Can Bruno continue in the same position with Ronaldo in our 1st xi?

[Fortitude]

He's too high up the pitch, which will encroach on Ronaldo's roaming space, but also - and, for me, more of an issue - defensively, Ronaldo will do next to no work, which is acceptable, but Bruno's defensive legs and contribution to any central press is crucial without world class central midfielders sweeping up and recycling the ball behind the forward line.

There's already an issue with Bruno sitting too high compromising our midfield, and that's with more defensively responsible central forwards - in Cavani, Greenwood and even Martial - than Ronaldo will, or at 36, could be. Please note that pointing this out about Ronaldo isn't a criticism of him, and further to that, his energy is better conserved and utilised thinking about his next action that can hurt the opposition.

Further to the above, in terms of being available for the pass as well as turning and progressing the ball forward, he cannot continue in a support striker role with Ronaldo being superior in almost every facet when it comes to receiving the ball and turning that into a viable goalscoring opportunity. Bruno needs to be the guy looking to supply rather than being on the end of so many balls.

Having two forwards sitting high and not dropping deep or into rank to aid the midfield is not viable, well, unless you have a world class engine behind them in terms of a runner and retainer - something like a prime Modric and Essien, for example, which no club has at the moment.

For myself, Ronaldo arriving means Bruno has to play 15-20 yards back, get involved in the build up by both being available and also being more balanced in using his legs and energy. His shooting opportunities should reduce somewhat, and his goals might reduce, but goal involvements and contributions via passing should go up.

In your opinion, does the arrival of Ronaldo almost organically sort out issues with the spine of the team, or will Bruno be left to the same devices as he has had during his support striker/much-less-of-a-midfielder run? If Bruno stays where, and, as is, do you think that the team as a whole can cope?

I haven't watched Portugal outside of the Euros where Bruno seemed to struggle to get involved with their build up play - is that an issue for Portugal in general with both Ronaldo and Bruno on the pitch, or something that came out of the blue during the tournament proper?

 

[romufc]

This is an issue with Bruno, he stays too high up during our build up, makes it harder for us to get the ball up the pitch. He needs to help us build up.

 

[Bestietom]

Ronaldo will either share the CF position or play as 2 up front. He won't be running up and down the wings anymore.
The question I would like to ask is Who willl take the free kicks when he is on the pitch.

 

[Cassidy]

No he cannot

 

[Zoo]

I don’t think so, all the more reason for Ole to switch to a 3 man midfield with Bruno and Pogba as 8’s. He really needs to evolve from the 4-2-3-1.

 

[Dyslexic Untied]

I would think part of the reason why Bruno has played so far up this season has been our lack of a clear no. 9? Granted Greenwood has been playing, but more often than not he is pulling out to a flank while Bruno has been tasked with making runs through the back line (which has worked out quite well). Once we get a clear no. 9 I think Bruno will play from a bit deeper in the field.

 

[DWelbz19]

It’s something that will definitely need to be worked on tactically.

Stylistically they’re not greatly compatible. Over the course of the season I’m not convinced you can have a non-pressing poacher + and a no.10 who plays very high up the field like Fernandes does. As you say, he will need to involve himself in the build-up a lot more and take far fewer strikes on goal.

 

[Highfather_24]

Ronaldo will play in the same areas Cavani and Martial play for us. Bruno works excellently with them, so I dont see that changing.

Ronaldo cannot play on the wing for us, because of his workrate.

 

[LoneStar]

Bruno needs to change his game, and Ole needs to alter tactics to get the best out of both. I think Bruno should change his approcach anyway, sometimes we see games like Leeds where it's massively beenficial, but him playing that high up the pitch imbalances us a bit.

I don't think playing Pogba in the midfield 2 also works, especially with Ronaldo. But that's a different topic.

 

[roonster09]

Bruno doesn't stay higher up the pitch and wait to make runs all the time. He is all over the pitch and his insane work rate means, he always makes the attacking runs. Many a times he makes the run from deeper positions.

There will be adjustments for sure as Ronaldo is different player than Cavani. Ronaldo shoots more than our other attacking players, so other players will have to adapt the game accordingly.

I don't see anything wrong with Bruno's positioning.

 

[RedRonaldo]

It may affect Bruno abit, but I think it’s mostly because Ronaldo will take all penalties. But In terms of their performance in Portugal shirt, it seems Bruno tend to score less goals in same team with Ronaldo, but it could be for other reasons.

 

[E-mal]

We have discussed this quite a few times, he is given too much licence and it was initially understandable when we had an immature non firing forward line, but now we have alot of fire power that are perhaps more superior in their finishing.
Nothing wrong with him making a third person run from deep to get on the end of things but he needs to play deeper and help the midfield.
I'm just worried that his playmaking ability and ball circulation is average at best, what he excels in the most is his final ball and finishing.

