[Red Shorts]

They say, the run makes the pass. At the moment, we do not have players making runs. I mean even if Bruno passes to Greenwood, what will he do apart from lose it?

However bad we are playing and people saying Bruno out of form, when he gets the ball, usually people run, now they dont do that so Bruno is trying to force things when this was not the case.

Totally agree. He's one of the only players we have whose first instinct is to get the ball forward and quickly, but the front 3 aren't regularly making themselves available for it.

 

[Red Shorts]

It was more a miscommuncation.

Greenwood was in plenty of space, pause it at the start and you can see a big channel between the 2 defenders that he could have played it into.

Bruno though is obviously thinking/wanting Greenwood to pull out wide and take the ball, then he'd probably make a forward run in behind. Unfortunately neither happened.

Just watched @GifLord 's clip above. Definitely miscommunication, however you can argue Greenwood should have seen the pass was no longer available and still look to make that space for him.

simple matter of fact is we just look so disjointed in attack, and there is no natural flow of play at present.

 

[romufc]

Totally agree. He's one of the only players we have whose first instinct is to get the ball forward and quickly, but the front 3 aren't regularly making themselves available for it.

If you watch top teams, the way they move is actually opposite to us. Rashford in form was actually good at this where he starts wide and makes angle run in, thats when Bruno was finding him.

Greenwood starts in the middle of the pitch and goes to the edge of the box, which helps no one because it narrows the pitch and the opposition can watch the game.

We need players to go wide and make runs in for Bruno to find, Ala Salah, Mane or even Sterling, Mahrez.

If you make a run, 90% of the time Bruno will see you and 75% of the time he will find you.

 

[UncleBob]

What's Bruno modifying his game to though at this moment in time? It's not like he needs to step up a certain standard that others are achieving, everyone else is shite. He's a creator, even when he's not being consistent, he still creates a hatful of chances. If we had anyone else performing to a decent standard, there wouldn't be an issue.

So his current performances are part of the solution, not the problem?

 

[Berbasbullet]

I love the effort he puts in, wish everyone else around him could be bothered.

 

[TwoSheds]

Totally agree. He's one of the only players we have whose first instinct is to get the ball forward and quickly, but the front 3 aren't regularly making themselves available for it.

Rashford made some good runs yesterday and Bruno put him in behind. Unfortunately the decision making and finishing wasn't up to it when they did get in from any of Rashford, Bruno or Greenwood. But it's a start at least. Rashford and Bruno need to keep holding their width though, not just for 20 minutes but for the whole game. Coming inside has to be unexpected or at the very least they can't both do it all the time.

 

[Scottynaldinho]

I can't wrap my head around the criticism of Bruno sometimes. The team has to perform as a collective unit to get the best out of him - either find him or make yourself available to him. He needs runners in front of him, needs players to move around him to make something happen. That's what every creative player needs around in order to be effective.

He would be one of the best players in Europe in a functioning team, still one of the best creators in Europe at least statistically.

Disappointing that we're turning on our best player when the team is dysfunctional.

 

[Lash]

So his current performances are part of the solution, not the problem?

No, of course not. I'm saying that the two options you're putting forward:

Adapting to how we want to play, yet we still have no idea what this is to be honest, for his role

or

Selling him

Don't make sense. He's one of the most productive midfielders in Europe when on form, I don't think you just bin him off because we're in the mud.

 

[ash_86]

I actually liked his Role after cavani left. He was playing centrally and we were able to bring one more midfielder which made us control the ball better.

 

[UncleBob]

No, of course not. I'm saying that the two options you're putting forward:

Adapting to how we want to play, yet we still have no idea what this is to be honest, for his role

or

Selling him

Don't make sense. He's one of the most productive midfielders in Europe when on form, I don't think you just bin him off because we're in the mud.

You bin players off if they're not a part of the solution, like Ruud and Beckham. We won't replace him with a like for like better player, but maybe someone more suited to how Ralf wants us to play and as a result we'll be better as a team. Maybe the solution is to only use him as an attacker, that he has to play a lead role, and use someone else behind him, no idea, too many things not working

It's just a personal opinion, and I could be completely wrong, but I think Bruno has gone from being an overall great player that was capable of mixing play between attack and ball retention while producing numbers, to simply being a bit shit overall while popping up with some key passes and goals (not so much these days). If the only focus is the key passes, and not the remaining 85 minutes of the match and the effect it has on our performances, then by all means, but there's a bigger picture here. It's a bit like a club in London creating a shitload of chances without scoring, so they bought a very expensive striker to take advantage of the chances, or people ignoring Mkhis performances because of stats, it's not that simple. I thought Bruno was brilliant when he came on as a sub against Villarreal, offering precisely the combination of play that we needed, but then he's just gone backwards again.

 

[lost7]

The more I read discussions around him, the more this whole situation reminds me of what we've already seen with Pogba.

