Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
Michael Carrick has a lot of problems at Man Utd, but a severe one has his captain, Bruno Fernandes, at the heart of it.
From a lack of structure off the ball to being bereft of ideas on it, Michael Carrick’s reign is going off the rails quicker than anyone expected.
Matheus Cunha’s late deflected strike saved a point for Man Utd vs Fulham in the 1-1 draw, but the performance was hardly one to inspire confidence.
Fulham exposed a severe problem at Man Utd, and unfortunately for Carrick, his captain, Bruno Fernandes, is at the heart of it.
Bruno Fernandes’ lone-warrior mentality is a problem
Nobody can doubt Bruno Fernandes’ quality, and it would be foolish to say that United would be a better team without him in it, but that doesn’t mean he is faultless.
In fact, his lone-warrior mentality out of possession is a very real problem that is hurting Michael Carrick’s defensive shape.
United’s running stats off the ball are poor, but it could be by design, with Carrick preferring a more technical style of play instead of making games a basketball contest.
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For comparison, Man City rank lower than United in terms of sprints/90 this season, and both City and Liverpool cover less distance than United per game.
That is fine if there is a structure behind it, which is where Fernandes acts as a disruptor instead of being a part of that solid structure.
Fernandes repeatedly gets attracted to the ball, going to press the player who has it, with no regard for who is backing him up, whether the passing lanes are being cut, and whether a pressing trap has been set.
All it does is create a gap in the structure where Fernandes is supposed to be, creating havoc in the shape that becomes extremely easy to play through once Fernandes’ lone-warrior pressing is bypassed.
There’s merit in manic pressing if the team is doing a man-marking approach off the ball, but in Carrick’s zonal shape, Fernandes repeatedly leaves his zone to press a man, forcing his teammates to leave their own zones to cover for him.
Add to that the lax defensive effort from Marcus Rashford down the left, and United’s press becomes remarkably easy to slice through. It’s why United’s defenders are found running towards their own goal most of the time.
Michael Carrick needs to simplify roles again
The solution to this problem is not to curb Fernandes’ instincts, as his work rate off the ball can be a huge asset in the right setup.
Carrick knows that setup better than anybody, having seen Fernandes flourish under his coaching last season when he employed a mid-block and counter-attack approach.
Fernandes pressing in that system was a luxury rather than a necessity, as the structure behind him was so solid that the player could press waywardly and the shape would not suffer.
That wayward pressing would occasionally cause a turnover which United benefitted from, but most of the time, Fernandes did it by himself with a solid structure behind him.
Now that Fernandes is part of that structure, his lone-warrior attempts to press the ball outside of it create a severe problem off the ball.
Carrick needs to simplify the roles again, otherwise, his captain’s natural instinct will keep hurting the team.