How Bruno Fernandes’ ‘Steven Gerrard syndrome’ is spoiling Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd system

MANCHESTER UNITED are looking to find a silver lining in their woeful season by winning the FA Cup but will need to beat Fulham in the fifth round on Sunday to move a step closer to that goal. The Red Devils beat Ipswich 3-2 earlier this week despite being down to ten men, but are still flattering to deceive in many ways.

A young, talented Portuguese manager could prove a huge thorn in the side of Man Utd when Marco Silva's Fulham visit Old Trafford. The Cottagers have gone under the radar for how good a season they are having, sitting in the top half of the table. Meanwhile, Man Utd's various shortcomings have been copiously documented with Ruben Amorim's system still failing to get the best out of this squad.

So how might the ex-Sporting boss look to tackle the next match against Fulham? Our latest episode of Tactics Exposed, in association with Betfair, should have all the answers for you. Amorim's 3-4-3 system worked wonders at Sporting Lisbon, winning two Portuguese titles and many other accolades.

It is yet to translate over to England, but why is this the case?. Well starting out with a simple answer, many of these players have never played the system before. Manuel Ugarte, Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt to a lesser extent are the only players familiar with the system, and the lack of specialists in various positions including central midfield and wing-backs are a huge issue.

JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS. So why does Amorim insist on playing 3-4-3? Well the idea is quite simple: Because the wing-backs provide overloads in all positions on the pitch. When defending, you have a back five; when in possession, you have a four-man midfield instead of two; and when attacking, you have a front five.

Before signing Patrick Dorgu, United lacked a specialist wing-back. Amad Diallo was tried out there before he was moved into the front three, Alejandro Garnacho did not work there, while Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui are not quick enough to excel. At Sporting the system worked so well because there was a lot of trust given to players.

We should note this was often against sides who many would consider inferior opposition, which is not a luxury as readily extended into the Premier League. Ultimately, as Amorim has warned, it will take time. Another reason this system is failing is that players are moving out of position, leaving them overloaded instead of the opposition.

For example, if a long ball is played into the right channel for Rasmus Hojlund to run onto - which prompts a wing-back, one of the tens and a midfielder to step up - when possession is conceded back to the opposition they end up being overloaded and exposed on the other side of the pitch.

This happened in five or six games against Ipswich, where Ugarte moved out to right wing-back to get the ball, but the wing-back was out wide, so he did not get the ball. Fulham will doubtless look to block the passing lane off which will then leave them outnumbered in trying to find passing solutions.

This all comes from the simple fact United players are not being utilised properly when building up. Our latest episode of Tactics Exposed, in association with Betfair, has given us the chance to directly answer some of your questions. And one of the most heavily debated stars in the Premier League is Bruno Fernandes, as seen with Roy Keane's explosive argument with Ian Wright earlier this week.

The raw numbers tell a story of Fernandes being the star man of Man Utd's team, with six goals and seven assists in the Premier League and 23 goal contributions across 39 games in all competitions this season. However, as is always the case in football, you have to look a bit deeper to find the real answer, which can often have more than one truth.

In one sense, the stats are completely right and you can't fault his effort. But in his duty as club captain, Fernandes is actually taking on too much responsibility and is therefore disrupting Amorim's system which is actually quite rigid with defined roles for a number of players.

Fernandes has recently been the left-sided midfielder in the central pivot after moving back from one of the two attacking midfield roles. But that has created its own new problem. In the system, the central centre-back, two central midfielders and striker should generally remain in a set position.

But Fernandes is doing something I will dub "Steven Gerrard syndrome", where he is doing everything and putting the team off balance. While it means he gets on the ball a lot and has a heat map across the entire pitch, Fernandes' effort ends up creating an overload which favours the opposition.

Against Ipswich he would often move into the back three, therefore creating a four, which paired with Ugarte drifting out wide it ends up allowing the opposition to have many extra numbers in attacking areas. So how do you fix this issue? As we mentioned earlier, it comes down to trust.