{"id":576666,"date":"2026-04-10T21:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/576666\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:27:12","slug":"bruno-fernandes-and-harry-maguire-stunned-by-matheus-cunhas-defensive-man-utd-work-rate-that-must-be-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/576666\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire stunned by Matheus Cunha’s defensive Man Utd work rate: ‘That must be wrong’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Add as preferred source on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire were left surprised by a key defensive stat that Matheus Cunha holds over any other Manchester United player in the current season.<\/p>\n

Matheus Cunha<\/a> has netted seven times and registered four assists in his 30 appearances across all competitions in the 2025-26 campaign at Old Trafford<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Brazilian forward has been a key attacking option for both former Red Devils boss Ruben Amorim<\/a> and interim head coach Michael Carrick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Cunha has equally impressed with his defensive duties from the left flank in his debut season at Manchester United<\/a> since his 2025 move from Wolves.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Why Bruno Fernandes thinks Man Utd\u2019s four-day training camp was simply unavoidable ahead of Leeds match<\/a><\/p>\n

\"BrunoPhoto by Simon Stacpoole\/Offside\/Offside via Getty Images What is Matheus Cunha\u2019s best position? <\/p>\n

Let us know where you want to see him playing for Man Utd\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"Getty Images Ground duels are a major Man Utd strength for Matheus Cunha and Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire had no idea about it<\/p>\n

Bruno Fernandes<\/a> and Harry Maguire<\/a> went head to head in a series of questions around key stats involving Manchester United first-team<\/a> players this season.<\/p>\n

Ground duels were one of the areas that came up and Bruno Fernandes<\/a> picked Casemiro<\/a>, only to be told that he went with the wrong choice for his answer.<\/p>\n

Maguire stepped up immediately after Man Utd captain<\/a> Fernandes and the 33-year-old England international picked Three Lions teammate Luke Shaw<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n

However, Matheus Cunha was revealed as the right answer to the question, with Maguire laughing at the reveal while Fernandes was caught by complete surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat must be wrong,\u201d Fernandes muttered, before turning his head away with his hand over his mouth.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Bruno Fernandes names Aston Villa win as major Man Utd turning point after winning Player of the Month award<\/a><\/p>\n

What is your verdict on Matheus Cunha\u2019s debut season for Man United? <\/p>\n

\"MatheusGetty Images Ground duels from Matheus Cunha surpass triple digits in a Man Utd shirt for the 2025-26 season<\/p>\n

Ground duels are where Cunha has excelled in the data and Manchester United\u2019s official website<\/a> revealed that the former Wolves star has won the most at 115.<\/p>\n

Former United manager<\/a> Ruben Amorim had said earlier in the 2025-26 campaign that he wanted to see more from Cunha\u2019s defensive qualities under his reign.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings something that is hard for us to point [at], it\u2019s not just the ability and the talent,\u201d he told MUTV last October, as per Manchester United\u2019s official website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has something that he is really comfortable playing in this kind of environment. He can take our team forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to improve a lot of things, especially defending, but he has something special and he is a really important player for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can play in different positions, so I expect the same in the next game because, in our club, it\u2019s really important to show it in every week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Man Utd will return to Premier League action at Old Trafford on Monday evening and the Red Devils will host Leeds United for their first match in the post-March break.<\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire were left surprised by a key defensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[13138,45706,22710,403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-576666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-bruno-fernandes","9":"tag-harry-maguire","10":"tag-matheus-cunha","11":"tag-soccer","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}