Erik ten Hag has raised the possibility of Bruno Fernandes being moved to the right wing more often late in games for Manchester United after the Portuguese switched there to allow Jadon Sancho to play centrally against Nottingham Forest.
Ten Hag has also revealed that United have trained with Victor Lindelof playing in the holding midfield role after the Swede replaced Casemiro in that position for the final 10 minutes of the Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg win.
Fernandes switched to the right when Ten Hag swapped his entire front three after an hour of the 2-0 win. Shortly after coming on Sancho took up station as the No. 10 and Fernandes replaced Antony on the right.
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Ten Hag revealed the thinking behind that switch was to confuse opposition full-backs, who can find it difficult to adjust from a winger such as Antony to someone like Fernandes.
"It was one thought about, but also to bring a different dynamic in the team, I wanted to see how that works, we brought Bruno more times before in the wide position," he said.
"I think it’s difficult to anticipate it when you first have to deal with Antony, then you bring a semi-wide player there, it’s difficult to anticipate, Bruno is really effective but I want to see the combination with Jadon and Anthony Martial, we’ve seen a different dynamic, that can help us and give us more opportunities in the future."
Lindelof replaced Casemiro once United had moved 5-0 ahead on aggregate but with Ten Hag facing a midfield injury crisis he has raised the prospect of using the centre-back in that position moving forward.
"He was educated as a six, a control, holding midfielder in Benfica, I know he can do that," he said.
"We tried it in training, maybe one game, I want my centre halves in midfield positions so we create dynamics to construct more dynamic."
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