Doesn't this sound familiar? "His position doesn't fit our team", "he's too wasteful on the ball", "he's the only creator in our team", "he doesn't allow us to control a game because he's always looking for the Hollywood pass"...

Would be a damn shame if Bruno never ends up lifting a Premier league because we've surrounded him with mediocrity such as McTomnay and Fred

 

[Conor]

Why do people keep saying Bruno can't play the type of football we want to play? Do any of you naysayers actually understand the football Rangnick plays(he explained it pretty clearly in his initial interviews)? Bruno is literally the ideal attacker for it, he constantly plays first time balls and balls into space for forwards, he is the epitome of what the manager would want from a player. Conflating him being out of sorts, along with the whole team, with him needing to be sold is ludicrous.

 

[Lash]

You bin players off if they're not a part of the solution, like Ruud and Beckham. We won't replace him with a like for like better player, but maybe someone more suited to how Ralf wants us to play and as a result we'll be better as a team. Maybe the solution is to only use him as an attacker, that he has to play a lead role, and use someone else behind him, no idea, too many things not working

It's just a personal opinion, and I could be completely wrong, but I think Bruno has gone from being an overall great player that was capable of mixing play between attack and ball retention while producing numbers, to simply being a bit shit overall while popping up with some key passes and goals (not so much these days). If the only focus is the key passes, and not the remaining 85 minutes of the match and the effect it has on our performances, then by all means, but there's a bigger picture here. It's a bit like a club in London creating a shitload of chances without scoring, so they bought a very expensive striker to take advantage of the chances, or people ignoring Mkhis performances because of stats, it's not that simple. I thought Bruno was brilliant when he came on as a sub against Villarreal, offering precisely the combination of play that we needed, but then he's just gone backwards again.

@Conor 's post sums it up really. He is one of our quickest players to start the press and plays "vertical" football.

I won't disagree with thim going to shit recently, my point really is it's not isolated to him and he is actually one of our better players, even when we are shit. I just think he's the last person you want to be selling. We could actually still build the team around him again like before, but it requires having a vast upgrade on McFred - and I mean VAST. Maybe you're coming at it from the angle of that it's easier to solve the Bruno problem than the midfield, hence the idea of the sale, but I'd disagree on that.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Just watched @GifLord 's clip above. Definitely miscommunication, however you can argue Greenwood should have seen the pass was no longer available and still look to make that space for him.

simple matter of fact is we just look so disjointed in attack, and there is no natural flow of play at present.

Yeah that's the biggest issue. Bruno should have played it faster, then once he couldn't Greenwood should have made the run wide into the space.

Instead they both just sort of stood there pointing at eachother like the Spiderman meme. I think that passage of play sort of sums us up of late though doesn't it? like a bunch of strangers down the park the first time.

 

[Adam-Utd]

The more I read discussions around him, the more this whole situation reminds me of what we've already seen with Pogba.

Doesn't this sound familiar? "His position doesn't fit our team", "he's too wasteful on the ball", "he's the only creator in our team", "he doesn't allow us to control a game because he's always looking for the Hollywood pass"...

Would be a damn shame if Bruno never ends up lifting a Premier league because we've surrounded him with mediocrity such as McTomnay and Fred

Nice point that.

The guy that used to carry the team and is struggling to at present, is suddenly the guy to blame?!

 

[romufc]

People need to realise Bruno is not a problem, he just has too much quality about him.

I mean he came in and made us look a better team, for 12 months. The team around him is so bad, he cannot do anymore, we are expecting too much of him.

When you have selfish players infront of him, it doesnt work, Greenwood doesnt want to make runs that take him away from goal, Rashford has self doubt so doesnt make runs.

 

[Rozay]

Fecking hell, he's out of form, but saying he's not good enough for us is bloody ludicrous.

It’s a weird one to me because he has always, near enough from the beginning, appeared to be both good enough and not good enough for us at the same time. To clarify, it quickly became clear to me that he was more than good enough for the team he joined, and good enough to be the best player in the team even - but that he was never going to be good enough for the team that we want/need to become.

In fairness to him, that team does not exist yet, and for a dysfunctional team, especially a dysfunctional giant, that needs and demands results - you literally couldn’t get a better #10 than Bruno Fernandes. But for the teams that are drilled in both quality and organisation, he wouldn’t get in there, as evidenced by none of them being moved by his gazillion goals for Sporting at the time.

Of the two top Portuguese 10s of this generation, who would you say is ‘better’ between Bruno and Silva? It is subjective, but it is clearly not as simple as saying ‘this one scored 20 goals and this one scored 10, so him’. To me, Bernardo Silva is a player that is more suited to playing for a great team, but putting him in a dysfunctional one will not see him able to deliver as well as Bruno has done at this level. Basically, both of them are playing for teams at the levels that best suit them. The only issue is that the team Bruno plays for wants to be at the level of the one Bernardo plays for, which is a team I don’t believe would ever consider Bruno Fernandes.

