Pedro Gonçalves

TwoSheds

More sheds (and tiles) than you, probably
Joined
Feb 12, 2014
Messages
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Sporting player, centre mid, 22 years old, 11 goals in 11 games for Sporting according to MEN who are vaguely linking him to us. Also has the same name as a lad I play football with which is quite funny.

Apparently he's a graduate of Wolves' academy interestingly so he'd already be somewhat used to the demands of English football. Anybody here watched him much? Some of our resident Sporting fans perhaps? I'm sure you'd want him to stay with Sporting for at least another season after this but how do you think he would do if he moved? Is he as good as the stats suggest or just in a purple patch?

Also, presumably he'll be in line for a national team call up soon if he scores like that?
 
Sporting player, centre mid, 22 years old, 11 goals in 11 games for Sporting according to MEN who are vaguely linking him to us. Also has the same name as a lad I play football with which is quite funny.

Apparently he's a graduate of Wolves' academy interestingly so he'd already be somewhat used to the demands of English football. Anybody here watched him much? Some of our resident Sporting fans perhaps? I'm sure you'd want him to stay with Sporting for at least another season after this but how do you think he would do if he moved? Is he as good as the stats suggest or just in a purple patch?

Also, presumably he'll be in line for a national team call up soon if he scores like that?

I thought he moved to Wolves didn't really feature and then moved on. Some kind of dodgy Mendes shit. Don't think he's an academy product at all.

He's been Bruno's successor at Sporting though and his record for this season is brilliant.
 
'The next Bruno Fernandes.' Now that's forward planning.
 
Good stats, and he plays on the right apparently? Need some resident Sporting fans to give the scoop
 
Daddy want a winger

Good stats, and he plays on the right apparently? Need some resident Sporting fans to give the scoop

Judging by his Transfermarkt data, he tends to play as an AM but also features on the right quite often.
 
Given how tactically inflexible our manager is it would mean Bruno mkII either be shoehorned at DM or given the Donny treatment & left to rot.

Clearly you have no clue what position he plays?

Bruno came in Jan and took his chance when playing in a dire team.

Donny has come in and given a few chances, in none of those games has he claimed his spot.

Now when there is a few injuries he is injured but lets blame the manager for a players inability to perform.
 
I saw his videos in @SportingCP96 thread about the jewels of Sporting and was impressed. He looks like he'd be a good option as a no.9/false 9 to replace Aguero at City, given how involved their "CF" is with general play and how creative he appears to be. They've been linked with Joao Felix though, who would be amazing there too.

From the thread I mentioned, there were a few interesting players at Sporting.
 
Clearly you have no clue what position he plays?

Bruno came in Jan and took his chance when playing in a dire team.

Donny has come in and given a few chances, in none of those games has he claimed his spot.

Now when there is a few injuries he is injured but lets blame the manager for a players inability to perform.

Wow. The mental manipulation is real.
 
Clearly you have no clue what position he plays?

Bruno came in Jan and took his chance when playing in a dire team.

Donny has come in and given a few chances, in none of those games has he claimed his spot.

Now when there is a few injuries he is injured but lets blame the manager for a players inability to perform.

The problems stemmed early on for VDB. He actually started reasonably well, but was not given opportunities to build on it. Instead he was left out for weeks. Then when he played and couldn't play well instantly, he was isolated again for more weeks.

The issue was that Ole knew Bruno had to play practically every minute because he is everything good about us going forward. Our tactic is quite literally 'work it to Bruno', whether that's directly through the middle or from out wide, cutting the ball back to him. Without Bruno we would be painful to watch and Ole knows it. He doesn't despise VDB, or think he's so crap he couldn't possibly play against some of the dross he's missed out on, he just knows Bruno has to play because he has no other ideas. This is so obvious (to some of us).
 
The problems stemmed early on for VDB. He actually started reasonably well, but was not given opportunities to build on it. Instead he was left out for weeks. Then when he played and couldn't play well instantly, he was isolated again for more weeks.

The issue was that Ole knew Bruno had to play practically every minute because he is everything good about us going forward. Our tactic is quite literally 'work it to Bruno', whether that's directly through the middle or from out wide, cutting the ball back to him. Without Bruno we would be painful to watch and Ole knows it. He doesn't despise VDB, or think he's so crap he couldn't possibly play against some of the dross he's missed out on, he just knows Bruno has to play because he has no other ideas. This is so obvious (to some of us).
Why would he have other ways of playing without Bruno though? I dont get the criticism here. Why voluntarily make ourselves worse?
 
Why would he have other ways of playing without Bruno though? I dont get the criticism here. Why voluntarily make ourselves worse?

Well I think you missed my point but, in answer to your question, because it is unsustainable? Because the season is long and we are expected to compete on all fronts? Because injuries happen? Because we spent a tonne of money on VDB?

Bruno is one player. We need to look good when he's not available/rested too. We're not talking about a novice here, the guy has played more CL games than Bruno and has played well at a decent level elsewhere. Naive to not try to get him up to speed.
 
Why would he have other ways of playing without Bruno though? I dont get the criticism here. Why voluntarily make ourselves worse?

Because he can't realistically play every single game, isn't that obvious?
 
Because he can't realistically play every single game, isn't that obvious?
Why not? Messi and Ronaldo were playing almost every single game when their teams were winning everything. Top players want to play all the time, unless seriously injured, that's one aspect that separates them from the rest.
 
Why not? Messi and Ronaldo were playing almost every single game when their teams were winning everything. Top players want to play all the time, unless seriously injured, that's one aspect that separates them from the rest.

Messi is a great example, he got injured and then what happened to Barca?
 
Messi is a great example, he got injured and then what happened to Barca?
I don't even know what you are trying to say. :lol: What team in the world can perform the same without their best player?

This is not the thread to discuss VDB, Bruno or Messi, Ronaldo, I'd rather not derail it.
 
I don't even know what you are trying to say. :lol: What team in the world can perform the same without their best player?

This is not the thread to discuss VDB, Bruno or Messi, Ronaldo, I'd rather not derail it.

Exactly what I am saying, which is why it makes sense to have other ways of playing without them
 
Because he can't realistically play every single game, isn't that obvious?
So how do we know we cant play another way if he isnt injured? He is realistically playing every game this season, there isnt anything obvious about it
 
So how do we know we cant play another way if he isnt injured? He is realistically playing every game this season, there isnt anything obvious about it

The point is that we've hardly made sure we can function without him. Is VDB so bad that he couldn't have played more? If Bruno tore his ACL tomorrow we'd be well and truly up shits creek. If VDB had played more and integrated more, we'd have a better chance. Whichever way you frame it, it looks daft. We paid £40m for VDB, did we not intend to use him at all? Were we hoping he'd step in if Bruno got injured, without any sort of decent game time under his belt? If we were this confident we wouldn't need him, why did we buy him?
 
United have always played with attacking players who could run. dribble and drive with the ball. Van De Beek is not that player but Goncalves has a similar style to Bruno. They would essentially be playing the same position which isn't bad at all. We need quality in depth.
 
We don't really need another goal scorer. We need creativity to feed the ones we have. It's a big reason we look so disjointed at times.