[Devil may care]

Some nice passes today but was quiet today by his standards.

 

[Mainoldo]

Awful. Was he even playing today? Find him a position. We threat him like he’s DelTottiZidane

 

[harms]

Awful. Was he even playing today? Find him a position. We threat him like he’s DelTottiZidane

A little bit, made 7 key passes — I'm not even going to mention his assist as that goal was all Greenwood.

 

[E-mal]

Hes not immune from criticism of course and there are areas where he could improve but i think we're absolutely blessed to have him and he'd walk into and find absurd new levels in any top functioning side with an actual style of play. Even today while poor he still looked most likely to create. A winner through and through and i feel sorry for him at the moment

He wont get minutes at City.

 

[E-mal]

He is one of the problems, whoever's gets to play that double pivot will be isolated as this guy is all about getting the headlines. He is so wasteful and any coach that wants discipline in play will not have him.
Overall he produces magical moments but those moments can only take a team so far.

 

[Dve]

He is one of the problems, whoever's gets to play that double pivot will be isolated as this guy is all about getting the headlines. He is so wasteful and any coach that wants discipline in play will not have him.
Overall he produces magical moments but those moments can only take a team so far.

He normally does a brilliant job as a first defender with his pressing up front and hardly anyone works harder than him, so I think that´s quite unfair. No pressing today though, and neither did he demand it from the others. A tactical switch because we need to press as a unit, while Ronaldo won´t press whatsoever. Only me thinking this must frustrate Fernandes at least a bit?

 

[Mainoldo]

He normally does a brilliant job as a first defender with his pressing up front and hardly anyone works harder than him, so I think that´s quite unfair. No pressing today though, and neither did he demand it from the others. A tactical switch because we need to press as a unit, while Ronaldo won´t press whatsoever. Only me thinking this must frustrate Fernandes at least a bit?

He presses by himself it’s hardly wonderful. You just pass it round him.

 

[Leftback99]

As a player who simply isn't going to get dropped, I think we need to try something different with him. We can't afford him just doing whatever he likes in an undisciplined 10 role.

Can we try him deeper in a 2 (drop Pogba) with 3 CBs behind? Could he play on the right of a front 3 (the same way we used to deploy Mata)?

 

[TsuWave]

Invisible man

 

[Desert Eagle]

If we're not careful he will become our Coutinho. Star man who puts up numbers and is quality but a lot of times at the expense of the team.

 

[Bebestation]

Has turned to Beckham since Ronaldo has arrived - is spending his attacking time out wide whipping a cross in to Ronaldo rather than those quick passes and shots that would get him and others on the score sheet.

Miss you Bruno. Hope to see your Sporting Lisbon Goalscoring version back soon and not the Portugal National team one.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Was pretty effective before Roni cameback and the set-up went out the window (again).

Maybe Ole should've learned from watching Portugal in the summer.

 

[Bebestation]

Was pretty effective before Roni cameback and the set-up went out the window (again).

Maybe Ole should've learned from watching Portugal in the summer.

He didn't plan on buying Ronaldo to be fair - it just kind of happened.

 

[FrankDrebin]

He didn't plan on buying Ronaldo to be fair - it just kind of happened.

Yep, I think that is abit of a issue here.
Heart over head.

 

[Bebestation]

Shows what the lack of pressing problem by C Ronaldo brings to United. Bruno goes to press and it leaves the midfield open. The Midfield then have to press aswell.

Ronaldo not pressing means Bruno does it by himself and it leaves us lopsided.

It also shows that Bruno the previous false 9 version still try to get in to those forward positions but then drops deep and wide to try whip in crosses to C Ronaldo. This has happened since Ronaldo has turned in to being our main goalscorer, not Bruno. Bruno has turned to a shit version of Beckham because we are trying to get the best out of a 36 year old poacher.

The goal where Ronaldo scored with Bruno's great cross from the LW a couple matches back shows the same thing. Before Bruno would hardly be there - he would be in the half spaces trying to interlink the forwards and act like a forward himself - scoring goal after goal.

Now he is a creator. The udinese/national team version of Bruno rather than the Sporting Lisbon one.

 

[Acole9]

I hope a condition of him of signing a new contract is that Solskjaer is sacked. Wishful thinking though.

 

[lost7]

He's our best player in my opinion, but I'm starting to think this number 10 position is killing our midfield

 

[FrankDrebin]

Ronaldo's inclusion as the sides central figure is killing the team more. Absolute statue.

 

[AshRK]

For the first time I found him walking in many moments when in the past he would have ran his sock off and pressed. Also, what's with him always bollocking sancho, do this do that. Hey maybe look at yourself and other senior players who were gash as well. I love his passion but sometimes he has to keep it simple.

