Bruno and Pogba: Beginning of a new era

Nikelesh Reddy

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I think he's just hungry for Club level success. He's a world class player in a team struggling to get Top 4. If I were him (taking off my red-tinted glasses), I'd wait to see how ambitious the Club with next transfers. If the Club start penny pinching, he'd say au revoir, and I won't blame him even a bit.
The Fernandez signing will probably satisfy Pogba to a great extent....If we finish the season strongly and win a trophy,I think he can be enticed to sign a new deal.At the end of the day,winning a title at United means a lot more than winning a championship at Juventus....
 

Isotope

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The Fernandez signing will probably satisfy Pogba to a great extent....If we finish the season strongly and win a trophy,I think he can be enticed to sign a new deal.At the end of the day,winning a title at United means a lot more than winning a championship at Juventus....
Yeh. Bruno's arrival shed some light at the end of the tunnel for Pogba. Now he has someone in the same class/vision as him. But is it enough though? Agreed that winning title with United is lot more than Juventus. But Juventus (almost) win the league title and in CL every year, while we're still in another "3 year" project that may or may not be successful. He's on is peak of his career right now.

Even I as United fan, would still strongly consider other options other than United, if I were a pro footballer as good as Pogba.
 

Shiva87

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Bruno makes Pogba look like Lingard.
What! How can you be so blind to what he has done to our team overall since Bruno has taken over a big share of the creative responsibility.

Did you not see that he single handedly won us the penalty at Spurs, and has been improving every game as his fitness returns?
Because it's actually different I think.

Bruno tries things but he doesn't overcomplicate or do them for the sake of showing off his skills. He tries things to score goals. So when it doesn't work no one would have a problem.

Pogba sometime overcomplicates or shows off a bit and loses the ball. That's when people would have a problem with. If he loses the ball trying to make things no one would.

Another beautiful thing with Bruno is he plays actually pretty simple and safe. You'd never see him lose the ball or play a risky pass unnecessary. I don't know how but I've noticed most of the time when he risks a pass and loses possession we're in no danger of being countered and usually would take the ball back pretty soon. Maybe just pure luck or the team has trained for those situations, who knows.
That is so inaccurate. Bruno loses the ball at least 1 in 4 passes, and only 1 in 3 of his passes when he 'tries something risky' come off.

It does not impact us as much because he is playing almost close to the striker while Pogba has always played more of a box to box role.

Not taking away from Bruno, but this is one aspect of his game that could work against us in games against the likes of Pool and City. Only time will tell. Would not want to change this about him though because he really makes the team tick with his constant forward thinking.
 

Strelok

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That is so inaccurate. Bruno loses the ball at least 1 in 4 passes, and only 1 in 3 of his passes when he 'tries something risky' come off.
I don't understand what is your point in this argument. That 1 in 4 passes is the 1 in 3 passes or not?

If yes, isn't it ok? He lost the ball while trying something risky isn't it? And it's even not true since most of his forward passes were successful.

If not, what's you're saying is too inaccurate tbh. I can't remember even one time seeing him lost the ball or misplaced a pass when it's not to try a risky pass/flick/move forward. Maybe 1-2 times in his entire time here at max. He's so calm, composed and always know what to do next even before he receives the ball. No way he'd lose the ball that much doing simple thing like a sideway or backward pass.
 

amolbhatia50k

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They've been immense together. Pogba gives you that absolute class in midfield and top notch distribution and Fernandes the spark and match winning quality in attack. They compliment each other incredibly well.

Need a Casemiro or Busquets
Absolutely. Matic has been fanatastic in recent times. If he was 25 we'd be set for years. His quality on the ball more than anything has been surprisingly excellent. But of course we do need a specialist in that position who has his best years ahead of him. My other worry is that can we reproduce this form without one of this attacking duo.
 

RedWat

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They're great but we need to figure out who goes alongside them, two attacking players places a big burden on the guy covering them. Matic isn't capable of doing that for a full season anymore and even now better opposition will expose his lack of mobility.
We need a player who is a natural CDM as backup to Matic not sure if Fred or McT has the temperament or discipline to do that. If not then we may need to look elsewhere, if West Ham gets relegated we could get someone like Declan Rice on the cheap who could also double up as a backup DM.
 

RedWat

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Pogba thrives when he feels that players around him are at the same level. You can see that he trusts Bruno. Long may it continue, hopefully with a Matic replacement coming in.
I agree, Pogba would I believe also would want quality backup for him and Bruno. They are the creative heart of this Man Utd side

If the fake news over the weekend was true and they were both injured, I was wondering how Utd would have lined up ??. would they have bought McFred in who would both work hard for the cause but lack the required creativity.

Would we revert to struggling against a low block team?? after all Bruno was directly involved in three of the five goals. We indeed need quality backup for them.
 

Shiva87

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I don't understand what is your point in this argument. That 1 in 4 passes is the 1 in 3 passes or not?

If yes, isn't it ok? He lost the ball while trying something risky isn't it? And it's even not true since most of his forward passes were successful.

If not, what's you're saying is too inaccurate tbh. I can't remember even one time seeing him lost the ball or misplaced a pass when it's not to try a risky pass/flick/move forward. Maybe 1-2 times in his entire time here at max. He's so calm, composed and always know what to do next even before he receives the ball. No way he'd lose the ball that much doing simple thing like a sideway or backward pass.
Thats not backed by stats, and is simply rose tinted view. His pass completion rate is 76% at United (https://www.whoscored.com/Players/123761/Show/Bruno-Fernandes) - i.e. he misplaces 1 in 4 passes overall.

