This could have been Bruno - Pogba if Paul had Eriksen's work rate.
Bruno-Eriksen
- Thread starter mav_9me
- Start date
“soft foul”, the fecking lack of awareness is strong. Still a foul soft or not. Tell me what is the purpose of VAR!?
He's unfortunately injured until 2023 so I suppose it was not meant to be for him. We moved on, hopefully we can think about Eriksen's replacement too if needed.
Casemiro was signed to be the carrier of this brilliant duo.
I am excited with such an ambitious manager who has the balls to ask and get best players for every position.
I am excited with such an ambitious manager who has the balls to ask and get best players for every position.
Exactly- just because this ref missed it doesn't mean all refs would miss it. Works both ways. The point, it was a foul .
This is under the assumption that the ref didn’t allow play to go on knowing that VAR would pull it back if necessary.
I do think it's a bit lightweight but in a sense stronger midfield = more balls intercepted = more chances from transition / on the counter.
Introducing Fred Vs Arsenal was a perfect example of that. That's also what almost all teams do (have 7 "defensively" minded players), while we have always had 6 (back 4 + midfield 2).
So although I would like us to play a proper midfield 3, I am extremely curious what happens when Casemiro gets up to speed and plays holding role behind Eriksen and Bruno. Maybe it will not work without McTominay legs and body getting into opposition players, but maybe it turns out to be effective.
However, another aspect to consider is that we are very reliant on Eriksen and Bruno, but we also don't have many options from the bench (considering Martial is out most of the time). So imo in our situation it makes sense to play forward 3 and rotate them a bit more during the game, using 5 subs wisely.
For now though, let it be.
Edit: if that isn't clear, I consider Bruno an attacker rather than midfielder.
Introducing Fred Vs Arsenal was a perfect example of that. That's also what almost all teams do (have 7 "defensively" minded players), while we have always had 6 (back 4 + midfield 2).
So although I would like us to play a proper midfield 3, I am extremely curious what happens when Casemiro gets up to speed and plays holding role behind Eriksen and Bruno. Maybe it will not work without McTominay legs and body getting into opposition players, but maybe it turns out to be effective.
However, another aspect to consider is that we are very reliant on Eriksen and Bruno, but we also don't have many options from the bench (considering Martial is out most of the time). So imo in our situation it makes sense to play forward 3 and rotate them a bit more during the game, using 5 subs wisely.
For now though, let it be.
Edit: if that isn't clear, I consider Bruno an attacker rather than midfielder.
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The dynamic duo
Would've been a 3 man rotation for 2 positions between Bruno, Eriksen and himself. Just like the wings will be a rotation between Rashford, Sancho and Antony. Fitness, form, opponent suitability deciding it and always having one come off the bench. Its perfect depth IMO.
This could be a deadly partnership for us. I think we are going to see a lot more devastating attacks which start with Eriksen from deep firing it into Bruno. Both of them have great ability to fire a pass with the correct weight and break the lines.
Would be sweet if he aged like modric.
Their partnership will depend heavily on how well Casemiro plays. If he adjusts to the league well, we can afford to play these two together. But make no mistake, that midfield from yesterday doesn’t touch the ball against someone like City and conceded far too many chances.
I agree. Time will tell for sure but we'd do well not to fall into another trap of unsustainable solutions. It's more of a situational weapon. Even Mctominay who has been doing well didn't become a new player, we just sat deep and compensated our midfield's struggles with space.
We didn't sit deep in any of the 3 games prior to arsenal. Even yesterday I just think we were pushed deep by arsenals possession
We sat for stretches so they didn't have to cover the same ground for 90 minutes. Whether we were pushed or did it on purpose is not really relevant to what I'm saying. I don't have any strong feelings about that for now. We need the results.
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Too easy to run through. Don't think we'll be dominant with it. Arsenal had periods in which they barely allowed us to breathe and in a different day we get punished badly.
Casemiro will have to be introduced to add some steel.
We'll see how things develop. Mctominay has been playing well too
Casemiro will have to be introduced to add some steel.
We'll see how things develop. Mctominay has been playing well too
Less due to Bruno and Eriksen playing together, more due to only being trained in it for a month. It takes time to perfect those patterns and really learn to dominate. The players are capable of it (well, for ST only Martial is and we don't have a goalkeeper who can dominate), but the rest can definitely play given time to train the system.
Yeah hopefully he's up to speed by City away
In the end we had Fred-Eriksen-Bruno behind Ronaldo. Those three were very productive.
You can be guaranteed that opposition managers will start setting up in some variation of 4-4-1-1 with their #10 or strikers to man mark Eriksen and try to win possession higher up. It’ll be interesting to see how we play through that.
