Yup agree (first paragraph). I like mount, but he's not better than Bruno and especially not for where our team is at. There's a ways to go until we outgrow Bruno IMO, it's a step that will be needed to transition from a good - very good team, into a top team, but he is key for us to even reach "good or very good" right now.
But generally, Ten Hag vastly overestimated what Casemiro was capable of, or vastly underestimated what is needed in deep midfield. I think hes flexible so I haven't lost hope, but faith definitely was hit as you say. We need a duo in there, and Mainoo next to Casemiro IMO can be a very strong midfield pair. But we simply need that for balance.
There is one particular thing at which Bruno is better at than Mount - getting goals
out of nowhere. It's quite clear ETH key for choosing players is they need to get him goals, this is also why McTominay has been core of the team (and often keeping Mount on bench). Eric seems happy to ignore that our both attacking midfielders (Bruno and McTominay) will lose the ball a lot, not help much with ball progression etc, because they give him goals
out of nowhere. Mount doesn't seem capable of that at the moment so he sits.
Funny thing is, I think Mount has been quite alright for us whenever he gets on the ball, it's just he doesn't produce those
moments that this team seems to rely on
. And I get that decision from the manager, it's a pragmatic approach in difficult times (as no attacker seems capable of putting the ball into the net). It has worked in recent games, even if the performances have not been good, the results are there.
In the long run, I think Mount is the player that will take us forward though, as he is far better fit in terms of his profile compared to Bruno for a modern side. This is aligned with your comment I believe.
ETH is in catch 22 at the moment. The team doesn't play well and the goals are not coming, so he needs more "moments" players. We have some "moments" players but it's hard to play good football with them in key positions. Back to "the team doesn't play well". Normally it's OK to have those "moments" players if you can build a good platform for them to thrive. There has to be some balance, and it's completely off at the moment. Casemiro (paired with Mainoo?) should be able to bring that balance back. But I don't think this is what ETH is after (for a few reasons).
Which begs the question: why did ten Hag think Mount, Fernandes and Casemiro would work? I think he was being very naive there.
Definitely agree. It's already such a difficult role for a top level player like Casemiro that when an average midfielder like Amrabat plays there you see just how gigantic the drop off is.
I think if we want to win matches against equal or better level midfield balances, we simply have to abandon (or at least shelf for 12 months) the double no.10 proposal.
We absolutely have to abandon this if we want to survive the coming games against serious opposition. It doesn't matter who is the second midfielder (assuming Casemiro/Amrabat/Mainoo is the first) if we play him as a #10. ETH has been very reluctant to do so as recent evidence (McTominay as AM) shows, in fact we only play 2 man midfield when Eriksen is on the pitch as it's clear he is not catching anyone when they're off and running.