Hey, at least Hojlund scored. It was for Napoli, admittedly. Another redemption arc there for an ex-Man Utd player? Fernandes is one of the best attacking midfielders in the world. Playing him deeper is stupid. Utd brought in a system manager without the players to play that system. They've since failed to bring in the right players for him, despite spending big money. “I accept, it is not a record you should have at Manchester United. There are a lot of things you have no idea what has happened." "But I am not going to change my philosophy. I play my way and I am going to play my way." -Ruben Amorim. "And then you also have those coaches who try to do things that just don't work, and because of that they die, but they say 'I died but I died by my ideas'. My friend, if you died by your ideas you are stupid." - Jose Mourinho
United's business in the summer was peculiar to say the least. Yes, goals and creativity were a problem last year, but it was clear that they lacked a stable and reliable spine to the team. Awful GK, inconsistent and constantly injured CBs and a DM who looks like he's struggling to adapt to the pace of the league. So they go out and spend £200m solely on attackers. Ignore the GK situation entirely until the final hours of the window, ignore the CB situation so now they have Luke Shaw playing (badly) as a LCB, ignore the DM situation so now they have Fernandes playing out of position. It's a bizarre set up that for me shows confused priorities. First establish a foundation, then build up from there.
Fernandes is arguably their best player and yet doesn't fit the managers formation. Quite a quandary.
I think that he does fit the manager's formation and system, but not many of the rest do. He'd be more comfortable in the attacking midfield role, of course, but who would replace him? Casemiro's shot, Amorim doesn't seem to fancy Mainoo and they've got little else. Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount were missing through injury, but Utd still look top heavy. They had two keepers on the bench, two teenagers and a 20-year-old centre half. Their depth is awful, given the amount of money that they've spent.
The system is 343, I can't see Fernandes as one of a central 2. I also can't see an attacking midfielder role in that. Unless you see Fernandes in the 3?
Given the current meta of a front three which consists of an AM and two wingers, there's a very obvious solution staring Amorim in the face
His standard system is a 3-4-2-1, so Fernandes would be part of the 2. The width is generally from the wingbacks.
Newsflash 1: Paul Scholes reads my posts. Newsflash 2: Paul Scholes can read. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cewndg799yro
He can't read so he obviously didn't copy you. He has said pretty much what anyone watching United has said for quite a while now. Who did you get it off?
A decent manager would have worked with Garnacho, Rashford and Sancho. There is clearly a lot of talent there - and pace, which is an effective weapon. Amorim has chosen to discard these players rather do so. The obvious weaknesses are in central midfield. Utd have lacked a defensive midfielder for a long time who can tackle, hold on to the ball and protect the back four. Why not move for Palhinha as Spurs did. Utd can often be overrun in midfield because there is only Fernandes who will run from box to box. Why is Mainoo not being played when he has performed well for Utd and England in the recent past? He is another young player Amorim seems unwilling or unable to coach and develop. There is no point commenting on the goalkeeper and defence, but why keep doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome?
It is the malaise of all these 'systems' managers. They aren't coaches. They are like really good puzzle players. Give them the right pieces, and they will solve the puzzle in record time and wow everyone in the room. But give them even slightly wrong pieces, and they will throw the box to the floor, turn the table over and storm out of the room in a huff. We've suffered this nonsense for ages now. Mourinho, Conte and Ange are all 'system' managers. We've finally got someone who is a proper coach, working with players and groups of players to improve their ability, preparing for each opponent slightly differently and selecting the line-up, shape and formation he thinks is best suited to the here and now. It was refreshing to hear Frank admit that he'd got the above wrong for the B'mouth game and that's why we lost, and that he'd have to rethink his approach and tweak it. A million miles away from some under-qualified chancer offering analysis as philosophical as "it's just who we are mate".
The thing with system coaches is more often than not what they are is someone who can win with only one style, rather than have some adaptability in the event of teams figuring them out - yet in reality pretty much every coach has a system, so in reality the question is how dogmatic they are about it For a couple of of examples that underline this, both Poch and Harry Redknapp had easily identifiable systems, but they were open to adapting the pieces in that system. Case in point Poch's system at Southampton had Jay Rodriguez breaking into the box from the left to tap in at the far post and initially Poch did this with Chadli in the exact same role but soon adapted it to have Dele making those runs from the centre instead - or for another example, his Southampton tended to play out from the back and he initially set us up that way, but when Toby signed we added his chipped passes to our offensive options
When all other factors have been removed, what is left may well be the answer. (This may be Okham's razor, sort of.) This means that we are constantly told that Fernandes is the best player, first on the team sheet etc, and he's carried them. Yet over all the years he's been at the club, which have been years of failure, he's been one (and perhaps the only) constant. So while your eyes might tell you he's a talented player and their best, that doesn't necessarily make the team better. Perhaps it's been making the team worse? So I agree. First name on the team sheet. Keep playing him!
