[hasanejaz88]

The biggest issue with regards to him is that we simply can't afford to rest him as our play goes down a lot when he isn't on the pitch, and with the intense schedulling we have this season it's a massive risk to play him in every match. We're lucky that him having to play every game hasn't effect his form, yet, but I'm afraid of the day when he will either get injured or get too tired to perform at his best.

I don't know what the case is with VdB, he was brought in to act as a replacement for Bruno, but we need to trust him more because he hasn't been poor in the few appearances he has made.

 

[romufc]

I dont know if people have realised this but Bruno pulls of stinkers like this when he is tired. We saw it at the end of last season, when he was being over used.

He lacked intensity in his game and it was quite clear to see, we need to give him a rest.

 

[Renegade]

He’s a bit like Scholes. Both had a shocking low level.

I’ve no problem with him posing the ball in attacking areas, but he does need to be better with the ball in our half.

having said that, it’s a bit off criticising our best player of the past 12 months.

I don’t remember Scholes dropping any 0/10 performances. I think you mean Rooney

 

[Berbasbullet]

I don’t remember Scholes dropping any 0/10 performances. I think you mean Rooney

Innit Scholes low level was good, Rooney is a great comparison, sometimes he could be very very bad, but you kept him on as he could easily smash in a winner.

 

[amsoUG]

Didn't have assist or goal to mask his erratic passing. Needs to keep it simple more

This. Atimes I can't fathom the blunders he makes with his final balls in many matches, for a player of his pedigree. Let's hope he is able to iron these out.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

When he’s bad he’s absolutely appalling.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

The worst thing that he did last night was at the end of the first half when City gave us the ball twice in their half in the space of a minute and he totally bodged both opportunities. He looked tired.

 

[Mainoldo]

Sign Grealish this summer to take some weight off his bloody shoulders

How? Bruno will still be playing a free role.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

One Game too far for him.

Shouldn't be risked against Watford

 

[Stacks]

Find it hard to criticise him but he hasn't done enough in the big games so far.

Maybe he tries too hard to be the man and just needs to relax a little?

I couldn't believe he fluffed that pass in the first half, that was really amateur. Hopefully he'll step up again against burnley.

2020 from Jan, Goal vs Sevilla, Chelsea assist, City assist, Spurs goal, Leicester goal, Chelsea goal,
2021 - PSG goal, Leibzeig assist, Leibzeig goal, Spurs goal, Leicester goal + assist,

depends what a big game is. his record is hit and miss

 

[YAMS49]

He’s a bit like Scholes. Both had a shocking low level.

Scholes' low level was actually very very high. I have completely no idea what you were watching.

 

[Adam-Utd]

2020 from Jan, Goal vs Sevilla, Chelsea assist, City assist, Spurs goal, Leicester goal, Chelsea goal,
2021 - PSG goal, Leibzeig assist, Leibzeig goal, Spurs goal, Leicester goal + assist,

depends what a big game is. his record is hit and miss

I'm not including penalties, just open play goals.

While yes he's chipped in with a few, his performances haven't been as good compared to the lower league teams IMO.

 

[Stacks]

I'm not including penalties, just open play goals.

While yes he's chipped in with a few, his performances haven't been as good compared to the lower league teams IMO.

??? Gerrard and Lampard scored nay FK and Pens vs Utd and they were seen as big game moments nontheless. The goalposts get moved for Fernandes.
His performances are often not that good vs anyone of any standard. He can be a very frustrating as a player

 

[MU655]

He looks done. You can tell he was rushing things far too much, which looks like a sign of exhaustion. Definitely needs to be dropped entirely from the squad on the weekend. We shouldn't need him to beat Watford. There are a few others I would drop for that one as well for a rest. We have a game on the 12th as well.

Think we are on the verge of risking injury with him at this point. He doesn't look like the type of player that can play every game in a season.

 

[Sylar]

One of his worst games for us. I know he wants to play every minute but ole needs to just rest him completely vs Watford. By that I mean not even sub him on.

Give him a break before the Burnley match

 

[Jeppers7]

??? Gerrard and Lampard scored nay FK and Pens vs Utd and they were seen as big game moments nontheless. The goalposts get moved for Fernandes.
His performances are often not that good vs anyone of any standard. He can be a very frustrating as a player

For me the goalposts were moved for Pogba and as such I can’t get away from penalties not counting for much....I’ll admit I hadn’t considered them much before Pogba suddenly took them, so for the likes of RVN Gerrard Lampard etc I just saw goals.

