Man Utd already have best Bruno Fernandes replacement in starting XI, it’s time to unleash him correctly

It leaves United at just three wins from nine games this season and the red card means United will miss their talisman for the next three league games.

With two of those away, including one a bogey ground of Aston Villa, Ten Hag will be sweating over his chances of staying in the job.

However, it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom, as the squad has already been playing the best Fernandes alternative in the starting XI.

Bruno Fernandes’ best replacement

The Portuguese has made his name at Old Trafford with his thrilling attacking creativity and no-hold-barred style of passing.

It has led to world-class chances created and assist numbers for the player and he has quickly emerged as the most important player at United.

However, if United want to take the next step in their evolution, as has been clear in the past few weeks, there are some tweaks needed.

To introduce more control in the chaos, Fernandes’ style is almost an antithesis to that project, and the frustration was palpable on the captain’s face before his sending-off vs Tottenham.

The player who brings exactly what the current iteration of this United side needs is Joshua Zirkzee, but he’s been left up top to waste chances instead.

United knew when they signed Zirkzee that they were getting a reluctant striker, a player who’s a No 9 in name only, with his playing style of skill set more suited to playing deeper.

So far, that has come as a result of him dropping deep and linking up play but that leaves United a man short in the box which Fernandes has to crash.

Dropping Zirkzee into that hole behind the striker, and playing with a natural striker in Rasmus Hojlund can be the change that supercharges United again.

A dream partnership

United don’t even have to think of it as playing two strikers and dropping a winger. They can just put Zirkzee in Fernandes’ No 10 position and let the team elsewhere hum.

It will also give United two aerial threats instead of one if they want to try and play over the opposition press, which would have been particularly useful vs. Tottenham.

Granted, Zirkzee is tall but not actually very good in the air, but you can’t teach height and the fear it creates in the mind of defenders, just like pace does.

Coming from deep and getting shadow striker goals also suits Zirkzee’s game more than tussling with physical Premier League defenders for 90 minutes.

That role is much more suited to Hojlund, who relishes doing the old-school striker work of scrapping with defenders and scoring ugly goals.

Their skill sets complement each other perfectly and Zirkzee’s contrast in style with Fernandes is what this team needs for now.

It’s time to unleash him correctly.

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