[dubplate warrior]

Bruno was definitely world class for the first 18 months for us. People have very short memories on here.

Sadly like so many others his level gets dragged down by being surrounded by players who don't try or players who are just not that good.

Depends what you mean by world class, I don't think Bruno has ever been amongst the best players in the world, far from it. People have a cognitive bias on here.

In reality he had a free role and took penalties to help inflate his goalscoring numbers. His contribution to the team in possession and general decision making has always been poor, and was one of the reasons the club hesitated in signing him in the first place. He would never in a million years even on his best day start for Liverpool or City.

 

[rbdoconnor]

He would never in a million years even on his best day start for Liverpool or City.

Come on, Bruno was amazing first season. Liverpool's cms are workhorses so he doesn't fit in there and City is a posession based style, but to downplay his contribution is just cruel.

 

[roonster09]

The reason why Elanga played under Ralf is because he presses like Ralf wants his players to. Diallo has a lot of talent but needs to work on his off the ball game. That's probably why he doesn't get selected by Rangers. You have to be a really high level talent to offer little of the ball in the modern game (or play for Ole!).

https://fbref.com/en/players/2fba6108/Anthony-Elanga

I always compare Diallo to Marcus Edwards. The resemblance is uncanny on the ball and Edwards is a very gifted player like Amad. He's stuck being a bench player for Sporting at the moment because while he does some amazing things with the ball he doesn't offer enough in his all round game. Diallo needs to make sure he doesn't end up like Edwards.

Elanga's workrate is good, likewise Diallo's is good too. Sample size is small but I think per 90 mins he is among the top in our squad in pressures per 90 mins. In the games he started, his pressures in that game is usually more than 25 which is very good.

 

[Jeppers7]

Depends what you mean by world class, I don't think Bruno has ever been amongst the best players in the world, far from it. People have a cognitive bias on here.

In reality he had a free role and took penalties to help inflate his goalscoring numbers. His contribution to the team in possession and general decision making has always been poor, and was one of the reasons the club hesitated in signing him in the first place. He would never in a million years even on his best day start for Liverpool or City.

I get the feeling that Bruno is a bit of a flat track bully. When he was the main man in a poor team, taking all the free kicks and penalties he thrived. Certainly the amount of penalties we won, and he took particularly well, at the time helped to boost his stats and mask what were already becoming erratic performances. He scored only four league goals from open play the second half of last season and provided only two assists. From his position as a forward player in that team, with the license to give the ball away at will….there’s no way you can argue he was world class for 18 months, that’s without looking at the consistently poor performances.

Fast forward to this season, and the signing of three top class players seems to actively stifled Bruno. Is he capable of not being ‘the man’ ?
He isnt good enough to be ‘the man’ in a CL or premier league winning team in my opinion but is he mentally strong enough to be part of a team, performing a role?

I look at what has happened to his penalties since Ronaldo has come back to the club. The guy has gone from being a sure thing on pens to an absolute liability simply because he has some competition for taking them, which makes me wonder if he’s only capable of being the man in a poor team.

 

[Frank White]

It's more a case that it's an impossible environment to anyone to have done well in. So no point in making any judgement on him IMO. It was a season, a team where even Cristiano Ronaldo looked useless/past it/a statue and a hindrance for 1/3 to 1/2 of the season. This season has been hugely disappointing. Pointing fingers at pretty much any player in particular and being disappointed in their level just feels weird, because I really don't think there was any different possible outcome the way the year was going.

I have no problem with that but alternatively to turn around and say he's had a good season is complete B.S imo.

 

[bosnian_red]

I have no problem with that but alternatively to turn around and say he's had a good season is complete B.S imo.

Don't think anyone had a good season! Just think it's more important to look at individual qualities and attributes that they can bring along with the level we know they can reach under our likely system rather than saying "he needs to improve, not good enough season" as that applies to everyone and none of them had a platform to actually do better in the first place.

 

[phelans shorts]

Bruno was definitely world class for the first 18 months for us. People have very short memories on here.

Sadly like so many others his level gets dragged down by being surrounded by players who don't try or players who are just not that good.

