[NZT-One]

Continue to build around him? When did we start? None of our recent signings have benefited him, one of his biggest issues is he feels the need to constantly run around doing other people’s jobs for them. If we’d actually built a structure to support him we may have seen the best of him more consistently.

I wonder how those stats would look like... Probably he'd be on 120 key passes per game and 60-80 assists...

A large amount of time, Bruno wasn't really affected with how we set up - remember the 4-2-0-4 formations we had when he would just abandon midfield alltogether? His numbers are affected a little by chance conversion which could have been better (though I think not that much) and this season by him having to share his space on the pitch with another player.

Lets face it, other teams aren't more productive because they do all they can to bolster one player, they have multiple ones who chip in with contributions.

It's a hand injury?

He's not a keeper, so it really doesn't make any difference to his game. From memory Cantona played with a cast for bit, lots of players have.
I don't see the need to fuss about a hand injury, just get on with it, which he did.

No fuss, didn't I write that I have no idea how common it is? I have no issue with it at all, given that the medical team gave their ok (whatever that is worth in the light of the last publications) that it wouldn't prolong the recovery. Only issue I noted was using it as some sort argument to emphasize his greatness and character. Not that I think it is bad, but that event isn't really suited to bolster that image.

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

I have no issue with it at all, given that the medical team gave their ok (whatever that is worth in the light of the last publications) that it wouldn't prolong the recovery. Only issue I noted was using it as some sort argument to emphasize his greatness and character. Not that I think it is bad, but that event isn't really suited to bolster that image.

A lot of other players would've used it as an excuse to not play, saying they wouldn't want to risk aggravating the injury in certain situations (e.g. being tackled and using your hand to break your fall). We've seen the likes of Cavani declare themselves unfit after being passed fit by the medical team, so this is refreshing to see from Bruno.

 

[youngrell]

I wonder how those stats would look like... Probably he'd be on 120 key passes per game and 60-80 assists...

A large amount of time, Bruno wasn't really affected with how we set up - remember the 4-2-0-4 formations we had when he would just abandon midfield alltogether? His numbers are affected a little by chance conversion which could have been better (though I think not that much) and this season by him having to share his space on the pitch with another player.

Lets face it, other teams aren't more productive because they do all they can to bolster one player, they have multiple ones who chip in with contributions.

I’m not really advocating to build the whole team around one player, just pointing out to the other poster than we have not in any way, shape or form built the team around Bruno as was claimed. If anything, we have weakened the players around him and caused him to be even more erratic as he’s left running himself ragged instead of concentrating on his main role.

 

[TwoSheds]

He's not had a great season for me but Bruno is our best player. Rashford is our most important player perhaps, which you can see in how shite we are when he's having one of his invisible seasons compared to when he's on form. But Bruno in a bad year is contributing as many goals and assists as anyone and is always trying to think about who is around him and what they need to succeed.

If he were more selfish I don't think there'd be much debate about his quality tbh, but he does what he thinks is best to win over a season. It's a lot of pressure to put yourself under playing like that unless your teammates are all world class.

 

[NZT-One]

A lot of other players would've used it as an excuse to not play, saying they wouldn't want to risk aggravating the injury in certain situations (e.g. being tackled and using your hand to break your fall). We've seen the likes of Cavani declare themselves unfit after being passed fit by the medical team, so this is refreshing to see from Bruno.

See your point, still feels to me like PR thing to do. As I said earlier, it is a home game against Sheffield United, in a season that is more or less a failure anyways no matter how it ends up. At least it is to me, I'd rather stay clear of Europe instead of playing Conference League or even Europa League. Maybe that is, what we need, getting in a favorable position to be a dark horse in the league without the expectations being too high and all. Anyways, it wasn't a must win against a super difficult opponent, where it is essential to play your best eleven. Thats why I thought, emphasizing it, seems a bit hollow. But as others said, probably it is a very common thing to play with certain injuries.

I’m not really advocating to build the whole team around one player, just pointing out to the other poster than we have not in any way, shape or form built the team around Bruno as was claimed. If anything, we have weakened the players around him and caused him to be even more erratic as he’s left running himself ragged instead of concentrating on his main role.

