[Lyng]

Before the transfer window, I was laughed out of this thread for suggesting we should sell him and use the money to rebuild the midfield rather than giving him a new contract.
I stand by that sentiment.

Given his age I was firmly against a new contract as well. But I don't think Bruno is an issue. Ten Hag is the problem.

 

[troylocker]

Not his best game. Killed a couple of good chances with poor passing and was, along with many others, caught out of position when we lost possession in our own half.

 

[Beans]

Resigning him is the first big mistake from INEOS.

 

[Highfather_24]

Resigning him is the first big mistake from INEOS.

Exactly. Like a couple of other posters, I wanted us to sell Bruno and get someone like Joao Neves instead. Sadly, it didnt happen, and giving him the new contract was the worst mistake we made this summer.

 

[Adisa]

Given his age I was firmly against a new contract as well. But I don't think Bruno is an issue. Ten Hag is the problem.

Not all our problems start and end with Ten Hag. Another manager won't stop Bruno from giving the ball away for fun.

 

[GreatDane]

Not all our problems start and end with Ten Hag. Another manager won't stop Bruno from giving the ball away for fun.

If its a decent manager he just might.

 

[OldTrevil]

Even beyond his kamikaze positional discipline, what gets me the most is the amount of times he loses the ball or lazily puts his teammates in shit positions with his awful passing.

And some people get the nerve to call him our best player, when he is our biggest turnover machine.

 

[NZT-One]

This is not correct. Criticise his tendency play Hollywood balls. Criticise his form. Criticise his whining. But you can't criticise him for vacating the midfield, when he's literally being instructed to do so.

Bruno has demonstrated at other points of his United career that he's able to play deeper, but he's being told to play level with the striker to keep this 4-2-2-2 formation, but the rest of the team doesnt push up, which leaves us stretched. It's a system and coaching issue.

I agree with those observations. What we have seen in the last 3 games is different, no better or worse (don't want to judge that) but different. And I agree, most likely reason is that he is instructed to occupy specific areas on the pitch (which, to be honest, is something I am very much in favor of - good chance that Bruno would benefit from having a clearer role in our system (obviously with a fully operational system around him as well) )

Again, all these teams have far more balanced players behind them. Bissouma and Sarr for Spurs provide the necessary cover for Maddison and also the wingers/forwards are far better in the build up (Son, Kulu, Oderbert/Johnson). If you genuinely think Maddison would be better than Bruno in that Spurs team, I think you're vastly overrating Maddison and criminally underrating Bruno. Pedri is a different style of 10 and I agree, he is our Mainoo in that example, so I think there's an argument that Mainoo should be our 10 to get better control - this is not the same in saying Bruno can't be in a top level team, I don't know why he's getting such flak.

Because he has a special skillset that is rather rare these days. Usually 10ish players are good on the ball, comfortable. Bruno has great passing technique and an admirable feet-eye-coordination and vision, but he lacks in risk assessment and most importantly in strength and dribbling to handle a ball under pressure. In a age where some form pressing is everpresent, this has two sides - the good side as he is fantastic at making use of space that occurs in behind and the bad side that he is trying to avoid situations where has the ball for too long.

The whole team isn't doing much in terms of comfort on the ball but given that he seems to be the player that is supposed to give direction, he obviously gets a lot of scrutiny. This is also the reason why a match where he pressed really well or gave a nice assist isn't changing much on the sentiment towards him.

You can have a 6 and 8 behind a 10, but those are ultimately just numbers. You cannot have 3 separate lines in a midfield, ultimately, as each individual would be an island. I think there’s a big difference between having three midfielders and having a midfield. A midfield is an engine of the team, and the relationship between all three parts (and the full backs and wingers) is what makes a midfield.

