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2024-25 Performances


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5.5 Season Average Rating
Appearances
25
Goals
5
Assists
11
Yellow cards
4
Red cards
2
With the game v Palace combined, that's 54 times.



It's unacceptable. It's not like he's up against Maldini when we're playing these teams. Needs to up his game massively, I would drop him personally.
 
You do, not me. Where have those magical moments taken us? They will never happen frequently enough to win us anything on their own, so they are basically irrelevant and should be of far lesser importance than how we can create a team that consistently performs to a high level. That will give us a far better chance of winning things than these moments of Bruno’s, so his contribution to the team should be judged based upon the former than the latter.

We need to think of how we see ourselves playing consistently as a trophy winning team, not how we win any individual 90 minute game of football. Clearly, we won’t win enough of them for them to be of consequence like this anyway. Again, it’s similar to Scott McTominay. He could never score enough last minute winners to outweigh the fact that he is detrimental to team play. Only a player of Messi/ahaaland level individual contribution should be accommodated in this manner because their contributions have such consequence to a team’s fortunes.
Glad somebody reset you to factory settings. The latest version really wasn't for me.

:lol:
 
We should know the drill by now.

Bruno will be shite until the season is barely salvageable as far as top 4 then will go on a run of amazing form when there’s little left to play for. Then he’ll be hailed as our Magnifico for captaining in us to 7th place and winning the Carabao cup.

By the second half of the 20/21 season, those of us that were clued on knew the problems with him and were very vocal about it. We’re heading into 2025 with him presenting the same issues and reduced goal contributions.

I’m tired.
 
Bruno needs to simplify his passing for starters. If he does not do that, on the bench you go. I can not believe that Ten Hag is watching his "performances" game after game, and allowing it to happen. Hansi Flik managed to implement his style within 7 games. Ten Hag has failed to do so in 2.5 years. He still has players going AWOL from the actual gameplan and there seems to be no punishment for doing so.
 
Glad somebody reset you to factory settings. The latest version really wasn't for me.

:lol:

I think the resignation of his new deal forced me to try and seek positives. And then the football started.

Said before, but he’s the worst signing we have made post Fergie for me. Not the worst player, but by far the worst signing we’ve made. The players we have signed that have been worse players have simply been judged and had to own their failures personally. Nobody has driven the football team off course/down the wrong road the way Bruno has. Our biggest transfer mistake, and the opportunity cost has been huge. By the time he’s gone, we’ll have spent 6 or 7 years heading down a dead end road trying to build a successful team on quicksand that gets the best out of his strengths/one strength which was a mission doomed to failure from our first scouting reports. His football has largely dictated our approach and it would be 7 years wasted.
 
Extremely frustrated with him this season. We know he doesn't look after the ball well. He takes risks and often come off. This season he hasn't done what makes the risks worth it. The amount of times he's giving over possession due to poor decisions or forcing the issue is infuriating. The work Zirkzee and Erikson do to keep the ball and move it is undone as soon as he gets involved. I'm a huge fan of his but the love of god, compose yourself!
 
I think the resignation of his new deal forced me to try and seek positives. And then the football started.

Said before, but he’s the worst signing we have made post Fergie for me. Not the worst player, but by far the worst signing we’ve made. The players we have signed that have been worse players have simply been judged and had to own their failures personally. Nobody has driven the football team off course/down the wrong road the way Bruno has. Our biggest transfer mistake, and the opportunity cost has been huge. By the time he’s gone, we’ll have spent 6 or 7 years heading down a dead end road trying to build a successful team on quicksand that gets the best out of his strengths/one strength which was a mission doomed to failure from our first scouting reports. His football has largely dictated our approach and it would be 7 years wasted.
I see your point. I think, I'd take some shame off of Bruno because at the same time, we witnessed how Rashford developed (or didnt), we witnessed how all our RW options completely failed, apart from Antony even for off field stuff and most importantly we witnessed a club that didn't have directions on where to go. Desperate for somebody to come in to tell the existing people in the room what to do only for them to keep their seats after the (temp) leader had to leave.
It is a perfect storm and while most of it is due to us being badly directed for way too long, some of it is bad luck. Because seeing how from Greenwood, Amad, Sancho and Antony it is now Amad who has his turn at instilling hope into fans must be some sort of statistical conspicuousness. And all that piled onto the issue where only Bruno seemed to be able to do anything about. Surely can't be easy for him as well, which is why I actually respect his showing up every time - because I think he is intelligent enough to know where he is lacking in terms of footballing abilities.
Even now, I'd still maintain my stance that having him and Rashford around the team is something that really could help us to edge the most important games in football. The issue, as you said, was to double down on that axis while other teams continued their journeys to collective football ideas while we looked as if we were out to recreate a team for 2010 again... The conundrum of being able to win games but not being able to win comps I guess.

