Bruno Fernandes | United not interested due to doubts over passing ability

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He's got fantastic numbers this campaign but I would like to know more information on him from fans who've seen him perform this season.
 

Dante

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Only about 5% of the stories linking us to players in Portugal have any basis in reality.

The next step will be to say that Real Madrid have entered the race. Just watch.
 

Sanche7

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Would be a good backup to Pogba and would add some creativity to our squad. Would be a good buy provided he doesn't cost much
 

Andersons Dietician

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Likely to be a muppet hit given the highlight videos of those long rangers but nah, not for me thanks unless he is Pogba back up.
 

SportingCP96

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He's got fantastic numbers this campaign but I would like to know more information on him from fans who've seen him perform this season.
There is a thread on him where his style of play and more is explained.
 

SportingCP96

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Aloysius's Back 3

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I hate this 'back up for Pogba' cr*p.

Pogba can't be the most advanced creative player in the squad or our first team. He is not good enough of a playmaker & he is a better passer playing from deeper than further forward. Just because he doesn't defend as well in a midfield 2 doesn't mean we try to reduce creativity in our squad by putting him further forward.


It's absolutely ridiculous some of you guys don't see the importance of a player like Bruno Fernandes but then have us wishing we bought Eriksen all this time. Not comparing the two - but if Eriksen was here he would not be a back up for Pogba; he would be pushing him further deeper into the pitch.

Bruno Fernandes is a good player & just in general - Portugal are looking like a complete national team with many players coming out at the moment whilst performing.
 

SportingCP96

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Yes. Great numbers.

Seeing as you're a Sporting fan, could you see him playing in a midfield three with Pogba?

Something like:

Pogba Herrera Fernandes
Everything in greater detail was said in the other Bruno Fernandes thread that exists but ill keep it short and sweet. I truly don't believe United NEED him at this moment I believe there are other positions that are more important. BUT the question was would he fit and the answer is yes. 4-2-3-1 with Pogba alongside Herrera and Bruno at the number 10 role constantly interchanging with Pogba as well. Fernandes has an engine on him and has no problem tracking back he does it all the time. If you want to be smart though you need to have him higher up the pitch close to the 20 yard box because he can let it rip better then anyone in your squad currently and even though he is a midfielder he as goals in him and is close to hitting 30 goals for the season along with almost 15 assists.
 

SportingCP96

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Is he injured? I noticed he wasn’t in the team against Ukraine?
He got a slight knock in training so they did not want to risk it. Nothing serious at all.
 

SportingCP96

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Couldn't they play in a midfield diamond anyway ?
a 4-2-3-1 would get the best out of everyone I think. Though a diamond with Rashford Lukaku and Fernandes as the front 3 would be bloody fantastic.
 

Peyroteo

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Is he injured? I noticed he wasn’t in the team against Ukraine?
He is, got injured at the start of the international break. Would have been a starter otherwise.

Bruno Fernandes has been carrying Sporting in a way I don’t remember watching any player doing. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s that great or that everyone else is just shit though. I’m increasingly careful when rating players playing in Portugal since I believe the gap between our league and the top leagues is getting bigger.

He plays as the third most advanced midfielder.

He presses a lot and never stops running (Klopp would love him), has an incredible shot on him, he’s a good creative passer and a very dynamic player without the ball. As for weaknesses, I’d say he’s quite weak physically although he makes up for it with a lot of heart and he’s more goal oriented than a midfielder that will control matches.

He obviously deserves to take a step up but I’m not sure going to Manchester would be good for either him or United. With Pogba there he definitely wouldn’t be starting, I think he should go to a team like Napoli or Liverpool who could do with an improvement in midfield and are more suited to his style of play.

This rumour has been going on for a while but I don’t believe he’s the right player for United or that United is the right team for him.
 

Mcking

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I hate this 'back up for Pogba' cr*p.

Pogba can't be the most advanced creative player in the squad or our first team. He is not good enough of a playmaker & he is a better passer playing from deeper than further forward. Just because he doesn't defend as well in a midfield 2 doesn't mean we try to reduce creativity in our squad by putting him further forward.


It's absolutely ridiculous some of you guys don't see the importance of a player like Bruno Fernandes but then have us wishing we bought Eriksen all this time. Not comparing the two - but if Eriksen was here he would not be a back up for Pogba; he would be pushing him further deeper into the pitch.

