Simple thing is is that his good points outweigh his bad points and he has been our best player since the day he came to our club.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 54
- Goals
- 13
- Assists
- 18
- Yellow cards
- 9
- Red cards
- 3
-
Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
He's like the De Gea in our midfield.
Saves our arse nearly every game even if he's occasionly prone to his own mistakes.
Saves our arse nearly every game even if he's occasionly prone to his own mistakes.
And people will still say he is the problem. We will get rid of him earlier than needed and get a donkey in midfield and wonder what happened
Almost every single match report rating I've seen puts him as the joint best/outright best player on the pitch yesterday. You can argue about 'man of the match awards are subjective to pundits' etc but when almost everyone is saying the same thing and you're yet again saying something different (beating your usual anti-Bruno drum) your bias becomes clear.
https://www.skysports.com/football/...but-toffees-rue-late-penalty-being-overturned
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...arebar&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sharebar
https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/ma...ugarte/bltb27712c64065c884#csad5d13cdff791b63
https://www.givemesport.com/everton-manchester-united-player-ratings-match-highlights-2025/
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And not only for this match. For most of our games.
Believe me there are fan (match going fans) that see him in the way I see him and I think you see him.
Lost count how many times I had a disagreement with a fellow Utd fan in a pub over Michael Carrick, even Ronaldo
He's a terrible captain in my eyes. For your leader give away 30 passes.
Yes exactly this. You even heard from Moyes after the game when asked to explain why they couldn’t keep up the first half performance he said ‘Bruno dropping into midfield was the difference and changed the game’.
But the Bruno haters can’t accept this
Bruno is the go-to man for our attack and played almost every minute. You can't on one hand saying our attack is shit while on the other says Bruno is immune to the blame.
The truth is Bruno can't play front 3 as he lack of strength and pace , can't play No. 10 as he can't dribble in tight space , can't play No. 8 as his defense positioning is close to none and can't string any cohesion play to keep ball possession. He just insist to play through balls , long or short whenever he touches the balls , lost 9 out of 10 times and got praised for the 1 time. he makes himself the monopoly of creative passes because he always chooses to make one even when it's premature , then lose the balls and the whole team needs to recover the balls for his mistakes , rinse and repeat .
You might get tricked by his statistics and thought he is the only source of creativity and silver lining in our terrible attack play. If you really watch full games , game after game, you can tell Bruno is the problem , and maybe even the main problem.
If Amorim can't see it or has no gut to change it, then he should go too. Dalot same case is the problem , a lesser one but Amorim right now also shows no gut to drop Dalot whatsoever.
The truth is Bruno can't play front 3 as he lack of strength and pace , can't play No. 10 as he can't dribble in tight space , can't play No. 8 as his defense positioning is close to none and can't string any cohesion play to keep ball possession. He just insist to play through balls , long or short whenever he touches the balls , lost 9 out of 10 times and got praised for the 1 time. he makes himself the monopoly of creative passes because he always chooses to make one even when it's premature , then lose the balls and the whole team needs to recover the balls for his mistakes , rinse and repeat .
You might get tricked by his statistics and thought he is the only source of creativity and silver lining in our terrible attack play. If you really watch full games , game after game, you can tell Bruno is the problem , and maybe even the main problem.
If Amorim can't see it or has no gut to change it, then he should go too. Dalot same case is the problem , a lesser one but Amorim right now also shows no gut to drop Dalot whatsoever.
He was fecking shite for most of the game, again.
by the way, Bruno is a shit captain. In his realm, morale is more often than not very low , he has no aura or leadership to get the team together to fight for results. Sometime he was even the first one losing temper and discipline and led a terrible example for the team. Like to whine on field , like to exaggerate and create a scene. I don't see how we can build a winning team with Bruno as the core pillar.
"Don't believe the facts..." "If you don't agree you obviously don't watch games..."
Yawn.
Poor first half, good second. Man of the match and yet again the only United player that looked like creating anything.
