Fernandinho the one they can’t do without
FERNANDINHO is the best-balanced midfielder in the Premier League in terms of doing both the defensive and attacking parts of the game extremely well. I admire N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba who are World Cup winners but Fernandinho will play more killer passes and score more goals than the Chelsea player, and spot danger better than Pogba.
Not only is the Brazilian a wonderful all-round player with top marks for creativity, interceptions and tackling, but he is durable as well.
Manchester City don’t often go on the pitch without him — Fernandinho has always been able to play 40 to 50 games a season — so when it happens, it’s a shock.
He has missed the last couple of games against Crystal Palace and Leicester and City have suffered back-to-back defeats, a classic case of a player not being fully appreciated by the general football fan until he is not there.
It’s no coincidence City’s win percentage is far higher with Fernandinho than without (71-59) and Guardiola would love to be able to have him against Southampton today because finding another like him is hard.
Fabian Delph is probably the most natural replacement because of his athleticism but is suspended for the next three games.
Ilkay Gundogan is a fine footballer but doesn’t sense trouble as quickly as Fernandinho so everything becomes too reactive. It was noticeable against Leicester on Boxing Day that once James Maddison took up a No10 position, he found holes against Gundogan that Fernandinho would have filled. John Stones was used as the holder in the previous game against Palace. He will be able to play that role one day but it’s hard to come out of defence as a one-off and look accomplished. Maybe Pep will have to tweak the system whenever he is without Fernandinho and use two men to do his job; a combination of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Gundogan. It could work when City are expected to dominate possession. I had an inkling how good Fernandinho would be when he signed for City in 2013 because I’d come up against him three years earlier for Fulham against Shakhtar Donetsk, who were the Europa League holders at the time. As players you know when you step off the pitch if you have come up against someone special, and that was the case for me. Fernandinho could play the ball around you and if you went to press he had this awareness that made him hard to dispossess. But if you tried to play a pass he read it. Besides that, he could give you a little physical dig if he needed to and he has got even better since coming to City.
Some people see him more as a destroyer rather than creator but I disagree. He is exceptional at both.
The biggest problem for Guardiola is that Fernandinho is 33. I am sure he and the club are thinking hard about how to replace him when he can no longer play as many games, and this recent injury may be a wake-up call.
It’s a huge ask to find the new Fernandinho because not many players around Europe can do that job, though Arsenal look to have found a good one in Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria.
Kante at Chelsea would be capable of fitting into that position at City. He won’t score as many goals but he is good enough on the ball to keep play moving and pass between the lines.
Would Chelsea ever sell him to a rival? You’d guess not, but then again you wouldn’t have thought Kante is particularly happy being played out of position by Maurizio Sarri. He is a humble guy and unlikely to kick up a fuss but if it carries on, you never know. Every player has his price.
Three defeats in four league games doesn’t mean the City project is collapsing. You have to keep it in perspective that Palace and Leicester both needed worldie goals to beat them, and the champions were without Sergio Aguero, De Bruyne and David Silva for some of the time.
But what is interesting is how City are not quite as good without Fernandinho. If nothing else, it must have concentrated minds upstairs that they need to find another one like him.