[#07]

Not particularly close either.

I really think people got a taste of how important it is to have a player in his position be good in tight spaces, because he actually WAS today.

The tough part is I still think, with current personnel, we are more dangerous going forward with him at CM and a runner at that left 10 spot, mainly because it makes up for Dalot not being good attacking wise.

Its incredible how quickly Bruno's performances for United have become forgotten history. Did he play better today than he did at Wembley last summer against City.

Was his performance that much better than that time he came on against West Ham and equalled the record for number of chances created in a Premier League game since stats have existed? Or this opening day hat-trick against Leeds United a couple of seasons ago?

This guy has had so many decisive moments for Man Utd. So many brilliant games. Even this season, which he himself acknowledges hasn't been vintage, he continues to be a chance creation machine. Yet the consensus seems to be that he's stealing a living and is in the team based on...rep?

Incredible how narratives take hold. This is the same fella who lobbed the Liverpool keeper from like 40 yards the last time we played them before today, right? I'm not misremembering that.

Excellent performance but he's our Gerrard and we'll never win a league with him as Captain.

He'll leave everything on the pitch and produce incredible match winning performances, but he doesn't control games and won't help us grind out the runs of 1-0 victories you need to win titles.

One thing I can say is that Bruno isn't the reason why we'd let it slip if on a title charge. When we bottled it under Ole he was the only one trying to keep it alive with that acrobatic equaliser at West Brom. The rest of the team chickened out.

 

[bosnian_red]

Really is testament to him that year after year, despite having some really mediocre attackers around him and being part of average teams, Bruno is consistently among the top of the league in his creation stats.

More than that today though I loved the control and composure. He's shown since Amorim came in that he absolutely has this side to his game and has a long while left being a key player for us. Whether we play him next to Ugarte or as a 10, either way he's class. Good to be able to rotate him with Mainoo in the deeper roles when needed and as something that can prolong his career too.

 

[Still ill]

He hasn’t though. So why say he has? He has had some poor performances (in a struggling team) but plenty of good ones (before today) as well. His ratio of good to poor performances is amongst the best in our team this season.

Plenty of good ones? This season? I don't know Pogue. I'm struggling to recall them.

 

[Raoul]

Please. People don't think he's shit, just that he's been shit for us. Which he has been this season. He was great today. So let's have some more of that, eh?

Strange opinion. He's been pretty effective this year.

 

[Pickle85]

At this point, you guys definitely show the same behaviour you are accusing others for. But there you go. Lets never put too much emphasis on subpar performances, lets only do it when he is good and then act as if the level he showed today is what he always delivers. Because when you do it, it is different than when others do it...

Shouldn't you be happy now? Why are you being smug? Have other comments hurt your feelings lately?

Nonsense. I'm happy about a player showing the fan base that he is (shock horror) an excellent player, like every manager that has managed him has thought. You have the most posts in this thread and yet others are the ones with agendas...?

 

[Pickle85]

Give the ball away cheaply. Outside of the foot stupid passes. The usual.

He was excellent today so let's leave it at that. I don't like him as a captain and want him gone as I want this team to move forward.

He's a good player but he's at the wrong team. He should be at a side like Atletico or Juve.

When?

 

[OverratedOpinion]

Absolutely brilliant performance, joy to watch.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

When?

Well with 70% passing accuracy today, it was several times.

He had a great game i said.

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

Its incredible how quickly Bruno's performances for United have become forgotten history. Did he play better today than he did at Wembley last summer against City.

Was his performance that much better than that time he came on against West Ham and equalled the record for number of chances created in a Premier League game since stats have existed? Or this opening day hat-trick against Leeds United a couple of seasons ago?

This guy has had so many decisive moments for Man Utd. So many brilliant games. Even this season, which he himself acknowledges hasn't been vintage, he continues to be a chance creation machine. Yet the consensus seems to be that he's stealing a living and is in the team based on...rep?

Incredible how narratives take hold. This is the same fella who lobbed the Liverpool keeper from like 40 yards the last time we played them before today, right? I'm not misremembering that.



One thing I can say is that Bruno isn't the reason why we'd let it slip if on a title charge. When we bottled it under Ole he was the only one trying to keep it alive with that acrobatic equaliser at West Brom. The rest of the team chickened out.

Yeah but he got 3 red cards this season (2 of them undeserved) so all of his previous excellent performances go out the window.

 

[Pickle85]

Well with 70% passing accuracy today, it was several times.

He had a great game i said.

Where are those stats from?

 

[Longshanks]

Excellent today, really was. Total class all round midfield performance. A captain's performance you could say.

 

[11101]

We've just had plenty of the ball/control against City and Liverpool away. With Bruno in the team.

Still amazed people think one player can be so influential as to stop a team winning a league.

Yeah he'll win you plenty of games, sometimes almost on his own, but he won't do it consistently enough to challenge for the league and he won't help you grind out performances on a weekly basis. And because everything goes through him when he's off everybody is off.

It's exactly like Gerrard. Liverpool fans worship Gerrard without realising they probably would have won another league or two by now had he gone to Chelsea that summer.

 

[didz]

Great performance all round, but there was also some really good dribbling under pressure today. Don't often see that in his game.

 

[JimiboyX]

I've said it before. Frustrating as he is sometimes (and increasingly so), we would create next to nothing without him right now. Which would be incredibly concerning at a time when we're already not a million miles off relegation...