Why shouldn't that be one of the key metrics for an attacking midfielder? I could include assists as well, but I'm not sure that is going to support your case. He has 6 assists in the Premier League this season. That is not very good. I would actually say it is quite poor when he is meant to be one of the best attacking midfielders in the world, the captain of our team and a key player at a good age. You could blame poor finishing, if it wasn't for his assists matching his number of big chances created. The reason I exclude penalties is because I want to look at their goal scoring ability from open play. If Højlund was our penalty taker and scores 17 penalties and 3 from open play, I'm not going to say he had a good season and is a great goal scorer. You have attacking midfielders like Cunha scoring 13 from open play, Palmer with 11, Maddison with 9, Foden with 7, Rogers with 6, and then you have Bruno that scored 3. I don't think that's acceptable for one of the best paid players in the league who happens to be a captain and a key player in our team.
Regarding the pre-game quote by the commentator, I'm not entirely sure how that information is very useful in regards to his performances. If the attacking midfielder for our team gets more praise for his tackles than anything else, then I know we're in trouble. Random stats are put out there for us every game by the commentators, and it is cherry picked to say the least. I could also put out another cherry picked stat that Mikkel Damsgaard is the only player in the top 5 leagues that has 10+ assists and 50+ tackles which is more impressive, but still isn't a very useful stat.
"Pre-set opinion?" I have an opinion on our players. I thought he was excellent for us before, now I don't think he is good enough. Why is that not something you can accept that some fans feel? You're having a go at many posters in here that criticise him, including a moderator.
Bruno was in the midfield on the ball building up further back than Casemiro right before Everton's two goals. They couldn't play with the same intensity in the 2nd half and retreaded back, which made it easier for Bruno to move the ball without losing as he did in the first half. That was mainly after his goal and lasted about 18 minutes. When they moved up the pitch in the last 5 minutes, Bruno played a first-time pass without controlling the ball first to an Everton player on the edge of the penalty area which resulted in an attack that should've lost United the game.
So are you saying that Bruno didn't change positions from first half to second? Because that's just nonsense. Every single match report (and Moyes himself) flagged Bruno moving into a less advanced role as the thing that changed the game. This is something that's being noted EVERYWHERE. Refusal to acknowledge it, or a need to attribute it to the opposition, is an agenda on your part.
6 is pretty good in terms of assists, considering how toothless we are in front of goal. It's top ten in the PL for reference. I agree that you can't necessarily blame poor finishing but you CAN blame an entirely dysfunctional attacking unit that struggles to get into threatening positions entirely. And yes, our AM having a lot of tackles IS a worry and a sad indictment on the team but most certainly not the player. As for why I'm 'having a go', it's because he's regularly our best player and has been for years yet attracts enormous amounts of flak despite this.
Mate, I see that and acknowledge that. Let me try with a simple analogy: you are at school in a class with 30 other pupils and you write a suprise history exam. Everybody was caught by suprise, nobody is well prepared and the questions are well shit. 29 of your classmates get a straight F, you get an E. So in your class after this test, you'll be pupil of the test, the best pupil in the topic of history.
Pundits have to chose a Man of the Match. I've seen a game. It wasn't a good one. Look, if it means something to you, I'll happily say that Bruno wasn't the worst player on the pitch, in fact, he might have been one of the better ones. As in the analogy. You got an E, that doesn't mean, you are good in history, even if you were better than all your classmates. Thats my point, some of you are so selfabsorbed by his individual numbers or things like MotM awards that you seem to forget being the best of a bad bunch doesn't necessarily mean, you are objectively good. I am the last one to deny Bruno credit when he has a good game, I still remember his performance against Liverpool that season, this was a really good performance from him. But nobody can deny, that he didn't just influenced yesterdays game positively, again, he created an opposition goal and he almost created a scene where we concede a penalty in the late minutes of the match. Yes, he scored a direct freekick so I'll happily confirm, that he had a mixed performance but to label that as brilliant, excellent or whatever, is completely bonkers to me.
