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Bruno Fernandes Portugal flag

2020-21 Performances

View full 2020-21 profile

6.4 Season Average Rating
Appearances
58
Goals
28
Assists
17
Yellow cards
7
Status
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Another goal and assist, integral to almost all of our counters, and this was a poor game for him.

15 goals in 27 games and how many assists? Stats are often misleading but you can't argue with his productivity
 
What an amazing performance. Even when he is not firing, and confidence shaken by missing penalty, his mentality and desire is Roy Keane level. He just keeps trying and eventually it will always pay off. Top man.
 
Very unfortunate with Mata being offside for the goal, poorly taken penalty, absolutely fantastic goal and a world class assist to Rashford. All in all - a very good performance.
 
Bruno's goal today was the best goal United have scored in a decade.

It was like watching Scholes, Rooney, Ronaldo etc. Tearing a team apart the length of the pitch.

Brilliant finish too.
 
Addled said:
Sorry but I completely disagree. Bruno has the capacity to be our best player and probably become a Legend but he currently isn’t trying a leg. He is lazy, inconsistent, inaccurate, nonchalant and lacking in effort.
I don’t want to say this about our best player but the facts in front of your eyes don’t lie. Come back Bruno that we all loved. Until then, cop yourself on and work harder.
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Wtf :confused:
 
Watching him for Portugal, and then for us, he seems much, much better as an 8. He's more composed in his use of the ball, yet he remains as influential. His use of the ball is less forceful as well.
 
cyberman said:
But goals and asists arent just stats. Its what forward players strive for and it decides games.
Look at Salah, he is incredibly wasteful yet has lead Liverpool to CL and league glory. Ronaldo only came alive in the box when reaching 30 yet led Madrid to 4 CL before he left despite little influence in build up play.
Bruno could play it safe. Buff his stats by keeping the ball with safe passes, keep the play ticking over by passing it wide but he doesnt. That isnt what hes there to do.
I honestly cant believe how desensitised we are to Bruno now. Is there a more productive 10 / advanced midfielder behind Messi than Bruno? Hell even Messi isnt that far ahead, if at all.
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Bruno’s attacking and creativity metrics aren’t particularly impressive. Of players to play 1000 mins in PL last season, Bruno was
  • 30th for xA90 (KDB 1st class of his own and had double even 4th, Pogba 20th, Pereira 23rd, ASM 29th, McNeil 31st)
  • 47th for NPxG90 + xA90 (Jesus 1st, City 1st-5th, Rashford 18th, Martial 22nd, Hourihane 46th, Pukki 48th)
  • 32nd xGChain90 (Mahrez 1st, City 1st-8th, Martial 23rd, Rashford 24th, Pogba 28th, Henderson 31st, Jota 33rd)
I’d combine 2019/20 and 2020/21 data, but can’t easily.

Alexis Sanchez used to get a lot of criticism for being overly wasteful, but he delivered more for it. His metrics were much stronger. Bruno has to become more patient and selective to be an elite attacking midfielder. He gives the ball away an awful lot for what he outputs. I can see why other top clubs scouted him, but ultimately gave us a free run to sign him. If a special coach really honed him, he could become world class, but he’s not at that level currently.
 
He was apparently shit 1st half yet scored a cracking goal which was unfortunately offside and played a superb pass to Mata which lead to the corner.

edit he was so bad that MOTD did a highlights clip on him on his influence on the game.
 
VP89 said:
Top interview (ignore the title, it's the full post match interview)

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This guy is already the manager of our team. Look at him address everything - how to deal with the media, how the team should play, how Maguire should play, how the team needs to come together, talks about the individual training plan he's going to put AWB on. Leader. He's demanding of his surroundings and that is a brilliant character to have in the team.
 
TMDaines said:
Bruno’s attacking and creativity metrics aren’t particularly impressive. Of players to play 1000 mins in PL last season, Bruno was
  • 30th for xA90 (KDB 1st class of his own and had double even 4th, Pogba 20th, Pereira 23rd, ASM 29th, McNeil 31st)
  • 47th for NPxG90 + xA90 (Jesus 1st, City 1st-5th, Rashford 18th, Martial 22nd, Hourihane 46th, Pukki 48th)
  • 32nd xGChain90 (Mahrez 1st, City 1st-8th, Martial 23rd, Rashford 24th, Pogba 28th, Henderson 31st, Jota 33rd)
I’d combine 2019/20 and 2020/21 data, but can’t easily.

