No it was sourness
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 46
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 13
- Yellow cards
- 10
- Status
He plays as a 10 for us but is better as an 8. Becuase like has been said many times him as a 10 causes issues throughout the team that there is no fix for. No magic replacements for Fred and McT are suddenly going to be able to cope with a 2 vs 5 situation.
We are way too easy to play through which granted isn’t just a Bruno problem, it’s the two wingers the striker and the fullbacks that add to that more than Fred and McT because they are getting stretched trying to cover the others and simply nothing they can do about it.
A more disciplined Bruno though and it solves a major issue which is that central channel people just play through where he is supposed to be. Wasn’t that bad when Martial played as he actually covered for Bruno but now it doesn’t look like he has any future here. So the easiest thing to do to fix the team is put Bruno in his best position which is an 8 and have him be involved in the midfield and helping solidify it up.
A problem with the set up. Not with Bruno. Also we don't know how our performance up top will be affected when we move Bruno further back.
Even Fergie ensured that Ronaldo stayed up front even though others had to put in a more defensive shift as he knew Ronaldo further up is more important to the team rather than one who will be tracking back.
Similarly for Bruno, we need him to work his magic further up than try to run our midfield. Ole should sort that out instead of having to worry about bringing him further back to hide our coaching and tactical deficiencies.
But again Bruno is better as an 8. Generally I couldn’t give a crap of he got no goals if he was making the team perform better and being an 8 isn’t going to stop him from getting forward. Played as an 8 the other day and had his best game in ages.
Part of the problem with the set up though is Bruno not being very disciplined and going where he wants. If people really want him to do whatever then we would probably be best to remove another attacker. Or Bruno gets better in the position of 10 and realises he has to keep a structure to stop us from being so easy to play through.
Its not as simple as just saying it’s a structural issue and not as simple as just saying it’s all Bruno’s fault but more so the two don’t fit well in the vision of what a good team should be doing.
His goals and assists are a major reason we are still doing reasonably well. Take that away and you will immediately see how we look. It's easy to say let Bruno lose some if his opportunity in the final third to be more solid defensively. It would work if you have good midfielders around him who will make up the deficit. Right now beyond him and Pogba, there's no one who can pull off that pass to Ronaldo against Spurs. The one which broke the deadlock. It's like saying let's drop Ronaldo and get a more hard working striker who would not be able to finish like him but will press. The moment we worry about defending at the expense of letting our productive players express themselves, we will struggle further.
Fabulous pass for Ronaldos goal.
It surprises me more people don't understand this.
At the weekend we watched Bruno take an average position level with Fred, drop in to shape off the ball, make a last ditch sliding tackle to stop a run on goal, yet people can't see that his positioning to now has been down to instructions.
We heard Ole say, on camera, before Atalanta that his idea was to play 4-2-4. Bruno has not been playing as a second striker just because he fancies it. Do people really believe that he looks over the bench, gets instructions from Ole and goes: 'Nah, f-k that. Goals mate'?
As Bruno demonstrated at the weekend, as he's demonstrated in the games he's played when we set up to counter attack e.g., at the Etihad, Bruno doesn't just run about randomly. The reason he's been doing it is the same reason his teammates have been running about randomly: That was what the coaches wanted from him. When he's asked to do different things he does different things. Played much more conservatively at the weekend, still made a goal, still made a key pass in the run up to our second.
The problem is not, nor has it ever been, Bruno. The problem was the coaches deciding they want us to press high. Then Bruno basically pressing for himself and Ronaldo.
Bruno is not an idiot. He doesn't only have one gear. However, he's a loyal player who will carry out the instructions he's given to the best of his ability. Thank God the instructions have changed to: Drop in when we don't have the ball and use your ability to start counters. He excelled at the weekend and, so long as we continue to play compact, counterattacking football, I I expect that to continue whatever formation we play.
Let’s be honest that pass isn’t that hard, it was made by the run and ability of Ronaldo. People spotting the pass and trying it are a different thing as probably only Pogba, Bruno and Sancho would attempt it.
