[Yagami]

I’m not sure what you’ve watched in terms of Eriksen today

I'm not surprised no one agrees.

It was the exact same with Bruno. When he joined and I pointed out his deficiencies, I got stick then, too. It's because they're new here and sometimes play a nice pass so people overlook the bad stuff.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

He was alright.

The rest of the team was so bad that I'm not sure it's saying much.

 

[Lyng]

I'm not surprised no one agrees.

It was the exact same with Bruno. When he joined and I pointed out his deficiencies, I got stick then, too. It's because they're new here and sometimes play a nice pass so people overlook the bad stuff.

Bruno and Christian couldnt be more different. Their whole approach to the game is completely different.
The only "issue" with Eriksen is his physicallity but that is not something that has ever been a problem for him. He is extremely press resistant and, unlike Bruno, very intelligent and reads the play well. His passing is also much better.

 

[Kostov]

Watching him play made me angry, he was supposed to wear that red shirt 10 years ago. Class player, glad to have him.

 

[Idxomer]

I'm not surprised no one agrees.

It was the exact same with Bruno. When he joined and I pointed out his deficiencies, I got stick then, too. It's because they're new here and sometimes play a nice pass so people overlook the bad stuff.

I actually kind of agree, his stats at Spurs were great but I always found him a bit overrated. People definitely went overboard with their ratings of him in the last 6 months.

 

[ROFLUTION]

He wasn't even that good in the second half.

The reason we were dilly-dallying when we were looking for an equaliser was because he's bad under pressure. He can't turn with the ball, so he just passes it back to the cbs, and once we've gave Brighton time to move up so Maguire and Martinez were both marked, he hoofs it.

Nope. Just nope.

Please rewatch second half again mate. Plays it out cleverly and easily so many times under pressure in ways Fred, McT (Or Pogba) would ever do. Also he did deliver it upwards between the lines a good amount of times.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Needs to play deeper. Refreshing change to have a midfielder with composure and the ability to pass the round thing.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

Looked like the only player who wasn't wearing a blindfold when the ball came into him.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Interesting the way “new signing armour” can distort opinions. First, bear in mind that Eriksen was statistically worse than Bruno by every single metric measured Now compare the comments in their player performance threads.

EDIT: Actually not every single metric. Bruno better at passing, dribbling and creating. Eriksen shades tackles and shots. Very little between them statistically overall.

 

[The United]

Playing either Bruno or Eriksen at a false nine is a bit of braindead decision and for some reason some people here wanted that too.

Both (at their best) can pick out a final pass and in Eriksen's sense, his long passing range looks decent. So, playing them as ahead of everyone in the middle while none of our wide forwards are great at off ball movements and one is not even a wide forward in a strict traditional sense just makes them completely useless while the team in general loses their usefulness. One of the many strange decisions in that one match.

 

[Sandikan]

Second half looked to be the only player who can pass effectively.
Sad that he's joined an absolute mess at the moment.

 

[Lyng]

Interesting the way “new signing armour” can distort opinions. First, bear in mind that Eriksen was statistically worse than Bruno by every single metric measured Now compare the comments in their player performance threads.

EDIT: Actually not every single metric. Bruno better at passing, dribbling and creating. Eriksen shades tackles and shots. Very little between them statistically overall.

You do realise Eriksen played way out of position in the first half right?

Are we just going to ignore how much better we played after he was moved in to midfield as well?

This is the issue with stats without context. You end up having the daft idea bruno played well yesterday, when everyone with eyes in their head could see he was woeful.

 

[SER19]

People have been PR blitzed by eriksen, a very simple signing who journalists were happy to reports is 'essential to how ten hag wants to play.' Yet on opening day we start him as a false nine, then drop him back, and actually seem to have no idea where he'll play.

He was a smart free signing, with lots of talent and an upgrade on the departed quartet of midfield options matic, mata, pogba and lingard. But we've been duped into thinking he goes towards addressing our main problems

 

[NoLogo]

Needs to play deeper. Refreshing change to have a midfielder with composure and the ability to pass the round thing.

I agree, when we dropped him into midfield we immediately looked better.

 

[#07]

Interesting the way “new signing armour” can distort opinions. First, bear in mind that Eriksen was statistically worse than Bruno by every single metric measured Now compare the comments in their player performance threads.

EDIT: Actually not every single metric. Bruno better at passing, dribbling and creating. Eriksen shades tackles and shots. Very little between them statistically overall.

Agree with this.

Feel like people are trying to see it with Eriksen, rather than take a sober look at how he's actually been playing.

