[united for life]

Why is ability the be all and end all.. Thats been our problem for years. Keeping players that dont work for years and years and years - Pogba, Lingard etc. for example. Both great players. Lingard not at same level as Pogba but as proved at West Ham he is a pretty good player. Other players apart from Coutinho that struggle in a system are Ozil, the 3 front players at PSG etc. You can go on and on. I never at any point said he wasnt a good player. One of our best players. My point is that doesnt matter. The team comes before the individual. Always. Even under Sir Alex. If we want to compete with the teams at the level of City, Liverpool, Chelsea etc then you cannot carry a square peg in a round hole. I thought thats why everyone was excited by Ragnerick. He should implement a system and put players in that fit the system. Anyone else has to do one. That means Pogba, Ronaldo, Bruno might and I say might have to go. Probably our best players. Yes. But the sht isnt working and it hasnt for 6 years. Why? Because we just get in top players but forget about fitting the system.
Now I never said Bruno will have to go. I just dont know. But what I cant see him doing is continuing with his free roaming, high risk number 10 role. He will have to adapt.

I understand where you are coming from and although I agree with the theory, I disagree with the details you mentioned. I can not compare bruno to pogba and lingard. He’s done far more than both combined in a shorter period. His leadership skills are also heads and shoulders above them.

I also do not think he is the issue with the system. There is an issue with the system itself. What are we? What kind of team are we? What is our identity? That has been missing for quite some time now. I really am not sure. But what I think we can be is a 3-man-midfield team with bruno on top of the 3 and sancho/rashford on the wings with ronaldo (later greenwood hopefully) up front. But for that to work, bruno would need to drop back a bit (but not deep) with a player like VDB helping with taking the ball from the defenders and distributing. Paul has failed with this; he isn’t that kind of player anyway.

The pieces of the puzzle are still being gathered, but it’s not bruno who we need to worry about the most. At times, i feel he is the only one trying anyway.

 

[Idxomer]

If he manages (like last game vs Villareal) to find a good balance between creativity and keeping possession, he can become one the best players in the world easily for me.
The ceiling is very high but he needs to be put under pressure and not let loose all over the pitch doing whatever he feels like.

Agreed.

The chance Sancho missed in the last game is what I want to see more of. He created a chance with two low-risk passes and one of them was from before the halfway line.

 

[Poborsky's hair]

You started off your previous post by saying "it's shocking he's so adored here". Let's think about that statement alone for a second... 1) he's our best player. 2) he's been the most productive player in the league since he arrived. 3) he has carried us in a way that Pogba simply hasn't gotten close to. If you want to start a decent post maybe don't start it with a stupid statement. You are asking for Bruno to be benched which again is madness, he's our best player even if he hasn't been in great form this season. Why not instead of wanting him dropped, want to find ways to better utilise his talents (ironically just what you are doing for Pogba)?

You then went off on some rant about how we build around Bruno rather than Pogba and play him out of position which is clearly nonsense. Pogba has played all positions and all roles for us and the only constant is that he's inconsistent in all of them. This narrative that we need to do x to get the best out of Pogba is tiresome, he's a great player when on song, but he's inconsistent and doesn't deserve the team to cater to him, unlike Bruno who has proven he delivers.

As for your most recent post, it makes no sense and I don't have a fecking clue what you are talking about, Ronaldo CB, wtf are you on about

Yep I knew you wouldn't get it, but that's okay, it's just a football forum, what can I expect.

The truth is Bruno is as inconsistent as Pogba, and of course his statistics are better when he's the main man in the team, taking all pens, some corners and freekicks playing as a fecking second striker while Pogba has been 90% of times deployed as one of the CMs, DLPs. If you can't get it than there's nothing to talk about you about it. Really have no time to explain this.

BTWBruno is no doubt brilliant but shouldn't be untouchable, because his shocking games have been piling up with a speed of light and of course he will be seen as a very important because his role is to try everything out from his position on the pitch, while other roles in the teamhave to keep it way more conservative, when it comes to risk taking.

Also it's not true Pogba has been inconsistent in every role, except the fact that he spend his majority of career with us playing deep, lika I said, but the little he's been tried further up the pitch he was constantly giving match winning contribution for us, albeit form a bit unorthodox position from LAM, he provided a lot of pieces of magic from there, but of cours eyou forgot about it because it's easier to generalize about a player, who has also been out for so long with many injuries and is not willing to sign a new contract in a dysfunctional team in his best years.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Poor.

Again.

 

[Leftback99]

Absolutely dreadful.

 

[Jeppers7]

Is it too much to ask for some consistency? Just string two decent performances together that would be nice. Absolutely useless.

 

[Godfather]

Up and down with him.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Really good when he's good, really bad when he's bad.