I see your point but disagree. Oles matchplan suited Bruno to a tee. He was allowed to be as vertical and direct as he wanted, he was allowed to join the attack in any situation. And together with Rashford, they created a pretty capable weapon to hurt opponents (especially when they gave us space to run into), a weapon we are trying to squeeze as much as possible (even if not working). And this kind of continued with ETH, he made him captain, he plays in every game, he is never really subbed, no matter how influential he is and he is seemingly allowed to take as many risks as he want.
So yeah, while it certainly wasn't a situation where he is/was surrounded by creme de la creme side characters, carefully choosen to highlight the glory of Bruno, it is safe to say that he definitely has and had a pretty comfortable nest around here. And who knows, maybe some of his individual achievements, are as high because as a club, we do just that. Even though the club itself isn't really benefitting from it. But I know that this is controversial and I don't want to state that as a fact, I think, it is valid perspective and worth talking about because I am pretty sure this isn't a question of "whether he is or is not" but rather one of "to what degree is he". If you see it differently, thats fine, but I think claiming there is no way the team isn't suited to Bruno is a pretty exclusive take.

 

[Lyng]

Bruno wanting to play isn't really about PR. He loves football and I am convinced he loves United. That's why he wants to play regardless of a broken hand.

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

Bruno wanting to play isn't really about PR. He loves football and I am convinced he loves United. That's why he wants to play regardless of a broken hand.

This. We can be cynical about PR if they're not putting in a shift on the pitch, but you can never accuse Bruno of that.

 

[Red00012]

Bruno wanting to play isn't really about PR. He loves football and I am convinced he loves United. That's why he wants to play regardless of a broken hand.

Did someone actually suggest he’s only playing because of PR

 

[Jeppers7]

What agenda?

I just don't see how any Utd fan could have any time for him at all. Incredibly talented footballer and he had some good moments in a Utd shirt, but overall he was just an absolute waste of time and money.

But that’s your opinion..I’m fine with that. Mines different but it doesn’t really matter, he left years ago. In fact I’m baffled as to why people keep bringing him up when I post. There’s people in this thread for example that are far more pro Bruno than I was pro Pogba.

It was the subject and the narrative around the subject (Pogba ) that people were so irrational about that people still can’t let go of the fact that a few people opposed the narrative. It’s frankly bizarre. Someone actually made a thread about me…someone the other day posted that I think he’s the best person in the world…the reality is I actually think he was a good player for us, not great and have backed it up with statistics and performance analysis and said evidence seems to rile people.

There’s literally posters in this thread who are so irrational that you can literally find posts completely contradicting their own posts when the subject matter changes. There’s a poster so enamored with Bruno that he’s giving him player of the season, in fact he was doing so in January…He claims he’s on par with KDB. But there will be no threads about him because the subject, Bruno, and the narrative are completely different.

This is the world we live in.

 

[youngrell]

See your point, still feels to me like PR thing to do. As I said earlier, it is a home game against Sheffield United, in a season that is more or less a failure anyways no matter how it ends up. At least it is to me, I'd rather stay clear of Europe instead of playing Conference League or even Europa League. Maybe that is, what we need, getting in a favorable position to be a dark horse in the league without the expectations being too high and all. Anyways, it wasn't a must win against a super difficult opponent, where it is essential to play your best eleven. Thats why I thought, emphasizing it, seems a bit hollow. But as others said, probably it is a very common thing to play with certain injuries.


I see your point but disagree. Oles matchplan suited Bruno to a tee. He was allowed to be as vertical and direct as he wanted, he was allowed to join the attack in any situation. And together with Rashford, they created a pretty capable weapon to hurt opponents (especially when they gave us space to run into), a weapon we are trying to squeeze as much as possible (even if not working). And this kind of continued with ETH, he made him captain, he plays in every game, he is never really subbed, no matter how influential he is and he is seemingly allowed to take as many risks as he want.
So yeah, while it certainly wasn't a situation where he is/was surrounded by creme de la creme side characters, carefully choosen to highlight the glory of Bruno, it is safe to say that he definitely has and had a pretty comfortable nest around here. And who knows, maybe some of his individual achievements, are as high because as a club, we do just that. Even though the club itself isn't really benefitting from it. But I know that this is controversial and I don't want to state that as a fact, I think, it is valid perspective and worth talking about because I am pretty sure this isn't a question of "whether he is or is not" but rather one of "to what degree is he". If you see it differently, thats fine, but I think claiming there is no way the team isn't suited to Bruno is a pretty exclusive take.

