He's clearly been instructed to cover, especially when he plays with Ronaldo. The players around him not pressing well is a bad thing on their part. Every manager we've had since Ole clearly wants to press.
I'm also of the opinion that a player like him, who works hard and is talented, should be accommodated. Most good attacking players I know are wasteful in possession. Don't be mistake, KDB is too. The difference is that City are able to pressure the opposition to regain possession those key passes don't come off. If he played for United, I'm not so sure that people won't be saying the same thing.
We suffered so many years playing with passive attackers. Mata was not great for us imo due to this. What's the point of recycling possession in attacking areas without trying to create chances. In our team, he's consistently been the only one trying to do this. Maybe he's gotten used to carrying the baggage on his own, but so far, it's not like any of our other attackers have supported him. Sancho has been so passive since he came in, Rashford has barely any creativity, Pogba hardly played during the period Bruno has been here...those are the only other sources of creativity he's had to work with.
I also think people don't really understand ETH's set up. Bruno may get into different spaces, but ETH isn't necessarily a possession recycling coach like Pep despite the high possession stats. He's had the likes of Ziyech succeeding his team, and whilst attacking, despite like to break teams down in player clusters, he is very open to directness.
Bolded 1: We can now estimate which scenario is more likely - that all players are instructed to press but noone bar Bruno is following those instructions or the scenario, that Bruno thinks something needs to be done, a signal has to be sent or whatever. I know, what is more likely to me. And with all due respect, I don't think, Ole would have been able to instruct the team a functional pressing system. Because if you don't do it in numbers with a plan, then you are hurting yourself way more than if you wouldn't do it in the first place.
Bolded 2: He was thriving in Oles System for a while. Since then, he isn't as flashy as back then (sure, many reasons). So at the end of the day, back then could have been a purple patch or a one season wonder. Brunos qualities are there for everyone to see: he has great vision and can have a perfect execution. Of course, such a player is useful to any team. But Bruno has some weaknesses, he isn't particularly strong, not a great dribbler and his defensive contribution is thin, even though he more often then not looks busy on the pitch. The worst thing though is his decision making which leads to him being a constant threat to your own possession. When we are talking about chance creation, everybody is fine with that. But he isn't solely an attacker ala Sneijder, he is needed in our builtup as well. And there is issues cause problems. There is no denying that.
Somebody suggested to take him out of the 10 spot and get him one of the front 3 positions - I'd be fine trying that.
Bolded 3 and 4: He is often the only creative outlet, that is unfortunately true. But that still doesn't mean, he has to go Hollywood every fecking time. Again, when we are defending deep, playing for counters that is totally fine. But as soon as we are trying to play a little more dominant, having more control of the ball, it gets detrimental fast. I could see him improving on that though - thats why I am ultimately against the notion of the thread title. That being said, if he wants to stay the player he is, then it might be difficult.
And surely ETH isn't some sort of LVG lite, nobody said that. But directness doesn't mean, go for the killer ball within 2 seconds after receiving the ball. Which is what Bruno seems to do instinctively (which worked great for a while under Ole). And that isn't even something to boils down to a prefered style or something, it is about feasibility - As soon as Opponents drop deeper, that approach gets infinitely more difficult. And the opponents will drop deeper when they realize, that is their best bet to get some points from us. We have lived through it around one year after Ole joined until the start of his last season. Top teams can't just rely on being good on the counter, there needs to be an evolution. I think, Bruno isn't in the top 5 of our issues (in general at least, his current form and ETHs insistence on playing him through it might catapult him in the top 3) for the forseeable future but the more we are trying to make use of possession as a tool, the more obvious some issues will get.