 

[lost7]

I love him to bits, but currently he's more of a nuisance than anything else

 

[El Jefe]

He hasn't had a good performance in the PL against one of the top 4 teams since March 2020. He's not far off being the Lukaku of AMs at this point.

 

[ivaldo]

Not too bothered. He'll be back on it before long.

 

[arnie_ni]

Horrendous today

 

[Idxomer]

All the great playmakers of the past had this ability and technique to lose their marker constantly under pressure.

Unfortunately, Bruno is physically weak, has no pace, and has close to zero dribbling ability.

 

[reddevilz007]

Another poor display, yet he stays on for the whole 90 mins again.

good thing we have an outsider coming in. hopefully the favoritism will stop, with Bruno, Fred and Mctominay.

 

[UncleBob]

Was mint when he came on midweek in the CL, absolute disaster today, should've been subbed off earlier

 

[Lay]

Horrific today. Did everything wrong. Would like to see him dropped.

 

[kouroux]

Not too bothered. He'll be back on it before long.

Back on what ? It's been a long time since he's given us a complete game with 2 good halves

 

[Murder on Zidane's Floor]

Bench for VDB

 

[Red00012]

Shocking today

Gives the ball away too much for one of our so called elite players

 

[Ixion]

Should probably have started today on the bench like Villarreal. Needs a few games coming on where he can shine for a 20-30 minutes when the game is a bit more open and can get some confidence.

 

[Foritfied]

When he came in, he was a bit of a small fish in big pond - a footballer propelled to the biggest stage with a point to prove.

Now, he thinks he is the main man, so he is not only wanting to make things happen, but that he's entitled to it. He clearly so earnestly doesn't trust his teammates to keep the ball, or make something happen that it is his righteous duty.

What's the count on how many times he's given the ball away, instead of playing it simple?

 

[Jeppers7]

Not too bothered. He'll be back on it before long.

He’s been off it mostly since January. This myth that he’s been good this year has to stop. How long is too long for Bruno?

 

[Kag]

We don’t score that goal without his clearance.

It sounds like nothing, but most of those halfwits struggle to clear the box.

 

[ivaldo]

Back on what ? It's been a long time since he's given us a complete game with 2 good halves

What kind of question is that. Back on what? He has carried the team for the vast majority of his time here FFS.

 

[roonster09]

Nothing came off for him, poor game. Should have been subbed out lot earlier.

 

[ivaldo]

He’s been off it mostly since January. This myth that he’s been good this year has to stop. How long is too long for Bruno?

Erm. What the feck are you talking about and where do I make any mention of it in my post?

 

[Phil]

You lot camp in this thread to criticise him in a dysfunctional team. Weirdos.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Has to be said, totally shit today.

The fact we barely had any possession and he kept giving it away in the most childish ways is beyond me.

 

[kundalini]

Poor performance. Another of those crossfield passes from deep inside our defensive third that goes straight to an opponent. Gave the ball away cheaply far too often.

 

[Amar__]

He deserves lot of criticism. I don't understand how he can continue passing to an opposition even when he is not pressed and is trying simple pass. I don't mind it when he is trying to be creative but giving it away that easily is too much.

 

[MattofManchester]

Wasn't great from him today, but our forward line was ridiculously detached.
Defensively did put in a shift.

We only scored courtesy of a mistake.

Came off much more mature today, though, as captain.

 

[Jeppers7]

Erm. What the feck are you talking about and where do I make any mention of it in my post?

We’re almost in December?

 

[Rajma]

That was shite from him today. Needs to do much better and looks sort of demotivated if anything. Needs a confidence boost.

 

[Water Melon]

Nothing came off for him, poor game. Should have been subbed out lot earlier.

Yup. Donny would at least be able to help us keep the ball, which we needed badly.

 

[ivaldo]

We’re almost in December?

And where did I mention this 'myth' in my post?

 

[Jeppers7]

And where did I mention this 'myth' in my post?

Ah sorry my bad…you’re going off the law of averages, he’s been bad for so long that it’s odds on he will string two games together soon? Surprising that you’re not bothered but perhaps you’re right.

 

[SlothIsLove]

Needs to know how to dictate tempo. We were under a lot of pressure and he gave away possession easily too many time.

 

[ivaldo]

Ah sorry my bad…you’re going off the law of averages, he’s been bad for so long that it’s odds on he will string two games together soon? Surprising that you’re not bothered but perhaps you’re right.

He's been great for us a good deal longer than he's been poor. The whole team has been shite for a while now. Once we get a little functionality back his performances will go back up. And let's face it, even when he's been poor, he's still regularly saved our arses.

 

[Idxomer]

Needs to know how to dictate tempo. We were under a lot of pressure and he gave away possession easily too many time.

Never gonna happen.

 

[Canagel]

Pogba would be getting murdered for these performances. But let me not say too much..