Paul Scholes Identifies “Problems” Bruno Fernandes Is Causing Manchester United Manager Ralf Rangnick Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes appears to believe Ralf Rangnick’s tactical problems are caused by Portuguese star Bruno Fernandes.
Scholes explained what he thought was the problem with Fernandes in midfield to BT Sport after Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday.
“We don’t know what’s gone on in the training field, you don’t know the attitude of the players,” the former United star pondered. We’re hearing bits and bobs, what’s right I don’t know, what I would say today was that he seemed to change a lot during the game. At least four or five times he swapped it about.”
He further explained,
“He tried to start with a 4-3-3, Scott [McTominay] holding and Fernandes and [Paul] Pogba playing higher up. Then he brought Pogba back and shoved Fernandes higher up, I think Fernandes could be a bit of a problem. As much as he’s a talented lad, when he first came to England he scored so many good goals, so many assists, but he’s all over the football pitch.”
🗣 Rangnick on switching to a 4-3-3 formation: "Once we realised all our players Bruno [Fernandes], Fred and for Paul Pogba we fit better playing to their assets and their strengths, it suits us better when we play them in an ‘eight’ position."
— UtdDistrict (@UtdDistrict) February 11, 2022
This season, Fernandes has seven goals and five assists in 23 Premier League appearances. The midfielder has struggled to stay consistent this season, and he hasn’t scored in his last four league games.
Bruno Fernandes, according to Scholes, has not been particularly helpful in maintaining Manchester United’s defensive shape. The midfielder has a habit of drifting around the pitch during games, which has been detrimental to the Red Devils recently. He expounded.
“A coach will tell you better there from a defensive point of view, how can you set up a shape when you’ve no idea where the start of it – [Cristiano] Ronaldo is the start then it’s Fernandes – how can you set traps for teams when you don’t know where some of your players are gonna be?”
“Pogba likes to wander about. You see Fernandes, sometimes he’s a right-back, sometimes left-back, the end of the game he’s playing behind [Diogo] Dalot for five minutes. They’re either not taking instructions on or they don’t want to.”
Ralf Rangnick’s side is currently 5th in the league, tied on points with West Ham in 4th. Arsenal, on the other hand, trail Manchester United by one point, with two games to play. Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal’s north London rivals, are four points behind United with three games left to play.