So while you can have a 10 (as I’ve said, Silva and Maddison are 10s), the key is their relationship with the others around them, and this is where Bruno is simply not good enough. What good combination work have you seen in 8 months between Bruno and Mainoo, for example? Literally our 8 and 10. It’s either Mainoo does something special, or Bruno does something special, but they will not combine to weave their way through a team, and to me, that is largely because Bruno simply doesn’t have those fundamental midfield qualities. So instead, our midfield is designed for Mainoo to first do something great, maybe drop a shoulder and beat a player or two - then pass to Bruno 10 yards away who does something great himself. But never are they doing it together.

And I am not overrating Maddison at all, in fact, I am using Maddison as an example so that my point is not dismissed by basically saying something like ‘yea but David Silva is one of the best PL midfielders ever, you can’t say that’s the standard’.

And I don’t think we are built like this due to Rashford and Garnacho. Garnacho has only been in the team for a year. Before him, we had Antony, who has very different qualities, qualities that we fundamentally contradict as a team. Rashford is certainly a direct player who likes to run behind I agree, but Bruno has been in our team 5 years now and has been at the heart of what we do, good and bad. During this period, we have never suffocated opposition (and I mean any opposition, could be a random Championship or League One team in the cup just as much as a top PL side).

When McTominay left last week, Ten Hag justified it by saying we had ‘3 number 10s and only one 6’. Imagine that. Scott Mctominay a ‘number 10’. Is this a player you want to get on the ball in the final and middle thirds to knit play together? This is United’s terrible philosophy of midfield building here, in which our 10 seems to be excused from fundamental midfield work, and instead limited to impacting the scoresheet.

Any player whose worth is determined by G/A is a forward player in my eyes, and there in lies our problem. Be it Bruno, be it Scott - our true philosophy is 442. Which ultimately, will take us nowhere.

Well said. Even though I would object the last sentence. The formation isn't at fault per se. It is our wingers who are wide forwards rather than wingers are the main reason a 4-4-2 doesn't make sense for us. But I'd say we'd be able to make even that work but it would require a) more readiness and mobility from defense to push up to squeeze the space and b) more ability to keep the ball to give ourselves some time to breath when we need it.

Given his age I was firmly against a new contract as well. But I don't think Bruno is an issue. Ten Hag is the problem.

Pretty sure, this is not an either or situation we have going on there.

 

[Rex Banner]

His decision making and just overall passing was shocking yesterday. There were a few times when it was still 0-0 where we could have been through and he either made the wrong pass or the pass just wasn't good enough. Constantly rushing when he has the ball. It's all or nothing with him.

 

[bavarianred]

Just remember we had arguably the best 1.5 years post SAF with a midfield consisting of McFred and Bruno. He was exceptional back then and I think he can still be a gem if used correctly. Which brings us to EtH. You can hardly unsee the change in Bruno's playing style since his arrival.

 

[humdinger]

He must be playing as Ten Hag is asking him to or else he wouldn’t be in the team. So his positional discipline, Hollywood balls, chaos etc are part of the plan.

It’s clearly a shit plan as these players are not capable of what is expected of them, so they make endless mistakes.

I can’t believe that after keeping his job by the skin of his teeth Ten Hag is persevering with this nonsense.

 

[Adisa]

He must be playing as Ten Hag is asking him to or else he wouldn’t be in the team. So his positional discipline, Hollywood balls, chaos etc are part of the plan.

It’s clearly a shit plan as these players are not capable of what is expected of them, so they make endless mistakes.

I can’t believe that after keeping his job by the skin of his teeth Ten Hag is persevering with this nonsense.

His game has always and will always be chaotic. Was the same under Ralf and Ole.
Heck, it was even in the scouting reports six months before he arrived. Sporting fans on this forum told us his game was chaotic and his passing erratic.

 

[Shane88]

His stats as captain.

Wins - 61
Draws - 21
Losses - 32

53.5% win rate.

 

[Halftrack]

Given his age I was firmly against a new contract as well. But I don't think Bruno is an issue. Ten Hag is the problem.

