How will Bruno fit into Ten Hag's style of play?

Maticmaker

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How any of our current squad will fit into ETH's plans is hard to anticipate just now, except he will still have to use the majority of then in some way.
Bruno is one of the more interesting deliberations for ETH next season, but lets hope someway forward for all of them gets sorted in the pre-season.
 

roonster09

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If you take into account that he was coached by Jorge Jesus who is known as one of the most obsessive and detail oriented coache around. Your question is pertinent, there is a chance that Bruno isn't fixable.
Isn't the question should be, why obsessive and detailed oriented coach like Jesus didn't drop Bruno?
 

JPRouve

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Isn't the question should be, why obsessive and detailed oriented coach like Jesus didn't drop Bruno?
Because a club like Sporting can't afford to drop a player like Bruno? Most managers don't have the luxury to drop players, they deal with their shortcomings. Top/wealthy clubs on the other end can drop good players because they aren't ideal, they can demand or expect players to adapt to some extent or they can avoid the signing of certain players.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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People saying he'll be fine; why isn't this the case for his NT?
Because Fernandos Santos. Even Bernardo Silva looked poor in the NT. Give them better manager who can play in modern attacking football, the whole team and Bruno himself would perform better.

They only keep Santos because he won Euro 2016 and just to show how much luck that manager had is they won that Euro 2016 with only 1 win in 90 mins (vs Wales semi final) for the whole tournament. The rest were draws, penalties shoot out, and their final won by long shot in extra time.
 

roonster09

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Because a club like Sporting can't afford to drop a player like Bruno? Most managers don't have the luxury to drop players, they deal with their shortcomings. Top/wealthy clubs on the other end can drop good players because they aren't ideal, they can demand or expect players to adapt to some extent or they can avoid the signing of certain players.
If I'm not wrong (and checked date properly) Bruno was signed when Jesus was manager, surely they knew he was losing possession a lot?

Or maybe other reason is "he loses possession" is something coaches don't care as long as it's within certain limit and if you check Bruno's pass completion, it's close to KdB's (difference is 1 or 2%). KdB is also player who regularly tops possession lost stat and he is the key player for Pep.

Maybe all this is very simplistic take, losing possession means not good for possession oriented manager when Tadic was one of the best player under ETH and he isn't exactly very good with retaining possession.
 

YikesSchmeics

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Short answer; he won't.

Longer answer; he will have to reel in his natural inclination to hit low percentage, high volume, first time passes. I actually think if he plays as a striker where his energy and his ability to press is used, then it can work. Midfield, not at all, will be a leaky pipe in the plumbing.
I've thought this for a while that his skillset would be best suited to a false 9 type role where he is required to shoot more and pass less. He is a willing and passionate presser, has shown he is well able to finish the final ball and since he isn't the most physical player, false 9 rather than striker suits so he can then drop in to create overloads with the other 3 CMs.

He is too high risk for what I understand of Ten Hags system, but played close to goal I believe he could be effective. I utterly disregard the run outs he had under RR at "false 9" because the team was so disjointed and chaotic that I don't believe reasonable conclusions can be drawn from that sample.
 

JPRouve

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If I'm not wrong (and checked date properly) Bruno was signed when Jesus was manager, surely they knew he was losing possession a lot?

Or maybe other reason is "he loses possession" is something coaches don't care as long as it's within certain limit and if you check Bruno's pass completion, it's close to KdB's (difference is 1 or 2%). KdB is also player who regularly tops possession lost stat and he is the key player for Pep.

Maybe all this is very simplistic take, losing possession means not good for possession oriented manager when Tadic was one of the best player under ETH and he isn't exactly very good with retaining possession.
De Bruyne loses possession while trying very difficult passes in the last third including lots of crosses, Bruno losses possession anywhere on the pitch in the strangest ways. Pass completion isn't everything especially if you use it out of context and I would be very surprised if you tell me that in your opinion Bruno and De Bruyne play and read the game similarly.

And Bruno wasn't signed as a finished product, he was very much a work in progress, there is no scenario where Sporting watched what he was doing in Italy and thought that it was exactly what they wanted since he was badly failing.
 

El Jefe

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EtH is not a miracle worker, you need certain qualities to be able to play wide, qualities that Bruno doesn't have. Bruno cannot dribble so it's pointless having him out wide. Using Tadic as a comparison is widely off because Tadic has been a wide playmaker or even a winger for most of his career.

Bruno needs space to operate which is why he's best in central positions in a counter attacking system. Bruno out wide in a team trying to build up phases of play will quickly prove not to work.