Every pass he makes is not a 'risky' one, so he does lose the ball more often when trying something. (Only about 1 in 3 come off).

My point was that, it's not accurate for you to say that he is very good in keeping the ball. Pogba is more efficient with his passing.

He is a busy player who is always looking to play forward, and therefore loses the ball quite a bit. In fact, there are a few times he even tries to shoot when he should not and loses the ball. All of this is okay as we were crying out for someone like that, and it's such a relief to have him do this. Makes us unpredictable and exciting to watch.

Equally, it's important to acknowledge that good teams + managers will identify this as an issue and try to capitalise on it when they play us. As a fan, I will enjoy watching how he or our team deals with it.

For e.g. Ronaldo didn't track back, but the rest of our team learnt to play in a slightly lopsided way to maintain defensive solidity when the RW/ LW was loitering on the other side of the pitch. Doesnt make Ronaldo less of a player or less influential on that 07/08 campaign.
 

Nikelesh Reddy

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Yeh. Bruno's arrival shed some light at the end of the tunnel for Pogba. Now he has someone in the same class/vision as him. But is it enough though? Agreed that winning title with United is lot more than Juventus. But Juventus (almost) win the league title and in CL every year, while we're still in another "3 year" project that may or may not be successful. He's on is peak of his career right now.

Even I as United fan, would still strongly consider other options other than United, if I were a pro footballer as good as Pogba.
I honestly think that only Real Madrid and Barcelona are bigger clubs than United.With all due respect,the Serie A is not an exciting league at all.Most of the stadiums are shabby....Lots of empty seats(during a normal season)...a very boring title race....I can’t see how leaving England and going to Italy can be a step up for a player like Pogba.If he joins Real,then fair enough,he can say that he’s joined a bigger club....But there are lots of reports coming out from Spain now that Real won’t be spending big this summer...I actually think that there’s a much better chance of Pogba signing a new contract now than 3 months ago...
 

Strelok

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Thats not backed by stats, and is simply rose tinted view. His pass completion rate is 76% at United (https://www.whoscored.com/Players/123761/Show/Bruno-Fernandes) - i.e. he misplaces 1 in 4 passes overall.

Every pass he makes is not a 'risky' one, so he does lose the ball more often when trying something. (Only about 1 in 3 come off).

My point was that, it's not accurate for you to say that he is very good in keeping the ball. Pogba is more efficient with his passing.

He is a busy player who is always looking to play forward, and therefore loses the ball quite a bit. In fact, there are a few times he even tries to shoot when he should not and loses the ball. All of this is okay as we were crying out for someone like that, and it's such a relief to have him do this. Makes us unpredictable and exciting to watch.

Equally, it's important to acknowledge that good teams + managers will identify this as an issue and try to capitalise on it when they play us. As a fan, I will enjoy watching how he or our team deals with it.

For e.g. Ronaldo didn't track back, but the rest of our team learnt to play in a slightly lopsided way to maintain defensive solidity when the RW/ LW was loitering on the other side of the pitch. Doesnt make Ronaldo less of a player or less influential on that 07/08 campaign.
I didn't say your "1 in 4 passes" or "1 in 3 passes" were wrong.

I don't understand what is your point in this argument. That 1 in 4 passes is the 1 in 3 passes or not?

If yes, isn't it ok? He lost the ball while trying something risky isn't it? And it's even not true since most of his forward passes were successful.

If not, what's you're saying is too inaccurate tbh. I can't remember even one time seeing him lost the ball or misplaced a pass when it's not to try a risky pass/flick/move forward. Maybe 1-2 times in his entire time here at max. He's so calm, composed and always know what to do next even before he receives the ball. No way he'd lose the ball that much doing simple thing like a sideway or backward pass.
Would you answer my question or have something to prove that Bruno loses possession while he was not trying to score?
 
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roonster09

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Record is getting better and better with these 2 playing together.
 

Rolaholic

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Gotta love how he immediately ran to Bruno to celebrate and thank him for the assist after that beauty of a strike :drool:

Hope we get to see these 2 together for the next 5 years
 

Mcking

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Bruno calling for Pogba to turn there :drool:
Love how he took the corner immediately Pogba did.
 

Black Adder

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Credit to Ole for making it work, they've been amazing this run!

Whole team looks different with them pulling the strings! :drool:
 

Random Task

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I can't imagine Pogba wanting to leave with how things are going with United right now.

The sky's the limit for this team with him and Bruno as the engine room.
 

Isotope

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Record is getting better and better with these 2 playing together.
These feckers, even in a cold night at Villa and played shite, just keep going and going. Now Pogba scored as well.

With these two, we're creating chances for fun.
 

EwanI Ted

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I have to say I didn't think these two would work together, but I'm very happy to be proven wrong. I thought that they might struggle to be both disciplined and creative while playing in the same team, but so far its worked a treat.

I think the reason its different to what I expected is that Pogba's performances have been so mature and controlled. He's definitely the one who's adjusted his game to accommodate the other. He plays at the edge of the box still when we're pressing the opposition back, but he's sitting much deeper at other times. He did this for France in the world cup famously, but he's never made it quite work for us. I'm not sure what's changed but he doesn't look like he's having to play within himself to do it, it seems to suit him. His ability to carry the ball through the middle of the park and his incredible long balls means he can play this role exceptionally well. If he's happy playing it, well that's a huge bonus for us in terms of team balance.

The one small downside is that it only really works alongside Matic, and he won't be able to play every game for us next season, judging from what happened when we've played him too often in the past. So either we figure out how to make it work with McTominay/Fred, or getting a backup DM has suddenly become a much bigger priority. Still, this is a small price for having two of the best creative midfielders in the league in your team.