THREAD:

Analysing Bruno Fernandes’ Creation in 20/21: A Completely Different Picture
This thread will:

• highlight his advanced chance creation this season
• touch on some particular tendencies he has
• temper a particular intemperate narrative

This thread will not:

• discuss weaknesses to offer a holistic view
— that is better on an article

Let's begin.
We start with his open play shot-assist (chance creation) map. Goal assists and non-assists are highlighted whilst incisive passes amongst them (definition on top) are too. I will break this down in the following tweets. For now, have a look. :)
The point of the ‘incisive pass’ metric — my own creation — is that it attempts to distinguish between the various qualities of chance by highlighting through passes, passes into the central zones in the box and more. In a crude way: an incisive pass is a better quality chance.
Nevertheless, the metric is still in its early stages and I am constantly looking at ways to improve it. The issue is that I'm just one person so it's a bit tough due to the time it takes to collect it independently.

Back to Bruno:
Let's begin with his assists. This season he has 7 with 4 being incisive passes. The 3 that weren't were for Greenwood (Luton), Pogba (West Ham) and McTominay (Leeds). So, 4/7 assists were good quality opportunities with 3/4 being through passes.
This is important because Bruno is generally criticised for creating lesser quality opportunities or, at least, giving too much work for the attacker to do. Whilst there is credence in this, it ignores the fact that Bruno often sets up players in circumstances they prefer.
If players like to run 1-on-1 with opponents (e.g. Rashford, Greenwood and Martial) then Bruno puts them in that situation. If they like to run onto shots (e.g. Pogba and McTominay) then Bruno facilitates that. If they have in-box movement (Cavani) then Bruno plays to that, too.
These are his non assists. Immediately, you should get a sense of the narrative I will slowly temper throughout this thread of him mostly creating ‘deceptive’ chances and making others do the work. Rather, this isn't true — at least not this season as we can see below.
Here, I separated incisive (19) and non-incisive (22) opportunities and the split is fairly even — 46-54%. Most chance creators in my [still small] sample are at around 35-65%. Only 4/19 incisive creations have turned into goals but a lot of these are forgotten about.
Here, I separated incisive (19) and non-incisive (22) opportunities and the split is fairly even — 46-54%. Most chance creators in my [still small] sample are at around 35-65%. Only 4/19 incisive creations have turned into goals but a lot of these are forgotten about.
Here, I separated incisive (19) and non-incisive (22) opportunities and the split is fairly even — 46-54%. Most chance creators in my [still small] sample are at around 35-65%. Only 4/19 incisive creations have turned into goals but a lot of these are forgotten about.
Continuing:

The second viz is depicts the oft-mentioned narrative that Bruno's chances are “easy and simple”. In my research I have found that all chance creators do this whilst only a select few create a high amount of high quality chances. Bruno is now in that category.
Continuing:The second viz is depicts the oft-mentioned narrative that Bruno's chances are “easy and simple”. In my research I have found that all chance creators do this whilst only a select few create a high amount of high quality chances. Bruno is now in that category.
Continuing:The second viz is depicts the oft-mentioned narrative that Bruno's chances are “easy and simple”. In my research I have found that all chance creators do this whilst only a select few create a high amount of high quality chances. Bruno is now in that category.
Over time the team will gain a better understanding of each other which will increase muscle memory and more between them (a.k.a. “chemistry”). Thus, Bruno's chance creation will continue to improve as long as the circumstance allows. This has already been seen this season.
Here, I split them between in-box opportunities and out-box opportunities. One could argue that Bruno's assists have been out-box opportunities but that ignores that three were through balls — inherently valuable — and disregards all the context we've mentioned.
Here, I split them between in-box opportunities and out-box opportunities. One could argue that Bruno's assists have been out-box opportunities but that ignores that three were through balls — inherently valuable — and disregards all the context we've mentioned.
Here, I split them between in-box opportunities and out-box opportunities. One could argue that Bruno's assists have been out-box opportunities but that ignores that three were through balls — inherently valuable — and disregards all the context we've mentioned.
The last is a three-way split between forward (1st), non-forward (2nd) and short (3rd) passes.

