[sglowrider]

He's had a very good season.

He seemed to have taken the attitude of making sure the memory of last season's clusterfeck will be permanently erased. If we have 5 players with Bruno's attitude we would be winning silverware in the bunches every season.

This generation's Captain Marvel.

 

[SmashedHombre]

With Bruno it is always polemic. Anyway, he’s fat and away our most important player. Everything we do starts with him, in and out of possession.

 

[Galactic]

He moan a lot, it’s not just to the referees. To be fair he moans to everyone including his teammates. That “communication” I guess, it’s much better than what Maguire is doing and way much better than AWB. We need more of that (communication between our players).

 

[Matson]

If he was playing for any other team I'd hate him but he's so vital for us that I can tolerate his childish moaning. It was pretty funny seeing Sancho telling him to stop moaning.

 

[Borys]

Can we start the discussion on playing him permanently on the right in 433?

Pros:
- seems to have fantastic crossing ability, Beckham-esque
- great work rate
- good vision to pick a pass
- good movement to run channels
- we get to play another midfider, meaning less defensive burden for Eriksen
- actual 3 man midfield means more cover for attacking players

Cons:
- not the fastest (is he really slower than Antony though?)
- has a tendency to roam around and doesn't hold width (but we can do it on LW as well, especially with Garnacho
-?

I would like to try that out against Brighton.

 

[Lyng]

Can we start the discussion on playing him permanently on the right in 433?

Pros:
- seems to have fantastic crossing ability, Beckham-esque
- great work rate
- good vision to pick a pass
- good movement to run channels
- we get to play another midfider, meaning less defensive burden for Eriksen
- actual 3 man midfield means more cover for attacking players

Cons:
- not the fastest (is he really slower than Antony though?)
- has a tendency to roam around and doesn't hold width (but we can do it on LW as well, especially with Garnacho
-?

I would like to try that out against Brighton.

I am inclined to agree. Another pro for me is that, I have a feeling, Amad would thrive in that role as well and thus we have a role for him as a backup.

 

[zaafi]

Scored the winner, played the 90 (again) and created a tonne of great chances. More negative than positive comments because he 'almost' gave the ball away. #RedCafe

You just can't ever criticise him for anything, can you? I get that he's our most important player and all, but that doesn't mean they can't be criticised.

He didn't "almost" lose the ball. He lost the ball unneccessarily trying to dribble in midfield and gave them a chance to equalize.

He also didn't create a tonne of great chances as you put it. He created one big chance.

 

[tenpoless]

That finish looked much easier the first time I saw it. But during the replay it actually looked hard, he had to beat a defender with his pace, keep his composure and place the ball properly also beating the goalkeeper and another defender.

 

[tenpoless]

With Bruno it is always polemic. Anyway, he’s fat and away our most important player. Everything we do starts with him, in and out of possession.

I get criticizing players but not to this degree

 

[izak]

World class player, his Class belongs in the UCL and he's driving us there.

 

[Spaghetti]

Was incredibly dumb. Seemed to get a bollocking from Casemiro at full time, rightly so.

What did he do? I was watching but can’t remember.

 

[Borys]

I am inclined to agree. Another pro for me is that, I have a feeling, Amad would thrive in that role as well and thus we have a role for him as a backup.

Yeah that's another good point.

For me Bruno on RW has been a revelation this season. I bet any striker would love to have him crossing from that tucked in position.
I care a lot about team balance and I think this might be the next step from 4231 we play usually (especially in more difficult away games).

 

[Bebestation]

feck the haters. Every player has to play like Messi & dribble or pass from one end to another according to them.

 

[Lyng]

Yeah that's another good point.

For me Bruno on RW has been a revelation this season. I bet any striker would love to have him crossing from that tucked in position.
I care a lot about team balance and I think this might be the next step from 4231 we play usually (especially in more difficult away games).

Yes I agree. I wasnt a fan at first of the idea, but after a few games he has really made that role his own. I honestly prefer him there to Antony since Bruno's decision making is much better and he offers much more defensive support, not only for the fullback but also for the central mid.

 

[Spaghetti]

Bruno is a great player and massively important to the team. We only really appreciate it when he’s not there, which luckily isn’t very often.

 

[VivaObertan]

You just can't ever criticise him for anything, can you? I get that he's our most important player and all, but that doesn't mean they can't be criticised.

He didn't "almost" lose the ball. He lost the ball unneccessarily trying to dribble in midfield and gave them a chance to equalize.

