His passing in the 1st half was horrific. He gave it away almost as much as he found a red shirt. He played a whole lot better 2nd half. Great finish for his 2nd goal. He hasn't scored one like that in a while.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 59
- Goals
- 14
- Assists
- 14
- Yellow cards
- 12
- Status
That was a FIFA finish. Even had the wee pause while the power bar charges.
I love those type of finishes! completely smashing it into the net.
Reminiscent of a young Ronaldo strike when he checked the linesman before smashing it in...Ruud had a few as well.
So satisfying to watch!
Reminiscent of a young Ronaldo strike when he checked the linesman before smashing it in...Ruud had a few as well.
So satisfying to watch!
Brilliant in key moments, but his erratic play is frustrating to watch. The man has the engine of a nuclear power plant but FFS he needs rest.
People salivate over how much he “creates” but I guarantee if you gave any good AM that kind of license and freedom to just chuck possession away relentlessly in search of a killer ball then they’d have similar numbers. It’s like watching a basketball player chase a 50 point game just chucking shots relentlessly until enough go in. It drives me mad because we are basically conceding that we’ll never dominate phases of play or control a game against good sides when he’s in our team.
I can understand the criticism he gets because he is a bit erratic but, at the same time, it amazes me that he gets such a hard time from his own fans.
He is such a productive player, very influential across the whole pitch. He scores quite a few goals, creates loads of chances (even if they don’t end up as assists), tackles back and leads the team very well (apart from the odd freak out).
What he does isn’t easy. It comes at the cost of a little profligacy in possession. There’s plenty of players who give the ball away just as much as him and produce feck all in comparison.
He is such a productive player, very influential across the whole pitch. He scores quite a few goals, creates loads of chances (even if they don’t end up as assists), tackles back and leads the team very well (apart from the odd freak out).
What he does isn’t easy. It comes at the cost of a little profligacy in possession. There’s plenty of players who give the ball away just as much as him and produce feck all in comparison.
So erratic but delivered when he had to today. Also the fitness level of him is just incredible. Real warrior.
He gets a hard time because some of us want to see the team progress to the next level in terms of dominating and controlling games, and a player like him will never allow you to do so. He refuses to calm his game down, and isn’t good enough on the ball to make up for his gunslinging style of passing/attacking play.
It had nothing to do with him as a player in a vacuum, but more to do with him as (presumably) the club captain and a central piece of our side looking to compete at the top of Europe in the coming years
He can be elite in games if you are willing to just play super direct and cede possession, but that’s not a very consistent way of playing week after week if we are looking to win leagues/trophies.
You should inform ETH that you want us to play a more "dominating and controlling game". I'm sure if the team tries to play like that, Bruno will follow along.
Even KDB would've struggled playing alongside McT and Sabitzer
I’m not sure about all that. We were doing pretty well with Eriksen in CM. I think if the 6 is solid and positionally intelligent and the 8 is calm and keeps possession, it’s okay for Bruno at 10 (or RW if we want to play 433) to do what he does.
It would be nice to have a guy with his qualities who doesn’t lose the ball so much but replacing his productivity and overall influence will be easier said than done.
He's one of a few players you'd want the ball to drop to at the edge of the box. Great finisher is Bruno.
Brunos strength are his insane fitness levels and his vision, courage and fast eye-feet coordination enabling him to be an real weapon on the counter. He is an instinctive player. In a setup like the one of Ole, he works insanely well. When you have one of the most inform counter attacking forward in Rashford available, coupling him with Bruno will provide you with goals. The problem with Bruno is that he just can't switch it off. You see it, when he has to play a little deeper like today. As soon as the ball gets to him, he instantly looks if there is a through ball on and in most cases he unleashes it. IF he decides against it, it very often gets weird as this isn't his natural play.
We have been down this road not too long ago. Looked great as a counter attacking unit under Ole. Up until teams decided to play low block against us and there was no room in behind to play or run into. Actually, I am shocked right now, that our opponents do not do it right now... This is when you have to evolve as a team. You don't have to change your style completely but you have to add capabilities into your arsenal. If we want to challenge on all fronts, we have to assert control of the ball in situations when it is needed. I totally think that ETH could help Bruno to add something to his game. But it needs to happen to enter the next level. Plus: no one wants to replace him with a safe passer like Cleverly or something. Of course we would try to replace him with somebody who has similar qualities as Bruno does but coupled with some sort of risk dimmer...
It's purely an online phenomenon. And critics will always be louder, especially when they get to be anonymous.
If you went to a United pub or talked to match-going fans™ and tried to say some of the shit that's being posted in here you'd be branded an idiot and laughed out of the room.
I will never be a fan - some of the stuff he did today was shocking
Baffling.
I said the same thing when I saw him giving the ball to Fulham over and over, including in his own half, which led to a good opportunity for Fulham were it not for an amazing Martinez tackle. Weird player. I'll let people pretend everything's all good in this thread though.