A lot of his creation comes from forward passes onto runners with many from deeper positions which is interesting — a product of our lack of territory + fast transitions no doubt.
The last is a three-way split between forward (1st), non-forward (2nd) and short (3rd) passes.A lot of his creation comes from forward passes onto runners with many from deeper positions which is interesting — a product of our lack of territory + fast transitions no doubt.
The last is a three-way split between forward (1st), non-forward (2nd) and short (3rd) passes.A lot of his creation comes from forward passes onto runners with many from deeper positions which is interesting — a product of our lack of territory + fast transitions no doubt.
The last is a three-way split between forward (1st), non-forward (2nd) and short (3rd) passes.A lot of his creation comes from forward passes onto runners with many from deeper positions which is interesting — a product of our lack of territory + fast transitions no doubt.
Interestingly, the non-forward and short pass opportunities both include 5 incisive passes a piece which sheds light on spacing, timing and facilitating. It's not all about the ‘killer pass’. Sometimes, you just have to facilitate ease for others which Bruno does.
Interestingly, the non-forward and short pass opportunities both include 5 incisive passes a piece which sheds light on spacing, timing and facilitating. It's not all about the ‘killer pass’. Sometimes, you just have to facilitate ease for others which Bruno does.
Interestingly, the non-forward and short pass opportunities both include 5 incisive passes a piece which sheds light on spacing, timing and facilitating. It's not all about the ‘killer pass’. Sometimes, you just have to facilitate ease for others which Bruno does.
In terms of short passes there's a lack of context, once more, when people cite how easy they are. Bruno creates ample space via gravity but then plays passes into spaces he creates. Football is about creating and exploiting space and he does it extremely well which we'll see.
Here, we can see one of his tendencies which is to play this over-the-top pass from a deeper left position to either Rashford (mostly) or Martial. The benefit of this is that he is often in a lot of space which increases his precision hence 4/6 being incisive passes.
Here, we can see one of his tendencies which is to play this over-the-top pass from a deeper left position to either Rashford (mostly) or Martial. The benefit of this is that he is often in a lot of space which increases his precision hence 4/6 being incisive passes.
Here, we can see one of his tendencies which is to play this over-the-top pass from a deeper left position to either Rashford (mostly) or Martial. The benefit of this is that he is often in a lot of space which increases his precision hence 4/6 being incisive passes.
Here, we can see one of his tendencies which is to play this over-the-top pass from a deeper left position to either Rashford (mostly) or Martial. The benefit of this is that he is often in a lot of space which increases his precision hence 4/6 being incisive passes.
Here, we can see one of his tendencies which is to play this over-the-top pass from a deeper left position to either Rashford (mostly) or Martial. The benefit of this is that he is often in a lot of space which increases his precision hence 4/6 being incisive passes.
Likewise, another creative tendency he has is to play quick passes on his first touch after receiving it between the lines. Here, he takes note of Cavani's position and plays a first-time pass to him which he then collects via a one-two. It ends in an offside goal for Rashford.
This one-time pass isn't specific to between the lines though. Martial's second chance vs PSG came via Bruno chasing after Cavani's attempt, taking the defender with him and then playing it off to Martial. Bruno's spatial awareness when receiving passes is always on show.
Against Leeds he did it twice to Kalvin Phillips with the second resulting in a goal. Whilst he doesn't necessarily create a chance from these deeper positions he creates opportunities to transition which is our strength. Bruno facilitates this with his spatial awareness.
Against Leeds he did it twice to Kalvin Phillips with the second resulting in a goal. Whilst he doesn't necessarily create a chance from these deeper positions he creates opportunities to transition which is our strength. Bruno facilitates this with his spatial awareness.
Against Leeds he did it twice to Kalvin Phillips with the second resulting in a goal. Whilst he doesn't necessarily create a chance from these deeper positions he creates opportunities to transition which is our strength. Bruno facilitates this with his spatial awareness.
Phillips, a main cog in the Leeds wheel, was eventually substituted at half time as Bielsa realised it was Bruno driving the car. He dragged Phillips out of position multiple times and played these one-touch lay-off passes which resulted in multiple transitions.

All Bruno.
Fernandes does many things well yet he's not given true credit for them. It's easy to count his goals and assists and note his personality on the pitch but these smaller things are the elements that impact our actual performances regardless of the result.
I could make this thread longer but I don't wish to take up more of your time. Perhaps we'll review this topic later with video footage for even better clarity.
To summarise:

• he's created a lot of quality opportunities this season
• a lot of his “easier” actions are underrated
• his gravity is highly impactful
— he knows he has it and uses it when he can
• he has two particular creative tendencies to note
End of Thread.
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