He also didn't create a tonne of great chances as you put it. He created one big chance.

You just can't ever criticise him for anything, can you? I get that he's our most important player and all, but that doesn't mean they can't be criticised.

He didn't "almost" lose the ball. He lost the ball unneccessarily trying to dribble in midfield and gave them a chance to equalize.

He also didn't create a tonne of great chances as you put it. He created one big chance.

You're equivalent to a Barcelona fan sitting in a Messi thread from 2018-2021 and writing,

"Nice goal, assist and dribble but otherwise barely moved, workrate was shocking. Unacceptable at this level."

Every single game

 

[zaafi]

You're equivalent to a Barcelona fan sitting in a Messi thread from 2018-2021 and writing,

"Nice goal, assist and dribble but otherwise barely moved, workrate was shocking. Unacceptable at this level."

Every single game

Your bias is just shocking. Comparing Bruno to the best football player of all time ffs

He had a good game but you're straight up lying in this thread. "Created tonnes of great chances" and saying I criticise him every game. Why don't you scroll through the last pages and look up how I've been praising him?
This is a player performance thread, so if he does dumb shit like he did in injury time then calling him out for it is very valid. Do you go up to Casemiro to say he shouldn't criticise him for it because Bruno had a good game overall? He was rightfully called out.

 

[VivaObertan]

Your bias is just shocking. Comparing Bruno to the best football player of all time ffs

He had a good game but you're straight up lying in this thread. "Created tonnes of great chances" and saying I criticise him every game. Why don't you scroll through the last pages and look up how I've been praising him?
This is a player performance thread, so if he does dumb shit like he did in injury time then calling him out for it is very valid. Do you go up to Casemiro to say he shouldn't criticise him for it because Bruno had a good game overall? He was rightfully called out.

What have I lied about? Please stop crying, Bruno is a god amongst men and for whatever reason you don't like that

 

[Red4Ever]

Warrior

nailed on full captain now too

 

[zaafi]

What have I lied about? Please stop crying, Bruno is a god amongst men and for whatever reason you don't like that

 

[Sir Erik ten Hag]

Do you guys want the Bruno of this season (Less goals, assists but more disciplined to the system) or the Bruno of Ole's reign (Free reign, better stats but more erratic)?

 

[Lyng]

Do you guys want the Bruno of this season (Less goals, assists but more disciplined to the system) or the Bruno of Ole's reign (Free reign, better stats but more erratic)?

I much prefer this seasons Bruno.

 

[zaafi]

Do you guys want the Bruno of this season (Less goals, assists but more disciplined to the system) or the Bruno of Ole's reign (Free reign, better stats but more erratic)?

He has less assists because we don't have a striker. He's shown this season that he's capable of producing a ridiculous amount of chances whilst playing disciplined and controlled. I'd take this season's Bruno any day.

 

[Wilt]

Warrior

nailed on full captain now too

Good player but definitely not captain material.

Can’t have a captain who throws hissy fits and acts the drama Queen when things aren’t going his way.

Casemiro is the obvious choice.

 

[Borys]

Do you guys want the Bruno of this season (Less goals, assists but more disciplined to the system) or the Bruno of Ole's reign (Free reign, better stats but more erratic)?

He's at his absolute peak (apart from long range shooting which is shite compared to his first season). Doing work for 2 as well.

He used to play with much stronger attack than Weghorst and Antony so no wonder he got much better numbers.

 

[Idxomer]

Can we start the discussion on playing him permanently on the right in 433?

Pros:
- seems to have fantastic crossing ability, Beckham-esque
- great work rate
- good vision to pick a pass
- good movement to run channels
- we get to play another midfider, meaning less defensive burden for Eriksen
- actual 3 man midfield means more cover for attacking players

Cons:
- not the fastest (is he really slower than Antony though?)
- has a tendency to roam around and doesn't hold width (but we can do it on LW as well, especially with Garnacho
-?

I would like to try that out against Brighton.

Don't think his crossing is anything special and it's more hit-and-hope most of the time. In the cons, he also can't dribble which is even more of a problem on the right. He's definitely slower the Antony, especially with the ball.

Not a fan of him on the right really, his influence on the game gets reduced considerably out there. He isn't gonna get moved permanently to the right anyway when the manager spent 84m on a right-winger just last summer.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

He moan a lot, it’s not just to the referees. To be fair he moans to everyone including his teammates. That “communication” I guess, it’s much better than what Maguire is doing and way much better than AWB. We need more of that (communication between our players).