Eriksen's performance reminded me of post retirement Scholes where he came back and played deep, just bringing composure and simple passing from those deeper areas to help us transition.
Thats before he smelled blood and started making runs in behind the Arsenal defence in the 2nd half and killed the game.
Thats before he smelled blood and started making runs in behind the Arsenal defence in the 2nd half and killed the game.
They combined well but I still don't think they should both play together, within a midfield 3... At least in the 'bigger games' - too easily outrun/dominated and we'll struggle to control games.
Look at the difference as soon as Fred came on, more legs, pressing intensity and they couldn't pass through us as easily. Made even more solid with Casemiro sitting.
If they're both going to play, in big games anyway, I think we need to sacrifice a winger and set up similar to the last 15 minutes yesterday... Bruno playing wide and then a midfield of Casemiro, Eriksen & one of Mctominay/Fred.
Look at the difference as soon as Fred came on, more legs, pressing intensity and they couldn't pass through us as easily. Made even more solid with Casemiro sitting.
If they're both going to play, in big games anyway, I think we need to sacrifice a winger and set up similar to the last 15 minutes yesterday... Bruno playing wide and then a midfield of Casemiro, Eriksen & one of Mctominay/Fred.
I'm not exactly a fan of Fernandes at the moment. We don't seem to control games at all with him. His tendency for hollywood passes needs to be curbed out by Ten Hag if we're to move forward as a club. He's incredibly productive because of it but overall it hurts the team more than it helps it.
McBrunIksen
ErMcBruniksen
In every memorable goals that involve a Pogba pass, it was almost always a 1-touch pass from him. The problem with Pogba is that he does this kind of passing far too few, but always looking for a fancy movement before releasing the ball. Eriksen does what Pogba failed to (or at best only 10%) deliver.
We saw something similar when Bruno occasionally played with Mata. Put him next to another offensively minded midfielder with great technique and understanding of the game, and it elevates him.
Who is this Bruno Eriksen we speak of?
I heard Christian Fernandes is the better talent
I heard Christian Fernandes is the better talent
Good for Oleball if we seek to transition the ball quickly with a lot of creativity. Not good if we are looking to exert dominance on other teams, which is what I imagine the eventual plan is. We can't control games with both of them on the pitch. It will work for a short while, but teams will eventually wise up to it. Both Arsenal and Liverpool failed to pressure Eriksen consistently, but other teams will and we will be in a heap of trouble. And for the umpteenth time, I wish Fernandes would cool his game a bit and tone down the 1:100 passes.
There were at least two on the MOTD highlights, they should have at least troubled the keeper, one was square on to goal well inside the box and the other was a good chance also.
The chances I can remember are
- Saliba unmarked after a free kick or corner, shanked it
- Odegaard unmarked about 8 yards out, definitely should have scored
- Saka fires across goal, maybe should have scored
- Martinell header, fairly simple save
Plus a bunch of speculative shots that were wide or easily gathered. And of course the goal itself. I think they were better in terms of territory and control rather than the chances they created.
Martinelli is a simple save , come on now. Saliba isn't a clear chance either. Defender trying a left footed show - would love to know the xG for that.
So not exactly "lot" of chances as OP said? 2 -3 chances , the whole game?
No. That created the 2nd goal.
I think it can certainly be top-4 good enough, but I have greater doubts whether it is a title/trophy winning level of good. It is/can be a 'very good' pairing, but I don't see an elite one. I don't think either are what I'd call 'world class' players. Looks to be the best we have had for quite a while though, albeit a very small sample size.
The very fact that you're using words like soft foul implies that it is a foul, it's just on the softer side.
But it's still, nonetheless, a foul.
And the 3rd as well.
Not defending the OP, just answering your question. Yes it was a simple save, as I said. The Saliba chance xG was 0.2. Also it was on his right foot. Ultimately their xG was fractionally higher than ours, so make of that what you will.
Thanks. Arsenal are very advanced in terms of rebuild and we restricted them to couple of decent chances throughout the game. I would take that as a positive. So this narrative that Eriksen- Bruno is too weak or shallow is wrong . Hope we stick to it.
Saliba chance 0.2 xG
Odegaard chance 0.3 xG
Saka 4 chances 0.4 xG
Martinelli chance 0.1 xG
Overall
1.8 - 1.3 in Utd's favour according to fbref.
1.47 - 1.52 in Arsenal's favour accoring to xG Philosophy.
When player should have shot but didnt its a half chance at most. Only true chances they had is Martinelli header and his shot from a dead angle which De Gea saved with his foot.
My point was that we can't rely on having luck with the refereeing. On another day, the VAR ref doesn't see it worth calling.