet his high standards, he is unafraid to tell them. It is how it should be.
Few in that United dressing room have taken the team’s struggles - or the mass staff redundancies - quite to heart like Fernandes. He has been on the phone to staff to console them and he was the one who organised and paid for a team bonding day out and dinner in Altrincham a few weeks ago, since when he has continually led by example on the pitch as well as off it.
United are lucky to have him. Keane, and his other critics, should recognise as much.
Ends