Now, to be fair to him, he joined preseason late and he's probably still nowhere near full speed. However, there's a wafer thin difference between how he did and how the rest of the midfield did.

I think people just feel better that he was able to receive and move the ball from deep more tidily from Fred in the second half. However, there are a lot of mitigating circumstances behind even that. And when Potter made his second half formation adjustments and brought on his subs, again, Eriksen (like the rest of the midfield before I get killed by the CAF) faded from the game.

At this point I think there's a lot of wishful thinking when it comes to Eriksen. I hope those wishes come true. Can't help feel that we would've been better off investing in a proper upgrade to McTominay at #8. Someone like a Bissouma, while also bringing in a proper connecting midfielder to replace Fred. Hopefully Eriksen will excel at one of those jobs and reduce the need. However, it does feel like this is another case of shoehorning an attacking midfielder into a double pivot. You'd have hoped United would've learned from the Pogba experiment on that front.

Losing so many attacking midfielders who barely played should've been the cue for the club to rebalance our midfield and bring in players who actually like/excel at playing in a double pivot. I hope the Eriksen signing doesn't turn into a cautionary tale about how the current United hierarchy just doesn't learn from its mistakes.

 

[Cassidy]

Interesting the way “new signing armour” can distort opinions. First, bear in mind that Eriksen was statistically worse than Bruno by every single metric measured Now compare the comments in their player performance threads.

EDIT: Actually not every single metric. Bruno better at passing, dribbling and creating. Eriksen shades tackles and shots. Very little between them statistically overall.

Eriksen played as a false 9 first half (out of position)

 

[BarcaSpurs]

I think its a bit misleading to talk about how much more controlling you were in the 2nd half when he dropped deeper because Brighton clearly changed tactics to sit back and hit on the counter.

Also agree on the comments that he's not amazing playing out under pressure, even at Spurs it was always a weakness of his that he doesn't have the nimble footwork of a Modric, Dembele or dare I say, Frenkie De Jong type of player.

I still think he'll be a solid signing for you but the comments seem a little bit tinted so far.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I think its a bit misleading to talk about how much more controlling you were in the 2nd half when he dropped deeper because Brighton clearly changed tactics to sit back and hit on the counter.

Also agree on the comments that he's not amazing playing out under pressure, even at Spurs it was always a weakness of his that he doesn't have the nimble footwork of a Modric, Dembele or dare I say, Frenkie De Jong type of player.

I still think he'll be a solid signing for you but the comments seem a little bit tinted so far.

The big improvement could also be much more about who he replaced than Eriksen himself having a very good game. Breaking up the McFred axis of evil was always going to make us a hell of a lot better.

 

[JeffFromHK]

The big improvement could also be much more about who he replaced than Eriksen himself having a very good game. Breaking up the McFred axis of evil was always going to make us a hell of a lot better.

Fred - McTominay - Shaw - Rashford
These four must be discarded from our starting XI
they are all the reasons we fail to control the game

 

[Adam-Utd]

I think its a bit misleading to talk about how much more controlling you were in the 2nd half when he dropped deeper because Brighton clearly changed tactics to sit back and hit on the counter.

Also agree on the comments that he's not amazing playing out under pressure, even at Spurs it was always a weakness of his that he doesn't have the nimble footwork of a Modric, Dembele or dare I say, Frenkie De Jong type of player.

I still think he'll be a solid signing for you but the comments seem a little bit tinted so far.

They changed tactically but so did we.

We forced them deeper by having an actual striker up front, and a deeper midfielder who can play the ball without shitting the bed. It all contributed.

What he had to do he did very well. Even stopped a dangerous counter attack by himself on 1 occasion.

I'd quite happily see him play there again.

 

[Lyng]

The big improvement could also be much more about who he replaced than Eriksen himself having a very good game. Breaking up the McFred axis of evil was always going to make us a hell of a lot better.

So according to you, if we stuffed Bruno into central midfield we would have been just as good?

 

[Trigg]

Eriksen played as a false 9 first half (out of position)

In fairness he did alternate with Bruno in that position so that Bruno was the furthest forward as Eriksen drifted when he had spells without the ball.

Don’t think Bruno had the best game nor do I think he’s been on top form of late but we have other more pressing issues in midfield that’s for sure.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

So according to you, if we stuffed Bruno into central midfield we would have been just as good?

I mean he definitely wasn't going to perform worse than Fred and McTominay did that game. Basically impossible with how bad both were.

