Picking your all-time united eleven. Do you consider Bruno?

I'd consider him. He wouldnt be automatically in the 11 but he'd be on the bench at least.
 
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He's making a case for himself, but feck it would be tough to leave out one of Rooney or Scholes.
 
The "problem" is that United has had so many great players over the years. You could genuinely create a team consisting of the 3rd or even 4th best players in each respective position and they'd still probably walk the league. 4 out of 7 PL/English top division Ballon d'Or winners are United players! No other English team has more than 1.

Bruno would have to compete with Charlton, Cantona and Rooney for that no.10/second striker position (although the latter could play CF, to be fair). That's a pretty brutal matchup.
 
He's in my 11. I only caught the last 3 years of Keane's career when I was a young kid, so Bruno definitely makes it next to Scholes.
 
No.

The 2 centre mids consist of two of the following; Keane, Scholes, Robson, Charlton.

The attacking mid/number 10 consists of the following; Charlton, Cantona, Rooney.

Bruno is not getting in over any of them.
 
No.

Wayne Rooney
Cristiano Ronaldo
George Best
Dennis Law

Bobby Charlton
Paul Scholes

Patrice Evra
Rio Ferdinand
Duncan Edwards
Gary Neville

I'd also have Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Ryan Giggs, Eric Cantona ahead too.
 
Love Bruno, but no. Too many other great attackers/midfielders to fit in.
 
No, but that's not his fault. We're stacked. Charlton, Robson, Scholes, Keane, Rooney are difficult to displace for anyone.
 
Trophies > individual stats. We don't need our own Gerrard.

And yet many Liverpool supporters consider Gerrard their best player of all time.

It's not that simple. Bruno is clearly in the conversation. Not just for his talent, but also his leadership and fitness.
 
Trophies > individual stats. We don't need our own Gerrard.
I wouldn't have Bruno in my all time XI but it's nothing to do with him being unlucky and coming to United when we're asleep

Bryan Robson just about sneaked into a successful United at the end of his career and he was a world class player who challenges any all time United team even if he didn't win the league imo
 
And yet many Liverpool supporters consider Gerrard their best player of all time.

It's not that simple. Bruno is clearly in the conversation. Not just for his talent, but also his leadership and fitness.

Because most of them are small time and had never even seen their club lift the league title in 1990 and prior. Most of them never watched the title winners.
 
And yet many Liverpool supporters consider Gerrard their best player of all time.

It's not that simple. Bruno is clearly in the conversation. Not just for his talent, but also his leadership and fitness.
He goes missing in vital games or games when the teams backs are to the wall. The Europa League final, when it matters to actually win a major trophy and he was a shambles. He lost the ball way more than any other player and was dreadful.

The true greats show up when trophies are actually on the line. Not leading the team to 3rd place.
 
I love Bruno but I just can’t put him in ahead of Charlton based on my Grandad always telling me he was the best attacking midfielder he’d ever seen and the videos I’ve watched or ahead of Scholes based on watching the entirety of his career, that’s before you then consider Robson and Keane in midfield too.

Depends what day you ask me but today if I had to pick an all time United midfield I’d go with Charlton, Keane and Robson which kills me to leave Scholesy out and Bruno doesn’t get in as one of a front three either where there’s Best, Cantona, Law, Giggsy, Ronaldo and RVN so I’d say Bruno would get in to a match day squad with Edwards and Scholesy as the sub midfielders.
 
I love Bruno but I just can’t put him in ahead of Charlton based on my Grandad always telling me he was the best attacking midfielder he’d ever seen and the videos I’ve watched or ahead of Scholes based on watching the entirety of his career, that’s before you then consider Robson and Keane in midfield too.

Depends what day you ask me but today if I had to pick an all time United midfield I’d go with Charlton, Keane and Robson which kills me to leave Scholesy out and Bruno doesn’t get in as one of a front three either where there’s Best, Cantona, Law, Giggsy, Ronado and RVN so I’d say Bruno would get in to a match day squad with Edwards and Scholesy as the sub midfielders.
And Rooney.
 
Because most of them are small time and had never even seen their club lift the league title in 1990 and prior. Most of them never watched the title winners.

You make it sound like they're all Millennials and Gen Z. Plenty of Gen X and Boomer Liverpool fans consider Gerrard the best (or top 3).

He goes missing in vital games or games when the teams backs are to the wall. The Europa League final, when it matters to actually win a major trophy and he was a shambles. He lost the ball way more than any other player and was dreadful.

The true greats show up when trophies are actually on the line. Not leading the team to 3rd place.

I recognize your username from the other Bruno threads and it's clear to me that we are watching a completely different game. So I'm not gonna waste time digging up big games where Bruno performed. You rate him far lower than the average United fan though, that's for sure.
 
You make it sound like they're all Millennials and Gen Z. Plenty of Gen X and Boomer Liverpool fans consider Gerrard the best (or top 3).



I recognize your username from the other Bruno threads and it's clear to me that we are watching a completely different game. So I'm not gonna waste time digging up big games where Bruno performed. You rate him far lower than the average United fan though, that's for sure.
But it's different as even then, not many games in the 80's were televised, and even then only the locals mainly attended the games. Most of the fans from further afield won't have been able to watch Dalglish every week.

