Funny how some fans over here have already dropped him and how others are saying he would have no place. He’s been our best player since he signed. He’s currently the player who created the most chances this year. He needs to fine tuning I agree. But he’s an asset to any manager who’ll come after Ole
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 46
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 13
- Yellow cards
- 10
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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His current go out and have some fun role will surely come to an end now. I see this going two ways.
Either Bruno is reigned in and managed as an effective midfielder or he's getting sold.
Oles tactics that had him as this luxury player was just not gonna be reliable long term as we found out.
I think there's a class player in there but he needs direction. He needs a role to stick to.
Either Bruno is reigned in and managed as an effective midfielder or he's getting sold.
Oles tactics that had him as this luxury player was just not gonna be reliable long term as we found out.
I think there's a class player in there but he needs direction. He needs a role to stick to.
Feels a bit like Coutinho at Liverpool tbh. I've felt like this ever since he came - obviously a great individual who papers over a lot of cracks, but i'm not sure of his ability to raise the level of the collective group.
Cristiano's a bit like that, but his production (in his prime) was historic so you just put up with it. Singehandedly good enough to win you CL trophies at his best.
When was Bruno's last shot on target in the Premier League? Try to remember...
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Van de Beek deserves a run in the side at his expense. He needs to be used as an impact sub for a few games until he catches his form, he's been overused and under rested for over a year now.
For curiosity, how many shot has he taken in that time?
The Ronaldo effect. Significant increase in chances created by Bruno. Significant decrease in chances created for Bruno.
He is too good to be dropped but he needs discipline. Hopefully the next manager sorts him out and hopefully we get more of his amazing assists this season.
That's awful, say what you want about him but he used to find the target at least a couple of times every game.
His two chances in the last game really sum up his form lately.
Undoubtedly, I would expect Ronaldo's presence to shift Bruno to become more a creator than a goal scorer. Bruno has never been a really prolific non-penalty goal scorer for United anyway.
You are being somewhat generous though right now. I'd argue the Ronaldo effect has just as much been ratcheting up the pressure on Bruno (and the rest of the team and the manager) to deliver and he's crumbling under the pressure.
He's had 13 since. All blocked or off target.
He’s had some great chances in that time too. The one v Liverpool as an example. A penalty. I think Ronaldo created two good chances for him Saturday. Yet according to some it’s all Ronaldo’s fault.
The Athletic reckon that Bruno was shown by the coaching staff numerous times by video all his pointless presses and how to press more effectively but that he wouldn't learn. I wonder if that leak came from team Ole because they put a big portion of the rebellion against Ole at Bruno and Ronaldo's feet.
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Needs a Rest!! the ball Donny played to a Ronaldo in the Watford game was weighted and placed brilliantly.. time for Donny to take his shirt for a few games
You could argue that but it would be a weird argument. Signing one player doesn’t “ratchet up the pressure” on any other players. Other than making life a little bit more difficult if said new signing tends to do very little when we’re not in possession.
Oh and the sentence in bold is complete bollox, obviously. Sort of nonsense you’d hear from rival fans. Or someone with a bizarre, long-held agenda against Bruno.
Bruno hasn't been that prolific for United. I think he has scored 23 non-penalty goals in from 97 appearances (17 non-penalty goals in 63 PL games). It's good, but not prolific for a player who essentially has played as a centre forward or has been given the maximum amount of freedom possible as an attacking midfielder.
What agenda do I have against Bruno, other than trying to separate his large volume of penalty goals from what he otherwise offers as a player? He's a good player, but I remain to be convinced that:
- A) he's an attacking player worth building your entire team around when your level of expectation is to win Premier Leagues, Champions Leagues, World Cups and European Championships;
- B) Bruno's attacking output is worth the trade-off of the level of disruption he provides to the side through a lack of consideration for keeping possession and lack of discipline in positioning in midfield;
- C) he's a leader and the type of player who can be expected to stand up and deliver rather than wilt under pressure.
Is 23 goals in 98 games prolific?
Just not a team player for me. I don’t mean that he is selfish or has the wrong attitude, he does not - but I think he is not condusive to any top unit. Which is why no other top coach with any sort of vision bought him and it literally took the one big club whose coach didn’t have one to buy him
Bruno isn’t condusive to either keeping possession or keeping shape. And as a result, will likely have a negative effect for whatever team he is a part of to go with the obvious positive effect of his ability to create chances and score goals. But at the foundation of any top coaches footballing philosophy will be the keeping of the ball and/or the keeping of the shape. And Bruno has a detrimental impact on both. For Ole Solskjaer, who had no plan on how he wanted to structure his team - Bruno was perfect. His philosophy is percentage football and to hope for a special contribution that comes not be preparation, but by allowing players to express themselves. I can’t think of a more suited player then Bruno for this. The type of football that, reading the forum, the fans seem to want does not easily comply with Bruno.