The key is whether or not, he's a central piece of our system. It seems ETH desperately wants FDJ and he'll be the central piece if he arrives along with Ronaldo and Sancho IMO. Bruno being part of a system has shown not to work well so far. His need to be the central piece of the team is what will have him out of the team very quickly.
 

bosnian_red

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Ten Hag had Ziyech as a key player who pretty much played the role for Ajax that Bruno did for us (on the ball, not necessarily the same position but Ten Hag is always flexible). An ultra high creator who pumps shots and forces dangerous balls. He'll be fine IMO. I'd be shocked if Ten Hag didn't like Bruno and the qualities he offers, especially as he had a player like that, and made him a key player.
 

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He is hard working and is an absolute assist machine who can also score goals. Ten Hag is known for bringing out the best in players who others thought couldnt work, so I say lets see what Ten Hag can do with Bruno.
Bruno absolutely needs to work on the simple passing etc, but I hope Ten Hag can help him.
 

roonster09

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De Bruyne loses possession while trying very difficult passes in the last third including lots of crosses, Bruno losses possession anywhere on the pitch in the strangest ways. Pass completion isn't everything especially if you use it out of context and I would be very surprised if you tell me that in your opinion Bruno and De Bruyne play and read the game similarly.

And Bruno wasn't signed as a finished product, he was very much a work in progress, there is no scenario where Sporting watched what he was doing in Italy and thought that it was exactly what they wanted since he was badly failing.
No, I didn't say they read the game similarly. People always come up with "He loses possession" when the best player in the league tops that stat almost all the time. KdB doesn't have to do daft things as they all move superbly well. He doesn't even have to think before playing passes, it's the automatism, he will have 4-5 players making runs, available for passes.

Not saying Bruno will have similar impact, I just disagree with this simplistic view that "Bruno loses possession, so he can't play under possession manager".

I believe lot of people will be surprised when managers rate these creators highly and accommodate them in their tactical plans.
 

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Ten Hag throughout the year played different formations at Ajax, depending on the players at hand.. In the very successful Champions League run he played with Dusan Tadic as false 9.
That's true of course. I think it's one of ETHs strength that he seems to be able to adapt his formation and tactics to get the most of out of his players. So yeah who knows, maybe we are even going to see Burno as a false 9 if Ron is injured.
 

JPRouve

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No, I didn't say they read the game similarly. People always come up with "He loses possession" when the best player in the league tops that stat almost all the time. KdB doesn't have to do daft things as they all move superbly well. He doesn't even have to think before playing passes, it's the automatism, he will have 4-5 players making runs, available for passes.

Not saying Bruno will have similar impact, I just disagree with this simplistic view that "Bruno loses possession, so he can't play under possession manager".

I believe lot of people will be surprised when managers rate these creators highly and accommodate them in their tactical plans.
I didn't make the simplistc point that you are disagreeing with so you may want to have that argument with someone else.
 

DomesticTadpole

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He is hard working and is an absolute assist machine who can also score goals. Ten Hag is known for bringing out the best in players who others thought couldnt work, so I say lets see what Ten Hag can do with Bruno.
Bruno absolutely needs to work on the simple passing etc, but I hope Ten Hag can help him.
Agree. Think he just has to become more disciplined and to chose passes a bit more wisely.
 

roonster09

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EtH is not a miracle worker, you need certain qualities to be able to play wide, qualities that Bruno doesn't have. Bruno cannot dribble so it's pointless having him out wide. Using Tadic as a comparison is widely off because Tadic has been a wide playmaker or even a winger for most of his career.

Bruno needs space to operate which is why he's best in central positions in a counter attacking system. Bruno out wide in a team trying to build up phases of play will quickly prove not to work.

The key is whether or not, he's a central piece of our system. It seems ETH desperately wants FDJ and he'll be the central piece if he arrives along with Ronaldo and Sancho IMO. Bruno being part of a system has shown not to work well so far. His need to be the central piece of the team is what will have him out of the team very quickly.
Tadic played plenty of games as attacking mid for Southampton.

Bruno doesn't have to be central piece, if we have functioning team, Bruno's goal numbers should be even higher as he has very good off the ball movement. Players rarely pick him and most of the times we don't have players who have the ability to pull the passes. If we build like Ajax, Bruno will get lot of chances because of his work rate and off the ball movement. It doesn't have to be like how it is now, pass the ball to Bruno, every pacey player just make the run so Bruno can play that long pass.
 

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I reckon Bruno can hit double numbers in goals and assist next season under ten Hag. Obviously depends how he’s used though.
 

roonster09

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Ten Hag had Ziyech as a key player who pretty much played the role for Ajax that Bruno did for us (on the ball, not necessarily the same position but Ten Hag is always flexible). An ultra high creator who pumps shots and forces dangerous balls. He'll be fine IMO. I'd be shocked if Ten Hag didn't like Bruno and the qualities he offers, especially as he had a player like that, and made him a key player.
Yeah, I would be very surprised if ETH doesn't like Bruno or thinks benching him would be better for the team. What Bruno offers something that our other attackers won't is work rate. He runs all game, makes so many runs off the ball and creates chances when on the ball.