Definitely not world class at any point. He was incredibly effective for a spell, but even during his best times he was incredibly frustrating, usually wasteful in possession and would be missing for 70/80 minutes most games.

 

[GazTheLegend]

Definitely not world class at any point. He was incredibly effective for a spell, but even during his best times he was incredibly frustrating, usually wasteful in possession and would be missing for 70/80 minutes most games.

I'd argue he was world class against Leipzig when he came on and has shown flashes of ability far beyond anyone I have seen play for us in years.

I think his major problem is that he gets targeted and kicked out of games. Certain sides particularly in the top half but also lower clearly kick the shit out of him with zero help from the referee and Bruno gets frustrated and that's why he "disappears" from games. If we get more quality players next to him and start stretching the games again we will see the best of Bruno who is absolutely world class in my opinion.

 

[Frank White]

Don't think anyone had a good season! Just think it's more important to look at individual qualities and attributes that they can bring along with the level we know they can reach under our likely system rather than saying "he needs to improve, not good enough season" as that applies to everyone and none of them had a platform to actually do better in the first place.

Again couldn't agree more. Don't even think he's a bad signing, just that this season he, along with nearly everyone else has been hugely underwhelming/down right awful.

 

[SAFMUTD]

His close control is amazing, and opposed to what you might think from his physique he's not weak either. Pace is definitely lacking there and sadly I don't think it's something he can develop. As a winger in the premier league having pace is a must IMO.

Maybe he can be used something like Bernardo Silva?

 

[Freak]

His close control is amazing, and opposed to what you might think from his physique he's not weak either. Pace is definitely lacking there and sadly I don't think it's something he can develop. As a winger in the premier league having pace is a must IMO.

Maybe he can be used something like Bernardo Silva?

He could be used as an inverted winger if we have a capable attacking RB. That way his pace wouldn't be a concern.

 

[Matt851]

I'd argue he was world class against Leipzig when he came on and has shown flashes of ability far beyond anyone I have seen play for us in years.

I think his major problem is that he gets targeted and kicked out of games. Certain sides particularly in the top half but also lower clearly kick the shit out of him with zero help from the referee and Bruno gets frustrated and that's why he "disappears" from games. If we get more quality players next to him and start stretching the games again we will see the best of Bruno who is absolutely world class in my opinion.

World class against leipzig, that is a silly opinion

 

[SAFMUTD]

He could be used as an inverted winger if we have a capable attacking RB. That way his pace wouldn't be a concern.

Lets see if he gets a chance under Ten Hag, he's definitely promising.

 

[dubplate warrior]

I'd argue he was world class against Leipzig when he came on and has shown flashes of ability far beyond anyone I have seen play for us in years.

I think his major problem is that he gets targeted and kicked out of games. Certain sides particularly in the top half but also lower clearly kick the shit out of him with zero help from the referee and Bruno gets frustrated and that's why he "disappears" from games. If we get more quality players next to him and start stretching the games again we will see the best of Bruno who is absolutely world class in my opinion.

World class against Leipzig is not the convincing argument you think it is. There's a reason he looks terrible against big teams and it's not tactical.

 

[dubplate warrior]

His close control is amazing, and opposed to what you might think from his physique he's not weak either. Pace is definitely lacking there and sadly I don't think it's something he can develop. As a winger in the premier league having pace is a must IMO.

Maybe he can be used something like Bernardo Silva?

I think he could play behind the striker pretty well, his weight of pass is fantastic, and he has the dribbling ability to beat a man and create space.

 

[SAFMUTD]

I think he could play behind the striker pretty well, his weight of pass is fantastic, and he has the dribbling ability to beat a man and create space.

Realistically Bruno and Sancho are very much ahead of him in the pecking order for that position. Even maybe Van de Beek. So hopefully we can develop him to play on the wings where we are short.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

His close control is amazing, and opposed to what you might think from his physique he's not weak either. Pace is definitely lacking there and sadly I don't think it's something he can develop. As a winger in the premier league having pace is a must IMO.

Maybe he can be used something like Bernardo Silva?