Not watching a completely different game but thanks for the personal analysis. He is just not better or more important than Keane/Scholes/Cantona/Rooney. Then Charlton who gave more to the club than Bruno can even dream of.
 
Schmeichel

Irwin
Rio
Vidic
Evra

Robson
Keane
Charlton

Best
Rooney
Ronaldo

Today, tomorrow it will have Giggs, Law and Scholes in it.

Love Bruno but not quite there yet
 
I’ll confine mine to modern era players, because all time you have to include Edwards, Best, Charlton and maybe Law. But I saw none of them play live, and it was such a different time. So sticking with players I saw actually play….

Schmeichel

Neville —— Ferdinand —— Stam —— Evra

Keane ——— Scholes

Ronaldo ———— Rooney ———— Giggs

Van Nistelrooy

Subs: Van der Sar; Irwin, Vidic; Robson, Beckham, Fernandes; Cantona, Kanchelskis, Van Persie
Some perhaps controversial takes on the bench. Irwin covers both sides, Vidic obviously has to be there. VDS no brainer. Carrick very unlucky to miss out. It was him or Robson, and Captain Marvel just shaded it. Beckham for workrate, dead balls, delivery into the box, passing etc., has to be on the bench. Fernandes like wise in nearly every way. Cantona is just Cantona and no “best team of the last 30-40 years” can not have him at least on the bench, can open up any game. Kanchelskis is the most under rated player of the last 40 years because of wanting to leave, how he left, and what he did after; but in the modern game, his pace and two footedness, is a must have for me. He was absolutely electric and covers both sides. Up front, Van Persie, for his pure quality and chemistry with Rooney; but it’s incredibly harsh on Cole who is the most criminally underrated striker of the last 30 years. If he was playing today he’d be considered a top three striker in the world. Isak cost 125m and he’s never come close to emulating the performance levels of Andy Cole.

Looking at that team, Bruno wouldn’t look amiss at all if he started.
 
If it were mandatory to pick an XI in a 4231, and I was restricted to players in my lifetime, he'd have half a chance. It'd be a toss up whether to have Ruud upfront with Rooney as the #10, or Rooney upfront and Bruno at #10.
 
Its a tough one, because ability wise he’s one of the best players in the world, he’s incredible.
He would be a Ballon D’or contender if he played for Bayern or Real Madrid and have 45 assists.

I wouldn’t have him over Cantona or Rooney, but ability wise he’s not that far off, he’s a lot more comparable style-wise to Rooney’s determination and dynamism than Cantona’s elegance and flair.

In theory I think the 2007-2009 team would have been just as incredible with Bruno playing Rooney’s role, and the 20-26 United team would still struggle to compete for titles with Rooney instead of Bruno.

But anyways, not an all time XI just the XI of the players I watched in real time.

Schmeichel

Vidic
Stam
Ferdinand

Keane
Scholes

Giggs
Rooney
Cantona
Beckham

Ronaldo
 
In my lifetime - I'm in my mid-50s - he's the best playmaker we've had. If I'm picking from players I've seen, he's competing with Scholes for that deep-lying playmaker role, and I think he's a better player than Scholes.

The other comparison might be Cantona, but I'd say Eric was more of a striker. You could never drop Cantona back into midfield the way Bruno often has. And to be honest even if you could I think Bruno is a better player than Cantona. The Prem was much weaker when Eric was king and it's hard to see him thriving anywhere other than United, whereas Bruno has dominated in an ultra-competitive era and you just know he'd be terrific if he went to Madrid or Bayern.
 
Question for everyone, is he better than Cantona ? if you're looking stats wise, yes, but he's also dragging this team up
 
No chance and that's really because he unfortunate to play in a post Fergie era. In his position he is up against absolute icons of the club. Charlton, Robson, Cantona and Rooney.
 
If he repeats or betters his performance from last season, especially factoring in the.extra games he will be knocking on the door....now if he could lead us to a title!!
 
In a 10 in a 4321, and of players I've actually watched...

He'd be behind Cantina, Scholes and Rooney.

So, sadly, I'm not sure he'd even make the bench.
 
In my lifetime - I'm in my mid-50s - he's the best playmaker we've had. If I'm picking from players I've seen, he's competing with Scholes for that deep-lying playmaker role, and I think he's a better player than Scholes.

The other comparison might be Cantona, but I'd say Eric was more of a striker. You could never drop Cantona back into midfield the way Bruno often has. And to be honest even if you could I think Bruno is a better player than Cantona. The Prem was much weaker when Eric was king and it's hard to see him thriving anywhere other than United, whereas Bruno has dominated in an ultra-competitive era and you just know he'd be terrific if he went to Madrid or Bayern.

Bruno is not even able to play that role. His positioning when sitting deep is poor, he needs to play further forward.

He cannot control and dictate games like Scholes can.

The style of play for the deep lying version of Scholes wins you titles as the consistency in controlling the game is massively underrated.

See Rodri as the most recent example of how important it is for a title challenge or title win.