 

[Born2Lose]

I'm not including penalties, just open play goals.

While yes he's chipped in with a few, his performances haven't been as good compared to the lower league teams IMO.

You want him to perform in big games give him a competent midfield and forward line around him.

There's no way we would have finished 3rd without him last year.

 

[RUCK4444]

Scholes' low level was actually very very high. I have completely no idea what you were watching.

Agree, Scholes in his entire career probably never had a single game less than 7/10

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Scholes' low level was actually very very high. I have completely no idea what you were watching.

It’s my opinion, having watched his entire career. I’m not saying it was often, and I loved him as a player.

 

[Sandikan]

Bruno without any sort of doubt needs to be rested totally v Watford. Not even on the bench job. Otherwise we'll be tempted to chuck him on for 30-40.

 

[dove]

We rely on him so much that when he is playing poorly (and it happens quite often against TOP 6 teams) we don't look like we could score a goal even if we played 10 hours, hence our shocking record against these teams. He is carrying this team on his own but he can't do it alone against very good sides.

 

[charlenefan]

Scholes' low level was actually very very high. I have completely no idea what you were watching.

Agree, Scholes in his entire career probably never had a single game less than 7/10

Nah like all players Scholes had some shockers, 5/10 for some of these would have been generous at the time

Games against Benfica and Basel (I think it was them) in the UCL spring to mind

 

[DannyCAFC]

He was horrible. He’s as productive as De Bruyne but he’s not as dependable when it comes to keeping the ball.

Yeah this is the difference. I was thinking earlier about how similar a lot of their attributes are.

Excellent range of passing and able to pick killer through balls, good crossers, great shooters from distance and pretty deadly in the box, aggressive in their runs off-the-ball and hard workers.

But KBD is heavily involved in the build-up and can control games because he's patient and disciplined when he needs to be. Fernandes doesn't seem to be able to shift down from 5th gear ever.

 

[charlenefan]

There could well be a 'thing' about Bruno in the big games

We had an exceptional record in the big games last season, most of those wins though came before Bruno. Since Bruno has arrived the obvious over reliance on him has changed the way we play in these games (it's a bit like the tendency to hoof it long to Fellaini when he was in the team, you change your style when certain players are on the pitch even if you don't mean to)

Time will tell but we need a win in a big game as it's the polar opposite from last season

 

[RUCK4444]

Nah like all players Scholes had some shockers, 5/10 for some of these would have been generous at the time

Games against Benfica and Basel (I think it was them) in the UCL spring to mind

There might have been the odd game but he was very reliable, far more reliable than the players we have in midfield right now.

You knew you were going to get a solid performance from Scholes 99% of the time. Which included him controlling the tempo of the game which is a very hard trait to replace.

 

[tomaldinho1]

I think a factor for him against the better teams is we're very predictable in how we play - if we've just started a counter, he usually drifts left or right to find some space and once receiving the ball, his first priority is a long, direct ball where he will have Rashford or Martial trying to play off the shoulder. Hence so many offsides. If you have half decent defenders, unless that pass is absolutely pinpoint it's likely we lose possession. If you lose possession against a decent team like City so frequently, it completely fecks you from a fitness standpoint.

When we're in possession in advanced areas if he's on the right he will sit behind AWB and look to cross or play someone in, again quite easy to defend particularly when we don't really have an aerial threat up top without Cavani. Coming off the left, he often likes to be in a position to play someone in or get close enough for a shot. I'd say this is where he is most dangerous but we don't really like to keep possession and we don't setup to move the ball around quickly and create space, it's all a bit bish, bash, bosh....get the ball to a striker as quickly as possible, get a shot off and do that over and over again.

It's not the end of the world as it's a cup that is not important in my opinion but I do think we need to change how we approach these 'crunch' games (RBL 2nd game, semi finals etc have not gone well so far).

 

[Adisa]

This has nothing to do with fatigue. He is careless with possession. It was known before he came here. In games against top teams where things don't come off, it can be suicidal.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Over reliant on him. We can get away with this patchy form against the majority of the league but against the likes of Liverpool and City they are more than capable of cutting his influence from the game, mainly down to the fact they keep the ball far more better than we do, though this can be said of the whole team to a certain extent.

Concerning last night, he was pretty tragic. Comfortably the worst I've seen from him but, to cut him some slack, he's practically carrying the side. Take him out and we're a far worse team ,which with the money spent that obviously shouldn't be the case.

