Manchester
United head coach Ruben Amorim feels the club would not be in their current
mess if they had more players like Bruno Fernandes.
The United
captain led from the front in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford.
Arsenal
boss Mikel Arteta admitted the Portuguese was "too clever for us and the
referee" for the way he manipulated the positioning of his first-half
free-kick to give him a better chance to put United in front.
Former
United skipper Roy Keane might not be a fan given the manner in which the
Irishman spoke of Fernandes on The Overlap podcast last week.
But Amorim
wishes he had a few more like him.
"We
need more Brunos, that is clear," he said.
"It's
not just the quality and the character. He makes some mistakes but he is so
decisive with and without the ball.
"He
steps up all the time. He can show some frustration in some moments that can
hurt him more than everyone. I understand that. He wants to win.
"But
he is always available, can play in different positions and when we need a goal
and an assist he is always there."
How
important is Fernandes to United?
Fernandes
is now United's top Premier League goalscorer this season with seven. His 12 in
all competitions also puts him at the head of United's scoring charts.
But it
doesn't end there.
In a United
side that is 14th in the table, Fernandes has 14 goal involvements in the
league. Unsurprisingly, that is more than anyone else.
But only
Amad has more than Marcus Rashford's five, which underlines how important the
30-year-old has been in keeping United away from getting in real trouble at the
bottom of the table.
Since he
made his United debut in February 2020, only Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (177)
and Tottenham's Son Heung-min (124) have been involved in more goals than
Fernandes (109).
It is clear
Amorim needs Fernandes in the short and medium term as he looks to improve
results, while at the same time making United a more attractive team to watch.
The home
side had 31.8% possession against Arsenal, continuing a theme that has
continued since Jose Mourinho's time at the club where their best results are
achieved when they play on the counter-attack.
On a day
when United fans protested in
huge numbers against the club's ownership, Amorim is desperate to
change that.
"When
you coach Manchester United, you cannot play too much like that," he told
Sky Sports. "You have to try to win the game.
"This
club will never die. That is clear. This is a big business and maybe all the
fans in this league sometimes feel it us harder to go to the games and pay for
tickets.
"We
want to give them a lot of effort. In the future, we will not play like
that."