His moaning, for instance, was the reason we got the first goal against City.

 

[Borys]

Don't think his crossing is anything special and it's more hit-and-hope most of the time. In the cons, he also can't dribble which is even more of a problem on the right. He's definitely slower the Antony, especially with the ball.

Not a fan of him on the right really, his influence on the game gets reduced considerably out there. He isn't gonna get moved permanently to the right anyway when the manager spent 84m on a right-winger just last summer.

Is that really a problem though? I am not a fan of setup in which everything needs to go through one player. If we play him as RM (similar role to Antony but playing differently due to his strengths like passing and weaknesses like dribbling) then we can have extra midfielder and push Eriksen a bit higher. That sounds like a more balanced approach than kind of 4231 we use normally.

Antony isn't a dribbler himself, and I said this a while ago that his biggest competitor is Bruno, not Sancho. Regarding Bruno's crossing, I think it's quite good. His simple faints give him enough space for a cross what is usually more than Antony does in terms of chances creation. He's a much better shooter than Antony for sure.

If we play Bruno on RM/RW we lose some ball carrying ability though. Not sure how much that impacts us though. We seemed to dominate Villa yesterday quite comfortably without Antony.

 

[NZT-One]

Can we start the discussion on playing him permanently on the right in 433?

Pros:
- seems to have fantastic crossing ability, Beckham-esque
- great work rate
- good vision to pick a pass
- good movement to run channels
- we get to play another midfider, meaning less defensive burden for Eriksen
- actual 3 man midfield means more cover for attacking players

Cons:
- not the fastest (is he really slower than Antony though?)
- has a tendency to roam around and doesn't hold width (but we can do it on LW as well, especially with Garnacho
-?

I would like to try that out against Brighton.

Interesting Idea but what will that mean to Sancho and Antony, also known as "this should be our RW covered for years to come" which the club spent a fortune on...

Your points are valid though. Still think we shouldn't take players to play them out of position just because other players aren't able to perform. We need ball carriers in the team, people with really good dribbling skills to make the ball stick if necessary. I'd agree though that we certainly should earmark Bruno for that RW'like role in certain games or situations but certainly not as a longterm solution. If we think, we have no capable RW right now then bite the bullet and sell the guys and try again.

 

[Borys]

Interesting Idea but what will that mean to Sancho and Antony, also known as "this should be our RW covered for years to come" which the club spent a fortune on...

Your points are valid though. Still think we shouldn't take players to play them out of position just because other players aren't able to perform. We need ball carriers in the team, people with really good dribbling skills to make the ball stick if necessary. I'd agree though that we certainly should earmark Bruno for that RW'like role in certain games or situations but certainly not as a longterm solution. If we think, we have no capable RW right now then bite the bullet and sell the guys and try again.

Sancho isn't really a RW anyway, I'd certainly prefer Bruno there against any opposition.

Antony... For me he shouldn't be anything more than a squad player. The amount of good attacking moves he wastes with a poor pass or weak shot makes me think I'd rather have Bruno at the end of those moves (see yesterday goal).

Ten Hag pushed for Antony and overpayed twice for a player that (for now) looks like a good squad player for a top side, so maybe he'll need to make some hard decisions. Tough luck.

Antony might get better so I wouldn't look that far ahead anyway. But for now I think there are valid reasons for playing Bruno on RW.

 

[NZT-One]

Sancho isn't really a RW anyway, I'd certainly prefer Bruno there against any opposition.

Antony... For me he shouldn't be anything more than a squad player. The amount of good attacking moves he wastes with a poor pass or weak shot makes me think I'd rather have Bruno at the end of those moves (see yesterday goal).

Ten Hag pushed for Antony and overpayed twice for a player that (for now) looks like a good squad player for a top side, so maybe he'll need to make some hard decisions. Tough luck.

Antony might get better so I wouldn't look that far ahead anyway. But for now I think there are valid reasons for playing Bruno on RW.

Ok yeah if you are talking about short term like rest of season games then I'd be happy to go down that route. But anything further down the line should be handled differently. I agree with you on Sancho and Antony. Maybe there is a chance to sell Sancho (not that I don't like the player but I get the feeling there just isn't a match between him and United, no hard feelings but make a clear cut). For what I understood ETH is an avid user of "wingers stay wide" premise. So I think keeping Bruno there would require some tactical tweaks that certainly aren't impossible but given the player material we have I'd say I'd be shocked if we could come up with more than a "will do" sort of solution...

