Bruno Fernandes’ “Bad Season”

kafta

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He's our best player, and a chance making machine. His stats are insane. I thought in Portugal it was because of a weaker league, but he's done it in the PL too. Phenomenal player, and great to watch.
 

DrRodo

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I understand why he can frustrate prople every now and then. His football brain works always at a very high pace, with getting a shot to the opposite goal asap in his mind all the time. Sometimes it just doesn't work because playing at that pace requires perfect coordination and precision in the touches and passing.

However at the end of the day i think wr all agree if it wasn't for him, these last few seasons could had ended up pretty ugly for us

That touch for the last goal yesterday, my word :drool: :drool: :drool:
 

AltiUn

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It’s the red shirt isn’t it?
To be fair, RedCafe's idea of de Buryne vs actual de Bruyne are 2 completely different players. In his prime you'd be forgiven for thinking de Bruyne was Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane and Kaka rolled into one perfect player judging by some of the posters on here.
 

Rocksy

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It doesn’t really matter if he’s better (or not) than Du Bruyne, he must be United’s best player. He’s never injured either, is he? The team has been a mess but I think it’s tidying up and he’s coming into form. He was really dangerous yesterday and I think he’s going to like playing with Sancho.
 

Lentwood

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To be fair, RedCafe's idea of de Buryne vs actual de Bruyne are 2 completely different players. In his prime you'd be forgiven for thinking de Bruyne was Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane and Kaka rolled into one perfect player judging by some of the posters on here.
Yeah, every time I watch KdB I am reminded that he's a high-risk, high-reward player like Bruno. In fact, I don't think there's too much between them, in the sense that both have a tendency to lose possession frequently before making the difference in a big moment.

If I did have to highlight one difference, KdB is a bit more 'durable' than Bruno. I am sick of seeing Bruno playing for free-kicks in the manner that cost us again yesterday and constantly whingeing at referees or getting caught up in spats with opponents.

If I was on of his teammates, I'd have been very unhappy at the period during the 2nd half where he cost us the goal and then spent the next ten minutes running about committing obvious fouls out of pettiness. The worst thing you can do is to let things negatively impact your performance.
 

Righteous Steps

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Yeah, every time I watch KdB I am reminded that he's a high-risk, high-reward player like Bruno. In fact, I don't think there's too much between them, in the sense that both have a tendency to lose possession frequently before making the difference in a big moment.

If I did have to highlight one difference, KdB is a bit more 'durable' than Bruno. I am sick of seeing Bruno playing for free-kicks in the manner that cost us again yesterday and constantly whingeing at referees or getting caught up in spats with opponents.

If I was on of his teammates, I'd have been very unhappy at the period during the 2nd half where he cost us the goal and then spent the next ten minutes running about committing obvious fouls out of pettiness. The worst thing you can do is to let things negatively impact your performance.
Yes correct the Cafe and other media have an obsession with acting like De Bruyne isn’t a player that constantly loses the ball attempting passes, the difference between him and Bruno is that he is far more adaptable in that he could actually play in a midfield three while Bruno only seems to flourish in a number 10 position which is far less as important as it was say 20 years ago.
 

Giggsy13

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He’s been frustrating at times this season, but who hasn’t in this squad. Ronaldo has been uncharacteristically poor as a finisher this season, Rashford brain dead in the attacking end, Shaw with no positional awareness, Maguire a big oaf etc etc. Bruno makes this team tick and if he can continue what he did against Leeds then it might be a surprisingly good end to the season. 3rd is up for grabs if we can keep it up.
 

Abraxas

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He's our one, indisputably world class player. An absolute diamond. If you look round world football there are very few midfielders that can do what he does, his output is absolutely ludicrous.

You do have to accept a few of his more annoying traits but I actually think he's been better recently in this slightly more rounded role, some of those have dissipated. He's working back more as he has more build up responsibility. Still a bit wasteful with possession but you can't create chances without attempting them, that goes without saying.

If we had 10 more Bruno standard players that want to win and have the same quality he does we'd have no issues at all.
 

Poborsky's hair

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I often criticise him because he's often very easy to avoid criticism even when he's been on very long and poor run of form, however he's still one of our best players and a player with good attitude.