But Bruno dropped when we scored the freekick. Which is when Everton dropped back. Only that allowed to play Bruno there. I don't want to deny him, that having a capable passer in midfield is something, this team needs. But if you think, all it took was to drag Bruno a little deeper, you are naive. Don't you think, Ruben would have come to this conclusion before the fecking 70th minute?
No single player is THE problem in my eyes. Many players have problematic tendencies that make it difficult to give them a role on the pitch. As you say, Bruno has some very useful traits for a few positions but he also has weaknesses that create risks when deployed there.
Everton dropped back after they conceded the freekick. Only that gave us more space on the pitch, only that allowed Bruno to take some time on the ball. He made use of that time and space which showed, how necessary a capable passer in midfield is, but after all, our team still didn't create anything of note. Even for the time period you think we were better we scored a direct freekick in the 2nd attempt and from another setpiece by a low xG attempt by Ugarte. Our overall xG was 0.65. This IS not good and indicates, that while our possession increased, that wasn't because we finally broke down Everton but rather were allowed more time and space. Everton themselves wasn't playing great throughout the match so them becoming nervous was understandable. But they were one moment away from taking 3 points here, after a completely wayward action by Bruno in extra time.
It is fine to be happy with Brunos performance yesterday. But it sounds as if you simply don't acknowledge that his actions yesterday also had clear negative consequences for us.
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Because being "our best player" doesn't mean much given that the team goes from bad to worse. Nobody should say that this is just down to Bruno but he is part of a team that is so dysfunctional. As I said, yesterday is the perfect game to embody him, both sides of the room will feel confirmed: his fans will celebrate his MotM and his freekick, his opponents will point to giving away the ball for fun which directly led to a goal conceded and almost to a penalty conceded. It is beyond pointless to not acknowledge both sides of the story.
Especially with all those other brilliant captains we have ready to take his place right?
Agreed, he's been here for so long that at this point the conversation gets stale. There's those who just never see faults with him, blindly praising all his amazing stats and then there's those who underplay all the good he does for the team. Truth is somewhere in the middle, he's our best player right now and so not one of our primary problems at the moment, but the truth is we likely will never win any major trophies with him as our main player because he has too many flaws. I would really try to move him on this summer if a good offer came, that money could be then reinvested towards players that suit Amorim's system better.
He is a great servant to the club though and will definitely be remembered fondly, one of our bright lights in these dark years for sure
I don’t know how you have the energy. The absolute state of this thread. I peek in every now and then , get tempted to correct some of the absolute drivel being posted, then lose the will to live. Fair play to you. I’m tapping out.
He's actually been relatively ok recently.
Pros:
Wonderful player when on it
High work rate and never gives up
Sympathetic character and captain off the pitch
Cons:
Too many mistakes for his position
Doesn’t dictate the tempo of the game
Occasional hot head and whiney on the pitch
Conclusion:
Our best player. He’s saved us countless times, he’s loyal to the club and deserves praise for his time here. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have Eriksen’s football intelligence and decision making ability which is so important for especially possession based teams.
So there it is. Both things can be true at the same time: He’s our best player, but we should buy someone better.
Wonderful player when on it
High work rate and never gives up
Sympathetic character and captain off the pitch
Cons:
Too many mistakes for his position
Doesn’t dictate the tempo of the game
Occasional hot head and whiney on the pitch
Conclusion:
Our best player. He’s saved us countless times, he’s loyal to the club and deserves praise for his time here. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have Eriksen’s football intelligence and decision making ability which is so important for especially possession based teams.
So there it is. Both things can be true at the same time: He’s our best player, but we should buy someone better.
100%, deserved a bit more from the club.
Has his own things, but the problem is the level of the rest of the team.
Wonder your thoughts on his passes led to Everton goals yesterday? The one led to penalty…You happy with that
Keep reading that he always drags us out of touble.
He’s been here five years…Can’t remember too many of these dragging us big moments. Even week to week….weve lost many games one or two nil. Bruno scores free kick, first in years and suddenly he does this every week.
Nonsense. He doesn’t even play well and is an utter liability with the ball in own half.