I'd be so interested in ETHs actual honest thoughts about the team, I really am. What he considers issues and what not. I guess, his days with us are limited, he still could do us a favor and do his bit to take away some of the aura that still surrounds some players. I don't want him to axe them, thats unrealistic I guess, but they shouldn't get any special treatment anymore. Pick the lineup solely based on performance (while obviously taking availability and age into account) - it should help the squad developing a new order, new roles for players within the social group and so on. We badly need a spine to form.
 
Mainoo needs to move further forward. He’s far better on the ball than Bruno, including in advanced areas. Showed that again when he came on tonight. He’s a far more natural advanced midfielder than Bruno.
 
Says a lot that when I saw he was starting I suddenly was looking forward to the game a lot less last night. Had a good end to last season when the horse had already bolted but besides that he has been really poor for some time now.
 
I don't get our fans a lot of the time. Blaming our fortunes on one player because he can't carry the team on his own.

He creates magic in every match, and statswise the best creator in Europe, but he makes mistakes of course. And the tactics doesn't help him. Would play even better under a better manager.
Well he can go create magic in fecking hogwarts.

He's a clear detriment to our team at the moment and was for the most part of last season till his short purple patch towards the end.
 
Can Berrada apply his "two seasons to prove yourself" rule to Bruno and somehow boot him out next summer? I’d say use that on anyone who's been inconsistent, including Højlund, Mount, and Onana. Give them this season, and if they don’t deliver, just move them on. I’m tired of watching players struggle to do the basics.

Bruno has been downright awful for two games in a row, unable to complete simple passes yet finished both games. That free kick at the end was a disgrace. Other players, along with this clueless manager, need to step up and take set pieces off him. He’s garbage at them, yet we still allow him to take the majority. It’s baffling.
 
I don't get our fans a lot of the time. Blaming our fortunes on one player because he can't carry the team on his own.

He creates magic in every match, and statswise the best creator in Europe, but he makes mistakes of course. And the tactics doesn't help him. Would play even better under a better manager.
No, I’m not having this. If he wasn’t prepared to handle the expectation of performing every single game, then he shouldn’t have asked for a new contract on higher wages. He’s being paid like the star man, yet he’s stinking the place out.

And no, it’s not about the tactics. Other players have been composed with the ball. It’s not the tactics that are making Bruno struggle to complete basic 5-yard passes. Whether it’s against Palace or Twente, his constant loss of possession isn’t due to tactical issues—it’s entirely down to him. And he wasn't even creating that much to use that as an excuse.
 
I think the resignation of his new deal forced me to try and seek positives. And then the football started.

Said before, but he’s the worst signing we have made post Fergie for me. Not the worst player, but by far the worst signing we’ve made. The players we have signed that have been worse players have simply been judged and had to own their failures personally. Nobody has driven the football team off course/down the wrong road the way Bruno has. Our biggest transfer mistake, and the opportunity cost has been huge. By the time he’s gone, we’ll have spent 6 or 7 years heading down a dead end road trying to build a successful team on quicksand that gets the best out of his strengths/one strength which was a mission doomed to failure from our first scouting reports. His football has largely dictated our approach and it would be 7 years wasted.
I agree with this, I was very critical of him last year and couldn’t understand his defenders. At this stage he is just disruptive to any patterns of play, possession football, pride in playing the game without constantly trying to cheat which we used to criticise other clubs for and on and on. He should have been sold in the summer and should now be training away from the first team so they can actually try to play structured football.
 
I hate to say it, and I'll never wish serious injury on any player let alone one of our own, but the only way he's getting dropped/rested/nowhere near the team is if he gets an injury. He's got the armband and probably the biggest wages in the squad now, or close to, and he's starting every game he's fit for because Ten Hag simply won't drop him.
 
I’m tired of watching players struggle to do the basics.
That's exactly it with me too. It's not like we are asking for prime Brazil or United 99, we at times don't look professional footballers because we do the most basic shit wrong, passes always seem half a yard behind where they should be, seemingly nobody in the team who can consistently put good corners in, there is nobody in our team with some mad unique threat, just really run of the mill, we seem to make the wrong pass option or completely mess the execution of the pass up a lot of the time. Every other team just knocks it about effortlessly yet it seems like a chore to some of our players.

I watched our 23s last night in the cup against Doncaster? And both of them were knocking the ball around with such zip and accuracy and half of these kids won't go on to sign a pro contract.
 
It's unacceptable. It's not like he's up against Maldini when we're playing these teams. Needs to up his game massively, I would drop him personally.
What's worse is that I'd guess at least half of those are just piss poor simple passes and shit that any top footballer should get right (feck, many of our own players do, especially the top tier technical players like Zirkzee/Amad/Maz).
 
