I think Cantona has more of a shot as you might be able to play him as a striker given his early career and physique but would he displace a striker from those sides, probably not.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 58
- Goals
- 28
- Assists
- 17
- Yellow cards
- 7
- Status
It really wasn't. United played with a 3 in midfield and Ronaldo up front on his own in big Champions League away games and it's a massive misconception that United usually played that way.
Rooney and Tevez were the front 2, Ronaldo played wide on one side with a more sensible defensively sound winger on the other side (Nani, Giggs, Park).
Hargreaves' contribution is also greatly misconstrued. He was pretty poor in central midfield and had his best spell that season at right back. That run of form is what got him the start in the Champions League final on the right side of midfield as the more defensively sound winger.
certainly 08 for Cantona would be difficult and 99 again I think it’s how do you break up Cole and Yorke (answer you don’t)
Yeah we didn’t play 4231
Well against that groundswell of evidence, I will admit defeat!
Imagine Bruno playing directly behind Haaland 
Feel like they’d either end up best mates or getting well pissed off with each other.Imagine Bruno playing directly behind Haaland
exactly - one of our greatest legends.
shows the importance, or luck of putting a team together, rather than just great players.
We did. 442 majority of the time with Ronaldo on the right.
People talk a lot about Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo as a front 3 but it didn’t happen often at all.
Those heatmaps were posted on the forum when he first made them. He broke it down further between the four players individually instead of as a combination and the difference was mostly Pogba vs McTominay. Fred and Matic were quite similar to each other, but Bruno tended to receive the ball quite a bit higher with Pogba than the others while with McTominay it was quite a bit deeper than the other three.
Is this true?
From memory it was often Carrick and one other in centre midfield throughout the season. In big games, like the Champions League final, Sir Alex would change it up a bit and use a three man midfield. However, I remember us playing most games with a 4-2-3-1.
I'll go even further and say in 2008 neither Rooney or Tevez were that great. Ronaldo was absolutely unbelievable and the main reason we were successful. However, by Rooney's standards 2007/08 was a bit of a let down. He got injured a decent amount and, if memory serves, he didn't even score 20 goals that season. Tevez was pretty good but he wasn't close to the player he was at City. There's a reason why Sir Alex saw fit to kidnap Berbatov at Manchester airport that summer. Especially given how Saha fell apart physically that year.
Based on what I've seen since we signed Bruno he could've easily challenged for a place in our team most weeks of 2007-08. Might he have been the one to be sacrificed in the biggest games? Maybe. Depends on form. However, I reckon Bruno could've played off of Rooney with Ronaldo one side of him and Giggs or Nani on the other side.
And how fecked we would be if he were to pick up an injury...
Heretics and non believers, if The king wanted to play, he plays.
hey, I love Cantona, and he is right seen as one of our best ever players. But given we won the treble in 99 - he’s not getting into that team, and the 07/08 team was even better.
He could have been in the treble team, Teddy was his replacement, if he hadnt have retired early he would have been in Teddys spot, as for 08/09 Id have taken him over Rooney or Tevez, and only partly because I can barely tolerate either of them
If we had a reliable number 9 like a Kane or a RW, they would be less criticised because he wouldn't rely on them so much.
He could have been in the treble team, Teddy was his replacement, if he hadnt have retired early he would have been in Teddys spot, as for 08/09 Id have taken him over Rooney or Tevez, and only partly because I can barely tolerate either of them
I think his point was more on the first XI. Its tough because, as much as I love Cantona, I've never seen two forwards with the chemistry of Yorke and Cole. I'm not sure you could have swapped out either of the two and got the same result.
However, Cantona IMO would have made the 2008 side without much ado for the same reason I gave for Bruno's inclusion. Neither Tevez or Rooney were at their very best in 2007-08 and, even at their peaks, I'd still have taken Cantona over Tevez.
Haha nice...probably true
Just been on twitter and see some clips of United fans complaining that Bruno got the assist
Why do certain fans want players to perform badly?
Why do certain fans want players to perform badly?
