Manchester United's exciting performance in the victory over Manchester City in the recent derby has sparked debates about the revival of the team after Ruben Amorim's departure.
Is that a real turning point or just a temporary moment that still needs time to answer. But for Bruno Fernandes, everything seems clear.
Returning to his forte position in the number 10 role, the Man United captain created a great influence at Old Trafford. After being disallowed a goal and an assist in the first half for offside, Fernandes finally left a decisive mark with an opening pass, while setting a historic milestone against Pep Guardiola's team.
In a decade of Man City dominating the Premier League, no player has created up to 4 clear chances in a match against them. Bruno Fernandes was the first to do so. And more notably, he is also the only player to achieve this result against any other opponent this season.
Last month, in the victory against Wolves, the Portuguese midfielder also created 4 clear scoring opportunities, making him the only player in the Premier League this season to repeat that special statistic twice.
Three out of four times a player created 4 clear chances in a Premier League match in the last 3 seasons belonged to Fernandes. This is enough to confirm that he is not the reason for Man United's decline, but on the contrary, he is a victim of prolonged chaos at Old Trafford.
What happened against Man City helped Fernandes increase the total number of chances created in the Premier League to 600 - 168 more chances than Kevin De Bruyne, who ranked second since the Portuguese midfielder debuted in the tournament. This is an extraordinary achievement, especially in the context that the "Red Devils" often play below expectations.
The data also shows that Fernandes is not "out of sync" under Amorim. On the contrary, he is still leading the Premier League in terms of the number of chances created in the current season. However, the way of using people is the key difference.
Under Amorim, Fernandes was often pushed deep to serve the tactical system without a position for a pure number 10. The heat map shows that he has to operate a lot in his own half - where his ability to create breakthroughs from open balls is limited.
Michael Carrick did the opposite. He brought Fernandes closer to the opponent's goal, giving him the freedom to create and the responsibility to lead the attacking tempo. And the result appeared immediately.
At the age of 30, Fernandes's future is still a question mark for Man United's leadership, especially in the context that huge offers from Saudi Arabia may appear at any time. However, in parallel with the transfer value is another equally important calculation - the Champions League spot.
And if Man United still has ambitions to return to the most prestigious stage in Europe, Bruno Fernandes - in the role of the true number 10 - is still the card that can make the biggest difference.
