Ralf Rangnick has indicated Bruno Fernandes will continue as a No.8 for Manchester United following his return to form.
Fernandes scored twice in the 2-2 Premier League draw at Aston Villa on Saturday and created two goals in the 3-1 win at Brentford on Wednesday night, having started on the bench for the defeat to Wolves earlier this month.
United have switched to a 4-3-3 formation with one holding midfielder and two advanced midfielders. Scott McTominay replaced Nemanja Matic and excelled at Brentford, while the other No.8, Fred, found Anthony Elanga for the opening goal.
Fernandes has spent the majority of his two years at United in the No.10 role in a 4-2-3-1 system but his form plateaued in the final months under former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. United initially switched to a 4-2-2-2 under Rangnick but he abandoned the set-up following defeat to Wolves and United have become more prolific with a midfield triumvirate.
“I think most of the top teams in Europe and also in England play in a 4-3-3," Rangnick opined. "I think for him (Fernandes) it’s better than being pinched to a No.10 position because he makes himself available in different areas of the pitch, not only the centre of the pitch.
"For me, he’s not a wing player but in this position as an 8 he can find the spaces himself, he can sniff the areas we have to play the ball to him and make himself available.
"I think this position as an 8 is almost perfect for him."
Brentford dominated United in the first-half and Mathias Jensen was twice foiled by David de Gea in one-on-ones, while United barely survived a couple of goalmouth scrambles from set-pieces.
Rangnick lauded McTominay, starting as a holding midfielder, for his impact in the second-half that underpinned United's improvement.
"We have to be honest, without David and his saves it would have been difficult to have a clean sheet at half-time," Rangnick added. "The first-half was not good, we were second best in almost all aspects. Sloppy passing, not strong enough in the centre of the pitch. In the tackles we were losing almost all 50/50 situations. We didn’t win a single second ball in the first-half and if we had a few counter-attacking situations we were too nervous on the ball.
"We have to admit there is an opponent on the pitch and they played extremely aggressive, extremely brave, pressing us high and those were the aspects we spoke about at half-time.
"In the second-half, we did things a lot better. Exemplary for me for that kind of football we played in the second-half was Scott McTominay. He won almost all second balls in the second-half, he won a lot of 50-50 situations in the centre of the pitch and we had our counter-attacking situations.
"In the end, we could have scored four or five but I have to admit, after the first-half, we couldn’t have complained if we had been 2-0 down."