WOnder what are his defensive stats but he's often ready to press these days and you love to see it in a forward player. It's especially important in our team because the only one who triggers the press constantly is perhaps Fred and then long gap in that sort of quality in a player, so even if he's got one of those games, you know he will work harder than your usual Martial and comes up with a moment of brilliance.
 

Pogue Mahone

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Yeah, every time I watch KdB I am reminded that he's a high-risk, high-reward player like Bruno. In fact, I don't think there's too much between them, in the sense that both have a tendency to lose possession frequently before making the difference in a big moment.

If I did have to highlight one difference, KdB is a bit more 'durable' than Bruno. I am sick of seeing Bruno playing for free-kicks in the manner that cost us again yesterday and constantly whingeing at referees or getting caught up in spats with opponents.

If I was on of his teammates, I'd have been very unhappy at the period during the 2nd half where he cost us the goal and then spent the next ten minutes running about committing obvious fouls out of pettiness. The worst thing you can do is to let things negatively impact your performance.
I’d use the same word and come to the exact opposite conclusion. Bruno is a lot more durable than KdB. Just compare the number of league games they’ve played since Bruno signed for us. I keep saying but being relatively resistant to injury is a fantastic quality for any player. No matter how good they are they’re literally worthless every time they miss a game injured. It was Ronaldo’s most underrated quality and it looks like Bruno is cut from the same cloth.
 

Plant0x84

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I often criticise him because he's often very easy to avoid criticism even when he's been on very long and poor run of form, however he's still one of our best players and a player with good attitude.

WOnder what are his defensive stats but he's often ready to press these days and you love to see it in a forward player. It's especially important in our team because the only one who triggers the press constantly is perhaps Fred and then long gap in that sort of quality in a player, so even if he's got one of those games, you know he will work harder than your usual Martial and comes up with a moment of brilliance.
You only criticise our best player because he doesn’t get criticism? Sounds reasonable.
 

ForeverRed1

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Thanks mate. Thought I had to do it, I think it’s absolutely insane that he receives more criticism than praise. He’s THE best player we’ve had since Fergie left.

I’d take one Bruno over two Bernardo’s, and I’m being absolutely serious.

same but if you said that to most non united fans they would ridicule you. Bernardo is seen as a contender for player of the season and gets so many good plaudits while Bruno gets called out left, right and center. I’m with you and I wouldn’t swap the two if offered. Bernardo wouldn’t do for us what Bruno has, he’s dragged us by the scruff of the neck the last two seasons.
 
Bruno Interview After Leeds

MalaysianRed7

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Just going to leave this interview here and threadmark it because everyone needs to see this. He’s completely slaughtered every journalist who’s tried their best to bring the club down recently, while sticking up for his teammates and fans. Samuel Luckhurst, Alex Shaw, Christian Falk, we know you all read this forum. This is for you.
 

Poborsky's hair

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You only criticise our best player because he doesn’t get criticism? Sounds reasonable.
I criticise him because he escapes criticism so easily and when we know he's got so much potential and can do much better, than he often unfortunately does.
 

NewYorkRed

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He was “bad” last year too, its just the offense revolved around him so he was putting up better numbers and hence got lesser stick. He has bad parts to his game but you easily live with them because the good he brings is top-5 midfielder in the world level of good. He’s the best thing that has happened to this club in a long, long time.
 

Lentwood

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I’d use the same word and come to the exact opposite conclusion. Bruno is a lot more durable than KdB. Just compare the number of league games they’ve played since Bruno signed for us. I keep saying but being relatively resistant to injury is a fantastic quality for any player. No matter how good they are they’re literally worthless every time they miss a game injured. It was Ronaldo’s most underrated quality and it looks like Bruno is cut from the same cloth.
I meant "durable" in every sense of the word though. Sure, Bruno is rarely injured but he is too easily rattled. Not only by opponents, but also his game deteriorates when we are losing. How many times have we been struggling in a game and he abandons all idea of shape and discipline and starts running about in his own half trying to ping impossible hero passes?

I just feel if he kept his head better at times, he wouldn't fluctuate so much between very good and very bad
 

VivaRonaldo85

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The very least of our problems. He’s indisputably in our best XI and a crucial part of it.
 

Irwin99

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I remember Ryan Giggs saying that Keane would always contribute even on the rare days he was playing bad and I always fancy Bruno to bag an assist or get a goal even during a period of bad form. I thought he was fantastic against Leeds btw. Seems to be liking this 4-3-3 system.
 