He’s been here five years…Can’t remember too many of these dragging us big moments. Even week to week….weve lost many games one or two nil. Bruno scores free kick, first in years and suddenly he does this every week.
Nonsense. He doesn’t even play well and is an utter liability with the ball in own half.
Well firstly he shouldn’t even forced to have so many touches from deep, but it has to happen due to our incompetent recruitment where we have no one who can progress the ball well enough or comfortable enough to hold the ball in those positions
I understand Bruno’s flaws in terms of lack of physicality and ball carrying but there’s only so much you can do when your team mates are so gash and your manager hasn’t got a clue
It’s mind boggling isn’t it. I hope to Christ Bruno never reads this forum.
Not only the disrespect for one of our best players, but the revisionism on display is incredibly frustrating.
Palmer was guilty of giving the ball away leading to a goal for Chelsea recently. Doesn’t stop him being one of their best players.
I very much doubt Chelsea fans turn on him in the same way some of you lot do on Bruno.
And still almost lost us the game at the death. Sums him up really. Talismanic and just as liable to cost us.
I think you're very wise to, tbh. One of my most annoying character traits is an inability to let things go, as evidenced here! It just frustrates me that someone who's contributed so much to the club during such a bleak time gets constantly talked down.
Wait, Everton had a penalty yesterday???
Sigh...I already acknowledged he was poor in the first half. Bruno isn't without faults but he's being asked to shoulder almost the entire burden of chance creation at the moment, which will inevitably lead to some bits going astray. Don't get it twisted, he suffers as a result of the team's dysfunction, the team isn't dysfunctional because of him. To appropriate your analogy, imagine there's a school class of fifteen disruptive reprobates and one model pupil. The class as a whole will be known as underachieving, get poor results and be a nightmare to teach. The model student won't be given a platform to shine as they'll be dragged down by others around them.
I watched it back. He attempted a pass to Hojlund over the top and possession was conceded to Everton on their box with 10 United players behind the ball.
Now I have been one of Bruno's biggest critics but that goal is in no way on him. No way at all.
I watched the full game back again, painful as it was and he was actually quite good in the first half and very good in the 2nd half. He did have one brainfart that led to the peno shout but it wasn't like he put the a player right through. He lost possession badly but we again did have plenty back. He was quite clearly our best player but N'Gueye was definitely the MOTM.
Furthermore I thought he had had a poor game after the match, but looking back at it, all our constructive attacking play in both halves was due to him. In the 1st half linking with Dorgu and 2nd dropping and knitting everything together after the goal. Something for me to think about.
The fighter for justice. More likely you are just invested in this thread and you can't stand when stuff thats unjust in your eyes, is written here. Lets not make stuff bigger than it is, the regular people are all here for the same reasons.
a) he wasn't just poor in the first half even though it might have been worse there than in 2nd half.
b) he is celebrated for his assists and keypasses in here, those need his team mates as well. I don't see any sense in dragging them into it when we are talking about a player who didn't play very well. There are dozens of players per matchday that don't.
c) I'll give you that your analogy is at least creative. I find it incredible how you seem brush away the things that he isn't good at, even when at full display. Once again we reach a point, where there is no further and no back
He for sure isn't the main culprit, but still, he launches a risky ball which was directly is conceded and then used quickly by Everton. We were not in a set defensive position. Those are the situation all teams want to attack in. Those things can happen, no question about it. But with Bruno they happen a lot. And while that is part of his job description, too rarely we get anysort of reward from it while too often get into problems due to not being very well organized in defense. I get it, risk and reward. But you can't just do this calculation once and then never change no matter what the environment does. It is cheap losses, even Amorim noted that this is an issue for the player.
Each to their own I guess, fair enough
Of course all our attacking play goes through him because nobody else steps up and we haven't got any player in the team that has an above-average passing range in midfield. This is one level before saying Bruno always belongs to the top 11 eleven players on the pitch for United. Its baked in. And it isn't his fault, that Uniteds recruiting is and was so bad but I personally don't think, how this improves Brunos performances. It is just another thing you can criticize his team mates for.
