What is absolutely evident is that his performance increases when he has better players around him, he seems more confident when he has Pogba & Cavani next to him compared to having Greenwood and Dan James ahead of you, I mean why wouldn't you, he probably feels when Pogba/Cavani/ A Fit Rashford are not playing the creative burden relies on him and if he doesn't perform then the whole team doesn't perform, the exact same thing happened to Pogba before Bruno arrived, it must take its toll
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 58
- Goals
- 28
- Assists
- 17
- Yellow cards
- 7
- Status
The most important thing for our team is adding some players that can help dictate the tempo, to be honest,with a proper CDM we would have enough quality with VDB, Pogba, Martial and Greenwood.
When things are frantic and our team can't string 3 passes together, Bruno seems to be awful and in a rush do to everything.
The moment Pogba came on he was so much better and other than playing the ball slightly too far infront of Pogba he had some really good touches and passes.
I don't know if gets himself too frustrated when our team are giving the ball away all the while which effects his game.
When things are frantic and our team can't string 3 passes together, Bruno seems to be awful and in a rush do to everything.
The moment Pogba came on he was so much better and other than playing the ball slightly too far infront of Pogba he had some really good touches and passes.
I don't know if gets himself too frustrated when our team are giving the ball away all the while which effects his game.
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About 12 months ago Pogba was seen as the biggest liability in our team because he would lose the ball in stupid areas.
Bruno has been very bad for the best part of 3-4 months now. The reason for our bad form is this as well - we're so dependent on Bruno and he's misfiring his passes.
Yeah, it's unreal how easily it's forgotten.
Pogba's critics always came up with how Pogba loses the ball a lot, especially in the midfield area.
It's was unfair on Pogba back then as he created chances and when he went past the player in the midfield, it's used to unsettle defense. Similarly it's unfair on Bruno too, he is a chance creating machine, obviously he will lose possession.
He's the last one that can be frustrated with the team giving the ball away.
That’s all I want. He needs to improve that sloppy side to his game. He doesn’t play like an attacking midfielder but more like a striker. All you ever see is posters on here blaming everything on fatigue. Has he ever had a game with 85 percent pass completion for a full 90 minutes? Cant stand that hero ball style of play. Him also being on penalty duty has influenced how effective he is this season. Maybe it’s just personal preference but I don’t think his style is sustainable over the course of a season.
In this modern era of winning, possession is too important and Bruno’s style doesn’t support that. We won’t ever be able to dominate games because Bruno decides to pull the trigger every chance he gets.
It wasn’t unfair on pogba back then because he is a very sloppy player too. He won us the game but his style was is also not ideal for what we want in our final form. If we ever want to be consistent both pogba and Bruno need to be smarter with their decision making. How we get there I don’t know because our manager just lets everybody freestyle.
Well you answered your own question. It's on managers to create a system, right now we play like how Ole wants. He wants players to play forward passes, we play in that style.
If we sign possession oriented manager, all of a sudden all the risk taking will be reduced.
It was unfair on Pogba, just like how it's unfair on Bruno.
KdB had similar pass completion percentage before Pep and it's still in low 80s, didn't stop them from dominating possession. You don't need all the players hitting 90% completion.
85 or high 70s is not a big difference. They play around 50-55 passes on average, so it might be just a 4-5 passes, that's it.
Btw he had 90% pass completion vs Arsenal and 85% vs West Ham
I've never seen Pogba give it away as badly as Bruno did last night.
There was a moment in the 2nd half where he passed it straight to their striker under zero pressure?! I couldn't understand what he was doing or seeing.
Pogba used to take chances by trying to dribble out of a press and that is a fair criticism, but he barely ever just passed it away so carelessly.
I don't want to be too hard on Bruno as he's clearly been fantastic for us so far, but that level of performance in the 1st half especially was shockingly bad, it was frankly embarrasing.
I do think though he needs a rest, hopefully with the international break the schedule won't be quite as severe and he might even get benched for 1 of them where he's not required.
He can be as frustrated as anyone when he's having to sit so deep because our players keep losing the ball. I'm sure they all get frustrated by it.
