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2023-24 Performances


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SCP

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it’s just a lazy opinion that’s somehow spawned on the internet that he plays without discipline, like that he gives the ball away way more than KDB, that he only runs for the cameras, that when we lose it’s because of him and when we win it’s in spite of him
He isn't having a good individual season by any means, even yesterday he said he is playing better for the NT than for the club, curiously in the past it was the opposite.

Even if it's different level playing regularly against Premier League opponents and at Champions League level than playing against Slovakia, Bosnia or Luxembourg with all the respect.

His performances do deserve criticism, but thinking that the reason the team isn't better it's because one guy is a headless chicken with no tactical understanding of the game, because he isn't disciplined or because he moans too much it's pub level discussion that makes Roy Keane look like Voltaire as a pundit.

But hey, there's always space for comic segments in football forums. And yes, I do think for him and the club if things do not improve 2025 should be his last season with no dramas, shouldn't be difficult to find a solution.

With that said you can say a player isn't delivering the type of performance you need or like without making things up, suppose it isn't difficult.

If someone believes players at this level would play 100 or 200 consecutive games under different managers because they are tactically dumb or inept, or that a guy decides alone what he is going to do on the pitch without having guidelines to follow, you must be really naive.

Another thing is if the execution is going well, and it certainly isn't, but it's far from being a 1 player problem. If things don't improve next season yes, he probably should be one of those who leaves without dramas.
 

Amar__

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Just ask Bernardo Silva if he has tatical knowledge about the game or no. If he wasn't doing what the coaches demanded of him on a tatical level why would he play?

There's a difference between having bad performances than spouting headless chickens or saying nonsense like he isn't smart to cover space. I guess he needs to learn with such an incredible smart and disciplined poster like you.
Unlike Bruno, Bernardo Silva doesn't play free role and occupy whatever position he feels he needs during the game, but is strictly following Pep's instruction, otherwise he wouldn't be playing. Bruno is one of few players I have seen playing for big clubs(not top team, since we are not one of top teams in Europe anyway) that plays basically a free role. Last time I saw someone playing free role was Messi for Barcelona, and partly for PSG, but not always. He definitely wouldn't have same defensive role for Pep or Klopp, but that's up to our manager who simply doesn't understand football in England like those managers do, that much is obvious.

He isn't smart in covering space in comparision with his running without the ball, that much is clear to anyone with pair of eyes. He reminds me of Rooney in this aspect, Rooney was amazing defensively when on the wing or as a centre forward, but as a number ten or midfielder he was useless defensively despite running more than others.
 

Scandi Red

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For being a supposedly terrible captain he sure does a lot of captain-like things. How peculiar.
 

hobbers

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True. Good captains are famously unfit, lazy, undisciplined, quiet and lack passion.
Good captains famously cost their teams goals by throwing themselves to the ground at every slight breeze. And when something goes against them they lose their minds and start ranting as the game slips further away, rather than manning up, leading by example and playing their way back into the game.
 

Scandi Red

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Good captains famously cost their teams goals by throwing themselves to the ground at every slight breeze. And when something goes against them they lose their minds and start ranting as the game slips further away, rather than manning up, leading by example and playing their way back into the game.
Captains not diving and never losing their cool is a new one to me.

You are looking for flawlessness. I on the other hand am only looking for good captain qualities. And Bruno has plenty of those. Certainly too many to be considered a terrible captain.
 

VivaObertan

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Has to do them somewhere if not on the pitch.
Good captains famously cost their teams goals by throwing themselves to the ground at every slight breeze. And when something goes against them they lose their minds and start ranting as the game slips further away, rather than manning up, leading by example and playing their way back into the game.
An extremely low quality set of posts. A snide remark followed by subjective anecdotes from an alternate reality
 

hobbers

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An extremely low quality set of posts. A snide remark followed by subjective anecdotes from an alternate reality
Alternate to whatever reality you live in, maybe. Probably half or more of this thread is devoted to criticising his poor behaviour on the pitch and all the articles and commentary about how unfit a captain he's acted across many games, including most of the worst defeats. Guess that's all in an alternate reality to you as well?


