Reds have to stop opposition giving Bruno the boot...
THERE’S been plenty of words written and spoken to pay tribute to Bruno Fernandes’ decisive impact on United in his first six months at the club, but it was actions that did the job just as succinctly at Wembley on Sunday, when the Portuguese playmaker was kicked from pillar to post by Chelsea.
The stats show Fernandes was fouled three times by Chelsea players at Wembley but they were all strong tackles that left the 25-year-old in a heap.
Throw in Frank Lampard’s comments about the way Fernandes had won penalties for United since his arrival in January and it all adds up the impression that Chelsea felt the best way to stop United was to stop their No. 18, by fair means or foul.
When Fernandes was scythed down by Mateo Kovacic after 35 minutes he already looked exasperated at his treatment, waving his hands at Chelsea’s Croatian midfielder.
Fernandes’ frustration was perhaps understandable, with that foul arriving 12 minutes after he’d been booted in a particularly unpleasant place by Cesar Azpilicueta.
On the evidence of his first 18 United appearances, Fernandes doesn’t look like he’s the type of player to be bullied out of a game and he was still going in the closing stages on Sunday after giving United a glimmer of hope from the penalty spot, but an accumulation of kicks and fouls can take its toll on a player.
The insinuation from Lampard before the game that Fernandes initiates contact to win penalties was evidently aimed at semifinal referee Mike Dean. During the game it was Chelsea’s players initiating the contact with Fernandes.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be watching with interest to see if the targeting of Fernandes becomes a regular approach.
While United’s front three have been in electric form in front of goal, it is the £47million man who has supplied the link between midfield and attack, adding creativity to the United side.
Solskjaer will also hope that Fernandes’ teammates become involved if it looks like he is the victim of a clear and obvious ploy from the opposition to leave some strong challenges on him. That would have happened in previous sides and Solskjaer will hope he has the leaders who can intervene. It’s nowhere near the same level at the moment, but Cristiano Ronaldo was perhaps the last United player to become a target for the opposition.
Ronaldo and Fernandes are clearly on a different level when it comes to ability, as good as the latter has been for United, while Ronaldo also had a style of play that attracted more fouls, but the tactic of kicking the opposition’s best player out of a game is as old as the game itself.
Ronaldo was sent off at Portsmouth in August 2007 for reacting to some rough treatment and Ferguson was already calling for more protection from referees.
“There is every chance Cristiano could get a serious injury,” he said. “I have noticed over the last few months, referees seem to be more tolerant of physical contact. A lot of late challenges have gone unpunished and on Wednesday that happened time and time again. I don’t know whether referees have been instructed to manage these situations but to me, it is black and white.”
A year later the Scot said: “It has become a tactic. Someone fouls him, then someone else. The referee thinks he is diving and the crowd are screaming.”
Just 18 games into his United career we’re not yet at that level for Fernandes. The approach Chelsea took to stopping him on Sunday may have been a coincidence, but once one team have tried it you can guarantee other managers in the Premier League will have been watching with interest.