Aye, we've seen him play a much more controlled and safe game, we know he's capable. The way he's playing now is down to instructions. Aside from when he opts to go for the hardest passing option, ignoring the obvious choices and instead tries to thread the ball through four defenders instead of squaring it to a completely open teammate in a good position. That has to be all him, I refuse to believe any coach would instruct their players to do dumb shit like that.

 

[Lash]

You can have a 6 and 8 behind a 10, but those are ultimately just numbers. You cannot have 3 separate lines in a midfield, ultimately, as each individual would be an island. I think there’s a big difference between having three midfielders and having a midfield. A midfield is an engine of the team, and the relationship between all three parts (and the full backs and wingers) is what makes a midfield.

So while you can have a 10 (as I’ve said, Silva and Maddison are 10s), the key is their relationship with the others around them, and this is where Bruno is simply not good enough. What good combination work have you seen in 8 months between Bruno and Mainoo, for example? Literally our 8 and 10. It’s either Mainoo does something special, or Bruno does something special, but they will not combine to weave their way through a team, and to me, that is largely because Bruno simply doesn’t have those fundamental midfield qualities. So instead, our midfield is designed for Mainoo to first do something great, maybe drop a shoulder and beat a player or two - then pass to Bruno 10 yards away who does something great himself. But never are they doing it together.

And I am not overrating Maddison at all, in fact, I am using Maddison as an example so that my point is not dismissed by basically saying something like ‘yea but David Silva is one of the best PL midfielders ever, you can’t say that’s the standard’.

And I don’t think we are built like this due to Rashford and Garnacho. Garnacho has only been in the team for a year. Before him, we had Antony, who has very different qualities, qualities that we fundamentally contradict as a team. Rashford is certainly a direct player who likes to run behind I agree, but Bruno has been in our team 5 years now and has been at the heart of what we do, good and bad. During this period, we have never suffocated opposition (and I mean any opposition, could be a random Championship or League One team in the cup just as much as a top PL side).

When McTominay left last week, Ten Hag justified it by saying we had ‘3 number 10s and only one 6’. Imagine that. Scott Mctominay a ‘number 10’. Is this a player you want to get on the ball in the final and middle thirds to knit play together? This is United’s terrible philosophy of midfield building here, in which our 10 seems to be excused from fundamental midfield work, and instead limited to impacting the scoresheet.

Any player whose worth is determined by G/A is a forward player in my eyes, and there in lies our problem. Be it Bruno, be it Scott - our true philosophy is 442. Which ultimately, will take us nowhere.

Well the numbers are used to indicate the positions they take in the build up. No one attacks or defends in singular positions, depending on where the ball is others have to create the numerical advantage/passing options. I don't think we're disagreeing with what a midfield does.

That's because they're they only two players in our team that are able to either go past a man or pass through the lines. I agree there's a lack of combination, but that's because the people they're trying to link up with are poor when you want to play intricate football. Genuinely look at Rashford and Garnacho's passing stats - they're horrendous, their strengths are carrying the ball and stretching teams, not combination play. Mainoo isn't a progressive passer, his strengths are taking on players, so why doesn't Mainoo get the same criticism?

That's fine, but I never argued that. Maddison hasn't transformed the way Spurs play or build up and it's just an odd comparison to Bruno. Probably ask most neutrals who they'd pick and Bruno would be the majority pick.

We've had Elanga, Dan James, Sancho, Lingard and Mason Greenwood prior. Absolutely none of those players are conducive to the style you're asking to see, I don't know why it's Bruno's fault we haven't done that when we've never had a squad built to play like that.

Why are using an example of the no 10 he sold, as a reason for what his no 10 philosophy is?

I think you're just simplifying the arguments for Bruno to suit your fundamental disagreement with how we play. That's fine, but that's not on Bruno, the squad has not been constructed poorly.