 

[united_99]

For the first time I found him walking in many moments when in the past he would have ran his sock off and pressed. Also, what's with him always bollocking sancho, do this do that. Hey maybe look at yourself and other senior players who were gash as well. I love his passion but sometimes he has to keep it simple.

He is despite being our best performer over a longer period one of the players who a new manager will hopefully discipline and also bench if he is not performing.

The young players like Sancho and Greenwood are at least trying (even though things aren‘t working currently for the former). The senior players should really do the talking on the pitch by playing well instead of shouting at their team mates. Especially at easy targets like Sancho. How about trying to question Ronaldo for a change like Cavani did against Villarreal. Of course Bruno would never dare to do this.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Him not being at his best will be the final nail in the coffin for Ole. His performances have saved Ole for almost two years now, a slow patch and we are exposed.

 

[ForeverRed1]

Not his best game today but he is still our best player. Not his day.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Bruno was moving towards being a second striker and now he's been shunted back a bit away from his natural game as we're way too top heavy. I think if he was at City, he'd be playing false 9 like Foden and would work best with a hard-working striker that would allow him to do everything. He's that kind of player, it's all or nothing with Bruno, he is another who has to be built around rather than fit in several positions, and another reason why the Ronaldo signing was a bad one for the team dynamic.

 

[lloyd2wayne]

He wont get minutes at City.

You are a joke.

 

[E-mal]

You are a joke.

And you should remain in the newbies man child. I am a joke because I have a different opinion to yours.
He is erratic with his passing, not disciplined with his position and City do not play with two forwards which is what he is basically.

 

[captaincantona]

Love Bruno and he is integral to the few positive points of how we play.... but there is a reason why no top top team wanted him. He NEVER plays safe...his first idea is always to try something...he is so good...that quite often it comes off hence a his crazy stats but when the rest of the team is not firing...his risks come at a cost. No other top team would sacrifice their style of play or tactical approach in order to give him the freedom he needs. You shackle that and you take away the very thing he is good at.

At Utd, he carried us because we thrive on individuals doing the business and less so on structure going forward. When Pogba and Ronny are on the same pitch- it’s overload. The best players don’t always make the best teams.

 

[lloyd2wayne]

And you should remain in the newbies man child. I am a joke because I have a different opinion to yours.
He is erratic with his passing, not disciplined with his position and City do not play with two forwards which is what he is basically.

“Remain in the newbies man child”? Is your best life accomplishment been promoted on redcafe? Who cares if I’m a newbie. Weird to be bragging about that, your life must be boring.

And you don’t think Pep can coach him to play how he wants? We have an inferior manager in every aspect of the game. Our team barely looks like it’s been coached from defending all the way to attack and even that Bruno still produces on a regular basis.

 

[dmst]

He wont get minutes at City.

Nonsense. From another newbie.

 

[MadDogg]

For the first time I found him walking in many moments when in the past he would have ran his sock off and pressed. Also, what's with him always bollocking sancho, do this do that. Hey maybe look at yourself and other senior players who were gash as well. I love his passion but sometimes he has to keep it simple.

That's been annoying me as well. Seems to be going overboard with the complaining at Sancho, to a level that he doesn't do to anyone else. It's probably doing nothing but hurting Sancho's confidence further at a time that he's already struggling. Sure give him a serve if he deserves it (the same way Bruno does to anyone else), but there's been a few times that Bruno has gone overboard.

Reminds me a bit of Rooney with Nani now that I think about it. Rooney's regular over-the-top bitching at Nani always got on my nerves, as it was obvious that Nani was somebody that worked better with the 'arm around the shoulder' treatment. Rooney did the exact opposite, and his bitching definitely fed into the crowd also getting on Nani's back at times. I always found myself hoping Nani would give it back to him at some point (especially during that season that Nani led us to the title) but obviously that never happened.

 

[SonyaCross493]

Why is nobody hooking fernandes and telling him he's not a striker? He advances so far forward he leaves our midfield exposed on the counter attacker.

We have to call a spade a spade, fernandes has been rubbish this season and nowhere near his form last season.

 

[Winrar]

Him not being at his best will be the final nail in the coffin for Ole. His performances have saved Ole for almost two years now, a slow patch and we are exposed.

Signing Bruno was what saved Ole mid 19/20 season, he pretty much carried our attack.

Now that he's out of form Ole's weakness as a manager is laid out bare again and he is shown up to be literally clueless.

 

[El Jefe]

Perfect example of a stats player. For all his contributions of goals and assists, he hurts the team in ways other top players don't. There is a trade off with Bruno in terms of his impact to the team.

I'm personally not a fan of him as a player but he's been the difference between us being where we are and where Arsenal have been since he's been here.