They are not real fans. Its those clowns on Rants show, agenda fc. They do their upmost to discredit Bruno and Rashford whilst heaping praise on Martial and Pogba. They are the epitome of siding with certain players when they should be supporting everyone. they are just haters.Just been on twitter and see some clips of United fans complaining that Bruno got the assist
Why do certain fans want players to perform badly?
Bruno is our version of Alexis Sanchez or Arsenal
It is quite sad to see that a fan group can have such a big agenda. Literally every fan, pundit will tell you the impact Bruno has had on Manutd.
Yes he doesn't have 100% passing but it's because he wants to create chances. The two players why we are 2nd are getting criticised but giving so much leeway to players who speak out against the club and cannot even control the football.
Bruno is our version of Arsenal I agree
I don't know but I assume it's linked to the swathe of fans that also want the manager to fail.Just been on twitter and see some clips of United fans complaining that Bruno got the assist
Why do certain fans want players to perform badly?
I don’t class them as fans though as fans are supposed to provide support not negativity and child like feet stamping. But such is the modern ‘fan.’
Its because they fantasize about playing Pep football or tiki taka and apparently we cannot be a strong team without an entire team of possession based players with 95% pass accuracy. One even said that Rashford has no technical ability and only scores through volume, yet he averages 2.4 per game. Anyways it is what it is and they like who they like
Yep, I agree that this is 100% because of the manager. Rashy and Bruno are Ole favourites means they are their enemies too because they keep scoring and assisting to help Manutd win.
It is clear that they would prefer Manutd to lose than win, especially if you are going to complain about an assist being awarded to your clubs player.
Yep, its more of a I support a player than the team
Eric would stroll into either team.
i can see an argument for the 08 team.
but frankly, you don’t make a treble winning side better with Cantona in it.
not doubting him, and sometime the sun of the whole is far greater than the parts - this deffo applies to the 99 team.
I’d try him up front. Can’t be any worse than Martial & his average position is akin to a false 9 anyway. Why not just make it official & stick an extra body in midfield.
It's a bizarre mentality. Being a fan used to be about unwavering support and tribalism, not about joining in with oppo fans bashing our players and management.
This would in fact be a shite sight better than having Martial on the pitch. He played like a proper false 9 in the first leg of tonight's Europa League tie and his runs into the box were great and the timing of them.
I would be tempted if we could get Pogba on the pitch, but without Pogba feeding him Bruno would have to pass the ball, make the run and get on the end of his own pass.
Let's try to avoid square pegs in round holes.
It’s not really a square peg, it’s maybe a octagon peg, his average position is very similar to the position Firmino plays at Liverpool, sometimes even further forward. With Rashford & Greenwood as wide forwards, Bruno in the false 9 & Pogba’s creativity behind them think it could work well.
Reading your conversation confuses me, how is questioning the validity of assist stats for James goal not being a fan ? You then bring Pogba and Martial into conversation and here talk about unwavering support and not bashing our players.....tell me, does this apply to all players for you, including the two you mentioned?
Why would anybody, United fan or otherwise, question that assist? He plays the ball, gets a touch on it, and he's looking at James when he does it. To be honest I've not seen the exchange where people are questioning it, however I interpret it as part of the super negative 'fan' that loves to hate the management in particular but also like to overstate every minor issue with a player. I.e. Maguire, AWB, Fred, James, Rashford, Ole, the tea lady, the list goes on.
Martial gets a bashing by me because he's a lazy cnut who doesn't care enough about the badge to even run in it, never mind being shite in front of goal, the least you do is run. He's the antitheses of Bruno.
Why anybody would question the assist and argue that he doesn't deserve an assist for ensuring the ball (that was about to be cleared) gets to James is beyond me.
Let's agree to disagree. Eric was just something else.
Actually the fans in question have a youtube channel. if you go watch it, you will know what the problem is. These so called United fans questioning Bruno and Rashford all season where in actual fact they are the reason we are where we are.
In the same breath they think Pogba and Martial should play every game and Bruno and Rashford playing in the team is the reason why Martial and Pogba don't get the same numbers.
They also go onto say Bruno should be dropped in lieu of Pogba because he takes care of the ball better.
This is not bashing of Martial but he's had a horrid season and has done nothing this season to justify his place in the team.
- Status