I think the resignation of his new deal forced me to try and seek positives. And then the football started.

Said before, but he’s the worst signing we have made post Fergie for me. Not the worst player, but by far the worst signing we’ve made. The players we have signed that have been worse players have simply been judged and had to own their failures personally. Nobody has driven the football team off course/down the wrong road the way Bruno has. Our biggest transfer mistake, and the opportunity cost has been huge. By the time he’s gone, we’ll have spent 6 or 7 years heading down a dead end road trying to build a successful team on quicksand that gets the best out of his strengths/one strength which was a mission doomed to failure from our first scouting reports. His football has largely dictated our approach and it would be 7 years wasted.

I'm inclined to agree. The initial pop he gave the team along with the absurd purple patch he went through convinced both the club and a huge majority of supporters that this was the guy to build the entire team around, even though you could see even at that time that he lacked some basic qualities that most top midfielders have in today's game. There's a reason he gets swamped out of the large majority of big games and has absolute shockers. Sure he's popped up with a big goal or assist in some of them and it's masked the bad overall play, but I can hardly think of one game against any top opposition where I've watched both sides and thought "Bruno is clearly the best player out there", which is something you'd expect from what's supposed to be this world class captain and the "best United signings ever post SAF". Honestly I think the best comparison is that he's the midfield version of Lukaku (good Lukaku). He'll get you numbers but ultimately lacks a few key attributes that are generally vital for his position especially technically, and it ends up costing the team against other top sides
 
I always find it funny when people defend Bruno by saying “he attempts risky passes thats why he lose possession”. Its like they dont watch United anymore. It has never been true for Bruno. He fecks up simple passes and most of his chance creation stat comes from passes that are not easy to score.

A simple eye test would confirm the difference between him losing possession and someone like KDB is massive.

He may go on few goals streak and everyone will forget this, but for a functional team, he simply is not good enough. And if we have to progress as a team, then we need to look beyond him.

But ETH is stubborn and will stick with him. That will most likely be his downfall as well
 
I genuinely don't know what I was thinking. I've considered asking if I could change it but I don't want to cause a hassle


This phenomenon has been as much of an issue for me regarding Bruno as his actual performances. He has this rabidly loyal fanbase, who are mostly on the younger side and for whom Bruno is the best United player they've ever seen with any degree of lucidity . It seems you can criticise any other United player and get away with it, but if you criticise Bruno it's sacrilege. I support the team, not individuals and I think he's a poor team player. He got away with that under peak Oleball but the chickens are coming home to roost as we attempt to move away from that. I got banned from r/reddevils on Reddit for calling him overrated. He's like a god on there and I don't get it

I can't help but notice the parallels when I see Sporting fans talking about how he carried them through a "shit" era. Looking at their league points tallies and goal differences, they were significantly better in the years before he arrived and the years after he left
It was a couple of younger (than me) lads who just couldn’t get their heads around me criticising someone who is just not playing well at the moment.

Their only retort was to ask me if I’d ever been to Old Trafford before, which made me laugh
 
Am somewhat glad to see consensus on here. When Bruno is like this, it's disastrous for our whole team. His inability to keep it in tight spaces yielded several counters, and then when he's out wide his lack of athleticism completely negates that wing.

All players can fall out of form. He needs dropping. Now. We finally have options, if you can drop a fit, firing Rashford you can drop this Bruno.
 
He's lost the thing he was good at, scoring goals. Am not sure if the goals masked the amount of times he loses the ball.
 
With the game v Palace combined, that's 54 times.



That alone should be a reason to drop him. Surreal that it’s deemed acceptable for a captain since EtH keeps playing him no matter fecking what.

I really wonder what Ruud feels about watching this after years playing with the likes of Scholes and Beckham.
 
That alone should be a reason to drop him. Surreal that it’s deemed acceptable for a captain since EtH keeps playing him no matter fecking what.

I really wonder what Ruud feels about watching this after years playing with the likes of Scholes and Beckham.
Even Keane,

Van Nistelrooy added: “For me, he [Keane] was unbelievable. He was fantastic. He led the team.

“We all know stories about different players, different stories about him. For me, he led the team in an unbelievable way.”
 
Nice move from ETH and the four wisemen to offer him a new bumper contract this past summer. My Captain!
 
He's shite. And he's especially shite on the right wing. The biggest indictment of ETH's time in charge has been his continued unquestioning backing for a player that is clearly out of form and/or past his best.
 
Players don't give a shit that he plays for himself. No one ever gives him a bollocking for the endless stupid decisions he makes.

Imagine Keane or Rooney's reaction to that free kick at the end if they were playing with him.
 
He's shite. And he's especially shite on the right wing. The biggest indictment of ETH's time in charge has been his continued unquestioning backing for a player that is clearly out of form and/or past his best.