Alexis Sanchez used to get a lot of criticism for being overly wasteful, but he delivered more for it. His metrics were much stronger. Bruno has to become more patient and selective to be an elite attacking midfielder. He gives the ball away an awful lot for what he outputs. I can see why other top clubs scouted him, but ultimately gave us a free run to sign him. If a special coach really honed him, he could become world class, but he’s not at that level currently.
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In 164 games for Sporting and Utd, he has 141 goals and assists. 26 in 27 for Utd. Those are world class striker numbers never mind midfielder.
How is that not world class? Would being more selective and contributing less make him better?
This just doesn't make sense to me. Where are these better players who can touch that? Hes the modern day Frank Lampard.
 
Yes performance wise he was poor but he has the ability to bang on goals and assists even when he's shite, and he's amazing at pulling such output consistently regardless of his performance. For such purpose he should never leave the pitch no matter what. He's our most consistent attackers in terms of output, no question asked.
 
cyberman said:
In 164 games for Sporting and Utd, he has 141 goals and assists. 26 in 27 for Utd. Those are world class striker numbers never mind midfielder.
How is that not world class? Would being more selective and contributing less make him better?
This just doesn't make sense to me. Where are these better players who can touch that? Hes the modern day Frank Lampard.
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He’s nothing like Lampard. He barely enters the opposing penalty area with those trademark late runs.

We both know his goals are padded with a ludicrous amounts of pens in recent times. It’s great that he’s ordinarily a reliable penalty taker, but you need to judge the rest of his game away from that.
 
TMDaines said:
He’s nothing like Lampard. He barely enters the opposing penalty area with those trademark late runs.

We both know his goals are padded with a ludicrous amounts of pens in recent times. It’s great that he’s ordinarily a reliable penalty taker, but you need to judge the rest of his game away from that.
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But a lot of his passes are the passes that sets up the pens. The quick balls into the forward players.
But again, if youre judging him by stats you cant yes but those stats away. He has nearly as many assists as goals for Sporting and Utd. That 141 is almost a 50/50 split between goals and assists. Thats ridiculous and cant be explained away with he scored a few pens. If it were that easy there would be a list of midfielders across the globe that can boast the same but theres a reason there isnt. He is incredibly unique.
 
Not perfect but certainly a big improvement. He is becoming a leader on the field, demands high standards. Snarky with team mates when passes go astray, our team needs that kind of attitude.
 
If he could improve on misplaced and over hit passes he could be a great midfielder
 
What an absolute champ, love him. The fine line between "not his day" and "what a performance". He makes us tick and adding in a couple of proper flank players is the big priority over the next year and a bit.
 
The best thing about him is his head never goes down just because he missed a penalty. Brilliant mentality.
 
Class in the first half. Poor in the second.

But that finish was fecking otherworldly, so I'd be delighted to take the rough when the smooth is like that.

Top man, with balls made of reinforced steel.
 
As a sporting fan and a Genk fan, I think De Bruyne has a liitte edge on Bruno but it's not much. But what Kevin is for City Bruno is for Utd maybe even more. A leader, a winner, a player where teammates look at in difficult times.

Bruno is more agressive in passing, he sees something and goes for it, Kevin is more the right pass. Kevin is more predictable then Bruno. If the forwards have a good scoring % then Bruno will beat the assist record of Kevin. And yes assist and goals count, here in Belgium the last games of last season there was much to do about that assist record and Kevin even tweeted about 2 assist that he thinks should had been given to him. So people who say that stat's don't count, don't know what is in the head of a player. But they both would give a shit of a stat if it's better for the team if someone other scores or gives the assist if that helps the team. For the rest they are very the same, real winners, top mentality, give it all, don't do much stupid things outside the pitch, so a good professional, and leaders on the pitch. Outside of the pitch I think Bruno is more leader then Kevin. But every coach who has one of these two in his squad wraps his hands, this are the type of players you want to grow as a team and make a step forward. Some other qualities of Bruno, loyal to his club, he took Sporting to being performal in maybe the most difficult time of his history, and he is almost able to play, on that part Kevin is more injured. But I say if you're in the stadium and the ball gets to one of then you start moving because you know that there can happen something out of nothing, it's for that type of players that you go to the stadium. And if you watch carefully in big games Bruno will get a higher percentage of passes because he tries a little less risky balls because he knows that the opponent is capable of taking advantage if his risk ball doesn't get to target. Is he perfect no, he will give some bad passes, sometimes miss a penalty but that is because he is human and not god.

