Why Ruben Amorim is ‘really annoyed’ with Man Utd captain Bruno Fernandes
Ruben Amorim has explained why he is “really annoyed” with Bruno Fernandes as the Manchester United manager confirmed a key decision ahead of the Red Devils’ clash with Liverpool on Sunday.
Fernandes has missed two of his three penalties so far this season, smashing the ball over the bar in the 1-1 draw with Fulham in August, before Caoimhin Kelleher saved a weak effort in the 3-1 defeat at Brentford in September.
Other than the brief spell when Cristiano Ronaldo returned to take responsibility for spot kicks, Fernandes has been United’s designated penalty taker since his joined the club in January 2020, and has scored 39 of his 45, excluding shootouts.
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There have been doubts raised as to whether he will continue in the role, particularly following Bryan Mbeumo’s arrival from Brentford in the summer. The Cameroon international scored 11 of his 12 penalties for the Bees.
But Amorim insists he has no plans to change his penalty taker, backing Fernandes to improve his record under him, which he admits is “really annoying” given his excellence since joining the club.
“I know that it’s not easy for him [Fernandes], but I think he has 70 penalties, and he misses like nine. Two with me, so I’m really annoyed with that,” the head coach said in his pre-match press conference.
“But he’s really confident. He’s training the penalties, he’s trying to understand that people are watching the way he scores the penalties. So, he’ll be ready.
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“He’s the main taker. He scores a lot of goals, penalty is passing [him at] this moment.
“We have more guys also to score a penalty if he needs. Again, we can change, but I’m fully confident that Bruno will sort that out.”
Amorim also picked out Fernandes as one of very few players in the modern game who spend time watching a lot of games on TV, avoiding the innumerable “distractions” which can draw attention away from the pitch.
“Everything now is different, with a lot of distractions,” Amorim added. “I think they don’t watch a lot of games. You have guys like Bruno, Bruno is watching his team-mates, he watches every game that is on TV.
“But then you have some guys that play really well – if they want to do something different, that’s okay.”
