How Bruno Fernandes is supercharging Manchester United's threat in wide areas

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To be honest, I am not even sure I can remember exactly what I said, but I definitely can’t take credit for the goal.” But it’s the freedom Carrick has offered United’s front four since replacing the sacked Ruben Amorim in January that allows Fernandes to roam towards the wide areas to combine with his team-mates or attack spaces. “Bruno can just create moments. That little bit of freedom suits him,” Carrick told TNT Sports in February. “He has got a natural brain for (how) the game adapts and evolves.” Fernandes’ dashes to create overloads out wide have been a key theme in United’s attacking play under Carrick, with the Portugal midfielder perfectly timing his movement to exploit the opposition’s defence, as seen in this example from the 2-1 home win against Crystal Palace at the start of last month. He is in a central position initially as United advance down their right. When Diogo Dalot plays the ball wide to Casemiro, Fernandes dashes to attack the space behind Palace’s left centre-back, Jaydee Canvot, who is moving up and out to defend Bryan Mbeumo. Casemiro finds Fernandes’ run, which forces Palace’s middle centre-back Maxence Lacroix to also shift across. With the visitors’ defence stretched, Fernandes’ flick infield into the path of Mbeumo puts the latter in a position to attack the void that has been created near the edge of the Palace penalty area. In another example, from the 3-2 away defeat of Arsenal in January, goalkeeper Senne Lammens sends a long, direct pass towards striker Benjamin Sesko, with Kobbie Mainoo and Fernandes in ideal positions to win the second ball. Once Fernandes takes control, Cunha dashes infield, towards the space between Arsenal’s midfield and defensive lines. Ben White is initially marking Cunha, but Fernandes’ movement after he passes to Mainoo puts the Arsenal right-back in a one-versus-two situation. William Saliba’s deeper position after initially defending against Sesko means Cunha is free to receive the ball in space. Sesko now makes a run that delays any attempts Saliba and fellow centre-back Gabriel could make to engage Cunha… …and the Brazil forward curls a shot into the bottom corner for what proved the winner. The other positive element of Fernandes’ wide overloads is the way it enables the passing combinations in those areas, whether that’s by linking the move or playing the line-breaking pass which finds a runner behind the defence. The latter is visible in his most common line-breaking passes, which are defined as those that progress the ball through, over or around defensive blocks. Using data from SkillCorner, we see that Fernandes’ two most common line-breaking passes in the Premier League under Carrick have come down the right and left wings, respectively. The fluidity of United’s attacking play works in tandem with Fernandes’ wide overloads and offers him runners to pick out. In this example, from the 3-1 victory against Aston Villa at Old Trafford on March 15, United are on the counter as Fernandes and Cunha exchange positions. First, Mbeumo makes a run behind the defence that Casemiro doesn’t find, but his movement forces Villa’s right centre-back, Ezri Konsa, deeper. The visitors’ right-back, Lamare Bogarde, retreats a couple of steps to mark Cunha, creating more space for Fernandes down the United left. It is more than enough for him to find the former Wolverhampton Wanderers star’s run behind the defence. It’s also important to note that Cunha sets off on this run even before the ball reaches Fernandes, both preventing Bogarde from closing down in time and attacking Konsa as he is just resetting his defensive position. The South American then finishes the move by slotting the ball into the far corner. Fernandes’ off-ball runs towards the wings offer United a passing option to progress the ball or attack a gap in the defensive line. SkillCorner defines a pulling-wide run as a movement that starts in the centre or half-space and ends in the wide channel, finishing nearer the sideline than the player in possession. The frequency of these movements from Fernandes in the past three months under Carrick is illustrated in the chart below. Here, in the 3-2 win against Fulham on February 1, Fernandes is in a central position as Lisandro Martinez switches the ball to Amad on the United right. Fernandes then roams towards that wing to support his team-mates and be in a position to attack the space behind Fulham left-back Ryan Sessegnon. When Sessegnon moves up towards Amad, United quickly combine through Noussair Mazraoui to find Fernandes between the lines. Knowing left centre-back Calvin Bassey is just behind him, he smartly dummies the ball to bypass the Nigeria international, before finding Sesko, who scores the stoppage-time winner. In addition to his roaming to attack the space behind Sessegnon, which draws Bassey wide and puts Sesko in a one-v-one situation, Fernandes’ fingerprints are all over this goal. He scans over his left shoulder to see where Bassey and Sesko are as the ball is reaching Amad. He knows Bassey will be closing him down, so dummies the ball against the momentum of the approaching opponent. And he plays the pass to Sesko behind right centre-back Joachim Andersen and right-back Timothy Castagne — against the direction of those defenders’ runs. His latest assist, against Chelsea, came from another roam to overload a wide area, before finding Cunha inside the 18-yard box. In the build-up to the goal on Saturday, Fernandes is positioned between Chelsea pair Alejandro Garnacho and Marc Cucurella as Mainoo plays the ball square to Mazraoui. Mainoo’s pass triggers movement from Dalot and Mbeumo. Dalot pushes forward to occupy left-winger Garnacho and open up a passing lane out to Mbeumo, who backpedals to position himself by the touchline. As Mazraoui’s ball to the right-winger draws Cucurella wide, Fernandes simultaneously attacks the space behind Chelsea’s Spanish left-back. Mbeumo then chips a pass into the path of his captain, who sets up Cunha to score the game’s only goal. “There is definitely the structure and the principles within the game and the game plan that we want to carry forward,” said Carrick in his pre-match press conference before that trip to Chelsea. “But is then trusting the players to do what they’re good at within the boundaries of that as well.” In United’s fluid attacking system, Fernandes’ wide overloads are supercharging their threat down the flanks. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms