Carlos Fernandes (left) is one of the assistants Ruben Amorim brought with him from Sporting CP
Carlos Fernandes (left) is one of the assistants Ruben Amorim brought with him from Sporting CP
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp says Carlos Fernandes, the assistant of Ruben Amorim, got his set-piece tactics wrong in Manchester United’s 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest.
The coach, who arrived alongside Amorim in November having been a part of his backroom team for a number years, is thought to be overseeing dead-ball situations as part of his role. United have conceded three goals from set-pieces in the last two matches.
Both of Arsenal’s goals in Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium were from corners, as was Forest’s opener from Nikola Milenkovic within two minutes on Saturday. The Sky Sports panel, which included former United defender Phil Jones, critiqued the concession.
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Redknapp took issue with Fernandes' defensive set-up while analysing and dissecting what went on during the corner. While reviewing the clip, the pundit said of the starting positions for the corner: “This doesn’t work for me.
"If there are a couple of people in the Premier League right now you don’t want to mark from set pieces, one of them is Gabriel and the other is Chris Wood. [Manuel] Ugarte must be 5ft 10in max. He’s up against Chris Wood… it’s a mismatch.”
When it was pointed out that Milenkovic was, like Wood, also of tall stature at 6ft 5in, Redknapp added: “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying, so they’re getting it wrong not just there [Lisandro Martinez marking Milenkovic] but if it falls to Chris Wood, he scores as well.”
Jones, who was generally defensive of United’s play during analysis, said that there was a lot of apprehension when the ball went behind for a corner.
“There’s a real sense of vulnerability, we could sense it just watching the game,” he added.
Fernandes, who at 30 has six squad members older than him, has been on Amorim’s staff since 2018 and his days managing at Portuguese minnows Casa Pia.
Amorim has gone on record claiming that Fernandes will “be a much better coach than me” and jokingly compared him to Jose Mourinho.