Because he has a special skillset that is rather rare these days. Usually 10ish players are good on the ball, comfortable. Bruno has great passing technique and an admirable feet-eye-coordination and vision, but he lacks in risk assessment and most importantly in strength and dribbling to handle a ball under pressure. In a age where some form pressing is everpresent, this has two sides - the good side as he is fantastic at making use of space that occurs in behind and the bad side that he is trying to avoid situations where has the ball for too long.

The whole team isn't doing much in terms of comfort on the ball but given that he seems to be the player that is supposed to give direction, he obviously gets a lot of scrutiny. This is also the reason why a match where he pressed really well or gave a nice assist isn't changing much on the sentiment towards him.

I get people are looking for him to be the flag bearer, but Mainoo, Martinez and Diallo (Antony as well, but he's crap at the rest of it) are pretty much the only ones I really trust in possession. It's pretty damning that's it and then we ask why we can't keep the ball or have nice patterns of play. I don't see why this is Bruno get's all the ire, because the majority of our team is horrendous at it, he at least can create something in the chaos and has never been given a platform to prove he can keep possession better.

 

[NZT-One]

I get people are looking for him to be the flag bearer, but Mainoo, Martinez and Diallo (Antony as well, but he's crap at the rest of it) are pretty much the only ones I really trust in possession. It's pretty damning that's it and then we ask why we can't keep the ball or have nice patterns of play. I don't see why this is Bruno get's all the ire, because the majority of our team is horrendous at it, he at least can create something in the chaos and has never been given a platform to prove he can keep possession better.

I for one am not on the side of the spectrum, that thinks he is incapable of playing in a more possession oriented style. As you say, we don't know whether he can or can not. What we do know, is that he thrives in chaos, when he as an instinctive footballer shines. And I am pretty sure, that this ability, because it certainly is useful, would (and has) encourage(d) coaches to make use of that instead of going another route. I am pretty sure, that Ole put all his hope in the "Bruno ball in behind for Rashford" scheme. And ETH did the same in his first season and doesn't look to fundamentally change that (not the long ball stuff, but the notion of Bruno and Rashford as key players). To generate a result, that makes sense, I see why he does it. But some, me included, think, that we reached a point, where it hinders us as a team in terms of development. Thats where the "sell him" stuff came from - given that he isn't the future of United (not from age, nor from style) it would have made sense to cash in. Take all that and you know why he gets criticized so heavily. But he also gets praised so I guess, one comes with the other.

 

[Rozay]

Well the numbers are used to indicate the positions they take in the build up. No one attacks or defends in singular positions, depending on where the ball is others have to create the numerical advantage/passing options. I don't think we're disagreeing with what a midfield does.

That's because they're they only two players in our team that are able to either go past a man or pass through the lines. I agree there's a lack of combination, but that's because the people they're trying to link up with are poor when you want to play intricate football. Genuinely look at Rashford and Garnacho's passing stats - they're horrendous, their strengths are carrying the ball and stretching teams, not combination play. Mainoo isn't a progressive passer, his strengths are taking on players, so why doesn't Mainoo get the same criticism?

That's fine, but I never argued that. Maddison hasn't transformed the way Spurs play or build up and it's just an odd comparison to Bruno. Probably ask most neutrals who they'd pick and Bruno would be the majority pick.

We've had Elanga, Dan James, Sancho, Lingard and Mason Greenwood prior. Absolutely none of those players are conducive to the style you're asking to see, I don't know why it's Bruno's fault we haven't done that when we've never had a squad built to play like that.

Why are using an example of the no 10 he sold, as a reason for what his no 10 philosophy is?

I think you're just simplifying the arguments for Bruno to suit your fundamental disagreement with how we play. That's fine, but that's not on Bruno, the squad has not been constructed poorly.

I get people are looking for him to be the flag bearer, but Mainoo, Martinez and Diallo (Antony as well, but he's crap at the rest of it) are pretty much the only ones I really trust in possession. It's pretty damning that's it and then we ask why we can't keep the ball or have nice patterns of play. I don't see why this is Bruno get's all the ire, because the majority of our team is horrendous at it, he at least can create something in the chaos and has never been given a platform to prove he can keep possession better.

