Manchester United news: Ralf Rangnick opens up on Bruno Fernandes’ best position

Bruno Fernandes has been largely used as a No.10 since joining Manchester United from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020. The Portuguese maestro has been an influential figure in the United team during the past two years while mostly playing as an attacking midfielder behind the lone striker. However, Fernandes has been starting in a slightly deeper role in the last couple of matches. Interim manager Ralf Rangnick believes the Portuguese star is best-suited to playing in a deeper no.8 role for United going forward. In the last two games, Fernandes has excelled while playing as part of a midfield three. The midfielder has scored twice and assisted a further two goals in those two Premier League games – away matches at Aston Villa and Brentford.

Rangnick has himself changed his formation after trialing with a 4-2-2-2 formation when he first joined the team as the interim manager. United’s performances against Aston Villa and Brentford have improved as a result of the formation adjustment. “I think most of the top teams in Europe and also in England play in a 4-3-3,” Rangnick outlined in his post-match press conference after beating Brentford 3-1.

“I think for him, it’s better than being pinned to a no.10 position because he can then make himself available in different areas of the pitch, not only in the centre. For me, he’s not a wing player, but I think in this position, he can find the spaces himself, he can sniff the moments in which areas we have to play the ball for him, and this position as an 8 is almost perfect for him.”

READ MORE – Manchester United news: The Red Devils beat Brentford 3-1

In the second half, we were more urgent: Rangnick

At Brentford, Manchester United overcame a poor first half display to produce a rampant second half showing. All the four goals came in that half, as United won the game 3-1 in the end. Speaking about the performance, Rangnick said, “I wouldn’t say [we had] a strong conversation [at half-time[ but obviously we had to change a few things and the first half we were not good in almost all aspects of the game – sloppy passing, not strong enough in the 50/50 situations, and we gave away almost every second ball.” 

“In the second half, we were more urgent, we were attacking them higher up the pitch, we were taking the right positions when we were on the counterattack, and we scored. This was the big difference.”