Yes but since Ole left we have surrounded him with Casemiro, Eriksen, McTominay and Mainoo. There is zero legs in that midfield and a big reason why he has to cover so much ground every match, add in a deep defensive line and a couple lazy forwards and it’s clear the team is t built around him. Of course he gets freedom to do things, but I don’t think that is exclusive to him, I can’t recall any other players getting lambasted for trying to be creative.

Your point above about PR is crazy to me, I guess the last decade has made a lot of us cynical, but to put a player’s willingness to play down to PR is a bit too far for me. I think he’d have played regardless of the circumstances, but we were also very thin on the ground in midfield options on Weds, so him being available was a bonus.

 

[Insanity]

How the hell Keano's comments were right.

He's a fantastic footballer, the only one who kept United from being 10th since he's there, but how he's not a winner?

Is it only based on medals ?

Does it means also that Kieran Richardson is a winner because he won a PL title in 2006/2007 ? Or maybe Kuzcask was?

Keano won everything, played marvelousely and was an absolute freak, but it doesn't means that he should judge everyone based on his standards that are miles above the normal ones.

Think sometimes Keano just want to provoke and have the good sentence to be on the screen

Keane was just countering Ian's claim on him being a "winner"; and yes he is not, unless we are calling a Carling Cup win as a sign of being "Winners". Also, doesn't mean he is a winner just because he flails his arms and acts like a petulant child on the field making faces.

The club was right in it's assessment when they didn't go for him in the summer as the scouts thought he lost the ball too much and doesn't have the ability to beat the press. But then somehow we got desperate in the winter transfer window and paid more for him than we would have in the summer to get him.

Keane's was right as Bruno's performances are inconsistent. He doesn't make everyone around him better. He can't control a game or a midfield with his guile or his passing or his ability to keep the ball. Yes, he plays a lot of low percentage balls and some are very good, but because of that he also loses possession often and puts the team in danger. Odegaard, a player much younger then him, is showing how the position is played, and Bruno is nowhere near him based on the quality of play or maturity.

He is a dollar store Rooney. The Rooney during his fading years, when he could still come up with a goal or an assist but his overall play was poor and left much to be desired.

 

[lost7]

Played incredibly well today, his long passing was suberb.

 

[UnitedRepublic]

Played incredibly well today, his long passing was suberb.

His long passing was the only good thing today moments doesn’t define the whole game.

 

[NZT-One]

Played incredibly well today, his long passing was suberb.

In that game, nobody in red played "incredible well". I felt it wasn't Brunos day today but I couldn't single him out for anything - good or bad. The whole concept of that team (this match and the one before) is like a glass cannon. Eriksen and Bruno in the center, its good to very good as long as you have the ball but as soon as you lose it, there is no coming back. I thought, Burnleys plan and execution was better than ours.

 

[DWelbz19]

He’s in a good vein of form. Shame virtually nobody else is.

 

[Rozay]

Elevated his game a couple of levels in the last couple of months.

 

[Atheist]

His short passing is shockingly bad, gave the ball away a bunch of times in risky areas.

 

[Acquire Me]

Bruno

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

Once again he was at the heart of everything positive today. He's edging towards being my PoS.

 

[Sylar]

Need him rested a bit and fit for the final. Hopefully that's managed well given the last four are meaningless games

 

[Shane88]

Why does everyone ignore the chaos he causes? The mad clearance in the box, twice giving the ball away on the edge of our own box within a few minutes. Any half-decent team kills us with those opportunities.

And why does no player give him a bollocking? He has a toddler tantrum when a teammate mis-controls a ball but everyone stays quiet when he is putting the team in danger with stupid decisions.

 

[Red Royal]

Need him rested a bit and fit for the final. Hopefully that's managed well given the last four are meaningless games

Bruno plays every minute of every game; that much is clear.

 

[Oranges038]

Actually thought he was poor, drifted out of the game and gave the ball away in stupid areas. That volley up in the air across the box was just awful.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Actually thought he was poor, drifted out of the game and gave the ball away in stupid areas. That volley up in the air across the box was just awful.

Of course you do. Because you seriously think his last performance is the minimum to expect. Which is, obviously, ridiculous.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

He lost the ball twice in dangerous areas. No doubt all the usual parasites will use that as a rationale to say his overall performance was poor.

He was superb for just over an hour. Tired a bit towards the end. Our best player though. Yet again.

EDIT: Him or Maguire anyway

 

[Sylar]

Bruno plays every minute of every game; that much is clear.