Captains not diving and never losing their cool is a new one to me.

You are looking for flawlessness. I on the other hand am only looking for good captain qualities. And Bruno has plenty of those. Certainly too many to be considered a terrible captain.
Not looking for flawlessness and you're the only one saying he's a terrible captain. I just think we could do better. And that opinion doesnt get rocked by a couple of soundbites.
 

Gabriel Djemba-Bebe

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Unlike Bruno, Bernardo Silva doesn't play free role and occupy whatever position he feels he needs during the game, but is strictly following Pep's instruction, otherwise he wouldn't be playing. Bruno is one of few players I have seen playing for big clubs(not top team, since we are not one of top teams in Europe anyway) that plays basically a free role.
Imagine coming to this conclusion a few days after watching him put in a shift at CB for the team.
 

Amar__

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Imagine coming to this conclusion a few days after watching him put in a shift at CB for the team.
Huh? How does 15 minutes of totally out of order game that went to extra time defines what Bruno played for last 2 seasons? Or 105 minutes before that in that same game.
 

Scandi Red

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you're the only one saying he's a terrible captain.
"Terrible", "bad", "shit", "worst", whatever... Unless we are being pointlessly pedantic you'll find plenty of posts like that in this thread.

Bruno is an acceptable captain at worst. I'd argue that he's a pretty decent captain. Maybe even good.

I just think we could do better.
Who? Varane and Casemiro, who have been injury prone up until now and are likely to leave in the summer? Shaw, who remains injury prone to this day? Martinez has potential for sure, but he needs to shake off his injuries and get and long run of games first.

No, in the current team Bruno is the best option for sure. And I would argue that in the post Fergie era we haven't had a better captain if we exclude Fergie players.
 

Gabriel Djemba-Bebe

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Huh? How does 15 minutes of totally out of order game that went to extra time defines what Bruno played for last 2 seasons? Or 105 minutes before that in that same game.
It doesn't define how he's played for the last 2 seasons but it is certainly an example of how he is playing to the manager's tactical instructions, rather than just being given a license to do whatever he wants all the time.
 

Alvaro Maestre

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"Terrible", "bad", "shit", "worst", whatever... Unless we are being pointlessly pedantic you'll find plenty of posts like that in this thread.

Bruno is an acceptable captain at worst. I'd argue that he's a pretty decent captain. Maybe even good.



Who? Varane and Casemiro, who have been injury prone up until now and are likely to leave in the summer? Shaw, who remains injury prone to this day? Martinez has potential for sure, but he needs to shake off his injuries and get and long run of games first.

No, in the current team Bruno is the best option for sure. And I would argue that in the post Fergie era we haven't had a better captain if we exclude Fergie players.
Maybe he wants Maguire back to be captain.....
 

Desert Eagle

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It doesn't define how he's played for the last 2 seasons but it is certainly an example of how he is playing to the manager's tactical instructions, rather than just being given a license to do whatever he wants all the time.
Every player should play to the manager's tactical instructions. That's not some special Bruno quality. Maguire and Antony both demonstrated it in the Liverpool game. The problem with Bruno is moments like the random hoof he had while playing center back and on one leg and random sprints out of position. He is not good enough to be the focal point of our team.
 

Harry190

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What could explain his lack of goals and shooting accuracy for the past 2 seasons? He used to score bangers every other game or so when he joined. He can't hit them anymore.
 

Ali Dia

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"Terrible", "bad", "shit", "worst", whatever... Unless we are being pointlessly pedantic you'll find plenty of posts like that in this thread.

Bruno is an acceptable captain at worst. I'd argue that he's a pretty decent captain. Maybe even good.



Who? Varane and Casemiro, who have been injury prone up until now and are likely to leave in the summer? Shaw, who remains injury prone to this day? Martinez has potential for sure, but he needs to shake off his injuries and get and long run of games first.

