‘He is playing Rubbish this days,He needs to be dropped’: Man united legend Scholes says two Man Utd Treble winners could play number 10 role better than Bruno Fernandes, wants key change after the international break
Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has questioned the role of Bruno Fernandes in the current team.
From the very moment he signed, Bruno Fernandes was compared to club legend Paul Scholes, with manager at the time Ole Gunnar Solskjaer making the comparison between the two goalscoring midfielders. Fernandes taking Scholes old number 18 shirt at the time only added to it.
Fernandes showed why immediately after signing in 2020, making an impact with his goals from midfield. But fast-forward to 2023, and Scholes believes the current club captain’s role in the team has become muddled.
The former midfielder told the Webby and O’Neill YouTube channel he believes Fernandes should be playing higher up the pitch, which would have a greater impact on the team and help out isolated striker Rasmus Hojlund.
Bruno Fernandes role change
Scholes explained: “I think he needs to play his position better, or be in his position more than he is.
“The amount of times I see him getting the ball off centre-halves, getting the ball in the right-back position, we know he can do all that, he’s capable of that, but I think that affects the team going forward.
“You think of a young player we’ve signed in Hojlund, this is a kid 20-years-old we’ve signed playing up front on his own. He needs help, he needs the experience of Bruno next to him to almost play as a two sometimes.
“He needs to get close to him, he needs to help him, he needs to find some kind of a partnership.”
Scholes also pointed out the lack of partnerships across the Manchester United team, in comparison to the way Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole used to link up, but also down the flanks, with Gary Neville and David Beckham on the right, and Denis Irwin and Ryan Giggs on the left.
Treble winners more effective as 10s
Referring back to his old title-winning teams, Scholes believes there are two players who struck him as more effective in the number 10 role than Bruno Fernandes, although does believe he is capable if he alters his positioning.
He said: “I think he’s a really talented lad. You think of the positions of Teddy Sheringham and Dwight Yorke, I think Yorkie and Teddy could probably play that number 10 position a little better than he did.”
Yorke and Sheringham of course could not play in the deeper midfield role Fernandes can, and for that reason, they were able to almost exclusively play in the forward areas. Fernandes’ versatility counts against him somewhat, while the demands and tactic of the current game is very different to what it was 20 years ago. He may be able to perform the role better than the former title winners – but at present is not being given the chance to fully do so.
Agree or not with his assessment of Yorke and Sheringham versus Fernandes, Scholes raises a very interesting point regarding Fernandes’ positioning – but there is something lacking for United currently.
If Fernandes was to play high up the pitch in support of Hojlund as a second striker, Manchester United would have to ask the wingers to play more traditional roles up and down the pitch, as opposed to being wide forwards. This may suit Facundo Pellistri, for instance, but not Marcus Rashford.