And another thing Bruno has the most goals in a season as a midfielder, he took that record from Lampard 2 seasons ago.

Would I swap Bruno for Kevin hell no, would I swap Kevin for Bruno hell no, they are so different and so the same.
 
cyberman said:
But goals and asists arent just stats. Its what forward players strive for and it decides games.
Look at Salah, he is incredibly wasteful yet has lead Liverpool to CL and league glory. Ronaldo only came alive in the box when reaching 30 yet led Madrid to 4 CL before he left despite little influence in build up play.
Bruno could play it safe. Buff his stats by keeping the ball with safe passes, keep the play ticking over by passing it wide but he doesnt. That isnt what hes there to do.
I honestly cant believe how desensitised we are to Bruno now. Is there a more productive 10 / advanced midfielder behind Messi than Bruno? Hell even Messi isnt that far ahead, if at all.
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Goals and assists absolutely are just stats in the context of this conversation and you've recently used them yourself to highlight how productive he is. It's almost impossible to separate his actual performances from his stats. Understandably so, as they're hugely impressive.

That said, I'm not talking about him making more mistakes because he takes chances, rather I'm talking about him frequently misplacing simple passes and looking utterly mediocre seconds before picking out Rashford with a 50 yard ball over the top. The guy can veer from totally average to unbelievably effective in a matter of seconds. These 2 sides of his game coexist fairly naturally, as we've seen over the last 9 months.

It doesn't make him a poor player, but it does make it hard to talk about his all round game when all anyone wants to fixate on is the momentary assists and not everything else.
 
Leeuw said:
As a sporting fan and a Genk fan, I think De Bruyne has a liitte edge on Bruno but it's not much. But what Kevin is for City Bruno is for Utd maybe even more. A leader, a winner, a player where teammates look at in difficult times.

Bruno is more agressive in passing, he sees something and goes for it, Kevin is more the right pass. Kevin is more predictable then Bruno. If the forwards have a good scoring % then Bruno will beat the assist record of Kevin. And yes assist and goals count, here in Belgium the last games of last season there was much to do about that assist record and Kevin even tweeted about 2 assist that he thinks should had been given to him. So people who say that stat's don't count, don't know what is in the head of a player. But they both would give a shit of a stat if it's better for the team if someone other scores or gives the assist if that helps the team. For the rest they are very the same, real winners, top mentality, give it all, don't do much stupid things outside the pitch, so a good professional, and leaders on the pitch. Outside of the pitch I think Bruno is more leader then Kevin. But every coach who has one of these two in his squad wraps his hands, this are the type of players you want to grow as a team and make a step forward. Some other qualities of Bruno, loyal to his club, he took Sporting to being performal in maybe the most difficult time of his history, and he is almost able to play, on that part Kevin is more injured. But I say if you're in the stadium and the ball gets to one of then you start moving because you know that there can happen something out of nothing, it's for that type of players that you go to the stadium. And if you watch carefully in big games Bruno will get a higher percentage of passes because he tries a little less risky balls because he knows that the opponent is capable of taking advantage if his risk ball doesn't get to target. Is he perfect no, he will give some bad passes, sometimes miss a penalty but that is because he is human and not god.

And another thing Bruno has the most goals in a season as a midfielder, he took that record from Lampard 2 seasons ago.

Would I swap Bruno for Kevin hell no, would I swap Kevin for Bruno hell no, they are so different and so the same.
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Great post. Scary prospect if they were ever in the same team.
 
