Literally one of the best creative midfielders in world football.
Bruno Fernandes against the Premier League Top 6 sides
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
This is a bit of a myth post.
Fred and Mctominay normally only play as a duo against the top sides where we tend to sit deeper and play counter attack. So naturally Bruno is going to be deeper than normal too. It’s very strange to use that as a comparison against Pogba and Matic who have only been picked as a duo against teams who sit deep against us and need breaking down.
I think it's both right and wrong at the same time really. Fred/Mctominay definitely don't attempt as many risky passes through the lines, but then as you say when Pogba is fit they rarely play together now unless it's a big game where Ole prefers the stability of the 2 together.
It's no coincidence though that Pogba and Matic are better on the ball especially when passing forwards IMO. Fred gives it a try but he's a bit more consistent, Mctominay really needs to work on his shorter passing game if he wants to be a top class midfielder.
It's not against Pogba and Matic but rather 'for' both as far as playing a more proactive game. But our two regular CBs need protecting hence we can't play a more imposing game without looking shaky. It's widely reported that Solskjaer's main target is a CB with particular attributes which would allow him to play with more risk and hence that would benefit our midfield, fullbacks and forwards.
Agreed. I think that’s what Ole was really pleased about the most yesterday. It was the first time in a long long time that we played with Pogba in a double pivot against a big team. It’s the first time I remember since our poor start to the season. We performed really well which shows we have confidence back to trust the defence a bit more and not need to be as cagey in bigger games. Let’s see.
I think the Pogba conundrum would easily be solved defensively if we had a CB who had the attributes to dominate in 1v1s.
I really wanted us to go all out for a centre back this window. A pacey centre back would potentially win us the title as it’s literally the one area of the team where we are still susceptible. Utd board should see that this is the closest we’ve been for years and may be the closest we will get for a while to win the league. Unfortunately, I don’t think the owners are motivated by footballing success which most likely means no incomings.
I think the issue might be that the CB Ole wants isn't available in the current window.
Splitting each of the four players apart is a better one and is showing what is expected. Pogba obviously the higher and more central areas. Matic and Fred quite similar, Matic slightly higher which considering he tends to play against weaker opposition that's to be expected. McTominay much deeper. So the difference between the pairing is basically Pogba vs McTominay which is obviously going to be a huge difference.
I wish. You see, the thing is this. Before Bruno arrived, bearing in mind that he was 25, he wasn’t looked upon as ‘one of the best creative players in World football’. He was a good player, but not one that the top clubs had been coveting - otherwise he’d have been somewhere other than Sporting Lisbon for the previous 3-4 years. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good player, he’s settled in well and he’s made a difference. We didn’t have anyone else like him and we needed someone . However, the media have turned him into a football deity, which unfortunately he’s not and in my view will weigh against him if he loses form. Those same media outlets that are falling all over themselves to praise him will turn on him if we don’t evolve into a trophy winning club.
Ronaldo wasn't one of the greatest goalscorer ever at Sporting
Salah wasn't regarded as one of the best goalscorers in world football whilst at Roma, at Chelsea
KDB wasn't regarded as one of the best creative midfielders in the world at Wolfsburg, at Chelsea
Bruno was putting the stats up in an inferior league, but now he's in England, one of the finest and competitive leagues in world football, so therefore he is now one of the best creative midfielders in world football.
He was
Fine, he wasn't at Chelsea thoughHe was
I've got 3 United players in my fantasy league. Shaw, Rashford and Bruno. Guess who I had as captain? The guy who hasn't gotten an assist or a goal. 
Interesting logic, but flawed. Using the same approach, does that make Jack Greslish and Lucas Digne amongst the best creative midfielders in World football?
Have Jack Grealish or Lucas Digne got 36 goals or assists in 36 premier league games?
Didn't think so.
You probably need to take the penalties into account before you get too excited. A few years ago, Dele Alli was ripping up trees for Spurs. He scored lots and created lots of goals. He is not and was not ‘one of the most creative midfielders in World football’. Don’t get me wrong, Fernandez is a huge improvement on what we had in that role and he’s made a difference. However, I think we are still a way off lauding him as being up there with the very best.
He is either still /or recently was the top scoring midfielder in the PL this season of none-penalty goals. (Statman Dave on Twitter, December 2020)
He's scored 8 penalties this season. If you take 8 penalties off him (why? I don't see people taking them off Salah, off Kane, Lineker, Rooney, Shearer....) then he's scored or assisted 28 times in 36 games. Still incredible.
I've got all day mate.
Also, this is before his most recent contributions against Southampton. https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...the-most-pl-goals-assists-since-brunos-debut/
He's ahead on that list of penalty taking strikers. He's a midfielder.
Insane stats, incredible impact on United, and its no coincidence that since he made his debut, Man United have got the most points in the PL. He is simply, one of the most creative midfielders in world football.
Sorry you don't like it.
Football is a team game. Is Rashford a better player than Cantona? Of course not. Bruno in this United team is among the best midfield players certainly in the PL.
His criticisms in big games remind me of Ronaldo's tbh. A player who basically got a goal or assist per game, but then the record dropped off a bit in big games naturally as they are much tougher. Performance wise hes similar to Rooney in a lot of ways, probably just more of a midfielder/creative #10 rather than the more second striker type of #10 that Rooney was, but even then there's not a whole lot of a difference between them. Can be sloppy but can be brilliant, but always has a great mentality, work ethic and comes up clutch for us even when playing poorly.