 

[largelyworried]

Sure. Bruno isnt the most disciplined but he works hard and every player at that level can take basic instructions. If he's told to stop running beyond the last man as much and stay deeper, he will. His numbers will drop, probably, but he's never struck me as such a prima donna that he'd kick off or sulk by being asked to do that.

 

[E-mal]

Ronaldo will play in the same areas Cavani and Martial play for us. Bruno works excellently with them, so I dont see that changing.

Ronaldo cannot play on the wing for us, because of his workrate.

Bruno doesnt work excellently with them, he in fact impede their space, you will often see them taking a wider role while he stays central(and this even true for Cavani). He is somewhat selfish in that regard.
Additionally, he affects our midfield passing options by playing that high.
The point is we have catered to his needs but I doubt Ronaldo will take that seeing how it all went for him with the Portugal team and resulting in him not playing.

 

[largelyworried]

I don’t think so, all the more reason for Ole to switch to a 3 man midfield with Bruno and Pogba as 8’s. He really needs to evolve from the 4-2-3-1.

Given the squad we have, Is that formation viable? Fred or McT in a single pivot just doesn’t look doable to me and is the main reason I think he’s stuck with 4231.

 

[Zoo]

Given the squad we have, Is that formation viable? Fred or McT in a single pivot just doesn’t look doable to me and is the main reason I think he’s stuck with 4231.

Not ideal but we need to try and risk it. I’d ask McTominay to sit, use his physical attributes and pass the ball simply. With Varane and Maguire behind him hopefully it can work.

 

[E-mal]

Bruno doesn't stay higher up the pitch and wait to make runs all the time. He is all over the pitch and his insane work rate means, he always makes the attacking runs. Many a times he makes the run from deeper positions.

There will be adjustments for sure as Ronaldo is different player than Cavani. Ronaldo shoots more than our other attacking players, so other players will have to adapt the game accordingly.

I don't see anything wrong with Bruno's positioning.

You were the other dude that criticised the image circulating on Twitter right?
I had the privileges of watching that game again yesterday and everything that was pointed out about Bruno's positioning were entirely true.
He works hard but plays way high up with making our midfield detached from attack.
He need to face the opposition defence and midfield rather than always spinning behind them.
Playing this way puts too much weigh on our midfield(Pogba) with the responsibility of both playing as an 8 and also a 10, hence affecting his performance.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I think we should get both Pogba from the left and Bruno in the middle dropping a bit and helping connecting midfield and attack given midfield is our area of weakness. It will allow Ronaldo to focus on goalscoring and it's not as if goalscoring or creative midfielders can't contribute in both attack and defence.

 

[smi11ie]

Ronaldo will position him correctly. That is the benifit of have a worldclass player in your side.

 

[roonster09]

You were the other dude that criticised the image circulating on Twitter right?
I had the privileges of watching that game again yesterday and everything that was pointed out about Bruno's positioning were entirely true.
He works hard but plays way high up with making our midfield detached from attack.
He need to face the opposition defence and midfield rather than always spinning behind them.
Playing this way puts too much weigh on our midfield(Pogba) with the responsibility of both playing as an 8 and also a 10, hence affecting his performance.

Ofcourse he will play higher up than CMs as he is attacking mid. The idea that he plays as CF or second striker is just wrong.

Yeah, I criticized that twitter post and it's a pile of shit. That was a image and ignored that passage of play when Sancho dropped deep to receive the pass but there wasn't much space. The whole 10 players from Wolves team squeezed the space to maybe 20-30 yards. Also everyone made the attacking run the moment Pogba got the ball as he was about to pass the ball to Shaw who made attacking run.

 

[He'sRaldo]

His showing at the Euros suggests that him playing super high up and disconnected from the midfield might not work very well with Ronaldo.

He'll likely have to adjust to support the midfield more, defensively as well as offensively.

 

[CG1010]

For Portugal, Bruno plays a bit deeper and is less effective. Either we will follow that or Ole would come up with a way for them to combine and Portugal national team will benefit immensely from it!

 

[laughtersassassin]

I really think with the fact our Midfield options are so poor and now that we have Ronaldo the best solution is go 433 with Bruno as the Second number 8.

My 3 would be McT, Bruno, Pogba

With a front currently of Sancho Ronaldo Greenwood.

 

[Desert Eagle]

If it was just Bruno and Ronaldo slacking off defensively it could work however we will play some combination of Sancho, Greenwood and Rashford in most games in the other two attacking positions and they are weak defensively as well. This will lead to more situations where our two holding midfielders are under immense pressure to contain 4/5 opposition player who will pass/run circles around them.