Pace is certainly a bonus, but players like Mahrez, Grealish, Bowen, Olise - all of whom are pretty successful in the wider roles, have't exactly got blistering pace.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Pace is certainly a bonus, but players like Mahrez, Grealish, Bowen, Olise - all of whom are pretty successful in the wider roles, have't exactly got blistering pace.

Yes, hopefully Amad can adapt to it as well. The talent is there.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Depends what you mean by world class, I don't think Bruno has ever been amongst the best players in the world, far from it. People have a cognitive bias on here.

In reality he had a free role and took penalties to help inflate his goalscoring numbers. His contribution to the team in possession and general decision making has always been poor, and was one of the reasons the club hesitated in signing him in the first place. He would never in a million years even on his best day start for Liverpool or City.

Ridiculous recency bias, which is quality in a post that throws around the bias accusations

 

[dubplate warrior]

Ridiculous recency bias, which is quality in a post that throws around the bias accusations

You may not realise it, but not everyone thought Bruno was world class during his first season. His goals regularly masked his crap performances, reflective of the entire team under Ole. What world class player regularly plays so badly against the big teams? I assume you're going to bring up numbers because he rarely actually plays that well over the course of 90 minutes, excluding penalties how many goals from open play did he get last season? Were they world class numbers?

 

[sglowrider]

You may not realise it, but not everyone thought Bruno was world class during his first season. His goals regularly masked his crap performances, reflective of the entire team under Ole. What exactly have I said that's wrong?

It would be interesting to hear the comment of the contrarians from back then. I don't think there were many.

 

[dubplate warrior]

It would be interesting to hear the comment of the contrarians from back then. I don't think there were many.

Maybe not on a Manchester United forum, but there were plenty people who were questioning his actual performances and whether penalties were massively inflating his numbers. Plenty of compilations were doing the rounds showing his 0/10 performances, only to be masked by a penalty or jammy assist.

 

[Ali Dia]

I get the feeling that Bruno is a bit of a flat track bully. When he was the main man in a poor team, taking all the free kicks and penalties he thrived. Certainly the amount of penalties we won, and he took particularly well, at the time helped to boost his stats and mask what were already becoming erratic performances. He scored only four league goals from open play the second half of last season and provided only two assists. From his position as a forward player in that team, with the license to give the ball away at will….there’s no way you can argue he was world class for 18 months, that’s without looking at the consistently poor performances.

Fast forward to this season, and the signing of three top class players seems to actively stifled Bruno. Is he capable of not being ‘the man’ ?
He isnt good enough to be ‘the man’ in a CL or premier league winning team in my opinion but is he mentally strong enough to be part of a team, performing a role?

I look at what has happened to his penalties since Ronaldo has come back to the club. The guy has gone from being a sure thing on pens to an absolute liability simply because he has some competition for taking them, which makes me wonder if he’s only capable of being the man in a poor team.

I love Bruno but this is a fair point. Good post. I also think we stopped winning penos once martial gave up. Hes hard to stop without fouling in the box with the way he twists his body and dribbles. Our best run in the last few years and it felt like he was wining us a penalty every few games which bumped up Bruno’s stats. They initially seemed to have a good thing going together to be fair and Bruno hasn’t really looked quite as good since.

 

[Jippy]

Can we take the chat about Bruno's performances to the Bruno performance thread please.

 

[troylocker]

You may not realise it, but not everyone thought Bruno was world class during his first season. His goals regularly masked his crap performances, reflective of the entire team under Ole. What world class player regularly plays so badly against the big teams? I assume you're going to bring up numbers because he rarely actually plays that well over the course of 90 minutes, excluding penalties how many goals from open play did he get last season? Were they world class numbers?

Depends on your definition of world class numbers of course, but he did score 15 non penalty goals (0,29npG/90) and assisted 17 (0,33A/90) last season. That is 0,63 non penalty goal contributions per 90 minutes from the midfield. This season: 0,24 npG/90, 0,33 A/90 and 0,57 npG+A/90. Pretty darn good if you ask me. It's hard to discredit him for his goal contribution rate.....or his defensive workrate. His passing % is low because he plays more vertical football than the average midfielder/attacking midfielder.