There will be issues initially but I believe ETH will play him regularly.
 

JPRouve

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Could Bruno be a misunderstood modern day Djorkaeff?
 

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He'll fit perfectly. You won't find a harder working 10 or wide forward. He's basically an upgraded Ziyech who worked perfectly fine in ETHs Ajax.
He works way too hard and has way too much talent and reativity to be sidelined. Key player in many seasons to come.
 

youmeletsfly

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He will fit in fine with some coaching and some effort on his ball retention skills.

If he won't improve his ball retention, the question turns into if he will fit ETH's team at all.
 

El Jefe

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Tadic played plenty of games as attacking mid for Southampton.

Bruno doesn't have to be central piece, if we have functioning team, Bruno's goal numbers should be even higher as he has very good off the ball movement. Players rarely pick him and most of the times we don't have players who have the ability to pull the passes. If we build like Ajax, Bruno will get lot of chances because of his work rate and off the ball movement. It doesn't have to be like how it is now, pass the ball to Bruno, every pacey player just make the run so Bruno can play that long pass.
I disagree but the only way to know is by seeing what happens next season.

Bruno is just not that good in my opinion. His selling point is his numbers, I mean even this season where he's been poor he managed 10 goals and 14 assists, his value is in his goal contributions. In a vacuum that is great but as part of a team not particularly impressive when you watch the games. On the other hand you have a player like Bernardo Silva who has 13 goals and 7 assists and his performances have blown Bruno's out the water.

To me its simple, Bruno doesn't have the required skill or football IQ to be a top player. His big game record is what it is because he's easy to mark and poor in tight spaces. The term midfield Lukaku has been used and I think it applies perfectly to him. I can't see how such a player will be crucial to ETH's plans long term. But hey I could be wrong.
 

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He has to adapt and make better decisions when circulating the ball. I see some have used KDB to defend him. De Bruyne is not careless, Bruno is and there is a difference. How often has he made a blind pass that hasn't come off or a needless flick in his own half? De Bruyne barely gets caught out doing such.
He also plays a lot deeper for Portugal. That's something he will have to get used to.
 

roonster09

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I disagree but the only way to know is by seeing what happens next season.

Bruno is just not that good in my opinion. His selling point is his numbers, I mean even this season where he's been poor he managed 10 goals and 14 assists, his value is in his goal contributions. In a vacuum that is great but as part of a team not particularly impressive when you watch the games. On the other hand you have a player like Bernardo Silva who has 13 goals and 7 assists and his performances have blown Bruno's out the water.

To me its simple, Bruno doesn't have the required skill or football IQ to be a top player. His big game record is what it is because he's easy to mark and poor in tight spaces. The term midfield Lukaku has been used and I think it applies perfectly to him. I can't see how such a player will be crucial to ETH's plans long term. But hey I could be wrong.
Lets see, there are enough examples to support why this "possession lost" doesn't matter.
 

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I think he'll fit but not like how Ole uses him.

Ten Hag will probably use him like Ziyech/Tadic as a wide playmaker that will operate in the half space
 

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ETH has said, it's the players that determine his approach to the game. That's how he rebuilt his 2 teams at Ajax. That's his genius.

We will just have to wait for his assessment of our superstars and what he comes out with. I am sure Bruno won't be a centre-back -- too short nor a goalie. Otherwise, ETH may surprise us all.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

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Are you sure it's that simple? He looks lost when asked to perform perfunctory, team-based football of any kind. Why would that be down to any one manager and not the mind and intelligence of the player?

Bruno is a maverick, and outside of that there a lot of issues with how he plays; I don't see how or why that changes - he needs a team to cater to what he does, imo it actually cannot go the other way.
How would we know when he’s never in his career player under a manager like that? Ten Hag is the first time he’s playing under an obsessive system based manager so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I think he will personally surprise people because as other posters have said, good players can adapt and grow to new systems.
 

glasgow 21

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I disagree but the only way to know is by seeing what happens next season.

