All eyes initially fixed on Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes as he approached the spot on Sunday.
He soon settled the score, completing his hat‑trick, while Tielemons’ strange movement in the background stole the spotlight.
Tielemons copied Fernandes’ trademark shuffle, matching each sidestep and pause with uncanny precision.
A similar stunt appeared in a 2025 FA Cup clash, where he echoed Marcus Rashford’s approach while the England forward was on loan at Villa.
So why employ this ghostly run‑up?
The obvious aim is to time a rebound,” says penalty guru Geir Jordet. “With a player like Fernandes, whose run is deliberately stuttered, you need to shadow him to nail the timing.”
Jordet notes that arriving already in motion gives the best chance to meet a rebound. Yet if anyone else steps inside the arc before the strike, they risk forcing a retake, making precise timing essential.
Mirroring Fernandes’ hesitant stride lets Tielemons line up his own dash perfectly.
@premierleague Youri Tielemons 🤝 Bruno Fernandes @Manchester United ♬ original sound – Premier League
(Fernandes) scatters his timing to trouble the keeper. If you attempt a conventional rebound run, you might miss the cue because you aren’t watching the taker,” Jordet explains.
United posted a clip Thursday showing Tielemons admitting he copied Fernandes to gauge his run. He’s used the same trick defensively, as seen when he guarded Andreas Pereira’s spot‑kick for Fulham in 2024.
Beyond timing, the ploy may serve as a mind game. Ben Lyttleton, author of *Twelve Yards*, points out that Ipswich keeper Kjell Scherpen was already trying his own psychological tweak.
Scherpen positioned himself on one side of the goal, hoping to lure Bruno into an open area. I’ve never witnessed this before, and I wonder if it further distracted the keeper,” Lyttleton says. “Ironically, Scherpen was seeking the advantage himself.”
The unusual mirror might have unsettled Scherpen more than a central stance would.
Just before the strike, United’s Matheus Cunha pulled Ipswich defender Issa Diop across the arc, clearing a direct line of sight between Scherpen and Tielemons.
That move could open a rebound path for Tielemons, or simply make him more visible to the keeper – a kind of distraction I actually like,” Jordet remarks.
Many players wave arms or shout, but copying the taker is rare. In the goalkeeper’s peripheral vision, such mimicry can cause a brief disruption.
A quick archive dive shows a handful of ‘ghost’ run‑ups: Dominik Szoboszlai once echoed Mohamed Salah’s sidestep, and Jordan Henderson has tried a similar approach.
In the clip below, Manchester City’s backline appears aware, blocking Szoboszlai’s clear path into the box.
Tielemons’ former Villa teammate Amadou Onana mirrored Rashford’s approach against Manchester City in 2025. An older FA Cup classic shows Coventry’s Callum O’Hare shadowing Haji Wright’s penalty in 2024.
The trick is rare, but should it become mainstream?
If I were a goalkeeper, I’d rather face static opponents than a swarm timing their runs to the taker,” Jordet says. “Stationary players are far less unsettling.”
Players constantly chase the next edge, and data shows rebounds are a largely untapped margin.
Across five Premier League seasons, 484 penalties were awarded, 400 converted. Of the 84 misses, 22 were off target and 62 saved. Only 11 rebounds turned into goals, and all but two were scored by the original taker.
Could out‑of‑area players find more creative ways to influence penalties?
Lyttleton says he’d love to hear Tielemons’ take and wonders if we’ll see a duo mirroring a taker, or even a choreographed five‑man routine. He predicts referees will soon clamp down, but praises the ingenuity.
For my money, Tielemons’ ghost run‑up is a clever exploitation of a narrow loophole.
Will future teams adopt coordinated run‑ups, forcing officials to rewrite the rulebook?