This is the Diallo thread though, and he really hasn't shown anything to suggest that he is ready to fly in the PL. Right now I think he would be bullied out of nearly every game. He might never get there either....

 

[Tallis]

Have faith in Amad. I don’t think we have managed his progression well at all - leaving him in Italy without a chance of getting a game to begin with. Then loaning him to Rangers which wasn’t the right club / situation for him.

To his credit, he has scored some goals there and will
Bring back some confidence and Learnings.

 

[dubplate warrior]

Depends on your definition of world class numbers of course, but he did score 15 non penalty goals (0,29npG/90) and assisted 17 (0,33A/90) last season. That is 0,63 non penalty goal contributions per 90 minutes from the midfield. This season: 0,24 npG/90, 0,33 A/90 and 0,57 npG+A/90. Pretty darn good if you ask me. It's hard to discredit him for his goal contribution rate.....or his defensive workrate. His passing % is low because he plays more vertical football than the average midfielder/attacking midfielder.

This is the Diallo thread though, and he really hasn't shown anything to suggest that he is ready to fly in the PL. Right now I think he would be bullied out of nearly every game. He might never get there either....

I think Diallo could potentially thrive under someone like ETH. He has top attributes in the traits he needs in a player. He had Donny balling out in the Bernabau. Maybe the system means that he doesn't have to rely as much on physicality.

 

[Fanta Stick]

Amad starts in the Scottish Cup final against Hearts. Kick-off 3pm.

 

[Lost bear]

Depends what you mean by world class, I don't think Bruno has ever been amongst the best players in the world, far from it. People have a cognitive bias on here.

In reality he had a free role and took penalties to help inflate his goalscoring numbers. His contribution to the team in possession and general decision making has always been poor, and was one of the reasons the club hesitated in signing him in the first place. He would never in a million years even on his best day start for Liverpool or City.

This is a bit over the top. Everybody has a ‘cognitive bias’ except you?
I recall Bruno’s first season- it wasn’t just goals inflated by penalties, but some beautiful assists and creative play. It’s true he’s been poor this season, but have a little balance, surely?

 

[Lost bear]

Can we take the chat about Bruno's performances to the Bruno performance thread please.

Whoops…

 

[Chripper]

The pitch at Hampden is big so he will get tons of space. Let's see what he's made of.

 

[Swedish_Plumber]

Fantastic touch and unlucky not to find anyone with a ball into the 6 yard box

 

[tjb]

This is a bit over the top. Everybody has a ‘cognitive bias’ except you?
I recall Bruno’s first season- it wasn’t just goals inflated by penalties, but some beautiful assists and creative play. It’s true he’s been poor this season, but have a little balance, surely?

I really wonder how some of our fans are going to go back to supporting him after how overly harsh they have been with Bruno....I really dont like it. It feels like every decent player we have gets shafted by our fans and the ones actually causing us to be poor go relatively unscathed.

 

[MDFC Manager]

How much have rangers changed their team from the EL final?

 

[Fanta Stick]

How much have rangers changed their team from the EL final?

Goalkeeper + 4 outfield players changed.

 

[Swedish_Plumber]

His movement seems good, up until he’s disappointed with something then starts walking around

 

[DWelbz19]

His movement seems good, up until he’s disappointed with something then starts walking around

Was thinking the same thing. Amad’s doing a bit of a current day Messi impression. Excellent first touch, great close control etc. but if the phase of play doesn’t go to him he starts walking around, and the attention span drops

 

[Swedish_Plumber]

Was thinking the same thing. Amad’s doing a bit of a current day Messi impression. Excellent first touch, great close control etc. but if the phase of play doesn’t go to him he starts walking around, and the attention span drops

Spot on! Hoping that can be coached out of him as he does seem like a special player with the ball at his feet

 

[GledTheRed]

He's defending well, playing with useless cnuts up top.

 

[rimaldo]

He's defending well, playing with useless cnuts up top.

perfect loan move to prepare for him next season imo.