He is a very unique player to me. Fantastic output. He’s been creating a ridiculous number of chances of late. But I’ve said from the beginning, although people probably just decided it was all personal, but to me a #10 is firstly supposed to knit a team together. To me, Bruno pulls it apart. I don’t care so much about 20 goals or whatever from a 10. That is a bonus. But firstly, I expect you to have the entire team flowing and moving around the pitch better, constantly offering a 5 yard pass to get players out of trouble and giving one to beat a press etc. The 10 role is an intricate one to me, and you need a fantastic short game more than a long one.
I know this is a G+A era. But even as far as this generation of Portuguese 10s go, I think Bernardo Silva is comfortably the better player, and one more top coaches would want to work with, although that would be hard to sell to many fans who will simply point to G+A. Bruno lifts results of a team more than he lifts performance of a team. And a team is built firstly on performances, not results.
Bruno isn’t condusive to either keeping possession or keeping shape. And as a result, will likely have a negative effect for whatever team he is a part of to go with the obvious positive effect of his ability to create chances and score goals. But at the foundation of any top coaches footballing philosophy will be the keeping of the ball and/or the keeping of the shape. And Bruno has a detrimental impact on both. For Ole Solskjaer, who had no plan on how he wanted to structure his team - Bruno was perfect. His philosophy is percentage football and to hope for a special contribution that comes not be preparation, but by allowing players to express themselves. I can’t think of a more suited player then Bruno for this. The type of football that, reading the forum, the fans seem to want does not easily comply with Bruno.
He is a very unique player to me. Fantastic output. He’s been creating a ridiculous number of chances of late. But I’ve said from the beginning, although people probably just decided it was all personal, but to me a #10 is firstly supposed to knit a team together. To me, Bruno pulls it apart. I don’t care so much about 20 goals or whatever from a 10. That is a bonus. But firstly, I expect you to have the entire team flowing and moving around the pitch better, constantly offering a 5 yard pass to get players out of trouble and giving one to beat a press etc. The 10 role is an intricate one to me, and you need a fantastic short game more than a long one.
I know this is a G+A era. But even as far as this generation of Portuguese 10s go, I think Bernardo Silva is comfortably the better player, and one more top coaches would want to work with, although that would be hard to sell to many fans who will simply point to G+A. Bruno lifts results of a team more than he lifts performance of a team. And a team is built firstly on performances, not results.
Bruno plays the way he does because the coaching wanted him to. If we ever start playing a specific system where Bruno needs to adapt his game, I'm sure he will be more than capable of doing so.
I truly believe he can become as good as De Bruyne in his all round game if he learns to identify when the right time to play his killer passes are or when it's time to recycle the ball.
That's something a top manager can do, which we haven't had
I truly believe he can become as good as De Bruyne in his all round game if he learns to identify when the right time to play his killer passes are or when it's time to recycle the ball.
That's something a top manager can do, which we haven't had
He’s never been played as centre forward. Or even as a false nine. The fact you first tried to imply he isn’t prolific (other than penalties) then tried to claim he’s scored his goals by playing a position he’s never actually played when this obvious nonsense got called out is exactly what I mean by an agenda. To be clear, up until this season, he was amongst the most prolific non penalty goal-scorers in the league (and in Europe) for the position he plays. That’s the reality here.
It’s fine to have reservations about players on our team but it’s tiresome when people bend reality to try and support these reservations.
What's the position that Bruno plays?
One damning fact is that he doesn't even always start for Portugal, which I thought was down to the boss but it may be the team just genuinely play better without Bruno
Is that a rhetorical question?!
He’s an extremely creative attacking midfielder (who also happens to do more defensive work than many of his peers)
The current iteration of Bruno is more suited to playing as a false 9 or LW. His 60% pass accuracy trying hollywood passes all the time is a massive headache for any manager when he's doing it in the middle of park.
Having said that, anyone who has 2 brain cells or has seen Bruno play earlier in his career knows his play style is down to coaching and setup. Ole even referred to his setup as 4-2-4 and Bruno has played in the pivot for Portugal.
It's like thinking Rashford is physically unable to track back when it's clear as day he got a pass from Ole.
Will be interesting to see how the next manager uses him.
Having said that, anyone who has 2 brain cells or has seen Bruno play earlier in his career knows his play style is down to coaching and setup. Ole even referred to his setup as 4-2-4 and Bruno has played in the pivot for Portugal.
It's like thinking Rashford is physically unable to track back when it's clear as day he got a pass from Ole.
Will be interesting to see how the next manager uses him.
First bolded part: I think you're referring to a #6 or #8, not #10.
Second bolded part: Arsenal under Arsene Wenger fits into this category of performances first, results later. And they lost to Fergie's Manchester United who prioritized results first.
