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'Fernandes plays for Manchester United; Pogba plays for Pogba' | Nevin on MUFC

Manchester United have stumbled across the right formula for success with the emergence of Bruno ...



Soccer

'Fernandes plays for Manchester United; Pogba plays for Pogba' | Nevin on MUFC

Manchester United have stumbled across the right formula for success with the emergence of Bruno Fernandes as the main man, according to Pat Nevin.

Nevin joined The Football Show after United's 2-0 victory over Manchester City at Old Trafford and was positive about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's tactical flexibility and trust in his players.

"The big thing about Solskjaer is that quite often he will change it and play three at the back, usually away from home but in this game too," said Nevin.

"That is a big call at home, but he has such belief in those players.

"Bruno Fernandes is becoming the core player now, a lot of the play goes through him. He is the one with the imagination, with the little dinked ball over.

"That ball was absolutely magnificent and it just showed that not many players would have even thought of that. He seems to have a very big personality and a team ethic.

"It goes back to the Paul Pogba thing: Bruno Fernandes looks as if he is playing for Manchester United; Paul Pogba looks as if he is playing for Paul Pogba.

"Who would you rather have? Pogba might have more skill and more talent, but you still want a guy that is playing for the team.

"He looks like a guy that is playing for the team."

Manchester United's green shoots

It is not just the emergence of Fernandes that has spurred United on to a ten game unbeaten run, but also the emergence of players allowed space to play their natural game.

"It is handy that he has a number of players that are coming back, slowly but surely into the team. Scott McTominay has helped now that he is back in the fold and Fred," said Nevin.

"When you watched Fred at the start, you thought: what does he do? Now, you can see it and that is down to the manager sticking by the guy.

"Maybe we take for granted other things. Maguire is absolutely massive for them. Because he is there, we almost take it for granted - but he is huge for them.

"He has looked really well, really committed and offering all the things that you want from a centre-back. He makes very, very few mistakes.

"They are also doing all of this without Marcus Rashford at the moment, so Solskjaer is doing a brilliant job.

"I lost count of the amount of pundits that we saying 'nah, he's gone' and it just goes to show how daft this game and the Premier League is.

"You can go on a bit of a run and suddenly you are right up there and challenging."

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