Bruno has been a great signing for us and I don't think anyone can argue against that. I am however a little bit concerned by his performances in the so called big games or rather, games that really matter. I feel as though he tries too hard and too much, maybe its the pressure getting to him, or tiredness, or both and its clearly affecting his game. He also seems to get frustrated quite easily, I noticed in the milan game he had a strop one too many times when the ball wasn't played to him.
He just needs to be calm (easier said than done I know), not rush the play and just keep things ticking along. I think it would be better if Ole took him out of the firing line for some games just so he can recover mentally. We're at the crux end of the season and we need a fresh Bruno if we have any chance of winning anything!
He just needs to be calm (easier said than done I know), not rush the play and just keep things ticking along. I think it would be better if Ole took him out of the firing line for some games just so he can recover mentally. We're at the crux end of the season and we need a fresh Bruno if we have any chance of winning anything!
Bruno doesn't seem to do that when he has the likes of Pogba and Cavani in the team.
Everything is always a wum because your just lazy. Oracles post is a wum. Me stating Bruno’s general play is detrimental to our team is just obvious. He always plays like this whether or not he is fresh or fatigued. All we do on this forum is blame player flaws on fatigue. 2 things can be possible, Bruno has been arguably our best player but also has significant flaws to his game.
Liverpool away Pogba had 59% pass completion, 67% vs Brighton.
Anyways that's not even the point. Pogba used to get lot of stick for losing possession in the midfield which was unfair on him as he was the one who tried to create chances either by passing or taking on players in the midfield.
I dont think we had a player who created chances like Bruno, at least after SAF retired. It's a trade off. We are not some system dominant team where we create chances by design, with x number of players making runs and making little triangles, one touch passes and then FB/Winger making a little run behind FBs. We rely on individualistic play, so our highs and lows are extreme.
I agree, he was very poor vs Milan. Second half also he was good for few mins, it was game for forget for him.
you’re suggesting we are better off without him which I find peculiar. Do you recall where we were before him joining? I actually do not mind the fact that he actually tries. We’ve missed that a lot! Some games against organised defense are won by shots from outside the box. I actually want to see more of that from players like him, pogba, greenwood and rashford.
he needs to improve parts of his game, probably having paul back will ease the pressure off of him a bit. But he is probably the best player on the team now and one of the best in the league.
Adding to my post, do you think we will play possession dominant game if Bruno isn't playing? I mean we have huge sample size to compare.
It's slightly different as Pogba would lose the ball by being pounced on and he'd lose it through pressure. A lot of Fernandes' errors were just unforced. Look at the chance i'm talking about where Lindelof had to make the slide challenge on Kessie. He's just standing there casually then passes it backwards directly to him?!
I also think he's trying too hard to be creative. So often he gets the ball and then releases it ASAP instead of setting himself or making the right pass. I think we just need to slow it down a bit, be more patient. Ole's tactics aren't helping this as everything just feels so frantic and kick and run. When we did eventually slow it down and build some possession we scored from it!
Yeah I agree, Bruno is too extreme.
Anyways with Pogba hopefully he won't force too much. We have good enough players to dominate games by settling down and then playing the game with decent tempo.
Now fecking Bruno is being slated on the forum? Seriously what's going on with our fanbase, how did some of you become this spoiled bunch of brats? Why are you always looking for a problem in something, ffs.
Cantona had bad games, Scholes had bad games, Giggs had bad games, RVN had bad games, Rooney had bad games, every single fecking footballer on the planet had bad games and moments of fatigue, bad form or bad luck.
What in the world would make you slate our most inspiring player since Van Persie? Just... Why? The negativity is so bad in some of you, that even after a win, a success or whatever, you will be looking for an outlet. I don't get it...
Cantona had bad games, Scholes had bad games, Giggs had bad games, RVN had bad games, Rooney had bad games, every single fecking footballer on the planet had bad games and moments of fatigue, bad form or bad luck.
What in the world would make you slate our most inspiring player since Van Persie? Just... Why? The negativity is so bad in some of you, that even after a win, a success or whatever, you will be looking for an outlet. I don't get it...