However with more control, we move people up the pitch and then McT and Fred who generally have a bad rep are still quite capable of slipping passes through and breaking beyond when the Opportunity presents itself. It’s also not just about being defensivly solid which of course is a great plus, but having control, being able to push the team forward and get others in to better positions including himself. Which should lead to better goal returns anyway.
Anyway for me, right now, I’d rather Bruno did more of what he did against Spurs than what he has been doing previously as in my opinion it will make us a much better team. If we are a much better team, more chances he creates and maybe takes. Becuase what we’ve been doing with him isn’t working as far as I’m concerned. Good for his personal stats not good for the team.
Let's agree to disagree. Against better sides, you will see how toothless we will look. I am not saying Bruno should be a second striker but the moment we ask him to drop deeper, our ability further up will start slipping away. Will turn us back to where we started, a counter attacking unit shitting themselves to create chances when given the chance to dominate possession.
People mention how he has regressed a bit since Ronaldo arrived, last I checked he scored less than usual but still has created far more chances that any player in the league this season hasn't he?
That is down to one thing. Coaching.
If we can coach the team and players on positions in a pitch during attack, defence and transition, we will become a better team.
What we saw against Spurs was a high line, distance between CB - CF really tight. If we can do that consistently, we automatically become a very good team.
Winning the ball and transitioning, which is how most teams get goals. Bruno needs to drop deeper to help the midfield on the ball and off it.
Yeah. Ronaldo is a red herring. It's the lack of penalties that better explains his goals regressing. He's never been that prolific for us without penalties. He only got nine non-penalty goals in the league for us last season and has four this season.
Yeah so he's on par really for goals and still insanely creative.
Whenever I watch him I always think he has another level he can find, even as good and as productive as he is. He's sometimes quite sloppy and I think he has it in him to rid that from his game and improve further.
When you watch that Ronaldo goal back from the Spurs game, watch Ronaldo's reaction the second it's played into Bruno, as soon as he see's it's Bruno he's on his bike because he knows that A) he will play the pass and B) that he's got every chance of finding him.
As you say I can see why some people get frustrated with him, but at the same time his productivity is off the charts.
If he tidied up his game and got rid of the silly little errors he has at times, he'd be at the very top IMO.
Yeah there's a balance to it, he's constantly trying the difficult which has it's pay-off because he's capable of it. I think he can tidy it up and hit another gear.
Love watching him play though.
I have no issue with him trying a killer ball often, it's more the simple 5-10 yard passes he seems to mess up for no particular reason. Probably trying to think 2-3 moves ahead and ends up losing concentration.
Still though, you just know he will make a goal scoring chance at some point through the game even if he's having a bad day. I didn't think he started the Spurs match well and then bang. Class.
Yeah exactly, sometimes he misses a simple 5 yard pass, pretty sure he did it against Spurs at one point, then floats a 25 yard ball onto Ronaldo's boot minutes later. Bit crazy really
But that's where I think he can definitely tidy things up and be even better for us. His creativity is off the charts though. Rashford looks super sharp on his return at the minute, hopefully Bruno can make the most of that if Rashford starts against Atalanta.
Yep him and Rashford had an immense partnership before. Not sure if he they start this Wednesday or keep them ready for City, but i'm sure they'll both get many goals this season.Yeah exactly, sometimes he misses a simple 5 yard pass, pretty sure he did it against Spurs at one point, then floats a 25 yard ball onto Ronaldo's boot minutes later. Bit crazy really
His creativity is off the charts though. Rashford looks super sharp on his return at the minute, hopefully Bruno can make the most of that if Rashford starts against Atalanta.
At this point you just are a clear hater downplaying even his pass. Why do you hate him so much? I don’t get it. He’s been our best player with no competition since he arrived at the club! How the feck are you blaming Bruno so much for how we play but not the coaching staff?
Is Bruno the coach and chooses where he plays? He delivers either as a 8 or a 10. For you too be so sure and smug that his best position is 8 is laughable. He has played most of his career as a 10 and here at United and has delivered at the highest level.
