Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes is one of the best penalty takers in world football.
The Portuguese is known for being calm in pressure situations and his penalty technique is admired throughout the world.
He is a reliable option when it comes to taking penalties and has been possibly the best penalty taker in the history of the club.
In an interview with Inside United, Fernandes has revealed that the inspiration behind his penalty technique is not Cristiano Ronaldo but former Sampdoria colleague Fabio Quagliarella.
Fernandes played in the 2016-17 season with Quagliarella and stated that he learned how to study the movement of the goalkeepers from the attacker in order to have a better chance of conversion when it comes to penalties.
“Many of the penalty-takers, they have a side and they go there. They choose the side before, they go powerful and everything, and they still score. I don’t know, this was always something that I learned from [Fabio] Quagliarella, at the time I was in Sampdoria,” Fernandes said.
“He was always checking with the goalkeepers, what he should do, the way he kicked and everything because, obviously, he had a quick run-up and a very powerful shot. But he was always trying to understand the movements of the goalkeeper and everything and I got that from him.”
Bruno Fernandes is among the top penalty takers in the world
Fernandes has an outstanding penalty scoring record at Man United. The midfielder has scored 36 of his 40 penalties taken for the club, which is a better record than Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney, who are behing the United captain in second and third place in the club’s all time list.
Fernandes added: “When you take so many penalties, you need to change…because the goalkeepers start looking at you, study you and everything so, as they do that, I do the same as them.”
Whatever technique he adopts, as long as he is scoring goals for us, we are happy with his performances and his output for the club.
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Sunday musings …
Penalties are one of Bruno’s many talents. We need to keep Bruno. He’s not just captain, leader and an anchor for the side but also, at the moment, chief creator in attack. I differ with some analysts/pundits in that I believe that Bruno (as he ages) is now better suited to a slightly deeper ‘8’ role, which, I think, also suits his tendency to roam compared to the ‘classic 10’. This is different to my opinion of Bruno under Ten Hag. In Amorim’s system, that ‘8’ position is still aggressive but more ‘multi-role’. IMHO, the solution to having more creative skills in the ’10’ positions isn’t to move Bruno back there, but to develop or acquire better-suited players in those positions in order to not be so reliant on Bruno for chance creation (something that has concerned me for 2+ years). For the moment, I think that’s Amad/Garnacho at right-10 (both developing OK) but only Zirkzee at left-10 (and he may not end up being aggressive/good enough there). I’m discounting Mount (due to fitness) and Eriksen (leaving).
Mainoo, I think, is more suited to an ‘8’ role than a ’10’, including in Amorim’s system as he was under Ten Hag, so I see him as a candidate to succeed Bruno’s ‘8’ if he successfully develops in that role. Whilst he could be streamed toward the left-10, I think that suits him a little less. Mainoo has, on paper at least, slightly better defensive traits than Bruno but Bruno’s work rate and tenacity make up for that, IMHO. Mainoo’s attacking stats aren’t a patch on Bruno, though. Plus, if my old memory serves well enough, Bruno’s last 2 or 3 matches show he is adjusting his game in the revised role.
I’m still learning Amorim’s system, therefore I reserve the right to change my mind and deny everything. Actually, I think a lot of us are still learning Amorim’s system including Man Utd’s players.
Spot on, mate. We’re all still learning the system but I think your points are valid.