 

[SirAF]

I don’t think so, all the more reason for Ole to switch to a 3 man midfield with Bruno and Pogba as 8’s. He really needs to evolve from the 4-2-3-1.

This. 4-3-3 is the way to go.

 

[Lynty]

I think Ronaldo would slot in nicely as a 6, and allow us to keep Bruno/Cavani higher up the pitch.

He can definitely play as a 6 because he's more mobile than Matic, more physical than Fred and his FIFA ultimate team card has better Passing Stats than both. His inform card has 87 Passing, so lets hope we're getting that version.

 

[shahzy]

I really hope not. Bruno needs to be told he is a midfielder and doesn't need to score as many now that burden has been shifted to Ronnie. It might actually mean we have 2.5 men in midfield which will greatly make our midfield less porous

 

[Desert Eagle]

I think we should get both Pogba from the left and Bruno in the middle dropping a bit and helping connecting midfield and attack given midfield is our area of weakness. It will allow Ronaldo to focus on goalscoring and it's not as if goalscoring or creative midfielders can't contribute in both attack and defence.

I agree with this. Playing Pogba further up probably helps us the most in a team starting Ronaldo and Bruno. Another option could be Lingard. Playing Greenwood and Sancho/Rashford with Pogba in the two doesn't feel like it would be ideal with how we play.

 

[dal]

——————Ronaldo————————
Rashford—-Bruno——-Greenwood
———Mctominay—Fred——————

I feel that’s our best team in midfield and attacked Bruno may come slightly deeper and orchestrate.

Pogba, Sancho, Cavani to support in attack or work their way in to the forward positions over the season.

Pogba has played well but I think that’s the most functional however Ole May feel downward pressure to play Pogba and Sancho regardless of performance.

 

[Fortitude]

It’s something that will definitely need to be worked on tactically.

Stylistically they’re not greatly compatible. Over the course of the season I’m not convinced you can have a non-pressing poacher + and a no.10 who plays very high up the field like Fernandes does. As you say, he will need to involve himself in the build-up a lot more and take far fewer strikes on goal.

I thought Bruno at the Euros was struggling with where to fit in because the positions he takes up for United were not there for him. I haven't watched any of Portugal outside the Euros since the last major, so wonder if this is a running theme for him with the NT.

His starting positions for us at the moment are not optimal for Ronaldo and the way he likes to roam and choose his moments to make his runs, so it does beg the question of whether Bruno simply has to not be anywhere near those initial positions or clog up Ronaldo's running lanes and options.

If Bruno is going to the right midfield of a 4-3-3, we're going to look quite a bit different to what we've been accustomed to. I just can't see how he can stay where he currently is, though.

 

[Dec9003]

Bruno’s a top player, he will be fine if he has to adapt his starting position a little.

 

[Red_toad]

Ronaldo will play in the same areas Cavani and Martial play for us. Bruno works excellently with them, so I dont see that changing.

Ronaldo cannot play on the wing for us, because of his workrate.

Nah Ole already confirmed Ronny will play, not dwell on the bench

 

[James Peril]

Bruno doesn't stay higher up the pitch and wait to make runs all the time. He is all over the pitch and his insane work rate means, he always makes the attacking runs. Many a times he makes the run from deeper positions.

There will be adjustments for sure as Ronaldo is different player than Cavani. Ronaldo shoots more than our other attacking players, so other players will have to adapt the game accordingly.

I don't see anything wrong with Bruno's positioning.

You don’t see anything wrong with Bruno’s positioning, yet you mention that he is all over the pitch? This is obviously not good, as he then will be taking up space that should have been for another player - at the same time not being in the space reserved for him. Naturally players roam, but our biggest attacking problem by far is the lack of simultaneous runs and initiatives in a set pattern. This is where Man City excels every game, that’s why so many players nick goals and why it’s difficult to cope with them. Our attacking system is extremely simple and amateurish is comparison, it’s one guy with the ball hitting a pass into corridor, the winger on the other side is standing still or just waiting for the next sequence to happen - then they go on instinct. For a pro defender, that is very easy to defend against, that’s why we struggle against Wolves where we basically had zero chances. City lost to Spurs on the opening day, but have a look at their attempts in the first half on a losing day, they have 2-3 big openings because of great simulatenous runs creating counting errors for the defenders. On another day it’s 0-2 if Mahrez is focused.

Bruno is Jeckyll and Hyde for me, he was great on the opening day and terrible against Wolves, he needs to be more disciplined with his positioning and up his lowest level to some degree. You simply cannot go from great to crap as often as he does depending on the opposition tactics.

 

[roonster09]

I thought Bruno at the Euros was struggling with where to fit in because the positions he takes up for United were not there for him. I haven't watched any of Portugal outside the Euros since the last major, so wonder if this is a running theme for him with the NT.