I think there is a greater responsibility on a team’s number 10 than any other player to be secure in possession. We can list players like Rashford and Dan James all we like, but the centrepiece is going to carry a greater responsibility than them in this area. Perhaps I’m old school, but to me, a 10 should invariably be the most technically gifted/skilfull player in a team. It’s generally always been like that. I grew up watching football at all levels and the first thing I’d do if watching say, a Toulon tournament, youth football or any other random team was to look for who was wearing the number 10 shirt - and this player was invariably the player with the most individual ability that got the team going. The player who could take it and turn with it and open up play. Bruno is a strange number 10 in that this is amongst his biggest weaknesses, to me. His short game is extremely sub par.

When Amad came on yesterday his first few actions were striking. How he received the ball, how he dealt with opponents closing him down. That’s what I expect from my 10, and if he can do that, and get on the ball regularly all over the final and middle third - invariably a team is going to perform much better. Mainoo may not be a progressive passer in the Bruno mould. But I think he’s obviously far more capable than Bruno if an intricate game. His full England debut against Belgium I think, might have been Brazil. How he opened up the play for England to win the pen which Toney scored. Got it, turned away from two carried it 10 yards and laid it off. The pass in and of itself doesn’t need to make a highlight reel. His action, which started right by the centre circle in the opponent’s half is classic number 10 play, something that Bruno is simply incapable of.

And I think Maddison makes Spurs play so much better. He gets on the ball, first and foremost, and I don’t see Bruno as a 10 who is looking to frequently be in possession of the football, which to me is another paradox.

And is the McTominay reference not obvious? Erik Ten Hag has described, in his own words, a player who is hard working who cannot pass the ball, cannot link play, but can produce food final numbers as a ‘number 10’. The vast majority of football watchers would not describe Scott McTominay as a number 10. It’s an offence to the role, he couldn’t be further from one. He has played at United for many years before Ten Hag came here, and was never called a ‘number 10’. Only ETH sees him as such, which shows that to him, the attributes most people associate with that position are not the same for him.

How can you say Bruno has ‘never been given the platform to show he can keep possession better?’ The platform is a football pitch. He has shown repeatedly that he wants rid of the ball very quickly, and even quicker if there is anything close to pressure on him. Mainoo plays on the same platform. He has not been labelled as a player who cannot keep the ball, so I am unsure what you mean here.

 

[lost7]

His stats as captain.

Wins - 61
Draws - 21
Losses - 32

53.5% win rate.

A lot of losses, but that's actually way better than I expected

 

[Shane88]

A lot of losses, but that's actually way better than I expected

The wins are lightly padded by a very soft Europa League two years ago.

 

[VivaObertan]

His stats as captain.

Wins - 61
Draws - 21
Losses - 32

53.5% win rate.

The wins are lightly padded by a very soft Europa League two years ago.

Do you think that if we had a different player to Bruno for those c. 120 games, it'd be better? If so, who, and why?

 

[Cassidy]

Do you think that if we had a different player to Bruno for those c. 120 games, it'd be better? If so, who, and why?

I think if we had a player who was better with the ball under pressure e.g can keep the ball and dribble better under pressure and was more accurate with their passing we would have been better yes.
Fernandes is a brilliant player and you need chaos in your team and thats what he brings, but I think his chaos is a bit too much, his form also fluctuates too wildy for my liking.

 

[Ayoba]

Just remember we had arguably the best 1.5 years post SAF with a midfield consisting of McFred and Bruno. He was exceptional back then and I think he can still be a gem if used correctly. Which brings us to EtH. You can hardly unsee the change in Bruno's playing style since his arrival.

Not entirely true. The midfield then was Matic, pogba and Bruno. Fred filled in from time to time.

 

[Shane88]

Do you think that if we had a different player to Bruno for those c. 120 games, it'd be better? If so, who, and why?

