Bruno Fernandes received the first red card of his Manchester United career during the team’s defeat to Tottenham.
The decision to send Bruno Fernandes off during Manchester United’s loss to Tottenham sparked plenty of reaction.
While it impacted the game, it probably did not actually impact the result, with Manchester United so poor that Tottenham were clearly the better team even when it was 11 vs 11.
Fernandes made clear after the game he felt the decision was wrong, and that he should have received a yellow card for his high tackle on James Maddison.
Ange Postecoglou on Bruno Fernandes red
Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou was asked after the game about the incident, and presented his view.
Postecoglou made the point that Fernandes was sent off because Tottenham were so dominant, that the Manchester United midfielder made the poor decision to lunge into make a challenge.
He told Tottenham’s media: “Their red card is a consequence of our dominance, we put them under so much pressure, they couldn’t really get out of their half.”
Tottenham were 1-0 up at the time, and Postecoglou felt it should have been more, adding: “We probably should have been out of sight by that stage with the chances we had.”
The away side went on to win the match 3-0, ending with 61 per cent possession and attempting 24 shots on United’s goal.
This was a big backwards step for United, a second successive home Premier League game that has ended in a 3-0 home loss, following the match with Liverpool.
Manchester United should not be getting dominated at home
Manchester United were the home team, and should be dominating every single match being played at Old Trafford.
Supporters are fed up of this not being the case. Tottenham had an Expected Goals figure of 4.67, with United getting off lightly.
Questions are being asked loudly over the future of Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, and performances like this coupled with bad results leave him with nowhere to hide.
Postecoglou’s comments can’t really be disputed, Tottenham were dominant, and this probably led to Fernandes putting in a poor challenge in a needless area.
Whether the challenge was worthy of a red card can be debated, but Fernandes’ committing the foul in the first place was needless.
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Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a fantastic evening at Old Trafford with a comfortable and convincing 3-0 win over Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Lilywhites have now won four successive matches in all competitions and have scored three goals in each of their last three games, against United, Qarabag, and Coventry City.
Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski, and Dominic Solanke scored the goals for Spurs in Manchester, whilst Bruno Fernandes was shown a red card for a challenge on James Maddison in the first half.
Whilst it was a very positive evening for Ange Postecoglou on the whole, there is one player who should be brutally ditched from the starting XI after his dismal display – Timo Werner.
Timo Werner’s performance against Manchester United in numbers
The Germany international started the game on the left flank, with Solanke through the middle and Johnson on the right, but failed to justify his inclusion in the line-up with a strong performance.
He ended the match with fewer touches (51) than Tottenham’s goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario (53), as the attacker struggled to impose himself on the match at times.
Despite his lack of touches of the ball, Werner still had two huge opportunities to find the back of the net through one-on-ones with Andre Onana, and fired his shot at the Red Devils stopper both times.
As you can see in the table above, Werner gave the ball away 17 times and missed two ‘big chances’ for Spurs, whilst also struggling in duels and dribbles.
The German attacker also failed to create any ‘big chances’ for his teammates and only completed 73% of his attempted passes at Old Trafford.
This dismal performance resulted in Werner was summed up by Gary Neville describing him as “really poor” during Sky Sports’ live commentary of the match, after his second one-on-one miss.
Why Postecoglou must ditch Werner
The Tottenham boss must now ruthlessly drop the former Chelsea man from his starting XI for the club’s next clash with Ferencvaros in midweek.
They are back in Europa League action in Hungary on Thursday night and Werner should be dropped down to the bench, to allow teenage starlet Mikey Moore to have a chance from the start.
The 28-year-old forward has produced zero goals, zero assists, and zero ‘big chances’ created in six matches across the Premier League, League Cup, and Europa League this season for Spurs.
Werner scored two goals in 13 top-flight games for Tottenham during the second half of last season, during his loan spell from RB Leipzig, and does not look likely to improve his lacklustre scoring record any time soon.
Moore, who has scored 19 goals in 24 games for the club at U18 level, should now be given an opportunity to show what he can do on the left wing in Heung-min Son’s absence, because the German winger has not done enough to justify his place in the team.
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