I’m wondering if he’d be better off taking the armband off Harry to take some pressure off him.
May actually help both players
 
TMDaines said:
Bruno’s attacking and creativity metrics aren’t particularly impressive. Of players to play 1000 mins in PL last season, Bruno was
  • 30th for xA90 (KDB 1st class of his own and had double even 4th, Pogba 20th, Pereira 23rd, ASM 29th, McNeil 31st)
  • 47th for NPxG90 + xA90 (Jesus 1st, City 1st-5th, Rashford 18th, Martial 22nd, Hourihane 46th, Pukki 48th)
  • 32nd xGChain90 (Mahrez 1st, City 1st-8th, Martial 23rd, Rashford 24th, Pogba 28th, Henderson 31st, Jota 33rd)
I’d combine 2019/20 and 2020/21 data, but can’t easily.

Alexis Sanchez used to get a lot of criticism for being overly wasteful, but he delivered more for it. His metrics were much stronger. Bruno has to become more patient and selective to be an elite attacking midfielder. He gives the ball away an awful lot for what he outputs. I can see why other top clubs scouted him, but ultimately gave us a free run to sign him. If a special coach really honed him, he could become world class, but he’s not at that level currently.
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Some of the things you say might be true but it is honestly poor analysis to evaluate a player based on those metrics. Look, I think there’s no one in this Forum who knows more about this player, maybe @Peyroteo only. With him it’s like this. What you see is what you get. He will honestly frustrate a lot of supporters and fans because he isn’t elite at decision making level, regarding high percentage of simple right passes, sometimes will try to shoot instead of passing, but he will deliver on some moments of the game where you need to win. That is, the final pass or a goal coming from nowhere. A stupid comparison it’s like the Messi or Ronaldo analogies. Messi will have the right decisions during 89 minutes while Ronaldo will only show up for the final touch. He isn’t De Bruyne for sure, but feck me he isn’t Lingaard or Dwight McNeil. What you see is what you get, he will frustrate with stupid risks but sometimes will save the game. Oh, and there’s one thing I am absolutely sure, on a tactical level he knows much more about the game than the majority of his colleagues, me and you together. Sorry but metrics and stats don’t show everything, football is much more than that. If it was like that we would put robots there instead, and the decisions would be 100% correct. But some of your points were right.
 
Eckers99 said:
Goals and assists absolutely are just stats in the context of this conversation and you've recently used them yourself to highlight how productive he is. It's almost impossible to separate his actual performances from his stats. Understandably so, as they're hugely impressive.

That said, I'm not talking about him making more mistakes because he takes chances, rather I'm talking about him frequently misplacing simple passes and looking utterly mediocre seconds before picking out Rashford with a 50 yard ball over the top. The guy can veer from totally average to unbelievably effective in a matter of seconds. These 2 sides of his game coexist fairly naturally, as we've seen over the last 9 months.

It doesn't make him a poor player, but it does make it hard to talk about his all round game when all anyone wants to fixate on is the momentary assists and not everything else.
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Wasn't Rooney fairly similar though? I can remember countless performances where he couldn't do the basics right only to come up with a special moment. Perhaps that's why he was never fully rated as ''world class'' but still a top player.
 
He is just too lethal. He has a bit of everything. It's like he knows he is supposed to do something amazing, so sometimes he fecks up simple passes because it's too simple. Then looks frustrated, but it's not really a tell... Because when he gets a chance that's the moment he was waiting for all game, so he just does what he wants. Like it's nothing. I love him. He is a class player.
 
He’s a high-risk high-reward player. People complained about Giggs for the same things... and Giggs is inarguably a legend.
Bruno can be too.
 
This was more or less a good example of what can be expected by Bruno in most games. He tries till it works out and never gives up and eventually he either creates or scores a goal.

I feel like some people are never happy. We spent years complaining that we didn't have anyone that was willing to take risks and now that we have a really good one people still find some reason to complain. Good game, not a great one but did his job as expected.
 
WR10 said:
This guy is already the manager of our team. Look at him address everything - how to deal with the media, how the team should play, how Maguire should play, how the team needs to come together, talks about the individual training plan he's going to put AWB on. Leader. He's demanding of his surroundings and that is a brilliant character to have in the team.
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God I love him. His ears are truly spectacular!
 
rotherham_red said:
Class in the first half. Poor in the second.

But that finish was fecking otherworldly, so I'd be delighted to take the rough when the smooth is like that.

Top man, with balls made of reinforced steel.
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It was a gigantic "Save that" with a side of double middle-fingers and a dash of disappointment in himself for missing the pen earlier.
 
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