I cant see us finish higher than 3rd at the moment, which isn't exactly bad with the way our transfer work went in the summer, as its probably a finish that would've been accepted.

 

[Ajr]

We need to rotate him a bit, seriously otherwise we will be worse overall in the end. Trust Pogba/VDB even if it means dropping a few points, I dont think itll be more points than if Bruno gets fecked again

 

[FrankDrebin]

He should be rested against Watford, so should Pogba.
We should have enough quality in the squad to go into that game without those two.

 

[Becks00]

There could well be a 'thing' about Bruno in the big games

We had an exceptional record in the big games last season, most of those wins though came before Bruno. Since Bruno has arrived the obvious over reliance on him has changed the way we play in these games (it's a bit like the tendency to hoof it long to Fellaini when he was in the team, you change your style when certain players are on the pitch even if you don't mean to)

Time will tell but we need a win in a big game as it's the polar opposite from last season

It'd come at Anfield no worries

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Looks like we might be about to run him into the ground again and see the same end of season decline we saw last year.

What’s the definition of insanity?

 

[FrankDrebin]

Put Bruno around better players and he wouldn't feel the need to constantly feel like he's carrying the whole club on his shoulders.

 

[saivet]

Yeah this is the difference. I was thinking earlier about how similar a lot of their attributes are.

Excellent range of passing and able to pick killer through balls, good crossers, great shooters from distance and pretty deadly in the box, aggressive in their runs off-the-ball and hard workers.

But KBD is heavily involved in the build-up and can control games because he's patient and disciplined when he needs to be. Fernandes doesn't seem to be able to shift down from 5th gear ever.

Agreed, it seems a bit of a problem for us in these big games. His aggressive passing certainly helps most of the time but a more reserved Bruno yesterday would have helped us big time.

We've seen similar performances in other games too but he's nicked a goal or an assist. I know people will say this is Bruno, but there surely has to be a balance where he can tone it down a bit to retain possession more, but still be a threat.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

There could well be a 'thing' about Bruno in the big games

We had an exceptional record in the big games last season, most of those wins though came before Bruno. Since Bruno has arrived the obvious over reliance on him has changed the way we play in these games (it's a bit like the tendency to hoof it long to Fellaini when he was in the team, you change your style when certain players are on the pitch even if you don't mean to)

Time will tell but we need a win in a big game as it's the polar opposite from last season

You might be on to something here.

 

[Hansinity]

To say he is not a big game player is wrong. Come on , hes been here for one year.

But I also don't get the argument :" he is allowed to have a game off". It is not one game off though. I have seen exact this explanation multiple times. So it is not just " a game off" , in fact he had tons of bad performances if we are honest.

After all stats dont lie and he is obviously the best and most important player in the team. I can't imagine him playing for Liverpool, Bayern or City though. He just loses possession way too often in the final third of the field. I would love to see him to calm down sometiems and rather control the game .

 

[YAMS49]

It’s my opinion, having watched his entire career. I’m not saying it was often, and I loved him as a player.

Fair enough, all about opinions isn't it. Just out of interest did someone like Irwin have the same low performances?

 

[lost7]

I don't like that I'm seeing a lot of "he was trying to carry us so he had a poor performance" opinions. Yesterday he had a bad game, full stop. He wasn't getting simple things right (like putting Rashford through with a 5 yard pass) in the first half when we were still playing reasonably well.

Bruno's been our star since he's come here and he's performed incredibly well, and he can afford to have a bad game or 2. But let's not act as if anytime he has a bad game there is an excuse.

 

[nmm85]

Is this his first season without a winter break?

Looked really off the pace yesterday. You can tell he was really disappointed with some of his plays, seems to have lost some sharpness due to fatigue.

 

[MadDogg]

This has nothing to do with fatigue. He is careless with possession. It was known before he came here. In games against top teams where things don't come off, it can be suicidal.

He's always going to give the ball away quite a lot because of the way he plays, but it does seem to get worse as he plays more and more games without a break. We saw it towards the end of last season for the last month or so of the league (and then after having a small break he seemed back to normal in the Europa games), and we're seeing it again now. His decision making just seems to get worse, he starts going for the killer ball pretty much every time he gets it and more often than not he messes it up.

He also seems to get less involved with helping out the midfield as the games really pile up. Once again we saw that last season and we're seeing it again now as he seems to be staying higher up the field. Understandable really since expecting him to be constantly up and down the field for the full 90 twice a week is going to take it's toll.