 

[Redderp]

Eriksen is going to regret signing with us if it continues like this. Clueless manager using him as a false 9. As a Dane and a United fan it almost can’t get any worse. Our national team manager must cry. Eriksen went from a perfect situation in Brentford to play as a false 9 for United.

We had the perfect opportunity to play him at LCM with McTominay RCM and Fred behind them in a 433 to save us from the dreadfull pairing of McFred.

But no, false 9 and a loss. Why did we even sign Eriksen. If Bruno can’t play on the wing or as a false 9 then Eriksen will find himself on the bench. He can’t play in a double pivot. He needs defensive players to do the dirty work just like Bruno. Look at the goals. Bruno and Eriksen got turned so easily, they are just weak defensively. And we couldn’t get the ball back when Brighton put in some effort. The worst thing is that McFred would be so much better if they were asked to do the dirty work and keep it simple.

Eriksen is world class if you use him like Brentford or Denmark, but he is just not good if you don’t. He needs to get on the ball a lot in deeper positions in midfield. I really hope EtH will see the light and use Eriksen correctly, but i seriously doubt it after he didn’t do it in the first game when it was the only sensible solution to our roster problems.

 

[Red00012]

Harsh to judge him on a position he probably has never ever played for a half. Needs to be playing deeper anyway first and foremost he was decent on the ball in the 2nd half

 

[Borys]

I wouldn't read much into his second half in deeper position. Brighton were 2 goals ahead and they changed the setup when we introduced Ronaldo. Before they were not threatened high up the pitch so whey could easily push us.
I want to see him tried in that role, but I'm skeptical. Just play him instead of Bruno and let him drop deep to help with ball progression. Not every AM plays like Bruno. I don't see the need to have both of them on the pitch at the same time.

 

[Relevated]

So overrated. Any time he was faced with a press he went backwards.

He did this towards the end too when we were fighting for 1 goal to draw. Ddg, maguire and eriksen didn't really drive the ball forward with much speed.

 

[Cascarino]

Eriksen, Bruno, Fred, McTominay... it's all the same. All weak under pressure which is why Brighton played us off the park.

It is a big problem, especially in the way ETH wants to play. Brighton pressed high and United couldn't really deal with it, when the central midfield pairing is Fred and McTominay it's going to be a big struggle to play it out. Potter is meticulous in how he drills his side, and I thought he got it spot on with both his on the ball and off the ball tactics.

It's very early days and Potter is now pretty well versed in the league. You could see a lot of what ETH wants to do but it's always going to take time for him to implement these systems, I thought on the ball United looked very janky and struggled to play with any real tempo or rhythm, and off the ball they looked quite open and were getting dragged around. I thought the second half changes were good and United had a decent spell at one point, yes Brighton ceded the space but dropping Eriksen deep allowed for him to spread the ball in a way Fred can't, and bringing on a striker helped in enabling more overloads out wide.

I don't know what the current status is with FDJ, but I can see why ETH was so desperate for him.

 

[stoinz]

I really like what I saw. He seems a tidy player, press resistant and passes very well. I really thought the results would have been really different if we had a fit martial or fit Ronaldo starting up front from the start.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

So according to you, if we stuffed Bruno into central midfield we would have been just as good?

Where did I say that? Bruno’s even less suited than Eriksen to play that role. That still doesn’t mean our improvement (which only lasted 20-30 minutes) was primarily down to how well Eriksen played.

The Bruno stats are only interesting because they show that Eriksen gave the ball away even more often than Bruno, while creating fewer chances. And one of them is getting praise while the other is getting slaughtered.

And - for the cheap seats - this is not me saying Bruno played well, or Eriksen playing badly…

 

[grahamo]

He was much better in the 2nd half when He played deeper. Some nice passing under pressure. Showed his class. McFred could learn from him

 

[Yagami]

Bruno and Christian couldnt be more different. Their whole approach to the game is completely different.
The only "issue" with Eriksen is his physicallity but that is not something that has ever been a problem for him. He is extremely press resistant and, unlike Bruno, very intelligent and reads the play well. His passing is also much better.

Completely disagree. Said it for years - Eriksen is a weak play who plays Hollywood Hulk Hogan ball. Same as Bruno.

I actually kind of agree, his stats at Spurs were great but I always found him a bit overrated. People definitely went overboard with their ratings of him in the last 6 months.

I never rated him at Spurs either. Poch worked wonders there. Dembele, Son and Kane were the only good players he had.

Nope. Just nope.