Also, cracking finish for his second goal - I enjoyed that.
Those 2 through passes in the 1st half within 20 seconds that went to Fulham players both times 
I don't understand fans who complain about him being 'wasteful despite getting 2 goals'. Would you rather his stats every game were 98% pass completion and 0 goals & 0 assists?
You know it's possible to create chances, score goals AND be great in possession at the same time? Why does it have to be one or the other?
See Ødegaard.
He was rubbish up until the 2 red cards along with everybody else (apart from De Gea). Playing well/scoring against 9 players should be expected
We were doing well results wise yes, but in any of our “big game” performances even with Eriksen it was largely very direct, transition based football as we can’t control any of those games with Bruno (and De Gea) ceding possession so often, which is sort of my point.
Now if we just are going to say feck it and go full direct balls to the wall style, then Bruno is good and we’d look to get more individual brilliance at other positions. But we aren’t, and ETH isn’t that’s style of manager as he prefers systemic build up and phases of play that are repeatable and less “off the cuff”
Ah yes because top reds and match going fans are always the most reasonable and smart football fans in every situation
Christ nice to see someone else that gets it. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to watch any other top team, and then watch us, and see the difference in technical quality and control in certain phases of the game. Now whether Bruno can fit into those teams or a team that plays like that is up for debate, but so many fans seem to think our options are Bruno who creates everything (off of a shitload of tries mind you) or some side ways passing merchant that won’t ever take a risk. You CAN have both. Just watch how Arsenal destroyed Palace to today as an example. Constant pressure in the final third, good technical quality, and chances create without just requiring someone to just “hit and hope” killer balls until one comes off n
De Bruyne statistically loses possession more often than Bruno Fernandes, so I'm guessing you wouldn't have taken him at United either?
De Bruyne is also statistically one of the best ball-carrying midfielders in the world, has twice as many assists than Bruno in the league and more chances created in considerably less minutes played. He is one of the best passers in the world with elite technique and set-pieces. He doesn't frequently lose the possession in dangerous areas and isn't known for consistent odd decision-making. I'd swap Bruno for De Bruyne in a heartbeat.
Arsenal are also playing once a week with a much more settled squad than we can hope for. They have 6 players that played every single league game this season and 2 additional ones that only missed one.
I enjoyed the finish for his second goal.
The dude has 110 goal contributions in 160 games.
Everything his haters throw into the debate is pretty much a spin.
"Yeah, goals and assists are great, but what about all these times we didn't score?"
The De Bruyne comparison is also a laugh. Put him in the same team with AWB, McT, Fred and no striker, and we can see how often he can retain the ball.
I think we’ll be okay when we get Eriksen back. Might have to play Bruno on the right against the really top teams. I’m not worried.
I like how you tried to sneak that one in, because if Haaland and Weghorst were to swap clubs then obviously De Bruyne would still have twice as many assists than Bruno.
Yeah Bruno's big chance crwtion is amazing. We don't have a striker though.
If I'm not mistaken here, most of Bruno's assists this season have come after Weghorst was signed. Before we had Rashford and Martial playing striker. Other players with equally as many assists as Bruno in Premier League:
Jack Harrison
James Maddison
Alex Iwobi
Do they have really great players surrounded by them or superb finishers?
Yup. I'd rather have Fred or sabitzer play as 2 roaming midfielders who can press but will be safer with the ball. Give it to the wingers to take risks, have the 10 be smart in possession and get creativity from deep by all means. Bruno in there is just chucking it away all day.
Our most important player. If he misses games people would realise it.
Someone else could have scored the pen (Rashford is great with them) and his 3rd was irrelevant as the game was done. Fair play he scored twice and finished the game strongly. His performance was rubbish overall. But yes if his play was better and he gave it away less often, we likely wouldn't have been under so much pressure all game and would've been able to sustain some attacks instead of handing them the ball.
Get Eriksen back and I'm not so sure we would feel it much. Just like Fred in for Eriksen isn't necessarily a clear drop off (some games yes, some games no). We have quality in those areas.
The players whose absence we feel the most, so most important players, are Rashford and casemiro as we have nobody else who can run in behind and have no other defensive mid. And then after them it's Lisandro Martinez and Shaw probably.
That’s because we don’t have anyone else. If we had Jude Bellingham would we miss him?
You missed out your boy Odegaard, who also shares the same number of assists as those players.
The fact is, whether you like it or not, Bruno is going to be a mainstay in our team so long as Ten Hag is our manager. I was listening to the post-match interviews on the radio earlier... the interviewer asked for Ten Hag's thoughts on De Gea's performance, and Ten Hag responded by saying the player of match was once again Bruno, and he went on to praise all of the positive attributes he brought to the game.
Nevertheless, I'm sure Ten Hag would've been devastated to hear that a few posters on the caf think Bruno is a "braindead" footballer.
I have Martinez, Casemiro, Varane as players this team misses/would miss more - and there's Rashford too
- Status