 

[J.Cruyff]

There is no chance Bruno could walk into city team and play wherever he wants and do whatever he wants. Constantly giving the ball away and taking pot shots, no chance he would get into that team.

He is a big reason way Utd are always over run in the middle of the park And also why Utd can’t control games.

 

[dmst]

There is no chance Bruno could walk into city team and play wherever he wants and do whatever he wants. Constantly giving the ball away and taking pot shots, no chance he would get into that team.

He is a big reason way Utd are always over run in the middle of the park And also why Utd can’t control games.

Yeah he definitely wouldn't walk in and do whatever he wants.

He would probably have to adapt his game, keep things simpler and not go for the risky killer pass/shot every time.

Those are aspects of his game he should work on for regardless of the hypothetical City scenario.

 

[FriedClams]

Look, you know what you are getting with Bruno when it comes to the negative side of his game but the positives are more often than not worth the trade off. The best analogy I can give for Bruno is that if he was a tennis player, his second serve after a fault would probably always be quicker than his first. He just doesn’t get deterred by something not working and backs himself to eventually make it happen. I can only imagine how difficult he must be to play against when you witness him mess up time after time and then he produces a world class pass in behind or ends up getting on the scoresheet.

I imagine his instructions are to go out and make things happen, so it will be interesting to see if he can play a more disciplined role where he plays it a little safer, waiting for the opportune moment to do something special as opposed to always trying to force something special.

For me, he has the perfect set of attributes to be a number 8 box to box. This season so far he seems to be pandering to Ronaldo a little bit, but how couldn’t he? As a young boy, Ronaldo was literally his hero and inspiration, and now he’s playing alongside him it must be very difficult for him to realize that we are actually better off with Bruno being the focal point of the team than CR7.

I would like to see us try a midfield of Matic, Van De Beek and Bruno. It has a nice mix of positional awareness, press resistance and commitment.

 

[largelyworried]

What I don't understand about Fernandes is whether he's been instructed to play like a second striker or if he's just ignoring instructions to link the midfield. Neither seems credible. Given that we're getting overrun in midfield, again and again, I can't believe our coaches are asking him to play so high. The space we leave in midfield is killing us.

But if he's repeatedly doing it against the coaches' instructions, I can't believe they wouldn't sub him off. I can't really understand it either way.

 

[Brwned]

What I don't understand about Fernandes is whether he's been instructed to play like a second striker or if he's just ignoring instructions to link the midfield. Neither seems credible. Given that we're getting overrun in midfield, again and again, I can't believe our coaches are asking him to play so high. The space we leave in midfield is killing us.

But if he's repeatedly doing it against the coaches' instructions, I can't believe they wouldn't sub him off. I can't really understand it either way.

Because he can pull a rabbit out of the hat at any point and his backups are so much less threatening. If VdB was considered viable opposition he’d have to moderate his game more, but as is, he’s allowed to play in saviour mode all of the time and that’s just how he prefers to play. He wants to be compared to Cantona and our fans love a saviour to adore.

 

[hungrywing]

Because he can pull a rabbit out of the hat at any point and his backups are so much less threatening. If VdB was considered viable opposition he’d have to moderate his game more, but as is, he’s allowed to play in saviour mode all of the time and that’s just how he prefers to play. He wants to be compared to Cantona and our fans love a saviour to adore.

That's a really interesting point, imo.

That being said, I think he has the mentality where if someone were to sit him down and bring it up, he'd instantly get what you were talking about "Goddamit-I-thought-I-was-being-selfless-but-I've-been-too-selfish" and adjust his game to try and better help the team.

 

[FriedClams]

What I don't understand about Fernandes is whether he's been instructed to play like a second striker or if he's just ignoring instructions to link the midfield. Neither seems credible. Given that we're getting overrun in midfield, again and again, I can't believe our coaches are asking him to play so high. The space we leave in midfield is killing us.

But if he's repeatedly doing it against the coaches' instructions, I can't believe they wouldn't sub him off. I can't really understand it either way.

I think our coaching staff believe that Bruno and a number of others have the ability to turn it on and win a game at any point, and they aren't wrong. Bruno, Pogba, Ronaldo could all turn up and have 9/10 performances v Liverpool, but that reliance on individual brilliance to shine through is being proven to be a naive long-term tactic. I have no doubt Bruno will follow instructions, but based on how we are currently playing, those instructions seem to be based on players having a blinder every time they get on the ball rather than caring about how we manage the game when others teams have possession.

 

[DWelbz19]

I think we've just indulged him in it because our system was/is pretty much no system.

It's an awkward one in a way, because, you can argue that his game should be modified to ensure the team plays to a higher standard more generally, but the shallow face value response to that is -- look at his goals and assists ratio, he isn't the problem?