Gary Neville believes that Erik ten Hag must have a firmer hand with Bruno Fernandes and not give him ‘the freedom to go everywhere’ to tighten up Man United’s game.
The Red Devils icon criticised Ten Hag’s apparent handling of the Man United captain, who is one of his manager’s most consistent players in a highly uneven season.
But in Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Tottenham, alongside reserving praise for the Portugal international, Neville called out his inability to stay in position.
‘Any team that is anything at all, you see repeated pass patterns and combinations,’ Gary Neville told his co-hosts on Sky Bet’s Stick to Football podcast.
‘I think about Bruno Fernandes, and I watched him on Sunday, he’s obviously the best player in terms of talent – but he’s everywhere.
Gary Neville has described Bruno Fernandes as being given too much freedom by Erik ten Hag
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‘He must be being told to go and do what he wants. I don’t think Bruno Fernandes is that type of guy.
‘If, for Pep Guardiola, a player plays out of position for a minute or two, he’s on the sideline saying, “Get back into your position”, and I think Ten Hag is giving him the freedom to go everywhere, and actually that means you can never have a combination or a pattern – when you’ve got your main midfield player everywhere on the pitch.
‘It’s almost like 20 years ago, where your number 10 was given licence to play. That’s gone now, you have to fit within a combination and pattern system and attacking shape, and that’s the bit that I think Bruno is told he must be able to go everywhere.
‘I never see Ten Hag going up to him and telling him to get back into position.’
Man United twice squandered their lead against visiting Spurs and had to make do with a solitary point against a significantly weakened Tottenham side due to injuries and a number of Asian Cup and AFCON absentees.
Despite the draw with top-half Premier League opponents being far from the worse case scenario, pressure is likely to grow on Ten Hag in the wake of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s purchase of a 25 per cent stake in the club, which is in the process of being ratified by the league.
The petrochemicals billionaire was in the stands at Old Trafford for the first time since beginning to take control of football operations and the club.
Neville’s co-host and former team-mate Roy Keane questioned the Dutchman’s playing style on the night after another surprise display.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe watched his team from Old Trafford for the first time during 2-2 Spurs draw
‘I think we turn up for games and you watch United and you don’t know what you’re going to get,’ Keane said.
‘When you come watch Man United, it doesn’t mean you’re going to win every week but you’d like to see something that’s going to be more consistent, but this United team, you haven’t got a clue what you’re going to get!’
Keane also stated that he believed teams looked forward to facing the side due to their inconsistency, stressing that there was ‘no fear anymore’ attached to a visit to the Premier League behemoth.
‘I think teams are going to Old Trafford now and enjoy it!’ the former defender added.