He is one of our best players so Id rather coach his style of play rather than play without him. We needs a better system where he gets the ball in the hole and can deliver a final ball closer to goal rather than on the half way line. This is where his problem begins. He tries things from all areas of the pitch. His risk assessment is terrible.
Yes Bruno probably had his worst game in a United shirt yesterday and yes he has been a brilliant signing. But without taking away too much of his game, I do wish sometimes when it is quite clear a very ridiculous pass has a very low percentage chance of coming off and then also hoping it then leads to a goal makes it even more slimmer, he should at least then play a simple pass and retain possession of the ball. As it is we haven't got too many players in the side that are good at keeping the ball so sometimes I feel it best to keep the ball a bit better, manoeuvre it a bit until we do have a more clearer opening on goal.
I know people will then say look at the stats, look at Bruno's goals, assists and chances created, which I agree is very high, in particular the chances created because he is attempting the more harder pass regularly but I believe he would still be creating almost as many chances without him needing to try the more difficult passes so often and giving the ball away and then putting us on the back-foot. Who is to say him playing a simple ball a couple of yards to the side won't lead to a goal in the very same phase of play?
I know people will then say look at the stats, look at Bruno's goals, assists and chances created, which I agree is very high, in particular the chances created because he is attempting the more harder pass regularly but I believe he would still be creating almost as many chances without him needing to try the more difficult passes so often and giving the ball away and then putting us on the back-foot. Who is to say him playing a simple ball a couple of yards to the side won't lead to a goal in the very same phase of play?
He's not above criticism, especially when he plays badly like he did last night.
Do you think that was an acceptable level?
Of course you wouldn't get it. You make it seem like today is the first time youve read in the forum that bruno is sloppy with the ball. If were being honest he has gotten away with criticism for most of the season because he has been our best player. Its okay to call out once in a while that a player needs to improve. If you made this statement in rashfords thread it would make more sense.
I don't care how many times Bruno gives away possession, yesterday the team felt very disconnected, the only good thing was the overall solidity of the defence, apart from that the team was awful ...
We really need Rashford to be fit again and Cavani, yesterday's game with Milan attacking us and leaving spaces behind would have been perfect to counter attack but James and Greenwood aren't performing well (not too bad as they kept trying).
We really need Rashford to be fit again and Cavani, yesterday's game with Milan attacking us and leaving spaces behind would have been perfect to counter attack but James and Greenwood aren't performing well (not too bad as they kept trying).
Forgot his studs last night. Falling all over the place.
Seemed to gain some control over his performance with Pogba on the field. Looked like he could relax a bit more as some of the burden was off his shoulders.
Seemed to gain some control over his performance with Pogba on the field. Looked like he could relax a bit more as some of the burden was off his shoulders.
The man has played non stop since March 2020, of course hes fatigued. Yes, he makes a lot of misplaced passes, but his stats speak for themself. And no, its not "stat padding". Do you remember how utterly impotent we looked at the start of last season when we had Lindgard and Pereira there?
I'd much rather have a player that have 5 ridicolous give aways and 1 assist each match, over someone who just plays sideways passes for 90 minutes
I think I went a bit overboard with saying I would rather have Lingard on current form.
I just wish Bruno would tidy up his sloppiness.
I would just love for him to retain possession much better.
Bruno is doing fine, yesterday was not his best game but what else are you to do with Dan James, McT, Fred around you.
Then you misunderstand his game entirely. He is very much like Alexi Sanchez was at Arsenal, high risk high reward. He will play risky ball and lose possession. The only time I have a problem with that is when it happens near our box.
Probably a bit harsh, however football is about opinions.
There is truth to this, and the thing I have been banging on about on this topic is what the expectations are. And that is largely based on how a position/role is interpreted in a team. I’ve decided, to make it easier for myself, to not judge Bruno as a midfielder at all. Alexi Sanchez was a forward at Arsenal. The statement you used to describe him above is not a sentence that should be used to describe Mesut Ozil 10/15 yards behind him. That’s the crux of it. There are a different set of expectations on Ozil than there are on Sanchez. In theory, there are a different set of expectations on Bruno than there are on Rashford.