Owen11

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There was a time when our best players where Rooney, Ronaldo,Van persie,Keane and so on
Now people talk of our best players and they talk of this guy a player with zero trophies, zero big game performance for club and country, inconsistent and erratic and people wonder why we haven't won anything in four years.
He's got good stats(especially when taking penalties) but he only performs against the Brighton's, Leeds and Brentford of the league.

If this guy continues the free role nonsense we won't win anything for a long time,infact I can confidently tell you that he'll ghost all the upcoming big games including the next game on Wednesday.
 

El Jefe

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In typical fashion a blind eye is being turned to his poor performances of which there have been many this season. I'm not necessarily against his style of being wildly inconsistent within games as long as he can have an impact on the big games and that's something he's barely done in the last 18 months.

His form has picked up but if he has a typical shocker in a big game vs Atletico it will all be for nothing and the tone of this thread will take a quick change.
 

Spaghetti

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I’ve not read the whole thread, so apologies if I’m repeating. The main issue with Bruno is his positional discipline (or lack of).

Yeah, sprinting 50 yards to close down the ‘keeper may get some applause, but how often does the have a positive impact? The goalkeeper simply passes it around him and they attack against us with a midfield always out of position.

The fact that he doesn’t have a 100% pass accuracy is fine by me, because at least he tries things. Bruno, Pogba and Sancho seem to be clicking quite nicely.
 

Ish

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He's been a fantastic signing for us and our best player by quite some margin over that period as well, though it's a double edged sword with him, I feel. When compared against KdB, Bruno will always come across more "reckless" with the ball because we've nowhere near the control of games which City has. So when we're not performing well and Bruno loses possession, it invariably results in us on the backfoot, as teams find it easy to slice/play through our (non existent) midfield. Until we resolve our control on matches by actually fixing midfield, Bruno will take a large share of the blame when we lose. When KdB loses the ball - City retrieves it so quickly that it barely effects them/puts them under pressure, as a team. With that being said, I'd still have KdB over Bruno. KdB's also found it a little "easier" to play deeper and still be extremely effective, but again, this is Guardiola for you. City's midfielders, well their entire team essentially, play in areas some 10-20 meters further forward than ours.
 

NewYorkRed

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There was a time when our best players where Rooney, Ronaldo,Van persie,Keane and so on
Now people talk of our best players and they talk of this guy a player with zero trophies, zero big game performance for club and country, inconsistent and erratic and people wonder why we haven't won anything in four years.
He's got good stats(especially when taking penalties) but he only performs against the Brighton's, Leeds and Brentford of the league.

If this guy continues the free role nonsense we won't win anything for a long time,infact I can confidently tell you that he'll ghost all the upcoming big games including the next game on Wednesday.
Gonna go out on a limb and just say this will not age well, like at all.
 

Ali Dia

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I think as he gets older he’ll refine his game more and become a more all round playmaker who minds the ball a bit more to save his own legs. He’s currently just relentlessly forcing the ball through the final line over and over. I don’t even mind that, we majorly struggled with that before he got here. In fact if we had a crazy pressing front 3 I think even some of his bad passes could lead to genuine chances. Unfortunately for him he’s joined a club in constant rebuild mode with a board who don’t really know how to maximise the key components in the team. I still feel like we lucked out with Bruno and the recruitment guys need to catch up and build around him while he’s so productive and not have some manager curb him to fit our other underperforming or low energy players
 
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RedRonaldo

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He is always a top final ball player, and a good presser up front.

His only lacking is probably the general build up play required in his position - he is always thinking about final balls first but not the build up play. His poor form is more about his finishing this season, I guess.
 

POF

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Just going to leave this interview here and threadmark it because everyone needs to see this. He’s completely slaughtered every journalist who’s tried their best to bring the club down recently, while sticking up for his teammates and fans. Samuel Luckhurst, Alex Shaw, Christian Falk, we know you all read this forum. This is for you.
Not much slaughtering going on there but I love Bruno's interviews. So many others trawl out this nauseating crap about "it's not good enough", "it's embarrassing", "we need to improve" and then proceed to play exactly the same way the next week.

Bruno's interviews actually correlate with what he does on the pitch. He is the best leader at the club by a long long way. Always steps up when his team needs him.