Yep, which I would understand if we were fighting for top4. We have finally got a free hit to freshen him up before the cup final

 

[#07]

 

[Oranges038]

Of course you do. Because you seriously think his last performance is the minimum to expect. Which is, obviously, ridiculous.

Yeah, it's called having standards. Calling a game against the worst team in the league a world class performance is quite frankly ridiculous. I wouldn't expect anything less than type of performance against those teams.

 

[RonaldoVII]

Thought he was poor today but sometimes players look different from the stands. Thought some of his failed passes to get us in on goal should've been a lot better and killed the game off.

 

[NZT-One]

He lost the ball twice in dangerous areas. No doubt all the usual parasites will use that as a rationale to say his overall performance was poor.

He was superb for just over an hour. Tired a bit towards the end. Our best player though. Yet again.

EDIT: Him or Maguire anyway

Serious?

 

[AndyMUFC]

Bruno is our best player, but while he is our best player there's no way we're winning anything. That's the problem.

If he had better players around him, maybe he wouldn't feel the need to try so hard all the time because one of our main issues as a team is our inability to keep the ball.

 

[bondsname]

I will always appreciate Bruno even when his ideas doesn't work out. He is always trying, always fighting, he gives it his all. We're lucky to have him.

 

[Ali Dia]

I took a hit to get him and captained him for FPL and obviously jinxed him. My apologies.

 

[El Jefe]

Can’t do it alone?

Seems like he’d have it no other way. Us being shite and him filling up his chance creation stats has made a great career for him.

 

[Satissh12]

I took a hit to get him and captained him for FPL and obviously jinxed him. My apologies.

These days I dont even use United players in FPL, the moment I keep them, they are either injured or have a stinker

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I think it’s fair to say that Bruno’s performances dip against better teams more than they should. Yes every player will naturally do better against weaker opponents but the variance is less for the best. And it makes sense as Bruno has good end product and work rate but also major deficiencies in his game which are the reason that he isn’t a top player. Things like his inability to dribble, unreliable passing and average physicality / mobility get exposed in the games we don’t have time and space. Same as Pogba who wilted in the congested games as his split second making was weak.

Having said that Bruno was superb in our last game. And yesterday I thought he was one of our best players too, creating a lot of chances.

 

[NinjaZombie]

He lost the ball twice in dangerous areas. No doubt all the usual parasites will use that as a rationale to say his overall performance was poor.

He was superb for just over an hour. Tired a bit towards the end. Our best player though. Yet again.

EDIT: Him or Maguire anyway

He should be playing higher up because he tends to do this. Not having Shaw and Martinez seriously hinders our build up play and he's having to drop deep. But that's scant excuse because a better manager could've found a way of implementing a system where we can progress the ball from deep. I mean, the likes of Wolves are able to do this with lesser players. It's like ETH and his coaches have gone, ah we don't have Shaw and Lisandro, so let's just yolo it.

 

[NoPace]

I think it’s fair to say that Bruno’s performances dip against better teams more than they should. Yes every player will naturally do better against weaker opponents but the variance is less for the best. And it makes sense as Bruno has good end product and work rate but also major deficiencies in his game which are the reason that he isn’t a top player. Things like his inability to dribble, unreliable passing and average physicality / mobility get exposed in the games we don’t have time and space. Same as Pogba who wilted in the congested games as his split second making was weak.

Having said that Bruno was superb in our last game. And yesterday I thought he was one of our best players too, creating a lot of chances.

He should be playing higher up because he tends to do this. Not having Shaw and Martinez seriously hinders our build up play and he's having to drop deep. But that's scant excuse because a better manager could've found a way of implementing a system where we can progress the ball from deep. I mean, the likes of Wolves are able to do this with lesser players. It's like ETH and his coaches have gone, ah we don't have Shaw and Lisandro, so let's just yolo it.

He might be better off in a 3-4-2-1 where he and another player support a striker, same as Mount playing his best football there for Chelsea if I'm remembering right.

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

Imagine if he played with a proper striker/finisher?

He's so 20 assists a season

 

[Murder on Zidanes Floor]

Yeah, it's called having standards. Calling a game against the worst team in the league a world class performance is quite frankly ridiculous. I wouldn't expect anything less than type of performance against those teams.

Go back and watch some of the performances the lads of the 90s would serve up. All is forgotten because they won but regularly they would serve up dreck. Giggs is a prime example of a player who went weeks and months without effecting a game and getting dropped.