Rashford has been equally sloppy all over the pitch for a while. He makes poor decisions regularly, gives the ball away. But he can simply point to ‘goals and assists’, which I think is somewhat fair as a forward. I don’t think it’s as simple as that for a midfielder, which is where my sole point of contention lies here. But perhaps it is me, and I should simply interpret Bruno’s role differently. Because to me, he should not be in a football team for the same reason Alexis Sanchez is. But perhaps Ole wants that from him.
I think Bruno is a decisive player. Final third vision is ridiculous. He is responsible for creating a lot of chances. He scores a good amount of goals too. I think the pens obviously make it an outrageous number of goals, but without them, he scores at a rate that I’d expect of a good #10. But while he’s great in the final third, I don’t think he’s a great footballer in the middle third. Some may feel that doesn’t matter, I must concede that it matters a bit to me. What I will say, and have said, is that he’s the #10 we needed at the time, due to his immediate ability to impact the scoreline and win us points where many around him were too unreliable or inconsistent to do so. I’ve also said that I am less confident of the full ‘butterfly’ version of this team having a player of his nature, but I could be wrong there. This is based on the hope/expectation that the final version of this team has a front three capable of scoring 20+ each every season.
If we’re going to compare him to Sanchez, then I’d rather we had one of those false wingers like a Silva on one side so that we can still have that build up ability while Bruno is the decisive player in the 10 role. That player can come inside and knit passes and help us progress. Basically, do some of the more conventional 10 duties seeing as Bruno isn’t perhaps that sort of player.
I wouldn't just say it's the creative issue as the forwards we have don't do their jobs in terms of forward runs and positioning i.e. they are never in positions to strike, in the literal sense of the word - tap-in's, near post runs, far post runs, zig-zagging or dummy runs, they do none of it, so more onus is then put on Bruno's shoulders to create or affect play himself or find players who are in poor positions to progress the play.
Pogba coming on alleviated a lot of pressure and meant Bruno could run away from the ball and look for pockets of space and probably take more stock of his surroundings, but actual runners ahead of him changes his mindset equally as much and gives him options outside of hitting that runner (the by-product of one good run is others following in around it) with a pass. He can't switch play much without Cavani in the team, for example, and that's because literally nobody else in our attack has a clue how to make concerted dummy runs or think, before setting off on a run, how what they do causes a chain reaction.
Bruno's a hybrid midfielder/forward, and I think it shows in how he thinks and plays his game - he always plays in a do-or-die manner, but I think his ideas and pass selections improve significantly when those around him give him something to think about in his own usage of the ball.
He should slow down and play a more considered game, but there's no evidence he can do that or wants to as he's been the same since he got here, just that he's effective in what he does more than he isn't which means he's a success.
Better users of the ball behind him and better runners off (and on) the ball ahead of him, and he's in his element. Without that, he'll try too hard to be the hero sometimes to the detriment(knackering himself out) of himself and others (chasing around when his errant passes lead to marauding counters back up the pitch).
this is where pogba will be needed. Bruno finds himself obliged to drop back to create plays since fred and mctominay cant do that. Pogba will solve this problem (i’m hoping VDB also solves this problem at some point, but that’s a different discussion).
Don't worry. I understand where you're coming from but Bruno's style is what makes him such a great player. Take that away and we are back to playing to lacking creativity in midfield all over again.
Better have a player who will take chances even if all of them don't come off. When you live by the sword, you die by it.
I'd like to see stats how many times he tried nutmegs as a pass, I just wish he just stop with that stupid stuff.
Bruno misplaces passes yes but not as many as many think here.
A lot of times he plays a pass into space that a more experienced attacker should anticipate and a good example is the Amad assist against Milan. Not many of our other players besides Cavani would have anticipated that ball .
From what I’ve seen no way is he a problem. He needs two or three technically good players around him and the occasional rest, which is what he’d have at any other big club.
Leicester 3:1 Man Utd
Time to hand in that transfer request lad.
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