No, in the current team Bruno is the best option for sure. And I would argue that in the post Fergie era we haven't had a better captain if we exclude Fergie players.
Pogba! Oh wait…
 

Gabriel Djemba-Bebe

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Every player should play to the manager's tactical instructions. That's not some special Bruno quality. Maguire and Antony both demonstrated it in the Liverpool game. The problem with Bruno is moments like the random hoof he had while playing center back and on one leg and random sprints out of position. He is not good enough to be the focal point of our team.
Really? You think that was the point I was trying to make? The poster I was replying to said that Bruno is the only player at a big club in Europe who has been given a 'free role' with a license to do whatever he wants. That is clearly not the case - Sunday was an example of Bruno sacrificing himself for the team per the manager's instructions.
 

Scandi Red

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What could explain his lack of goals and shooting accuracy for the past 2 seasons? He used to score bangers every other game or so when he joined. He can't hit them anymore.
I have two theories. The first theory can best explained by watching Space Jam.

The second and more serious theory is that it's a perfect storm of multiple variables:

1. Bruno is not in a good shooting position with little to no pressure as often as he used to. When he played for Ole (apart from the last few months obviously), we played much better attacking football than under Ten Hag. And not only that, but Bruno was basically a second striker at times, whereas he drops much deeper nowadays.

2. The fact that we no longer can take goals for granted leads to more pressure on Bruno. This will probably have an effect on his overall accuracy.

3. Simple sloppiness/tiredness/underperforming. Bruno is certainly not above this.
 

Desert Eagle

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Really? You think that was the point I was trying to make? The poster I was replying to said that Bruno is the only player at a big club in Europe who has been given a 'free role' with a license to do whatever he wants. That is clearly not the case - Sunday was an example of Bruno sacrificing himself for the team per the manager's instructions.
He sacrificed himself the best he could. Like I said he still had like three brainless moments at cb that could have cost us goals in addition to the one goal he actually did cost us.

'Free role' might be the wrong way to describe it but he is often out of position and gives the ball up in dangerous positions very often. That combined with his other weaknesses make him a very frustrating player
 

Saffron

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Bruno Fernandes is criminally underrated just because he's not physically attractive. Just as Ronaldo's bloopers get swept under the rug because he's attractive, Bruno's bloopers get amplified and exaggerated. 100% serious.
 

hobbers

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Who? Varane and Casemiro, who have been injury prone up until now and are likely to leave in the summer? Shaw, who remains injury prone to this day? Martinez has potential for sure, but he needs to shake off his injuries and get and long run of games first.

No, in the current team Bruno is the best option for sure. And I would argue that in the post Fergie era we haven't had a better captain if we exclude Fergie players.
Yeah there's a huge dearth of leaders out there. And it's such a grim indictment on Shaw, McTominay and Rashford that none of them could ever in a million years be considered club captain. Based on time at the club and status/appearances it should be one of them.

Maguire is a better captain than Bruno if he's playing regularly, but not good enough to be a starter so cant go back to him. Varane would probably have made a better captain this season, aside from when ETH went insane and dropped him for Evans, he's played in almost every game and generally been the best defender. But like Casemiro he cant have a future here after the summer.

Going forward Martinez is head and shoulders the best candidate provided he stays fit. Further down the line I could see Dalot or Hojlund being decent captains.
 

Amar__

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It doesn't define how he's played for the last 2 seasons but it is certainly an example of how he is playing to the manager's tactical instructions, rather than just being given a license to do whatever he wants all the time.
For 15 minutes in a 120 minute game? I agree with that.
 

Mike Smalling

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Bruno Fernandes is criminally underrated just because he's not physically attractive. Just as Ronaldo's bloopers get swept under the rug because he's attractive, Bruno's bloopers get amplified and exaggerated. 100% serious.
:lol:

Not a take I expected to see.
 

TenonTen

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Bruno Fernandes is criminally underrated just because he's not physically attractive. Just as Ronaldo's bloopers get swept under the rug because he's attractive, Bruno's bloopers get amplified and exaggerated. 100% serious.
Why is Modric so highly rated then? How about Messi who's always under the limelight? Hardly a looker.
 

MancunianAngels

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Thought it was maybe his best spell of a game this season in the latter stages when he was basically playing as a holding midfielder and then centre back. Sort of commendable, but also a bit telling as to how frustrating he's been as an AM this season. It was almost like when he had to do a specific positional job he was really good again, regardless of the fact it was a defensive position.