Bruno Fernandes is a good player & just in general - Portugal are looking like a complete national team with many players coming out at the moment whilst performing.
I am with you on this. We should sign a proper attacking midfielder to play as the most advanced midfielder, or at least with as many attacking responsibility as Pogba. The Matic-Herrera-Pogba template is unbalanced, a bit too defensive and easy to counter.
 

Based Adnan

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Are the links actually reliable though? Always wary about players linked from Portugal as they love to put our name into the mix just to generate some hype for the player. Prime example being Gaitan. David Gill had to call Benfica/Gaitan's agent to stop putting our name in for him.
 

Wallez

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I think he will be a good fit alongside Pogba in our 433 formation. He has great energy in his game, puts in a solid shift defensively, but has his main strengths going forwards. A main issue in our current starting 11 is that Herrera and Matic doesn't offer much creativity, and Bruno Fernandes would improve this area. However, I am concerned about his price tag as Sporting are likely to point us to his 100 mill release clause. For that kind of money, we could probably be able to buy Eriksen, that is a better choice for the same role.
 

Mcking

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I think he will be a good fit alongside Pogba in our 433 formation. He has great energy in his game, puts in a solid shift defensively, but has his main strengths going forwards. A main issue in our current starting 11 is that Herrera and Matic doesn't offer much creativity, and Bruno Fernandes would improve this area. However, I am concerned about his price tag as Sporting are likely to point us to his 100 mill release clause. For that kind of money, we could probably be able to buy Eriksen, that is a better choice for the same role.
I would be looking at a 4-2-3-1.
DM Pogba​
RW Bruno LW​
Lukaku​
 

BlahRules

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Herrera played his last season with Athletico as an attacking midfielder. I am sure Fernandes will be an 8 and not the furthest forward player if he joined us.
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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We won't always play with a diamond. Hope we dont anyway. We need width!

Where would you play them in a diamond?
It's hard to say because Ole has changed his formation and tactics with all the injuries.

However, when he had all the players present - we played with a false 9/ AM hybrid in Lingard & this is the most important part of his tactics in my opinion.

Fernandes, Jaoa Felix are some players I can see playing there (I personally see Sancho not being bad as an AM that starts centrally but drifts wide to provide passes to our strikers; but this is just me trying to fit him in). What a false 9 is are just pivots that help transit the ball between the CM and the wider Strikers.

What this does though is play Pogba deeper in the midfield role and people question his ability in a 2 man midfield. Either he does fine in a 2 man midfield ( i think this is an exaggerated issue that would get better by playing a more defensively solid player next to him; even more so than herrera) or he has a midfielder next to him as well as another behind him as a CDM. This would lead to a diamond shape.

The names im putting up is purely to show how this diamond could work; not who we are linked to by the press.

Dalot- Lindelof - De ligt - Shaw
* Marquinhos
Herrera - Pogba
* B Fernandes
Rashford - Martial

See in this formation we have diamond with Bruno Fernandes playing as false 9/AM; when he gets the ball the strikers drift wide to providing width and spread the defence open.
In the exact same way, the CDM like marquinhos (ie a CB hybrid like Rice, Dier etc) gets the ball; passes it to the fullbacks to go forward whilst he shields the defence inbetween the central defenders.

We would arguably playing diamond formation with a false 9 up top and a false CDM/CB at the bottom. What this does is give us the defensive stability to allow Pogba to play more freely as a proper box to box player with minimal defensive need. The width comes from our strikers when our false 9 has the ball whilst the deeper width comes from our fullbacks when our shielding CDM has the ball.

It's a fluid diamond and not a static one; the only difference to the normal diamond shape is
  • false 9' - a CF that drops deep to dictate play from AM to the wide attackers
  • a false CB (CDM) - a CDM that drops deep in to CB to allow the forward runs of our fullbacks.

May seem like a bit of a cluster but we have seen this been used in the last year with players like Matic and Mctomminay doing exactly that in defense.
 

Devil may care

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Pogba doesn't work in a midfield 2, I thought we all knew that by now. The only way Bruno Fernandes is a starter for us is if Pogba goes to Real or we play him at the tip of the diamond, and in the latter role there's several players I'd rather have.
 

SportingCP96

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Rabiot seems like a cheaper version of Bruno Fernandes.
Rabiot has not done anything to warrant being in the same breath as Bruno to be fair also they are 2 very different players with different characteristics.
 

andersj

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Pogba doesn't work in a midfield 2, I thought we all knew that by now. The only way Bruno Fernandes is a starter for us is if Pogba goes to Real or we play him at the tip of the diamond, and in the latter role there's several players I'd rather have.
Pogba works where and when he wanna work. He has been great for France in a midfield two.