Please rewatch second half again mate. Plays it out cleverly and easily so many times under pressure in ways Fred, McT (Or Pogba) would ever do. Also he did deliver it upwards between the lines a good amount of times.

Again, I completely disagree. He was terrible. As I expected him to be.

He did this towards the end too when we were fighting for 1 goal to draw. Ddg, maguire and eriksen didn't really drive the ball forward with much speed.

There was a moment in the second half when we were pushing for the equaliser. Maguire and Martinez kept passing him the ball but he REFUSED to turn with it and kept passing it back because he himself knows he's weak under pressure.

Well, he wasted so much time that when he got the ball again, Maguire and Martinez were marked as it allowed Brighton time to push up and he just hoofed it. Guess what? Hoofed it straight to a Brighton player and we were under pressure immediately.

It is a big problem, especially in the way ETH wants to play. Brighton pressed high and United couldn't really deal with it, when the central midfield pairing is Fred and McTominay it's going to be a big struggle to play it out. Potter is meticulous in how he drills his side, and I thought he got it spot on with both his on the ball and off the ball tactics.

It's very early days and Potter is now pretty well versed in the league. You could see a lot of what ETH wants to do but it's always going to take time for him to implement these systems, I thought on the ball United looked very janky and struggled to play with any real tempo or rhythm, and off the ball they looked quite open and were getting dragged around. I thought the second half changes were good and United had a decent spell at one point, yes Brighton ceded the space but dropping Eriksen deep allowed for him to spread the ball in a way Fred can't, and bringing on a striker helped in enabling more overloads out wide.

I don't know what the current status is with FDJ, but I can see why ETH was so desperate for him.

Regarding the first team, we have one player in the midfield and attack who is somewhat decent under pressure in Martial, and he was out. Our squad is terrible under pressure. Frenkie de Jong is a must.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Completely disagree. Said it for years - Eriksen is a weak play who plays Hollywood Hulk Hogan ball. Same as Bruno.

That's a good thing though as it'll just help work ourselves into a shoot.... ing scenario brother.

 

[DWelbz19]

I'm not surprised no one agrees.

It was the exact same with Bruno. When he joined and I pointed out his deficiencies, I got stick then, too. It's because they're new here and sometimes play a nice pass so people overlook the bad stuff.

Haven’t noticed it yet, but I’ll pay special attention next game. My initial impression was he’s a bit better with ball retention than Fernandes, and slightly less hero-balling.

 

[Bastian]

What's his wage?

 

[Teja]

Completely disagree. Said it for years - Eriksen is a weak play who plays Hollywood Hulk Hogan ball. Same as Bruno.

I never rated him at Spurs either. Poch worked wonders there. Dembele, Son and Kane were the only good players he had.

Again, I completely disagree. He was terrible. As I expected him to be.

There was a moment in the second half when we were pushing for the equaliser. Maguire and Martinez kept passing him the ball but he REFUSED to turn with it and kept passing it back because he himself knows he's weak under pressure.

Well, he wasted so much time that when he got the ball again, Maguire and Martinez were marked as it allowed Brighton time to push up and he just hoofed it. Guess what? Hoofed it straight to a Brighton player and we were under pressure immediately.

Regarding the first team, we have one player in the midfield and attack who is somewhat decent under pressure in Martial, and he was out. Our squad is terrible under pressure. Frenkie de Jong is a must.

Ok I think you've convinced me to have a closer look. My takeaway from the last game was that there was he was 10x better than Fred when he went into that deeper role and played passes forward under pressure many times. Big part of the reason Brighton couldn't press us that well in the second half.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

There was a moment in the second half when we were pushing for the equaliser. Maguire and Martinez kept passing him the ball but he REFUSED to turn with it and kept passing it back because he himself knows he's weak under pressure.

Oh and that's just not true... He played 5 backwards passes in his own half during the entirity of the second half.

There was one moment towards the end where were weren't moving the ball up the pitch quick enough, but the movement was absolutely rubbish by that point so that didn't help.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

What's his wage?

Consensus seems to be around 150k p/w.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

How good is he deeper?

That's the real question for me - here and now.

Could you swap him for either Fred or McTom? Would that improve us?

He's played deeper, I know - but for me the answer to the question above would be: nah, probably not.

If the question is: could he challenge Bruno - then, sure, the answer is yes. Depending on the system and whatnot. But that wouldn't make a huge difference in itself.

 

[Bastian]

Consensus seems to be around 150k p/w.

That's not too bad - was hoping it wasn't 200 given his age and length of contract.