My suspicion is simply that a 433 will create the same questions about Bruno that a 4231 creates about Pogba. Unless he becomes Verratti, De Jong or a Barella, then we’ll likely spend a few months of good intention before accepting that he is not a central midfielder, and then either dropping him in bigger games as we have done with Pogba at times and bringing in a Donny or Fred (if we are committed that a 433 is our preferred formation), or simply changing formation again at some point in the season back to a 4231 because of an insistence that Bruno needs to play. Very similar to Pogba currently. Of course, we’ll take the easy option and play both against all the bottom teams, but that would be kicking the can.
As I’ve said for 18 months, I still feel the issue started when we brought Bruno in the first place. It showed poor planning. Bruno’s signing only made sense if Pogba was leaving. If Ole was still insistent that he sees Pogba as a central cog in whatever he is trying to build, then he should have targeted a Saúl or similar in the first place. This is the sort of approach that has made me doubtful of how far we can go. We seem to just want to put as many good players on the pitch as we can, whether we are playing to their strengths or not. I’m expecting the latest chapter of that to unfold soon with the purchase of Sancho.