Erik ten Hag claims he elevated Bruno Fernandes to a more prominent role to compensate for the absences of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen.
Eriksen was out for 10 weeks with an ankle injury, while Casemiro completed his four-game domestic ban in United’s 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday.
When Fernandes was sent off against Southampton last month, he was moved to central midfield alongside Casemiro, but he returned to his usual No.10 role in the FA Cup quarter-final win over Fulham and the Premier League loss at Newcastle.
Ten Hag has started midfielders Marcel Sabitzer and Scott McTominay in all four games Casemiro has been ruled out of, but he switched Sabitzer for Fernandes in the midweek win over Brentford and they remained in the same positions in the dominant win over Everton.
Fernandes was named man of the match in the match against Sean Dyche’s side, and the United talisman has only missed one league game this season due to suspension.
When you are missing players, you must find solutions as a manager and as a coaching staff “Ten Hag elaborated. “So now you’re looking. There was no need to bring Casemiro and Eriksen down as long as they were available.
When you miss them, you must find a way to bring the game from the back to get the build up and advance the ball to attack.
“We came up with the idea of bringing Bruno down deeper, and he’s doing fantastic; I think he’s playing really good games.”
Eriksen returned as a second-half substitute against Everton and could reunite with Casemiro in midfield against Sevilla in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals at Old Trafford on Thursday.
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