I've seen others criticise him for moaning at his teammates. I'm all for it. The more the better. Someone needs to because they don't perform.
 

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We all talk about Cantona’s impact at our club and only the other day they asked Keano and Neville BUT Bruno has been amazing for us but the problem is we ain’t won anything to show for it.
 

EtH

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He plays on the edge. He will have his bad matches. But the main reason for his relative poor form this season is obvious. It’s a joke that he isn’t on freekicks and penalties now as well.
 

Listar

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Simply he is our best player. He needed some time to transform himself when Ronaldo was signed.

Also I'm not seeing the wasteful Bruno under Ole. He isn't trying hard to make things happen. He is getting better under Ralf and is much more purposeful.

Him, Sancho, Dalot and Fred are our most improved players under RR
I know this is a thread on Bruno but I have to chime in to say I disagree on the Fred part. He was pretty good under Ole. Under RR he is playing higher and the amount of times he lost the ball pisses me off.
 

bond19821982

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I know this is a thread on Bruno but I have to chime in to say I disagree on the Fred part. He was pretty good under Ole. Under RR he is playing higher and the amount of times he lost the ball pisses me off.
Fred is an attacking midfielder or atleast that's where he used to play. Ever since RR moved him up, he has 2 goals and 2 assists in 5 matches.

If that's not an improvement, I don't know what else is.
 

NinjaZombie

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I like Bruno. One of the few who doesn't hide, puts in huge amounts of effort every game and tried to stamp his personality in matches.

I'd wish he cuts out his antics though. Every tackle seems to hurt him. It's annoying af. We're not Arsenal and made of glass. (Phil Jones is, and he puts a brave front bless him.)
 

romufc

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I just dont understand why so many United fans dislike him. He is one of our best players and has been for a good 2 years.

Pogba has a couple good games and all I hear from United fans online is the disrespect on Pogba, well the same United fans calling other fans to respect Pogba, disrespect their best player.
 

Plant0x84

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I like Bruno. One of the few who doesn't hide, puts in huge amounts of effort every game and tried to stamp his personality in matches.

I'd wish he cuts out his antics though. Every tackle seems to hurt him. It's annoying af. We're not Arsenal and made of glass. (Phil Jones is, and he puts a brave front bless him.)
Minus points for unnecessary dig at Jonah. :nono:
 

Owen11

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I just dont understand why so many United fans dislike him. He is one of our best players and has been for a good 2 years.

Pogba has a couple good games and all I hear from United fans online is the disrespect on Pogba, well the same United fans calling other fans to respect Pogba, disrespect their best player.
I have seen Pogba win man of the match in games Bruno will never perform in.

Bruno is not our best player, he's no longer on penalties, and very soon we won't need 2 defensive midfielders to cover for his overlaps anymore.
If you think he's our best player then do well watch his performance against athletico closely.
 

romufc

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I have seen Pogba win man of the match in games Bruno will never perform in.

Bruno is not our best player, he's no longer on penalties, and very soon we won't need 2 defensive midfielders to cover for his overlaps anymore.
If you think he's our best player then do well watch his performance against athletico closely.
Name those games?

What does penalties have to do with anything? We don't play with 2 holding mid currently.

I think you are twisting my words, I said he is one of our best players. I have seen Bruno create the most chances, score our most goals. So yes, he is up there as one of our best players.


Just because he doesnt take penalties doesn't mean he isnt.
 

romufc

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There was a time when our best players where Rooney, Ronaldo,Van persie,Keane and so on
Now people talk of our best players and they talk of this guy a player with zero trophies, zero big game performance for club and country, inconsistent and erratic and people wonder why we haven't won anything in four years.
He's got good stats(especially when taking penalties) but he only performs against the Brighton's, Leeds and Brentford of the league.

If this guy continues the free role nonsense we won't win anything for a long time,infact I can confidently tell you that he'll ghost all the upcoming big games including the next game on Wednesday.
First of all, it is clear you lack knowledge. Bruno has won the nations league and Portuguese cups.

He only performs against Brentford and them yet in the last 2 seasons he has goals against Leicester, West Ham, Spurs, City, Liverpool.

Okay he has stats based on penalties, do you know how many of his goals and assists this season have been penalties? please go do some research before making false claims.

He does not have a free role because under Ralf, he is playing in a 4-3-3.

I suggest you get your facts right.