He's not a top player, simple as
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If you want a possession game, then you'll need players for it. Bruno Fernandes certainly won't start doing it alone, so he has to adapt to the team mates he has. Look at the first eleven of todays match and tell me who's comfortable playing a possession game. You'll need more than 2-3 players for that.
If you want to compare him with Odegaard, compare the team mates that sorround them too.
If you want to compare him with Odegaard, compare the team mates that sorround them too.
Varane Martinez Shaw Eriksen Antony and Rashford has been our talisman. Those who are not of course McT, AWB…maybe more. I’m not sure about Weghorst but he isn’t a great player and merely a stop gap.
Watching Odegaard being the centre of everything right for Arsenal today while we had Bruno who was the symbol of everything wrong with United today.
When he's good he's very good but when he's bad he's absolutely fecking shit
When he's good he's very good but when he's bad he's absolutely fecking shit
Defenders that know how to play with the ball on their feet are important for a possession game, but that's far from enough. Rashford is great, but he mainly likes to run and dribble, get to the goal ASAP instead of a more patient passing game, link up plays, etc. Weghorst I don't know well enough, but he doesn't look like the the best player for it too. AWB is horrible, McT not great, Fred not ideal.
What I see is that Bruno can't rely on only making the ball roll and help things happen. If Bruno started playing a little more in the back, started doing more short and safe passes and reduced his risky passes... That would kill almost all creativity of the team.
You may hate what looks like wasted passes and loss of possession, but that's the price of actually trying to make things happen (sometimes, forcing too much to make up for lack of solutions).
What combination of players look more creative, skilled with the ball and faster thinkers/executives?
Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah vs McTominay, Eriksen, Bruno; Antony, Weghorst, Rashford?
If we swapped Odegaard/Bruno, do you think Arsenal would lose their ball control, creativity and pace? Would Manchester United finally be able to play a possession football? I don't know, I have my doubts.
Yes.
Not a big fan of his. Too erratic
We'd transform almost as much as the Casemiro transfer. Arsenal would be weaker in the middle of the park.
Bruno will go on to be a luxury player in our wins and people will again forget how poor he can be. He's just never going to be part of a premier league winning team.
Some stupid moments in the first half taking too long on the ball but generally thought he was decent. Workrate outstanding as usual and unlucky with a few of those passes to Rashford.
This will be proved to be utterly wrong in the next two seasons. Bruno, in fact will raise the cup as he's our captain.
Bruno 's competitive core is his pass, both range and vision. Problem is his passes are missing the key 3rd dimension: accuracy. You may argue all those nice passes he delivered were quite accurate , but the norm in his pass accuracy are far worse compared with those masters on this technique such as Ozil / Zidane / Fabregas , whose passes could pinpoint to your preferred foot, time with your moving speed & trail, and in consistent spin.
Those masters could deliver such passes with 95% confidence level. As the runners, you can trust their skills and run at full speed and accelerate the games. Bruno's accurate delivery is let say 20% confidence level , so 1/5 chance you could receive a perfect ball from him, but in other times you could get the ball at weaker foot; ball too slow and you have to slow down to receive ; misplaced and could not catch it, etc. So basically you would waste lots of energy adjusting yourself to receive the balls, or simply prepare to track back if the balls misplaced.
Bruno's dribbling / ball control / strength are all mediocre . So if you want to fully utilize Bruno , then you have to give him the balls, let him place them, and hope for the best. At the end of the day, we either looks like an one-man team with performance all depended on Bruno , or we carry a mediocre liability player on field. Either case, it won't be an title winning team.
Those masters could deliver such passes with 95% confidence level. As the runners, you can trust their skills and run at full speed and accelerate the games. Bruno's accurate delivery is let say 20% confidence level , so 1/5 chance you could receive a perfect ball from him, but in other times you could get the ball at weaker foot; ball too slow and you have to slow down to receive ; misplaced and could not catch it, etc. So basically you would waste lots of energy adjusting yourself to receive the balls, or simply prepare to track back if the balls misplaced.
Bruno's dribbling / ball control / strength are all mediocre . So if you want to fully utilize Bruno , then you have to give him the balls, let him place them, and hope for the best. At the end of the day, we either looks like an one-man team with performance all depended on Bruno , or we carry a mediocre liability player on field. Either case, it won't be an title winning team.
Sure hope so but I just don’t see it
I honestly think we'll look to phase him out over the next season or two. I just think he's too erratic to survive in a ten Hag team.
I also think it's just incredibly difficult to be successful with an attacking midfielder that's so poor in dribbling/carrying the ball. He basically has to be a sniper with his end product/chance creation to make up for it because he can't play in any sort of tight space or receive the ball on the turn. His erratic passing wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue if he could dribble. Quite frankly we don't have a single decent carrier/dribbler in our entire midfield which I think is a huge issue in these bigger games and something we need to target this summer.
Our playmaking wingers will simply never work well with him. Sancho, Antony and even Amad aren't at all compatible with his style of play.