How people think binning him off is the answer is absolutely beyond me.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Where are those stats from?

Whoscored.

He had the second lowest passing % behind Hojland.

4 key passes and an assist. It was his best game in over a year I'd say.

 

[Red & White]

Really enjoyed watching him today, Absolutely fantastic performance.

 

[The Hilton]

When?

I think the poster you quoted is being harsh, but Bruno did have that stupid Rabona cross attempt in the first half, stupid time to try to pull that off and ended up losing the ball.

Other than that though he was mostly excellent, sure he lost the ball a bit but that'll happen when you're the creative nucleus of the team, the giveaways were forgivable as opposed to the much cheaper losses of possession we can see from him.

 

[Oranges038]

Made some poor decisions on passes, but got the ones right that mattered. The little reverse pass to Martinez was lovely and the pass out to Garnacho for the second was decent too.

Overall, he had a pretty good game, would have been my second choice for motm behind Ugarte.

 

[rimaldo]

on you go. i’m no fecking talking to you. he’s a fecking great player. yous are fecking idiots.

he looks better when he has other players moving and in positions to actually receive a pass, which means he doesn’t have to try and bend the ball two different ways and dip it over three players to land it at the feet of some feckless wonder who’s stood still.

 

[VivaJesperBlomqvist]

World class. Don’t care what the narrative around him here is. Build the team around him. He has the old school Manchester United mentality.

 

[Marwood]

Yeah he'll win you plenty of games, sometimes almost on his own, but he won't do it consistently enough to challenge for the league and he won't help you grind out performances on a weekly basis. And because everything goes through him when he's off everybody is off.

It's exactly like Gerrard. Liverpool fans worship Gerrard without realising they probably would have won another league or two by now had he gone to Chelsea that summer.

as with Bruno, this is just complete guesswork.

 

[stevoc]

Or he’ll almost single-handedly drag us to a Champion’s League title like Gerrard did for Liverpool. Works for me.

Yeah or at least a Europa League this season.

 

[spiriticon]

He is at his best when the game is chaotic and unpredictable. He has no place in a systems team though.

Bruno plays with his heart rather than his head, for better and worse.

We can't play like chaos every game. At some point we have to pick which type of team we want to be, and have serious discussions about whether he can fit in. He can be either the player we build around, or one of the weakest links.

 

[The Urban Goose]

That's the Bruno we know from January to April 2020. I was going to say "where the feck has that been the rest of this season?" but it's great to see him say that himself.

 

[Vidooq]

Now play like this every God damn week.

 

[Escobar]

Finally a good game!

 

[Fallon d'Floor]

I hope Bruno is sold in the summer. I doubt it. However, that was one of his better performances vs a top team.

He was still careless on the ball at times and will never be my cup of tea, yet I will give him his props for his physicality/off the ball work today. He won most of his duels.

 

[Ollie Derbyshire]

Credit where it is due, that was an excellent performance today and one that I’ve been waiting for for a while. Not just the performance but also his leadership was on point.

Keep it up!

 

[Fallon d'Floor]

Maybe he's our Robson and we won't win it until he's 36

5 more years of Bruno. You're not that cruel, are you?

 

[Pickle85]

I think the poster you quoted is being harsh, but Bruno did have that stupid Rabona cross attempt in the first half, stupid time to try to pull that off and ended up losing the ball.

Other than that though he was mostly excellent, sure he lost the ball a bit but that'll happen when you're the creative nucleus of the team, the giveaways were forgivable as opposed to the much cheaper losses of possession we can see from him.

Yeah that was stupid. At the time I just thought he'd fluffed it on his left but did wonder as the comms were talking about 'trying the spectacular'. That is silly.

That said, I agree entirely with the point that he lost the ball on occasion but that that's the price of doing business when you're a teams creative fulcrum. As you say, he's had games before where he's given the ball away really cheaply but tonight were barely any examples of that.

 

[Pickle85]

That's the Bruno we know from January to April 2020. I was going to say "where the feck has that been the rest of this season?" but it's great to see him say that himself.

Come on man... you're only giving our best player of the last seven years four months of top form over his career here?!

 

[Fallon d'Floor]

Come on man... you're only giving our best player of the last seven years four months of top form over his career here?!

And here's me thinking he was being generous.

 

[Pickle85]

And here's me thinking he was being generous.

Well your bizarre take is clear from your posts in this thread

 

[The Urban Goose]

Come on man... you're only giving our best player of the last seven years four months of top form over his career here?!

No, it's simply that the above run of form was peak Bruno so far.

 

[Pickle85]

No, it's simply that the above run of form was peak Bruno so far.

He maintained that form for longer than four months, no? He was great pretty much that entire season

 

[Lyng]

Absolutely magnificent today.

 

[Andy_Cole]

Matchday thread was saying he was the worst player on the pitch with Hoijlund before Martinez goal.

He’s our main man. I love him.

 

[Fallon d'Floor]

Well your bizarre take is clear from your posts in this thread

Bruno is an acquired taste. Some people love him, others don't.

Busquets might bore some, while other get rock hard.

The duality of man.

 

[Pickle85]

Bruno is an acquired taste. Some people love him, others don't.

Busquets might bore some, while other get rock hard.

The duality of man.

Tbf I do think busquets was an absolute worldie as well!

 

[Crackers]

He was fantastic today, so calm and composed. He had a few dribbles where the ballstuck to him like glue