Bruno is just not that good in my opinion. His selling point is his numbers, I mean even this season where he's been poor he managed 10 goals and 14 assists, his value is in his goal contributions. In a vacuum that is great but as part of a team not particularly impressive when you watch the games. On the other hand you have a player like Bernardo Silva who has 13 goals and 7 assists and his performances have blown Bruno's out the water.
I think you OTT on the negatives here. A good coach will get the best out of Bruno, a bit of stop doing that as that isn't your role springs to mind. Bruno was trying to hard to be everything as the team wasn't performing and resulted in a negative impact. He is a good,intelligent player, coached better will be absolutely fine. We were quick to see the back of nani ,wrongly, and years later still haven't replaced that type of player on the right. We have a lot of deck cleaning to do before we even get close to whether Bruno is up for debate.
 

troylocker

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I disagree but the only way to know is by seeing what happens next season.

Bruno is just not that good in my opinion. His selling point is his numbers, I mean even this season where he's been poor he managed 10 goals and 14 assists, his value is in his goal contributions. In a vacuum that is great but as part of a team not particularly impressive when you watch the games. On the other hand you have a player like Bernardo Silva who has 13 goals and 7 assists and his performances have blown Bruno's out the water.

To me its simple, Bruno doesn't have the required skill or football IQ to be a top player. His big game record is what it is because he's easy to mark and poor in tight spaces. The term midfield Lukaku has been used and I think it applies perfectly to him. I can't see how such a player will be crucial to ETH's plans long term. But hey I could be wrong.
How has Bernardo's performances blown Bruno's out of the water?
Maybe by being part of a better team....., but very few players are better than Bruno at what Bruno does well:

Defensive work:
Bruno: 17,6 pressings/90 min - tackles won 1,3 tackles won/90 min
Bernardo: 15,1pressings/90 min - tackles won 1,0 tackles won/90 min

Chance creation/vertical passing:
Bruno: 0,25 xA90 - 2,54 key passes/90 - 4,48 completed passes into the att. 1/3 per 90 - 2,46 completed passes into penalty area per 90 - 5,66 completed progressive passes per 90
Bernardo: 0,21 xA90 - 1,70 key passes/90 - 3,22 completed passes into the att. 1/3 per 90 - 1,32 completed passes into penalty area per 90 - 2,78 completed progressive passes per 90

And the goals...

Bernardo's contributionrate has always been a bit too low for a player placed that high up the field. He's good at avoiding pressure and distributing the ball without risk though. I'd rather have a creative, hard worker like Bruno myself.
 

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Yeah, I would be very surprised if ETH doesn't like Bruno or thinks benching him would be better for the team. What Bruno offers something that our other attackers won't is work rate. He runs all game, makes so many runs off the ball and creates chances when on the ball.

There will be issues initially but I believe ETH will play him regularly.
I actually think the issues will arise later on.

The first thing ten Hag is going to do is gather together a core group of players that aren’t afraid of hard work, and build a team around them. Bruno is going to be in that group from the start for the reason you give. I expect we’ll be seeing a good deal of Dalot as well, which will mightily annoy many on here.

The “system” will only start to develop in earnest once the whole team is playing at the necessary level of intensity. Only then will it become apparent whether or not Bruno fits in.
 

roonster09

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I actually think the issues will arise later on.

The first thing ten Hag is going to do is gather together a core group of players that aren’t afraid of hard work, and build a team around them. Bruno is going to be in that group from the start for the reason you give. I expect we’ll be seeing a good deal of Dalot as well, which will mightily annoy many on here.

The “system” will only start to develop in earnest once the whole team is playing at the necessary level of intensity. Only then will it become apparent whether or not Bruno fits in.
Maybe I have more confidence on Bruno than many on caf, that's why I always end up predicting/assuming he will be very good under ETH.

Like you said, it might be problem later when we sign lot of players and everyone looks in sync, with Bruno looking out of place.
 

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If Ten Hag perceives Bruno as a key player, maybe he'll be eyeing a diamond formation? Bruno behind 2 strikers, and a 3-man midfield behind Bruno.
 

didz

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If Ten Hag perceives Bruno as a key player, maybe he'll be eyeing a diamond formation? Bruno behind 2 strikers, and a 3-man midfield behind Bruno.
Considering we have no attackers who can hold up the ball, and loads that want to stretch the backline, I'd say that's not a bad shout in some games. But we're a bit light on midfielders and I'm not too sure where Sancho fits into that either, which is why I don't think it will be his go-to.

I do think we'll see a diamond against tough 433 teams that like to play out through their fullbacks. Apparently at Utrecht he had them using two strikers to block passing lanes to those positions, with the #10 marking the opposition pivot.
 

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If Ten Hag perceives Bruno as a key player, maybe he'll be eyeing a diamond formation? Bruno behind 2 strikers, and a 3-man midfield behind Bruno.
I think that causes far more problems than it solves. Nowhere for Sancho to play, we don't really have a second striker, and any narrow system like that relies heavily on the fullbacks going forward.
 

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The further up the pitch, farther from the midline he is played, the better