I agree to an extent. He's not world class but there isn't a Lampard around anymore. Not many midfielders can create and score at the same time. Not many midfielders today are great goal scorers.
Rashford is a very different player to Cantona, and certainly in terms of influence on his team he's nowhere close, but I don't think it's fair to say he's nowhere near as good. His attacking threat has carried us at times and he's still a young lad.
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At least spell his name right if we are to take such an unserious post seriously - amazing that you can't see his huge impact at United and compare him with Dele Alli.
It’s not that I don’t like it, I just don’t agree with it. Is that OK or is the prospect of the suggestion that our current best player isn’t quite as good as our own propaganda suggests too much for you to handle?
Apparently the ‘s’ and the ‘z’ are interchangeable in Portugal. He has had a huge impact, no doubt. That, however, doesn’t make him one of the best midfielders on the Planet.
We just don’t seem to control these games, and a large part of it is due to us being on the back foot defensively. We’ve conceded more than any other top 10 side bar West Ham. When we have to play with caution our attackers suffer too.
We can disagree. Theres a bracket of 9-10 elite number 10’s in world football and I see Bruno as firmly in that bracket.
Neither of these points of view sound totally unreasonable.
I don’t see how anyone can have the impact Bruno has had and put up the numbers like him without being extremely good.
Good outcomes over long period = good player.
Is he less effective against the best teams? Probably. Is he in the top ten players in his position? Thereabouts.
I'll put a different slant on this Bruno talk.
Had we bought Messi last January. Paid £300M. And Messi had the same effect that Bruno did (ie. took us from mid table to 3rd in half a season). And this season had us in 1st/2nd place, most people would accept that Messi delivered.
Bruno for me, is the best No.10 in the World and I actually can't believe one player has has such a big impact for us.
We've spent big money over the last 5 years and no player has had the same effect that Bruno has had for us.
And for the Ole lovers out there - had Bruno not joined us, we'd be languishing in mid table positions (this season and last) and Ole would've already been fired.
Had we bought Messi last January. Paid £300M. And Messi had the same effect that Bruno did (ie. took us from mid table to 3rd in half a season). And this season had us in 1st/2nd place, most people would accept that Messi delivered.
Bruno for me, is the best No.10 in the World and I actually can't believe one player has has such a big impact for us.
We've spent big money over the last 5 years and no player has had the same effect that Bruno has had for us.
And for the Ole lovers out there - had Bruno not joined us, we'd be languishing in mid table positions (this season and last) and Ole would've already been fired.
Mané got his big move at 24. The summer before Liverpool bought him, people on here were angry about us being linked with him after Pedro opted for Chelsea.
Salah got binned off by Chelsea and was doing well for Roma, but only got recognised as a class player after moving to Liverpool at 25.
Kanté was 24 and playing for a newly promoted Caen, then got signed by Leicester. No one knew anything about him, and suddenly he was one of the best midfielders in Europe.
Son had been putting up good numbers in Germany for several seasons, and never got signed by a top club. At 23 he got a move to Spurs, and almost helped them become one.
I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes good players get overlooked for reasons that are hard to discern.
Pure propaganda when he scored from 25 yards tonight BTW
I think you misunderstand me. I’m not saying that he’s not a decent player, he clearly is, but goal scoring midfielders are not necessarily ‘World Class’ just because they play for us. That definition is restricted in our case to the likes of Cantona and Scholes. I just don’t see him in that class, certainly at the moment.
It’s not just a Bruno problem, but it is a Manchester United problem. Seven games against the Big 6 in the league this season and we have scored one penalty goal. That’s it. That goal was in the second minute against Spurs, which means we have now gone 628 minutes without a goal in these games.
The Liverpool cup game hinted at us making progress in this regard, but we so often have blanked against these sides over the last year. In fact, including cup games, we have now scored a non-penalty goal in only 1 of our last 11 games against the Big Six! The only non-penalty goals United have scored against these sides during lockdown were against Liverpool in the cup.
There will be no silverware until this changes.
The Liverpool cup game hinted at us making progress in this regard, but we so often have blanked against these sides over the last year. In fact, including cup games, we have now scored a non-penalty goal in only 1 of our last 11 games against the Big Six! The only non-penalty goals United have scored against these sides during lockdown were against Liverpool in the cup.
There will be no silverware until this changes.
Funny how this is a thing, how many goals does De Bruyne have against the big 6 this season?
It’s not a Bruno problem, it’s a Manchester United problem. We play with fear against the top 6. 1 goal all season in the PL & it was a pen.
Another piss poor performance in a big game.
Oh dear
This year our approach in the big games has changed, we did very well against the top six last season, too pragmatic this season, the lack of goals in general against the top 6 is indicative of that, not fair to blame Bruno.
Again we had chances today and didn’t make the most of them. Games like today we miss Pogba’s quality, when Bruno is being marked out of the game it helps massively to have another player with that sort of quality in midfield.
Again we had chances today and didn’t make the most of them. Games like today we miss Pogba’s quality, when Bruno is being marked out of the game it helps massively to have another player with that sort of quality in midfield.
I think he tries too hard in these big games, ends up rushing everything and misplaces simple passes. Can’t really blame him though he’s clearly frustrated with the way we’re approaching these big games.
Not sure how much is down to Bruno and how much is down to the way we approach these games. I mean it's not like he's our only attacker who hasn't done the business against the big sides, we generally haven't been scoring goals. There's a reason so many people were calling a 0-0 before this game and that reason isn't Bruno.