My Bruno criticism started a long time ago when I thought, that this way of playing the game doesn't seem to look like other teams are doing it. And now after years of bad recruitment and some bad luck (one of Greenwood, Sancho, Antony, Hojlund, JZ could have turned out to be a success) we are were we are. Completely dependent on one player. Thats not a stick to beat the player with. But it is also not a crown. And who knows, maybe we would be somewhere else already had we steered the ship in a different direction instead of creaming ourselves with the famous Bruno-Rashford-deadend.
Re the bolded...well, yes. That's what I wrote so not sure what you're taking issue with.The fighter for justice. More likely you are just invested in this thread and you can't stand when stuff thats unjust in your eyes, is written here. Lets not make stuff bigger than it is, the regular people are all here for the same reasons.
a) he wasn't just poor in the first half even though it might have been worse there than in 2nd half.
b) he is celebrated for his assists and keypasses in here, those need his team mates as well. I don't see any sense in dragging them into it when we are talking about a player who didn't play very well. There are dozens of players per matchday that don't.
c) I'll give you that your analogy is at least creative. I find it incredible how you seem brush away the things that he isn't good at, even when at full display. Once again we reach a point, where there is no further and no back
He for sure isn't the main culprit, but still, he launches a risky ball which was directly is conceded and then used quickly by Everton. We were not in a set defensive position. Those are the situation all teams want to attack in. Those things can happen, no question about it. But with Bruno they happen a lot. And while that is part of his job description, too rarely we get anysort of reward from it while too often get into problems due to not being very well organized in defense. I get it, risk and reward. But you can't just do this calculation once and then never change no matter what the environment does. It is cheap losses, even Amorim noted that this is an issue for the player.
Each to their own I guess, fair enough
Of course all our attacking play goes through him because nobody else steps up and we haven't got any player in the team that has an above-average passing range in midfield. This is one level before saying Bruno always belongs to the top 11 eleven players on the pitch for United. Its baked in. And it isn't his fault, that Uniteds recruiting is and was so bad but I personally don't think, how this improves Brunos performances. It is just another thing you can criticize his team mates for.
My Bruno criticism started a long time ago when I thought, that this way of playing the game doesn't seem to look like other teams are doing it. And now after years of bad recruitment and some bad luck (one of Greenwood, Sancho, Antony, Hojlund, JZ could have turned out to be a success) we are were we are. Completely dependent on one player. Thats not a stick to beat the player with. But it is also not a crown. And who knows, maybe we would be somewhere else already had we steered the ship in a different direction instead of creaming ourselves with the famous Bruno-Rashford-deadend.
Re a) I think we'll have to agree to disagree. He had a couple of iffy moments in the second half but they were isolated and it was a good half from him. Re b) I don't really understand what point you're making here. Re c) I don't brush away what he's bad at, I literally said in the post to which you're replying that he's not without his faults. If you want me to list them, I'd say he doesn't always keep the ball as well as he could, he's prone to the odd brain fart, he sometimes tries the killer ball too often (though I'd say this is a reflection of the weight placed on him to be the only creator in the team), he could be stronger and he's not a great dribbler. That said, these 'faults' are all more than compensated for by the positives he brings.
fecking hell what an agenda. It would be just as accurate to say “Bruno played in the match these two goals were scored”. That’s some proper butterfly effect bullshit right there considering how many other player mistakes happened after his last touch.EDIT - I’ve watch it again and actually laughing out loud at the idea that those goals are unironically being blamed on Bruno.
But in fairness, Bruno was tragic yesterday. His mispasses were horrific. More than his normal service.
Sure, level that criticism at him but the tweet you’ve just shared is beyond pathetic agenda nonsense and does absolutely nothing for that side of the argument.
Can you elaborate on why you think that's the case? His stats have been outrageous since he's arrived, even better when he had the players I mentioned around him firing.
Casemiro lost the ball for the 1st. Insane to blame Bruno.
EDIT - I’ve watch it again and actually laughing out loud at the idea that those goals are unironically being blamed on Bruno.