Bet on Bruno
In-form Fernandes sends Man United forward
“Some players score 10 goals a season on penalties,” Jose Mourinho said. There was a glint in his eye when he told the press that. “I’m not speaking about Harry Kane by the way,” he added.
The common view is that the man he was speaking about was his countryman Bruno Fernandes, the Portuguese who has had a much better start to life at Old Trafford than Mourinho enjoyed.
Fernandes scored another winner for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side when they faced Aston Villa on January 2. Once again it came from the penalty spot, a 15th successful spot kick since he made his English Premier League bow last February, after signing from Liga NOS side Sporting Lisbon at the tail end of the previous January transfer window.
Mourinho is wrong about one thing. That was Fernandes’ ninth goal from the spot in 2020 – he only played the second half of last season and the first half of this – but it is clear that the 26-year-old is unapologetic.
“Penalties are there to be scored and you have to score. It’s part of the game. It’s important to score the penalties, important to have goals from penalties,” he said in an end of year interview with Manchester United’s official website.
It has become a stick to beat both him and Solskjaer’s United side, who moved up to second in the table behind champions Liverpool following Fernandes’ latest success against Villa. The midfielder remains as calm about this as he appears to be when faced with the chance to score from 12 yards in a game.
“They will be there in the future and they are there in the past. I know the qualities we have from my teammates up front, they have qualities to go one against one so many times and it’s hard to stop them. So sometimes they will need to stop them with fouls and fouls means free kicks and penalties.”
Spot kick skill
There is more to the man than an ability to score from the spot.
In his 30 English Premier League games he has scored 19 goals and laid on 14 assists. There has been one EPL Goal of the Month award, three EPL Player of the Month awards and eight United Player of the Month awards.
Those numbers make him stand out, but Fernandes pointed the praise in the direction of his teammates in that interview with the club website to mark the end of his first year in a red shirt.
“It’s easy when you play in a team like Manchester because there are so many good players around you. They help you to be better and I am here to help them be better. Numbers are really good but I need to start to improve.”
Fernandes also thinks he might have benefitted from coming over from the Portuguese league, which is not as high profile as its peers in England, Spain, Italy, Germany or even France.
“Most people don’t know who Bruno is before. Maybe in the beginning, you are a little bit like a surprise and the main thing for me is to keep doing well because it will be more difficult.
“When you start playing, the players know you better and the teams know you better, so you need to improve more. The most important thing for me is to start improving.” He appears to have done that, penalties or no penalties, and the hope at Old Trafford is that there is even more to come from a player that has been earmaked as a future captain of the club, with former United and England defender Phil Neville the latest to offer that assessment after the Villa win.
Widely praised
Fernandes been widely praised by the pundits since his arrival, which began with him named player of the month in his first weeks in England. He has maintained that start since.
“I would say so [that Fernandes was the signing of 2020] and it’s great management from Solskjaer for what he’s done,” former Arsenal and England midfielder Paul Merson said.
“When it isn’t going well he’ll just keep on doing what he’s doing, he won’t hide and that’s what you call brave.
“Brave’s not going into 60-40 tackles against, brave is when it’s not going well and you keep getting on the ball.”
Fernandes has done just that this season, where he has contributed 11 goals and seven assists in 16 league games.
Only two players – Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Spurs star Son Heungmin – have scored more with only Mourinho favorite Kane and City’s Kevin de Bruyne bettering the assist tally.
The red half of Manchester will want to see him add to both when he plays his next Premier League game later this month. United travel to Anfield to play Liverpool on January 17 and it will be the first time that Fernandes has faced the champions in a competitive game.
It is too early to talk of a title tilt, with Fernandes one of the first to quieten such chatter, but he has the Red Devils on the rise.