No, I mean a 10. I think 8s and 6s have more positional responsibilities, while a 10 needs to float around providing a spare man and a pass for the man on the ball.
And any team that wants to enjoy long term results firstly need to be able to actually play well consistently. If not, there’s no run of results that will be sustained. On the flipside, if a team continually manages to play well, you can be confident that results are not far away. United, in recent seasons, have won many games on the spin yet literally everyone knew it was not going to last because they could not play well. Going a goal down, surrendering the first half and hoping to mount a comeback is not a sustainable way of winning football matches, everyone saw it. Clear as day that if we wanted to keep winning, at some point we would actually also need to start playing well.
Under Mourinho we finished 2nd and Liverpool finished 4th, yet everyone went into the following season expecting them to do better than us. Solely because if you watch both teams play, you can see that they were a better team. They had some weaknesses, which they fixed by signing Allison and VDV and then the results followed. Quickly.
No, it's a sense check, because I see people comparing Bruno will all manner of midfielders, even those tasked playing in double pivot roles for their clubs. Bruno certainly was an attacking midfielder, but he has been progressing further and further up the pitch in recent months. It's not been uncommon to see him as a forward in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-4 for large periods of games.
Bruno's creativity isn't really in doubt. He's been a "prolific" creator this season too. That's his biggest strength and what I would want our next manager to really tap into.
His goal scoring isn't particularly elite though. FBref only have him in the 69th percentile of similar players for non-penalty goals per 90 over the last 365 days. Both this season and last season he's in the 72nd percentile for similar players in the PL. And none of this is adjusting the comparisons to be more relevant for the shift in his role where he's essentially often playing as one of a pair of centre forwards.
The above comparisons, as well as the raw numbers of Bruno only scoring 23 non-penalty goals in from 97 appearances for United, as well as 4 in 29 games for Portugal in that time, make me comfortable labelling him not prolific. If that's prolific goal-scoring for you, then so be it.
I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but what the feck was he thinking with that ball that led to the Watford penalty? Just outrageously careless.
I think he just meant to hoof it up the pitch and miscued it. I don't think he was trying to be clever.
Still an absolutely calamitous mistake.
It was, yes. Our whole team is just full of individual errors at the moment. The pressure is clearly getting to them.
The free role experiment was fun while it lasted. Either it was fatigue, lack of discipline or other reasons, like other poster has said, he needs to be reigned in a bit. He needs to keep his discipline positional wise, and help the midfield more. I mean, as evident last game, even Ronaldo had to drop and help the defense and midfield to keep possession of the ball. I am not if it was part of the instructions given by Ole or not. Either way, the midfield and forward was getting disjointed more and more with each passing games.
Center forward, 4-2-4 and usual "can't retain possession" 
People who defended their favorite player using goals and assists now come up with "this is G+A era". Posts depends on which player they talk about, different standards for different players.
People who defended their favorite player using goals and assists now come up with "this is G+A era". Posts depends on which player they talk about, different standards for different players.
Please elaborate on your insinuations. Beyond predictable ‘favourite player’ nonsense, of course.Center forward, 4-2-4 and usual "can't retain possession"
People who defended their favorite player using goals and assists now come up with "this is G+A era". Posts depends on which player they talk about, different standards for different players.
It is now somehow laughable to question Bruno’s ball retention? Or to infer that football analysis in the current era is largely statistical? Okay.
Are you backing or shouting at Bruno here?Center forward, 4-2-4 and usual "can't retain possession"
People who defended their favorite player using goals and assists now come up with "this is G+A era". Posts depends on which player they talk about, different standards for different players.
Just saying that he has 4 goals and 3 assists in the PL.
In the CL he has 5 assists in 4 games
I think he was trying to be clever and switch flanks towards AWB or at least the right side of the pitch but completely miskicked it
He simply miscued the ball, nothing to it.
Is it nonsense? From "player who contributed 26 goals + assists" is never a problem to "people just go with G+A" just because player in discussion changed.
Ofcourse ball retention should be used alongside the role player plays and the system. Go and check how KdB's ball retention improved once he played under possession oriented manager.
Ofcourse backing him.Are you backing or shouting at Bruno here?
Just saying that he has 4 goals and 3 assists in the PL.
In the CL he has 5 assists in 4 games
In that particular post, neither really. He was more taking a side against posters, or poster, as he feels that any disapproval of Bruno’s game can only be a result of him not being your favourite player. Also, even if that were true, it then implies that he is ‘not your favourite player’ for reasons other than the footballing ones you give in your very arguments on the matter. Perhaps he thinks we are anti-beards or something.Are you backing or shouting at Bruno here?
Just saying that he has 4 goals and 3 assists in the PL.
In the CL he has 5 assists in 4 games
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