I 100% agree with this assessment. People are just looking to scapegoat Bruno. Won us the game against city, liverpool, arsenal first game… he was poor yes and all of a sudden the knives are out for him
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The likes of Bayern fans get to watch Musiala and people on here are happy with Bruno 
It's a pity that stats/facts show that's not the case. No player in his position has an accuracy of 90% and above. Most, even world class players, will be happy with mid 70 to 80%. I don't know if there's a stat about completed passes, but that are less than ideal for the receiver, but it's also a competence to position yourself to be able to receive the best pass. Read the game to know where to be, where to appear, so the team mate can make the best pass for you.
And as I said before, if the team were better, Bruno's play would be better too. People talk about possession game... Then all players have to play that way, not just Bruno. And I don't see much material in the team to play that way. Bruno certainly has the skills for it. Casemiro improved this for us and became immediatly first team player.
The only thing that is holding down Bruno, is that feeling that he has to do everything to make things happen. If he were a little bit more lazy and didn't worry too much about winning at all costs, he could improve his game at the eyes of the supporters. Make safe passes, don't try to force through balls, if he sees a good opportunity but knows that the team mate probably won't see it, don't even try to pass it there, etc. But then the team would have to step up. Rashford makes some forward runs that he probably wouldn't do without Bruno. But Bruno's trying to make those through balls give the forward confidence that his foward runs will be rewarded with a pass from Bruno, instead of running and see the team mate never risk it and pass to the sides and back for the 100th time. Remember when Bruno signed for us, how our forwards played?
And yet, Ten Hag squeezes out of him every minute he can. He even prefers to make him play on the right when he wants to refresh the midfield, instead of simply subbing him.
And talking about the last game, Bruno backtracked several times and saved many balls in our defence, some really crucial. If he didn't have to exhaust himself so much to compensate so many times his colleagues, maybe he could be even sharper with the ball.
We are not a Guardiola team - even if we play possesion football our manager doesn’t set us up to keep hold on to the ball unnecessarily.
I usually read that we have 50% possesion stats +~ a bit.
Bruno is there to create chances and score goals himself, not retain possession. End off
I usually read that we have 50% possesion stats +~ a bit.
Bruno is there to create chances and score goals himself, not retain possession. End off
All true @abraz79.
Bruno's one of the few players in our squad that could make a transfer to absolutely any top team in the world and you wouldn't be shocked.
Liverpool, City, PSG, Madrid... he'd be an absolute monster at any one of those teams with his work rate and productivity.
Fans are fickle
Liverpool, City, PSG, Madrid... he'd be an absolute monster at any one of those teams with his work rate and productivity.
Fans are fickle
He's definitely an enigma as what you're saying is probably right, but on the other hand we might become a better team with somebody in his position that excels at what he struggles with. He's made a name for himself by being a consistent risk taker with his passes and, when it comes off, it is great. But when he is erratic and sloppy, which is becoming more the norm, then he's a liability to our all around play.
He would have no place in any of those teams at their best and it wouldn't take long for Madrid fans to start booing him.
I'm sure you were saying that when he got 28 goals and 17 assists the season before last.
He would fit in with Liverpool and PSG because their midfield is trash (except Verratti at PSG) and rely on their front three and their fullbacks to create chances.
As for City and Real Madrid, there is absolutely no way they would play with Bruno. His playstyle is the opposite of theirs, and he would be a complete liability for them.
It's interesting seeing how often people mention how many chances he has created, that's fair, but how many chances has he made for the opposite team by losing possession unnecessarily which has also, in some cases, led to conceding goals?
As for City and Real Madrid, there is absolutely no way they would play with Bruno. His playstyle is the opposite of theirs, and he would be a complete liability for them.
It's interesting seeing how often people mention how many chances he has created, that's fair, but how many chances has he made for the opposite team by losing possession unnecessarily which has also, in some cases, led to conceding goals?
I love how fans who watch him play on a Saturday know so much more about his playstyle than the manager.
The same people who have now changed the narrative to "he cant play with our wingers" are the same ones that said, when Ten Hag comes, he will replace Bruno with Donny because he won't fit his system.
Fast forward 6 months into Ten Hag's reign and Bruno is probably the 1st name on the team sheet and is captain. Its interesting to see a player who cannot keep possession, is erratic, cant work with Antony is the one the manager keeps on and takes Antony off when we lose control of games.
Fans clearly have not been watching our football, just because we have a possession based manager means we will keep the ball and build from the back is a myth. Possession based managers keep the ball but also have massive emphasis on counter press.
Guess who is the best when we are in transition and a ball needs to be found? Bruno.
The same people who have now changed the narrative to "he cant play with our wingers" are the same ones that said, when Ten Hag comes, he will replace Bruno with Donny because he won't fit his system.
Fast forward 6 months into Ten Hag's reign and Bruno is probably the 1st name on the team sheet and is captain. Its interesting to see a player who cannot keep possession, is erratic, cant work with Antony is the one the manager keeps on and takes Antony off when we lose control of games.
