Fernandinho - 2019/20 Performances

[Fame Monster]

Football Manager? Lets not twist what I'm actually saying. The issue yesterday wasn't that he was rusty and that a few more games would fix it, it's that he's a 35 year old man and his legs very clearly wouldn't have allowed him to play midfield for any significant period of time, as people have been strenuously arguing for all season.

We will have to see. One game into that position after a 12 month absence from playing it is too early to make that call imo.

You could be right but prior to his injury last season, he still looked one of the fittest players on the pitch and even this season, he's been one of our best performers playing in a position that's new to him.

Just for reference, a 35 year old man has just become the first man in history to run a marathon under 2 hours. You can't write everyone off after they reach a certain age.

 

[Mr HJ]

We will have to see. One game into that position after a 12 month absence from playing it is too early to make that call imo.

You could be right but prior to his injury last season, he still looked one of the fittest players on the pitch and even this season, he's been one of our best performers playing in a position that's new to him.

Just for reference, a 35 year old man has just become the first man in history to run a marathon under 2 hours. You can't write everyone off after they reach a certain age.

I agree it's not entirely to do with age but look at the seasons when Ferna was 28 and 29 - his first two with us. He put that much into each game that by season end he was knackered and was used less. He did the work of two men match in match out.

Nothing wrong with his fitness or brain but the truth is that he is best suited to having the game played in front of him. As a centre back his ability to read the game and his effective passing out make him look better at the back. His days of covering all possibilities, including defender errors, as a DM are sadly behind him. Next year he will be 3rd or 4th choice and will be a far superior option than Otamendi and Stones. Top player and instrumental to a lot of our recent successes.

 

[cjn]

We will have to see. One game into that position after a 12 month absence from playing it is too early to make that call imo.

You could be right but prior to his injury last season, he still looked one of the fittest players on the pitch and even this season, he's been one of our best performers playing in a position that's new to him.

Just for reference, a 35 year old man has just become the first man in history to run a marathon under 2 hours. You can't write everyone off after they reach a certain age.

I'm not writing him off because he turned 35, I'm saying he clearly isn't the player he was athletically anymore. When legs go they go pretty quickly unfortunately, just look at David Silva. And like David Silva I'm pretty sure he can still give us a good 90 minutes in big games, but not over a season.

 

[Fame Monster]

I'm not writing him off because he turned 35, I'm saying he clearly isn't the player he was athletically anymore. When legs go they go pretty quickly unfortunately, just look at David Silva. And like David Silva I'm pretty sure he can still give us a good 90 minutes in big games, but not over a season.

I understand that but by the sounds of it, you've made that judgement off 1 game and I think given how incredible he's been for us over the years in that position, he deserves more patience from us.

You could make the same judgement of Bernardo given how leggy he looked yesterday.

I think a better explanation is that the players have played very little over the past 4 months and the end of this Premier League season is nothing more than a glorified preseason competition imo.

 

[St.Pauli support]

Pep Guardiola on Fernandinho in midfield:

"Definitely, he can play there. Definitely. We knew it. He played in defence to help us. I’ll always be incredibly grateful. He made the step to help us play in this position when John and Aymer were injured...
...we had just Nico and Eric but Eric wasn't much involved. Now we have Eric in this position, so he can go back to play in the central midfield position."

 

[ninjamonkey]

Great to hear that from Pep. Fernandinho did an admirable job in times of need but we were weaker in two positions with him at centre back and it shouldn’t have come to that.

If we can get him up and running for the meaningful games we’ve got left we increase our chances of winning more trophies immeasurably with Dinho back in his natural position as Rodri simply does not cut it compared to Fernandinho.

The only thing is now he’s going to need games in that position again to get upto speed, he’s spent a year playing in a less demanding position where he gets more time it’s not going to be easy for him to just seamlessly slip back into that role despite playing his entire career there. He needs games yet we also need to make sure he’s given adequate rest

 

[mccity]

Is it just me or has anyone noticed the two games he's played in midfield recently he's used this new tackling technique which from a distance almost looks two-footed? It seems to be effective but it doesn't half look unusual.

Has he been doing that the whole season and I've not noticed?

 

[Dax777]

Is it just me or has anyone noticed the two games he's played in midfield recently he's used this new tackling technique which from a distance almost looks two-footed? It seems to be effective but it doesn't half look unusual.

Has he been doing that the whole season and I've not noticed?

Nah, he shelved it when he moved to CB. He is back doing it again now that he is playing CM again.

 

[Nelinho]

He was never the answer for the CB position, not for a team with City's ambitions. But that's not his fault, he did everything he could, as always. We fucked up big time in terms of transfer strategy, and when Eric got injured, we paid the price. A huge price. But that's already mentioned numerous times in this forum, it's history now, hopefully we have learnt the lesson...

Having said that, players like Fernadinho will always carry the responsibility of the whole team on their shoulders. They're the eyes of the manager on the pitch, always to be trusted. Guardiola loves him, how could he not? His professionalism, reliability, loyalty etc were never questioned, never will be. A role model for me.

PS. Good performance vs Bournemouth, he (and Gabby perhaps) would make MOM if it wasn't for David...

 

[DMA's]

Can’t believe no one is talking about his performance last night! He was absolutely superb imo. Love the guy and hope he keeps his place alongside Laporte against Lyon.