“He has everything a manager wants in a player,Ten Hag should not play Him out of position again”: Rio Ferdinand was supremely impressed by this United player vs City, Ten Hag shouldn’t change his role

After a promising performance, Manchester United will leave their loss to Manchester City with a lot of credit.

Despite losing to Pep Guardiola’s team, there were a lot of positives to take away from the match, as several strong performances give the season optimism.

Captain Bruno Fernandes continued his excellent play from the conclusion of the previous season, even though he was playing a new false nine role.

Although his goals and assists don’t show up on the raw stats sheet, his hustle off the ball and daring on it caused City a lot of headaches.

Rio Ferdinand said that a player should stay in one part of the pitch where he shines, regardless of position.

Rio Ferdinand calls it “magnificent.” Fernandes, Bruno
Erik ten Hag used the same strategy that won him the FA Cup against the same opponents last season in the absence of a natural striker.

At the forefront of the attack, Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes switched places, and Amad and Marcus Rashford provided width in a fluid strikerless system.

ADDITIONAL UNITED STORIES
Rio Ferdinand praised Fernandes for his performance in a new role as a false nine, stating that he performed well since that is where he is most effective on the pitch.

Regardless of role, he claimed that Fernandes causes the most damage to the opposition when he is positioned higher up the pitch, and when United goes back to using a real striker, that shouldn’t alter.

“One thing I would say I want to get with Bruno this season, he was playing in the false nine there today which is great,” he stated on his podcast Rio Reacts. I really want to see Bruno move up into situations where he can affect teams more when Hojlund returns.

“There isn’t another player on that squad that I want on the ball to pass to other players or to shoot when he’s in the final third. He looks magnificent in those roles.

Analysing Fernandes vs. City
Like the rest of the team, Fernandes got off to a poor start against City as Guardiola’s team applied pressure. However, Fernandes came to life as United improved in the match thanks to Amad’s efforts.

His positional awareness and game intelligence were evident as he took up risky situations while playing higher up the pitch without adopting a fixed position.

A few times, he put City’s defensive shape to the test by taking hard shots close to the outside of the box and by bursting in between the lines to rattle the defence.

He was also able to dive deep when Mount went past him to make up the numbers, thanks to the false-nine role. Nonetheless, he dug deep to make things happen this time around rather than being burdened with serving as the centrepiece of the buildup.

City had a lot of problems because to a few passes that were floated over the top to runners in behind the final line of defence.

Fernandes’s independence allowed him to be at his most effective all-action player. His unmatched grasp of the game is undermined by his occasionally gung-ho manner of play. The greatest version of Fernandes is unleashed when he plays higher up the pitch and has the freedom to move as he pleases—piercing in attack and diligent in defending.