My main thing is wanting a new captain because he's a fecking wank captain.

 

[lost7]

Not entirely true. The midfield then was Matic, pogba and Bruno. Fred filled in from time to time.

That 2020 season with Matic Pogba Bruno in midfield and Rashford and Marrtial upfront firing on all cylinders was so promising... Bruno was legit world class during that spell. Sad to see how much he's declined since

 

[TwoSheds]

Casemiro was playing Powerleague but I'm not sure what Bruno was doing. Absolutely fecking useless. Possibly his worst performance for us, couldn't even deliver a half decent corner never mind create anything from open play.

 

[Dominos]

Before the transfer window, I was laughed out of this thread for suggesting we should sell him and use the money to rebuild the midfield rather than giving him a new contract.
I stand by that sentiment.

Resigning him is the first big mistake from INEOS.

The argument for Bruno is "well if Bruno leaves, where will the creativity come from?"

Well then I'd ask, how do every other team who are better at creating chances than us manage?

We were 12th in xG last season, and we're currently in 12th in xG. So we have a player who is apparently the world's best at creating chances, and we're lower half of the table for chances created. The likes of Everton, Brentford Bournemouth and Brighton all somehow manage to create more chances than us without having Bruno in their team.

At some point do we have to ask the question, is our tactics of giving the ball to Bruno and have him spam killer passes at a 3% success rate actually working? The only way it's working for is Bruno's personal key passes stats. For the team, it doesn't look to be working in the slightest.

We'd have been better off cashing in as part of the complete rebuild of the team. Obviously to replace his contributions we'll need to sign players. But this forum talks like he's irreplaceable when there are literally dozens of better football teams than us around Europe who somehow manage to cope without Bruno in their team.

 

[Dominos]

Not entirely true. The midfield then was Matic, pogba and Bruno. Fred filled in from time to time.

That 2020 season with Matic Pogba Bruno in midfield and Rashford and Marrtial upfront firing on all cylinders was so promising... Bruno was legit world class during that spell. Sad to see how much he's declined since

This romanticism of Matic-Pogba-Bruno is really odd.

Pogba spent a lot of time injured. He came back post-lockdown in 2020, and we had a few good games against mostly lower half teams during that spell playing Matic-Pogba-Bruno. The opponents being Sheffield United, Norwich, Brighton, Bournemouth, Villa. That is where the good performances end.

We were really poor in the last few league games against Southampton, West Ham, Palace and Leicester but scraped over the line for top 4.

So we're talking about a good 5 game spell against lower half teams and nothing before that, and not much after that. Matic legs had gone at that point and Pogba never performed consistently in that deep midfield role particularly alongside Bruno, and he was nearly always injured after that anyway.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Over half the people on here wanted ten hag to stay at the end of last season so I wouldn't trust their judgement

That was when we were threatened with the horror of Southgate taking over. I think everyone was less than thrilled Ten Hag stayed in the job, but because no viable alternatives were offered, it became a devil-you-know situation.

 

[saik]

We were 12th in xG last season, and we're currently in 13th in xG

Nothing against your argument on Bruno. But I'm interested to know where you are getting these figures from. Fbref has us 10th for xG last season which is still terrible mind you. This season after 3 games, we are 5th in the xG table behind City, Pool, Bournemouth and Brighton.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

Even beyond his kamikaze positional discipline, what gets me the most is the amount of times he loses the ball or lazily puts his teammates in shit positions with his awful passing.

And some people get the nerve to call him our best player, when he is our biggest turnover machine.

Both things are true.

 

[OldTrevil]

That 2020 season with Matic Pogba Bruno in midfield and Rashford and Marrtial upfront firing on all cylinders was so promising... Bruno was legit world class during that spell. Sad to see how much he's declined since

Martial, Pogba and Matic to certain extent when his legs had not completely given up, were the footballing heartbeat of that team. They were the ones that enable the team to sustain attacks. Bruno stills played his chaotic nature, but it came as the alternative that would surprise opponents and make us almost impossible to plan against. But make no mistake, Bruno and Rashford got a ton of space to play in that team because opposing players were mainly focused on our ball players.

