THE position of Bruno Fernandes against a depleted Tottenham midfield is the key to Manchester United winning the Europa League.
It is an all-English final in Bilbao on Wednesday as both sides look to save themselves from the consequences of a disastrous season.
Ruben Amorim’s spell at United has been incredibly poor and his side are from settled in his 3-4-3 system.
But if the Red Devils get it tactically right, they can carve apart a Spurs team without injured trio James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Bergvall in midfield.
Where should Bruno Fernandes play?
Amorim has a conundrum – whether to play his skipper in one of the No10 positions or deeper in his midfield two.
United must trust Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte in the final so Fernandes can be used in a free role further up the pitch.
When he has played as one of the No10s, he is expected to run in-behind and stretch defences.
But this does not suit his game and against Micky van de Ven, a waste of time.
Amorim must ditch that and let his most complete player have freedom, drifting out the structure to give Spurs a headache.
Ange Postecoglou wants his team to press aggressively and get high on United when they have possession deep.
But letting Fernandes float into a “normal” central No10 position will force Spurs to pull one of their midfielders back to deal with him or they will have a 3 vs 2.
And a pass should be on when Spurs attack down their left as they like to do with Destiny Udogie.
Fernandes must not get sucked into chasing the ball and instead pull into a pocket to quickly switch the attack as Tottenham overload the left.
If United’s captain plays as one of the midfield two, they will be pressed relentlessly and struggle to get out.
They will have no player beyond the ball with the intelligence to drop into areas to receive it, plus his lack of creativity in the final third will hurt.
Going direct is not an option as Rasmus Hojlund does not hold it up well enough.
Going over the top to the speedy Alejandro Garnacho cannot be done, as again, Van de Ven will have an easy night.
Should Amad play wing-back?
Amad Diallo can be Amorim’s wing-back long-term but not on Wednesday night.
Spurs full-backs drift inside to allow for the centre-backs to then fire passes out to the wingers.
Due to this, Amad risks being forced into doing an awful lot of tracking runs and one vs one defending, which are not his strengths.
Spurs work the ball forward with interchanges and overloads down the channels.
And to combat this, it is a safer bet to start with Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu as the wing-backs.
Amad can be an impact sub later in the game when players begin to tire and he can use his pace to burst forward.
Can Man Utd play through the Spurs press?
It is unpopular but Postecoglou has changed this season, especially away in Europe with more measured, less gung-ho performances to counter-balance opponents.
And they need to be wary of United using their left flank to expose Spurs.
United like to circulate the ball in a W shape with the midfield two with the centre-backs so the wing-backs push high.
Balls between the lines into a free role Fernandes will cause issues and they will target right-winger Brennan Johnson to get out.
He does not read the game well enough, not cutting out passing lanes and pressing at the wrong moments.
Away from passes into Fernandes’ feet, zipped ones to the wing-back Dorgu will cause problems for Spurs as right-back Pedro Porro will be reluctant to press him and leave Fernandes open behind him.
How Spurs can win
Without Maddison, Kulusevski and Bergvall, it is likely to be a defensive and physical trio from Tottenham in midfield.
Instead of the usual 4-2-3-1, Postecoglou should implement a more standard 4-3-3.
An extra man in midfield will allow them to press United’s midfield two and help them combat Fernandes’ drifting in the free role as they have one more player in there.
Spurs will get Udogie and Porro involved in attack and look to pin United’s wing-backs in a back five rather than a three.
It will mean there are spaces in the pockets for Spurs to work the ball into areas to create.
But not having Maddison or Kulusevski in these spaces is a real blow as they can produce the killer pass.
But Spurs could suffocate United with their press and there is no easy out ball with Hojlund unlikely to win a duel or race against Van de Ven or Cristian Romero.
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