Made it all a bit farcical and ridiculous at times seeing him as a one man defence while Harry galavanted heroically forward, but oh so entertaining seeing as we pulled it off!
Sometimes, it's best to not analyse.
 

Gabriel Djemba-Bebe

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For 15 minutes in a 120 minute game? I agree with that.
He has done it countless times since he joined United. If you're going to play dumb and refuse to even acknowledge the first half of extra time where he played LB before switching to CB in the second half, then I'm not going to bother giving other examples.
 
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Amar__

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He has done it countless times since he joined United. If you're going to play dumb and refuse to even acknowledge the first half of extra time where he played LB before switching to CB in the second half, then I'm not going to bother giving other examples.
I never said he refused to play disciplined, or some other position. If you are nit picking, my point is that for a player that plays free role 90% of his career under Ten Hag - he is not playing at good level. Or do you want to do the vorrect calculation to split you in decimals how many minutes of his United career he has played out of his standard position that he plays in most games.
 

Gabriel Djemba-Bebe

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I never said he refused to play disciplined, or some other position. If you are nit picking, my point is that for a player that plays free role 90% of his career under Ten Hag - he is not playing at good level. Or do you want to do the vorrect calculation to split you in decimals how many minutes of his United career he has played out of his standard position that he plays in most games.
:lol: you must have some ridiculously high standards as to what you deem to be a 'good level'.
 

SCP

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With a bit more of ball retention, less headless chicken running around and more tatical understanding of the game he probably would be good enough to start at least for Bosnia or maybe Sweden.

As it is not the case he cannot play for Portugal, too much moaning and lack of discipline to be a number 10, at least according to the internet and social media warriors who know a lot about tactical awareness.

God, inject the internet football gurus in my veins, I am too dumb to reach their level.
 

criticalanalysis

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With a bit more of ball retention, less headless chicken running around and more tatical understanding of the game he probably would be good enough to start at least for Bosnia or maybe Sweden.

As it is not the case he cannot play for Portugal, too much moaning and lack of discipline to be a number 10, at least according to the internet and social media warriors who know a lot about tactical awareness.

God, inject the internet football gurus in my veins, I am too dumb to reach their level.
Heh for Portugal, Bruno is a beast. Goal and assist tonight. Btw what do you think of Gyökeres?


Lindelof's 'defending' on the second goal :lol: and his tracking back on the third. Yikes.
 

Grande

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With a bit more of ball retention, less headless chicken running around and more tatical understanding of the game he probably would be good enough to start at least for Bosnia or maybe Sweden.

As it is not the case he cannot play for Portugal, too much moaning and lack of discipline to be a number 10, at least according to the internet and social media warriors who know a lot about tactical awareness.

God, inject the internet football gurus in my veins, I am too dumb to reach their level.
Heh, be careful what you wish for …
 

#07

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You just have to laugh. This fella was hobbling about last weekend...

Heals faster than Wade Wilson!
 

SCP

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Goal and assist tonight. Btw what do you think of Gyökeres?
Think it would be great for him if he stayed one more season at Sporting if they qualify directly to the Champions League, hopefully with a better squad and players around him to face better opponents than he usually faces in the domestic league.

Now, I don’t think he would have looked out of place for a couple of Premier League teams already this season, not the top teams.

Think in Portugal he benefits from being a physical player, on a top level Premier League those physical advantages don’t matter because it’s the normal business there.

Having said that, if a guy like Darwin Nunez with some caveats and flaws in his game could make it, don’t see no reason for him to not coming back to England, even knowing Darwin was younger and could develop more.

But looking to a United, even Chelsea a big transfer would be a risk, strangely could imagine him well at Spurs, but Levy usually doesn’t pay the big fees Sporting wants, so I suspect maximum 2025 he will go to England but maybe not at the price Sporting thinks it will get, unless he plays in the Champions League and starts scoring goals like a freak.
Heh, be careful what you wish for …
I was just provoking, I know he has flaws in his game and agree if next season he stays the same or even worse maybe for him and the club would be better to find a solution without dramas.

It’s just some of the things I sometimes read are mind boggling to say the least.