In general, I've always believed that Bruno can be effective if he has a strong manager to restrict him and use his physicality in a disciplined manner. However, left to his own devices he is no where near our best player, let alone worthy of the #10 position.

 

[Dominos]

Nothing against your argument on Bruno. But I'm interested to know where you are getting these figures from. Fbref has us 10th for xG last season which is still terrible mind you. This season after 3 games, we are 5th in the xG table behind City, Pool, Bournemouth and Brighton.

I was using Understat, I miscounted, they have us 12th.

Fair enough Fbref may be more accurate, not sure. 3 games is hard to judge as so many teams bunched together on the 4.2-5.7 mark this early on.

 

[saik]

I was using Understat, I miscounted, they have us 12th.

Fair enough Fbref may be more accurate, not sure. 3 games is hard to judge as so many teams bunched together on the 4.2-5.7 mark this early on.

I find Fbref to be more accurate but yea agreed on that. It's still early days.

 

[Malone_Post]

The new contact is going to hang over the club like a massive weight just as Rooney & De Gea’s did. You’d think we’d have learnt from those disasters but here we are once again handing a player who’s past his peak a huge new bumper contract that means we’re stuck with him until he’s well into his 30’s. I can’t even imagine how bad he’ll actually be once he’s 33/34. It will be like watching Gerrard in his final years at Liverpool. Legs gone, just constantly trying to hit those Hollywood balls hoping that one or two will eventually come off.

 

[NewGlory]

Bruno badly needs competition and rotation. Mount was likely the best person to provide those since Mount and Bruno are our only talented, experienced #10s

And yet, Erik chose to play them TOGETHER in a ridiculous system that didn't work. Now Mount is injured

Then people ask why fans criticize Erik

 

[Nep77]

Some here where throwing pelters for questioning him asking for new deal after that FA cup Final. He played for that contract for couple months last season similar to Rashford having purple patch season before and both turned back to their default shit mode once securing it. He is basically our Gerrard (shitter version) and we are performing similar to the Liverpool team when he was their main man( inconsistent league team occasionally turning up on cup competition).

 

[Martial]

It was literally just a one year extension you wet-wipes. Meanwhile we give a 5 year contract of £250,000 a week to Mason Mount. And pay 60m to Chelsea in the last year of his contact for the privilege.

And Bruno's passing success rate was higher in the Liverpool game than De Bruyne's last game vs West Ham, whilst playing in a Guardiola team.

Agenda posting galore.

 

[Ali Dia]

He’s been totally shite so far this season. I say this as someone who loves Bruno and hope he turns it around. When he plays well we do well.

 

[Grand Vizier]

It was literally just a one year extension you wet-wipes. Meanwhile we give a 5 year contract of £250,000 a week to Mason Mount. And pay 60m to Chelsea in the last year of his contact for the privilege.

And Bruno's passing success rate was higher in the Liverpool game than De Bruyne's last game vs West Ham, whilst playing in a Guardiola team.

Agenda posting galore.

I love Bruno, but this argument in his defense is getting ridiculous. I have followed the debate on him here and it has never been about passing success rate. It is about inconsistency and decision making. I also have noticed that he thrives when he has space to pass a long ball into, but when he has several options - either to the wingers or striker - he almost always chooses the wrong option and it is infuriating. He has done it in all three games now.
It is not about pass completion rate, so I don't know why you are bringing it up. He needs to do better, and I'm confident he will, but this inconsistency is very annoying.

 

[Remember the geese]

It was literally just a one year extension you wet-wipes.

We don't gain from this though. Only the player does. From our end, there was no urgency to extend his deal. He had years remaining on it. All it came down to was Bruno wanting a significant pay rise and we were silly enough to indulge him.