Its fair that you prefer other players at the tip of the diamond. I’m not sure that there are that many that could do a better job than him that is available for us. Furthermore, Bruno Fernandes is quite flexible and could be an option next to Pogba in 433 aswell in some games. I know you have your heart set on where he could work or not (a few days ago you claimed that 10 was not his best position, but the Sportingsupporter in this thread dont seem to agree).

Based on how Ole played with Molde, I’m quite convinced that he would prefer to play with a midfielder next to Pogba that offers more than Herrera going forward.

Who would you prefer as a ten?
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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I agree with those saying Pogba should drop deeper to accomadate a number 10, whether it be Fernandes or someone else.

Only thing is, Ole has been talking about how good Pogba has been in the advanced role and Pogba has also spoken about how much he enjoys the freedom. Having displayed some fantastic performances in the advanced role, where he has produced great numbers, would Ole want to drop him into the deeper role? Also, would Pogba be happy in the deeper role?
 

Devil may care

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Pogba works where and when he wanna work. He has been great for France in a midfield two.

Its fair that you prefer other players at the tip of the diamond. I’m not sure that there are that many that could do a better job than him that is available for us. Furthermore, Bruno Fernandes is quite flexible and could be an option next to Pogba in 433 aswell in some games. I know you have your heart set on where he could work or not (a few days ago you claimed that 10 was not his best position, but the Sportingsupporter in this thread dont seem to agree).

Based on how Ole played with Molde, I’m quite convinced that he would prefer to play with a midfielder next to Pogba that offers more than Herrera going forward.

Who would you prefer as a ten?
When I watch him for France it's like watching a Ferrari with a speed limiter on it, he has moments but his freedom of play isn't there unless they are playing garbage teams.

I keep seeing people say he's flexible but you have to look at the league we play in, City are the only team in our league that play with so much attacking focus, even Liverpool for all of Klopps "Heavey Metal football" talk plays with 3 grafters in midfield a lot of the time. Bruno might be able to play all over the park in a 3rd tier league but even the posters that rate him say he's physically weak, that's an issue if you are in the midfield battle in the PL, and I never said he couldn't play #10, I said that's not where his best success has came from and most Sporting supporeters in these threads agree, him and Pogba play virtually the same role as their best and you're seeing Sporting supporters in here say we aren't the ideal fit for him.

If Ole wants to play with a midfielder next to Pogba that offers more going forward than Herrera that's cool, but Bruno Fernandes is too far the other way and he better buy a hell of a mobile DM to cover while he's at it as Matic relies on Ander's leg work.

I'ds prefer Eriksen, Dybala, Isco, Fekir, Joao Felix, Griezmann or Havertz.

Its both. We very rarely create overloads down wide areas which come from wingers and full backs.
Most teams manage without that, I watched Spain tear up Norway down the flanks without wingers last night, we don't have a #9 pivot that wide forwards can play off anyway, that's why the Jadon Sancho obssession is off key IMO. We just need the fullbacks to attack more and comnbine with the LCM/RCM respectively in the diamond.
 

Devil may care

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I agree with those saying Pogba should drop deeper to accomadate a number 10, whether it be Fernandes or someone else.

Only thing is, Ole has been talking about how good Pogba has been in the advanced role and Pogba has also spoken about how much he enjoys the freedom. Having displayed some fantastic performances in the advanced role, where he has produced great numbers, would Ole want to drop him into the deeper role? Also, would Pogba be happy in the deeper role?
I disagree in general as he lacks the discipline and concentration in a 2, it's fine on his little jaunts with the French national team playing slower, methodical football, but not week in and week out in the PL, but the bold part I think would be a resounding No, he's not interested in doing too much defensive stuff and likes the attacking freedom of how we are currently set up which he has mentioned several times, Mourinho trying to force him into a midfield 2 began their rift.
 

Peyroteo

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If Ole wants to play with a midfielder next to Pogba that offers more going forward than Herrera that's cool, but Bruno Fernandes is too far the other way and he better buy a hell of a mobile DM to cover while he's at it as Matic relies on Ander's leg work.
Bruno works his ass off for the team, he's a goal-oriented midfielder but his pressing game is outstanding.

A 4-3-3 with a DM behind Pogba and Bruno Fernandes would work. The problem is I don't think you have the right player at the club already. Matic at his best would be great but I'm not convinced he's the answer on current form.
 
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