His starting positions for us at the moment are not optimal for Ronaldo and the way he likes to roam and choose his moments to make his runs, so it does beg the question of whether Bruno simply has to not be anywhere near those initial positions or clog up Ronaldo's running lanes and options.

If Bruno is going to the right midfield of a 4-3-3, we're going to look quite a bit different to what we've been accustomed to. I just can't see how he can stay where he currently is, though.

Isn't that because he played deeper and Renato Sanches made all the attacking runs when both were on the pitch? Bruno was creating chances from deeper position (or lets say he was hoofing the ball into the box)

 

[Pronewbie]

As others have mentioned it didn't quite work out with Portugal at the Euro's. Joao Moutinho was a much better playmaker in that team. I think Portugal also plays a 4231 so it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

If Ronaldo is going to start every game then Bruno won’t be the only player who has to adjust his game. Not when you consider Ronaldo’s stats in terms of pressing. Although Bruno will be almost certainly denied the penalties and free-kicks he’s been so prolific at for us so far. And does it really make sense to ask a player who’s been at the heart of everything good we’ve done in the last two years to change the way he plays to accommodate a signing who is inevitably going to be on the decline? (if not now, soon)

Now the initial euphoria has worn off I’m moving more and more to the @Top point of view that this signing creates more problems for Ole than it solves.

 

[roonster09]

You don’t see anything wrong with Bruno’s positioning, yet you mention that he is all over the pitch? This is obviously not good, as he then will be taking up space that should have been for another player - at the same time not being in the space reserved for him. Naturally players roam, but our biggest attacking problem by far is the lack of simultaneous runs and initiatives in a set pattern. This is where Man City excels every game, that’s why so many players nick goals and why it’s difficult to cope with them. Our attacking system is extremely simple and amateurish is comparison, it’s one guy with the ball hitting a pass into corridor, the winger on the other side is standing still or just waiting for the next sequence to happen - then they go on instinct. For a pro defender, that is very easy to defend against, that’s why we struggle against Wolves where we basically had zero chances. City lost to Spurs on the opening day, but have a look at their attempts in the first half on a losing day, they have 2-3 big openings because of great simulatenous runs creating counting errors for the defenders. On another day it’s 0-2 if Mahrez is focused.

Bruno is Jeckyll and Hyde for me, he was great on the opening day and terrible against Wolves, he needs to be more disciplined with his positioning and up his lowest level to some degree. You simply cannot go from great to crap as often as he does depending on the opposition tactics.

Yes, he is attacking mid and he is all over the pitch. What's wrong in that? He drifts left, right, centrally, drops deep and also makes attacking runs.

 

[Fortitude]

Isn't that because he played deeper and Renato Sanches made all the attacking runs when both were on the pitch? Bruno was creating chances from deeper position (or lets say he was hoofing the ball into the box)

I felt as though his natural instincts and where he'd like to run were being curtailed because all of that space belongs to Ronaldo and there wasn't the time and focus put into catering to Bruno's game (because Ronaldo) to get him ticking correctly.

It's such a small passage of time and rather than work out the issue, Bruno simply got pushed to the side. He didn't look natural or comfortable to me at the Euros - most certainly not the Bruno United has known, anyway.

I don't know if it's considered reducing his own game to facilitate Ronaldo's, but I do think he has to learn how to orbit him and still be effective. He can, for example, learn how to run in behind Ronaldo for the invariable scrambles and loose balls, or work quickly to exploit the trails of the runs Ronaldo makes, but with Ronaldo on the pitch, Bruno cannot be the lead, as in, he has to react to what Ronaldo instigates rather than force the play himself, which he's had free rein with here.

 

[TMDaines]

Hopefully it might mean that Bruno is less compelled to push up as a shadow striker from the midfield. He doesn't seem to do that as often with Cavani on the field. I like him running with the ball from deeper.

Bruno's problems with Portugal were less about Ronaldo and more about a manager having no clue how to build a team out of his talented attackers.

 

[He'sRaldo]

If Ronaldo is going to start every game then Bruno won’t be the only player who has to adjust his game. Not when you consider Ronaldo’s stats in terms of pressing. Although Bruno will be almost certainly denied the penalties and free-kicks he’s been so prolific at for us so far. And does it really make sense to ask a player who’s been at the heart of everything good we’ve done in the last two years to change the way he plays to accommodate a signing who is inevitably going to be on the decline? (if not now, soon)

Now the initial euphoria has worn off I’m moving more and more to the @Top point of view that this signing creates more problems for Ole than it solves.

I get that we have a massive feel good factor, but we haven't really been successful the past few years.

If Ronaldo comes in and wins us something big as we're hoping, then it's definitely worth it. Especially if we've decided that now is the time to challenge (instead of being constantly concerned with the future but never actually challenging).