Maybe you should blame the shit midfield we pair with Bruno. I don’t get people, literally two of our best performing players in a shit season so far is Bruno and Ronaldo yet people say they are the problem and should be dropped.
Well, Bruno created this and that. Scored this amount.
But, what about his positioning?
Most of these guys don't do that in Pogba thread where the guy has more issues with positioning AND not performing consistently.
So their agenda is pretty obvious.
Blimey, I felt the calls for Ronaldo as player/Manager were too much - definitely not up for Bruno taking the role. Just let them play their football and bring in an actual manager with managerial experience.
Positioning is part of football. Good positioning, equals hopefully many chances, many goals, many assists for you and team mates. Good positioning means harder to play against, easier to find a pass, hopefully concede less goals, defend better. Player make better choices, player improve team.
I dumbed it down as much as I could.
Nobody has an agenda against Bruno, what people care about is the team and that there is a player who by himself is brilliant, but causes an issue, along with others.
Now stop posting toxic BS and maybe try and have conversations and debates. Not sure why you’re even bringing up Pogba. Plenty to discuss on him in his performance thread. As like Bruno he has many issues. I think you just see what you want to see so you can continue to rant.
Ok name your three top performers this season that we have started shit please?
DeGea, Lindelof, Varane
Not sure where you’re going with this but verging on taking a thread off topic.
Atalanta 2:2 Man Utd
Great backheel for the first goal but other than that his overall performance was poor. Some atrocious passing too.
Another quality assist but he looks out of sorts overall at the moment.
Man is a genius and think he played fairly well overall. Does anyone understand why he went back to playing in behind the strikers tonight rather than on the right side of midfield like against Spurs. I much prefer him when he can pick up the ball deeper and it’s better for our defensive shape.
I sort of get why we leave Bruno on when he can get you a goal or an assist at every given moment. However we've got a squad full of attacking talent. He was having a pretty quiet game, getting marked very closely and it was a perfect game to mix it up sooner with a change in his position with Van De Beek, Lingard or Sancho to offer something different.
Opponents know that most of our attacking goes through him. They are prepared. Last times this was as evident as it is now, Ole brought in Pogba (on the left) which took off the pressure a little. These days, that is close to impossible but he would have Sancho at his disposal as well. Hopefully not lots of smaller teams will select a man marker now after seeing Gasperini do it... And thank god Mourinho isn't in the PL anymore, he would be the kind of guy to take out Ronaldo with a foul.
Utterly staggering how Bruno didn't make the Portugal side in the summer, remember all those fecking idiots doubting his quality? In a United shirt him and Ronaldo are born to play together
Yeh he’s a great player but doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t benefit from being dropped for a couple games. He’s been shite for the majority of 2021, although that’s likely down to the clueless coaching more than anything.
Thought he was ok today, great work for the first goal. Messed up 1 easy pass for Mctominay, was dropping deeper but I don't think we gave him too many options for a decent pass when he did.
He has 23 goals and 19 assists in 2021. It would be one thing if he was playing like shit and wasn't contributing — he is still decisive and integral to our game, we literally don't have anyone who can even remotely replicate what he gives to our team. Not Lingard, not Pogba, not van de Beek, not Sancho...
He was quite bad today by the way, but I doubt that we'd be going home with a point without him (although seeing the way that Ronaldo casually exceeds any possible expectations, maybe he would've somehow found a way).
So, the positioning.
What do some of you guys think?
On a serious note, I think he ran out of steam in the 2nd half. VDB should come in more for him like that.
What do some of you guys think?
On a serious note, I think he ran out of steam in the 2nd half. VDB should come in more for him like that.
Great assist but Atalanta got their game plan spot on tonight, he was pressed and marked pretty hard by them.
He is running around like a headless chicken at the moment, He needs to stay and play in his positions and stop chasing the game
He is trying to do too much and this is affecting his game
He is trying to do too much and this is affecting his game
Absolute genius piece of play for the first goal, his linkup with Ronaldo is keeping Ole in a job.
This is honestly ridiculous.
Brilliant work for our 1st goal. Apart from that he was not good.
- Status