Again, as painful as it is, it might be useful to have a look at how City is going on with it with KDB. He is also the best crosser in the team and pops up in crossing spots on a regular basis. Maybe that is something to think about - you don't have to be a nominal winger to pop up in certain spaces. It just needs to be organized and orchestrated.

 

[Real_Knut]

Sancho isn't really a RW anyway, I'd certainly prefer Bruno there against any opposition.

Antony... For me he shouldn't be anything more than a squad player. The amount of good attacking moves he wastes with a poor pass or weak shot makes me think I'd rather have Bruno at the end of those moves (see yesterday goal).

Ten Hag pushed for Antony and overpayed twice for a player that (for now) looks like a good squad player for a top side, so maybe he'll need to make some hard decisions. Tough luck.

Antony might get better so I wouldn't look that far ahead anyway. But for now I think there are valid reasons for playing Bruno on RW.

Don't you think it's a case of "horses for courses" in this case? In some games, having Bruno out there might be the best idea, while in others, having Antony is right for the team. Fully agree about the price and the assessment of Antony, though you could absolutely add that he has great games and abilities as well. Bruno is fully capable of impacting the game from the right, though going past players is not one of his things.

Not 100% OT, but I think Bruno's vision is far better than his passing foot. He spots the opportunity better than almost everybody else but is not always able to execute it.

 

[Idxomer]

Is that really a problem though? I am not a fan of setup in which everything needs to go through one player. If we play him as RM (similar role to Antony but playing differently due to his strengths like passing and weaknesses like dribbling) then we can have extra midfielder and push Eriksen a bit higher. That sounds like a more balanced approach than kind of 4231 we use normally.

Antony isn't a dribbler himself, and I said this a while ago that his biggest competitor is Bruno, not Sancho. Regarding Bruno's crossing, I think it's quite good. His simple faints give him enough space for a cross what is usually more than Antony does in terms of chances creation. He's a much better shooter than Antony for sure.

If we play Bruno on RM/RW we lose some ball carrying ability though. Not sure how much that impacts us though. We seemed to dominate Villa yesterday quite comfortably without Antony.

Sometimes, yes. It really depends on who's that attacking midfielder we're putting instead of Bruno. If it's someone like Sabitzer or Van de Beek, then no thanks.

Antony isn't a dribbler but he keeps the ball under pressure much better than Bruno which is another disadvantage for the latter on the right.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Second we make top 4 official, wrap the man up in cotton wool. We don't beat City in the final without him.

 

[Borys]

Don't you think it's a case of "horses for courses" in this case? In some games, having Bruno out there might be the best idea, while in others, having Antony is right for the team. Fully agree about the price and the assessment of Antony, though you could absolutely add that he has great games and abilities as well. Bruno is fully capable of impacting the game from the right, though going past players is not one of his things.

Not 100% OT, but I think Bruno's vision is far better than his passing foot. He spots the opportunity better than almost everybody else but is not always able to execute it.

It is horses for courses. So is playing Eriksen in midfield two for example.
In which games it makes sense to have Antony on RW rather than Bruno? I don't think it's that obvious.
Antony is as much a forward as Bruno. Both are kind of midfielder / attacker hybrid. I am not sure about which "great attributes" Antony has, certainly not in attacking sense. This is my problem with him, I don't see him as much of a threat and I don't like that kind of players in front 3.

It more a question if we want to move Bruno away from central position and I don't see a problem with that if it means Eriksen can be a bit more attacking in his game.

 

[Red4Ever]

Good player but definitely not captain material.

Can’t have a captain who throws hissy fits and acts the drama Queen when things aren’t going his way.

Casemiro is the obvious choice.

disagree
And it’s fairly obvious from ten hags comments the other day he will be captain

Casemiro is great but will miss too many games

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Eli Zee]

United Material.

Players can learn a thing or two about commitment, hard work and passion from him.

 

[lex talionis]

As much as I'd like to give Casemiro the armband, it has to go to Bruno, who's been magnificent for us this season. The scorer of match winners, the supplier of key passes and a workrate that is second to none in the history of the PL.

Yeah, he's a whingeing moaner, but he rarely completely loses it (has he ever completely lost it?) and his motivations are entirely about driving his team forward.

 

[MileStolar]

Sorry for taking you for granted sometimes, you're the best thing that happened to this club between Gaffer's retirement and Ten Hag's appointment. Soul of the team