Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes is bossing the statistics in the Premier League ahead of teammate Scott McTominay.
Progressive and key passes are two critical attributes for any central midfielder.
Fernandes is leading the charts for these two attributes compared to other Premier League midfielders.
He is providing more than one key pass per 90 minutes. His progressive turnovers are also very high – more than ten every 90 minutes.
Pascal Gross and Andreas Pereira are the closest to him, with Julian Alvarez also in the mix.
Even though Fernandes keeps delivering for Man United, he has only six direct goal contributions in 16 English top-flight games.
The end product should be better as standards set by the €75 million star are very high.
One of the reasons behind Man United’s poor form is their imbalanced midfield.
Erik ten Hag has Christian Eriksen and Mason Mount as two primary options for the number eight spot.
However, both players have been on the injury table regularly.
McTominay has filled that role in recent weeks after his fine goalscoring form for Scotland.
His heroic display at Brentford, where he scored twice in the injury time, compelled Ten Hag to utilise the 27-year-old as a box-to-box midfielder.
He bagged another brace in Man United’s 2-1 win over Chelsea. With five goals in 13 games, he is the leading goalscorer for the Red Devils.
However, he is not helping the team perform better when he fails to score. His passing is poor. He hardly makes any progressive or key passes.
Ten Hag wants his team to play possession-based football, and McTominay does not fit that picture.
It is a surprise that Mount has taken more defensive actions than the Scotland international.
The contrasting statistics of Fernandes and McTominay show why Man United’s midfield has failed to click.
A midfielder’s first job is to pass the ball well. If the Man United academy product cannot do that, he does not deserve to start.
His place is on the bench and must be leveraged only if the Red Devils are chasing a game and want more physicality in the centre.