I’ve always maintained that Bruno was the perfect 10 for the team we were when he joined, but was not for the team that we want to be. I’m not convinced that the team we want to be absolutely needs a 10 to win the Golden Boot either. However, this sorry excuse of a team that we have absolutely does.

 

[The_Midfielder]

He is our best player and our best striker .. He is out of form.. I don't think any of our strikers can( except Ronaldo) can finish like him..
However you don't play him closer to the defense . You want him close to the opponents goal

 

[Lash]

It’s a weird one to me because he has always, near enough from the beginning, appeared to be both good enough and not good enough for us at the same time. To clarify, it quickly became clear to me that he was more than good enough for the team he joined, and good enough to be the best player in the team even - but that he was never going to be good enough for the team that we want/need to become.

In fairness to him, that team does not exist yet, and for a dysfunctional team, especially a dysfunctional giant, that needs and demands results - you literally couldn’t get a better #10 than Bruno Fernandes. But for the teams that are drilled in both quality and organisation, he wouldn’t get in there, as evidenced by none of them being moved by his gazillion goals for Sporting at the time.

Of the two top Portuguese 10s of this generation, who would you say is ‘better’ between Bruno and Silva? It is subjective, but it is clearly not as simple as saying ‘this one scored 20 goals and this one scored 10, so him’. To me, Bernardo Silva is a player that is more suited to playing for a great team, but putting him in a dysfunctional one will not see him able to deliver as well as Bruno has done at this level. Basically, both of them are playing for teams at the levels that best suit them. The only issue is that the team Bruno plays for wants to be at the level of the one Bernardo plays for, which is a team I don’t believe would ever consider Bruno Fernandes.

I’ve always maintained that Bruno was the perfect 10 for the team we were when he joined, but was not for the team that we want to be. I’m not convinced that the team we want to be absolutely needs a 10 to win the Golden Boot either. However, this sorry excuse of a team that we have absolutely does.

I think that's probably fair and probably where @UncleBob is coming from - correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not sure I buy into the idea that a top team wouldn't want Bruno. Ok he's not an archyetypal player for the top teams in our league, but you don't have to play exactly like them to be successful. He could play Mullers role at Bayern, for example. He has clear qualities that a team just needs to balance when setting up. Playing him with a midfield who can't retain posession or a cover ground positionally and effectively, just leaves us open to counters. Subsequently negates his qualities he's in a side for.

 

[Born2Lose]

He needs to learn to control his emotions and as the game wears on channel his energy into the football rather than picking fights or losing the ball recklessly.

Hopefully it's something RR has identified and can coach out of him,

 

[Jaykespeare88]

Suicidal passing around the back/to initiate counters, expect better from an experienced leader especially as he got worse at it when we were really under the cosh.

 

[Bebestation]

 

[Ladron de redcafe]

Looks like a shadow of himself recently. If we are to fix the ship, we need to see the old Fernandez.

 

[UncleBob]

Good today, well balanced performance, more of that

 

[mu4c_20le]

His best game under rangnick so far

 

[Idxomer]

Much better from him.

 

[E-mal]

The only one with some credit tonight.

 

[Jeppers7]

Much better performance. Not great. Part of the mentality that stopped us going for more goals at 1-0 and 2-0 but his own performance was tidy and two goals also.

 

[#07]

Inside Bruno must be boiling. Probably thought he'd won us the game with his second. Played his part pretty well, dropped back into the mid-block/mid-press. Scored goals.

 

[Red_Aaron]

Looked more like his old self today

There's an obvious elephant in the room regarding the change in his fortunes but I'm not touching it today

 

[El Jefe]

Outside of the goals, he really didn't do much today other than dive and complain to the ref but the goals should be really important for his confidence. The second was a sweet finish.

 

[Lewnited]

He was good today, slowly getting back in to form.

 

[RedIan]

Looked back to himself today, took 2nd goal so well.

 

[Born2Lose]

Drop him said the same footballing geniuses.

 

[Leftback99]

A lot better played deeper until he moaned his way through the whole second half.

 

[Deery]

Very honest interview and assessment of the game.

 

[DWelbz19]

Unsurprisingly he was better than he’s looked in months. Look at the positions he was occupying tonight — much further up the field. He just doesn’t get to occupy the same areas when certain other players are on the pitch.

 

[united for life]

His best game under rangnick so far

if i’m not mistaken, this is his first game playing in his position. Rangnick has been asking him, and other players, to play in weird positions. Anyway, he has a good game today. Happy to see him score

 

[Amar__]

Scoring 2 goals as soon as Ronaldo is away, coincidence?

 

[Jeppers7]

Scoring 2 goals as soon as Ronaldo is away, coincidence?

Yeah first one was a belter