Fans clearly have not been watching our football, just because we have a possession based manager means we will keep the ball and build from the back is a myth. Possession based managers keep the ball but also have massive emphasis on counter press.
Guess who is the best when we are in transition and a ball needs to be found? Bruno.
basically he needs to be like Van De Beek to post people.
Let’s play him.
Ten Hag shouldn’t have made Bruno his captain and would have used VDB instead of keeping possession if it was his main intention.
Let’s play him.
Ten Hag shouldn’t have made Bruno his captain and would have used VDB instead of keeping possession if it was his main intention.
Just checked Fbref and Dusan Tadic’s pass completion over the last 365 days is 69%. With passing like that he wouldn’t ever get picked by a “possession based manager”, would he?
Lets be honest, there are alot on here who have a Bruno agenda. Any small sign to post negative they will.
They clearly know more than Ten Hag, who every game, compliments Bruno, keeps him on, gave him captaincy.
Now, I am reading he isn't a good enough dribbler to play in the 10 because we want players to dribble in the middle of the park. They want a player to be good with passing, good with shooting, good at dribbling and dont try Hollywood passes.
They probably prefer Mount because he can dribble 10 yards and passes it backwards.
Tadic’s dribbles completed is almost identical to Bruno’s. Tadic has more assists and touches (playing in a stronger team) but otherwise Bruno is offensively very similar and defensively absolutely miles better. You can see why Ten Haag has him as the first name on the team sheet. Weird that so many fans can’t see why but meh, fans often get stuff wrong.
How many times did Tadic play in midfield under Ten Hag?
Anyway, Ten Hag so far hasn't really played a possession-based system and it remains to be seen if he ever does with the type of players he has.
Firstly, can you explain what you mean by a possession based team? keeping the ball around the back?
United are 6th in terms of possession in the PL. So if we keep the ball a bit more, Bruno can't play for Ten Hag?
Because he passes the ball to players who make runs, he cant play in a team that keeps the ball ? So does that mean in your opinion players like Rashford, Garnacho cannot play in Ten Hag's team either? Cause they want to attack spaces behind and run at people.
Ten Hag has 4/5 players he relies on, Casemiro, Varane, Bruno, Rashford. So you are telling me 50% of them cannot play his style?
You don't really need to be a manager to know how he plays. It is quite clear and he also talks about it himself.
And who exactly do we substitute Bruno for? McTominay? Fred? Mainoo? We don't have another player in the team in his position that can create chances. Eriksen can, but he usually plays next to Casemiro. Do you really believe Ten Hag would run him into the ground game after game if he didn't have to?
Im sure we all know he likes to create chances. So saying Bruno wont play under Ten Hag, he will be replaced by Donny ? Saying we wont win a trophy with Bruno in the team.
So are you saying Ten Hag shouldn't be manager? Because Ten Hag to me wants to win trophies but he plays Bruno, surely that cant work?
Im sorry but he keeps Maguire on the bench even with Injuries and plays a LB at CB, so yes, I do believe if Ten Hag did not rate him, he wouldn't play.
Also, Bruno started big games V City on RW over Antony who is his type of player apparently, also in games Bruno plays 90 minutes. PLayers dont play 90 mins every game if the manager does not rate him. I am sure you are aware of that?
He is stylistically similar and about as productive as KDB, who plays for the best football team in the world. Why would they boo him? You think he wouldn't be productive there too?
Honestly, madness... he's one of our best players!
THIS
Looking at this thread I've come to the conclusion that there should be a guide for understanding modern football fans.
Rule 1:
Losing possession is only allowed if it's inside the opponent's box.
Rule 2:
Shooting from outside the box is only allowed if you score on 100% of the attempts.
Rule 3:
Every player in the starting XI must fit The System™*
* terms and conditions may change instantly and without warning. It is important to know that at any given time there is only one correct way to play football and that every other way is stupid.
Rule 1:
Losing possession is only allowed if it's inside the opponent's box.
Rule 2:
Shooting from outside the box is only allowed if you score on 100% of the attempts.
Rule 3:
Every player in the starting XI must fit The System™*
* terms and conditions may change instantly and without warning. It is important to know that at any given time there is only one correct way to play football and that every other way is stupid.
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Our four most important outfield players are: Varane Casemiro, Bruno and Rashford. To replace any of these with players at least a level above, you're limited to breaking the transfer record imo.
Whilst overzealous and even wasteful at times, as well as an irritant with flailing arms and moaning, I've no doubts that he is highly respected for his work and commitment...nevermind his actual ability. We are a lazier team without him, and in any interview cut by 10H, he always refers to the team and hard work above and beyond anything else.
Whilst overzealous and even wasteful at times, as well as an irritant with flailing arms and moaning, I've no doubts that he is highly respected for his work and commitment...nevermind his actual ability. We are a lazier team without him, and in any interview cut by 10H, he always refers to the team and hard work above and beyond anything else.
He's infuriating at times.
Bruno has deficiencies, but he goes balls out to create chances and here and there comes up with the outrageous goal. We’re not upgrading on him any time soon. The better question to ask is who can be his cover.
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