Why Bruno Fernandes is struggling at the World Cup: Amorim mistake as Man United ignored

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes played a little over 60 minutes as Portugal beat Croatia 2-1 at the World Cup.

Very rarely have we seen so many of the world's best players shine at a World Cup. Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembele and Vinicius Jr have all enjoyed magnificent tournaments. But for Manchester United's captain Bruno Fernandes, the American adventure has been a bit of a damp squib so far.

Fernandes was unquestionably United's main man last season. He made history as he registered 21 assists in 35 Premier League games. This eclipsed the previous record jointly held by Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry. In the top flight, he was averaging an assist every 1.24 games for United.

However, at the World Cup he has just one to his name in four matches - setting up Cristiano Ronaldo in a rout over Uzbekistan. "In the three years that I’ve been here in the national team, his [Fernandes'] consistency levels have been incredible," Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez told The Athletic prior to the tournament.

"Everything that he does in the final third has been of the highest level." And yet, it appears that Portugal are not getting the best out of Fernandes in the final third. In his past two matches, the 31-year-old had 56 and 46 touches of the ball against Colombia and Croatia respectively.

This is sharply down on his final few matches for United last season. He had 69 against Sunderland, 87 at home to Nottingham Forest and 63 as he grabbed a goal and an assist away at Brighton. But it is not just the number of touches that tells the story.

FotMob's heat maps show Fernandes is dropping deeper for his country. The below image shows a strong concentration of touches inside his own half against Croatia as he searches for the ball.

Compare this to the game against Forest when he had nearly double the number of touches, you can see that while Fernandes does drop deeper, his focus was mainly in the opposition half. Just on the edge of the box is where the captain can do the most damage.

While Martinez has not gone down the full Ruben Amorim route and dropped Fernandes back into holding midfield, to get involved with in game the attacking midfielder is playing more centrally. As United fans will tell you, this is not how you get the best out of the attacking midfield maestro.

But this is a move seemingly born out of frustration from Fernandes. For United, he is the main creative channel. For better or worse, attacking play goes through him and, for the most part, he relishes that responsibility.

On the international stage, it is a different story. Against Croatia, Portugal were forcing play down the left flank with Rafael Leao having 72 touches of the ball.

You cannot argue against this tactic when Leao produces a magnificent cross for Goncalo Ramos' winner. But this decision has also seen Fernandes alter his game for the worse.

With play going down the left, you can see Fernandes drifting more to that side. Whereas when he plays for United he favours picking the ball up on the right.

Take the win over Crystal Palace when Fernandes scored one and assisted another. His heat map shows him mainly on the right, with his sensational cross for Benjamin Sesko's winner coming from that pocket on the right of the area.

But it is not all doom and gloom for Fernandes this summer. When the ball is coming to him, he is proving to be one of the strongest midfielders at the World Cup.

CIES Football Observatory has found that Fernandes is leading the way for the most short, penetrative passes per 90 minutes. These defence-splitting balls are causing issues for opponents, but he is not being used nearly as much as other stars.

Martinez has a hard task this summer as he balances the use of his star men. Against Croatia, focusing on other routes, like Leao, worked for Portugal.

However, with Spain to come in the round of 16, Martinez would be wise to look at a strategy that suits Fernandes. Luis de la Fuente's team have yet to concede at this World Cup and if you want one man to unlock a strong defence, you would choose the United captain.

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