Bruno Guimaraes a no-brainer to start ahead of Fred – Brazil media explains why with great stats analysis after Switzerland game | OneFootball

Bruno Guimaraes found himself once again on the bench on Monday, as Brazil took on Switzerland.

A lot of disappointment and bemusement from both Brazil and Newcastle United fans, as well as from neutrals, as to why it was Fred who came into the team due to Neymar’s injury absence.

Bruno Guimaraes made his first start in the Premier League and has proved one of the starts of the English top tier these past nine months.

Brilliant all round play and under the expert guidance of Eddie Howe, has now also turned into a serious goal threat on top of his all action midfield play. After scoring only three goals at Lyon in 70+ appearances, Bruno Guimaraes has been directly involved in 11 goals in his 23 Premier League starts, scoring eight and three assists.

His overall influence with Newcastle United is there for all to see, his 23 PL starts bringing fifteen wins, four draws and only four defeats, an amazing average of 2.13 points picked up in each NUFC PL game when Bruno Guimaraes has started. Averaged over a full 38 games PL season that would equal 81 points.

In contrast, even for Man Utd fans, Fred hasn’t exactly been one of the Premier League’s star turns. As for goal threat…the Man Utd midfielder has scored only seven PL goals in four and a half years, one less than Bruno Guimaraes has scored these past nine months, Fred with only two PL goals since February.

The only thing seemingly standing against Bruno Guimaraes ahead of Monday’s team selection is experience / familiarity. Before joining Newcastle United, Bruno had made only three appearances for Brazil and despite five since joining NUFC, still no enough to get him into the Brazil team against Switzerland.

Fred preferred, the Man Utd midfielder now with 30 appearances for Brazil, including 24 starts (Bruno Guimaraes with just the two starts for Brazil.

Last night’s match saw Fred and the Brazil team huff and puff for almost an hour, with minimal attacking threat. You can’t of course blame it all on the Man Utd midfielder but one thing for sure, he didn’t exactly help.

On 58 minutes, Tite at last replaced Fred with Bruno Guimaraes, it didn’t suddenly make Brazil a totally different team / threat BUT undeniably they improved as the final 32 minutes played out. Eventually getting over the line thanks to Casemiro’s excellent strike seven minutes from time, whilst a number of other near things almost added to the scoreline, including Bruno Guimaraes having a header saved.

That win sends Brazil into the last sixteen but they need to complete the job and ensure they finish top of the group, Cameroon in the final group game on Friday with Neymar still out injured. So should it be Fred or Bruno Guimaraes in the starting eleven.

The Brazil (Edition) Football media account has no doubts, seeing it as indeed, a total no-brainer:

“Within the 32 minutes Bruno Guimarães played; he completed more passes into the final third, completed more take ons, won more duels, and made only 5 less touches than Fred.

“If it was not clear before, it should be now to Tite.”

Bruno Guimaraes was predictably thrilled to have made his World Cup debut, via his personal Twitter account:

“Indescribable happiness to be able to play my first game in the World Cup. Everything I dreamed of, I accomplished tonight.

“Thank you Jesus. Thanks for the rating and the game.

“Let’s go for more, Brasilllll.”

Yes, ‘let’s go for more’ indeed, hopefully that will mean seeing more of Bruno Guimaraes in a Brazil shirt, as the tournament favourites head ever deeper into the competition.

The TV schedule for all 48 Qatar World Cup group games, games highlighted with Newcastle United players potential involvement:

20 November, 16:00: Qatar 0 Ecuador 2

21 November, 13:00: England 6 Iran 2

21 November, 10:00: Senegal 0 Netherlands 2

21 November, 19:00: USA 1 Wales 1

22 November, 10:00: Argentina 1 Saudi Arabia 2

22 November, 13:00: Denmark 0 Tunisia 0

22 November, 16:00: Mexico 0 Poland 0

Tuesday 22 November, 19:00: France 4 Australia 1

23 November, 10:00: Morocco 0 Croatia 0

23 November, 13:00: Germany 1 Japan 2

23 November, 16:00: Spain 7 Costa Rica 0

23 November, 19:00: Belgium 1 Canada 0

Thursday 24 November, 10:00: Switzerland 1 Cameroon 0

24 November, 13:00: Uruguay 0 South Korea 0

24 November, 16:00: Portugal 3 Ghana 2

Thursday 24 November, 19:00: Brazil 2 Serbia 0

25 November, 10:00: Wales 0 Iran 2

25 November, 13:00: Qatar 1 Senegal 3

25 November, 16:00: Netherlands 1 Ecuador 1

Friday 25 November, 19:00: England 0 USA 0

Saturday 26 November, 10:00: Tunisia 0 Australia 1

26 November, 13:00: Poland 2 Saudi Arabia 0

26 November, 16:00: France 2 Denmark 1

26 November, 19:00: Argentina 2 Mexico 0

27 November, 10:00: Japan 0 Costa Rica 1

27 November, 13:00: Belgium 0 Morocco 2

27 November, 16:00: Croatia 4 Canada 1

27 November, 19:00: Spain 1 Germany 1

28 November, 10:00: Cameroon 3 Serbia 3

28 November, 13:00: South Korea 2 Ghana 3

Monday 28 November, 16:00: Brazil 1 Switzerland 0

28 November, 19:00: Portugal 2 Uruguay 0

29 November, 15:00: Ecuador v Senegal – ITV

29 November, 15:00: Netherlands v Qatar – ITV

29 November, 19:00: Iran v USA – BBC

Tuesday 29 November, 19:00: England v Wales – BBC (Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson)

30 November, 15:00: Tunisia v France – BBC

Wednesday 30 November, 15:00: Australia v Denmark – BBC (Garang Kuol)

30 November, 19:00: Poland v Argentina – BBC

30 November, 19:00: Saudi Arabia v Mexico – BBC

1 December, 16:00: Canada v Morocco – BBC

1 December, 16:00: Croatia v Belgium – BBC

1 December, 19:00: Japan v Spain – ITV

1 December, 19:00: Costa Rica v Germany – ITV

2 December, 16:00: Ghana v Uruguay – BBC

2 December, 16:00: South Korea v Portugal – BBC