He's clearly not a crap player, he is very talented... however, he's just not suited to possession football. He doesn't have the mentality for it and at his age that is not going to change. His entire career has been built on his instincts to try to create something in a split second, whether the opportunity is on or not. You can't just turn that off in a player. He needs 2 defensive/holding players behind him to allow for that freedom. That type of football for me shouldn't be played at Manchester United. Outside of a major one off like a champions league final we should never be playing with 2 defensive players ala mcfred. So for me he needs to be moved on if we want to fully transition our style.
 
I'm inclined to agree. The initial pop he gave the team along with the absurd purple patch he went through convinced both the club and a huge majority of supporters that this was the guy to build the entire team around, even though you could see even at that time that he lacked some basic qualities that most top midfielders have in today's game. There's a reason he gets swamped out of the large majority of big games and has absolute shockers. Sure he's popped up with a big goal or assist in some of them and it's masked the bad overall play, but I can hardly think of one game against any top opposition where I've watched both sides and thought "Bruno is clearly the best player out there", which is something you'd expect from what's supposed to be this world class captain and the "best United signings ever post SAF". Honestly I think the best comparison is that he's the midfield version of Lukaku (good Lukaku). He'll get you numbers but ultimately lacks a few key attributes that are generally vital for his position especially technically, and it ends up costing the team against other top sides
But then again he plays completely differently for Portugal. That does my head in ... But other than that I am also inclined to agree. He brings a certain element of unpredictability which was a breath of fresh air at a time where there was simply nothing happening in the team. But now that we have players who can operate in tight spaces and keep it tidy and at the same construct patterns of play he is more of a destructive element. Sure, he is a good player and will produce somehow but also to the detriment of the team as a whole.
 
Still hursts how I was ridiculed for suggesting he should be sold to the highest bidder.
We are a club scared to make tough decisions and always look for the easy way out.
Selling Bruno was an opportunity to transform our midfield.
 
He's a Jose Mourinho #10 in a Louis Van Gaal team. Struggling to see the point of playing him if the emphasis is on slow, laboured build. Spent most of yesterday getting the ball and going short. Anyone can do that. Including players that have greater defensive output.
 
Even Keane,

Van Nistelrooy added: “For me, he [Keane] was unbelievable. He was fantastic. He led the team.

“We all know stories about different players, different stories about him. For me, he led the team in an unbelievable way.”

Wanted to add Zidane to that list but realised he retired a few months before Ruud signed.

Let’s just pretend they did. Having that career; The amount of internal screams I’d have being on the touchline seeing Bruno treating the ball like a league 2 player would make me age 10 years.

Once again, absolutely ridiculous that he’s our captain and that his contract was renewed.
 
It's becoming an issue and upsetting the balance of the team. Park Bruno for now and see if different combinations creates a better one....
 
The most selfish playmaker I’ve ever seen. I respect his teammates for not laying into him.
 
He’s cost us badly against palace and Twente. I love him but that is a fact. Hes the teams creative fulcrum and he can’t keep the bloody ball, let alone create. It’s been a horrific start which is a massive shame because he ended the season in world class form.
 
That's exactly it with me too. It's not like we are asking for prime Brazil or United 99, we at times don't look professional footballers because we do the most basic shit wrong, passes always seem half a yard behind where they should be, seemingly nobody in the team who can consistently put good corners in, there is nobody in our team with some mad unique threat, just really run of the mill, we seem to make the wrong pass option or completely mess the execution of the pass up a lot of the time. Every other team just knocks it about effortlessly yet it seems like a chore to some of our players.

I watched our 23s last night in the cup against Doncaster? And both of them were knocking the ball around with such zip and accuracy and half of these kids won't go on to sign a pro contract.
Agree with this.

The number of passes our players make that are slightly off target, so that the receiving player has to move backwards to collect the ball, or it puts the brakes on a counter attack, is incredible. And Bruno is perhaps the most frequent culprit.

Also, it really annoys me how often he simply passes the ball straight backwards when he receives it. Compare that to Mainoo, who will often turn and look to see what options there are.

I do nbot see how we can build a style of playing while Bruno is in the team. I would have preferred Mata to him as a 10, and right now would prefer Erikson or Mount there.
 
One of Bruno's biggest defenders because he's carried us so often but that performance last night was abysmal, a true 0/10 game from Bruno. He managed to single handedly both lose the ball in dangerous positions -and- put us in real trouble multiple times.

That said our setup felt absolutely doomed to get into trouble, they had by my count 5-6 counter attacks they were one pass away from scoring. We were just lucky that to be frank, Twente are maybe a championship level team because we'd have been exposed badly against anyone else, I think a good side would beat us by three or more goals. Similar to the Liverpool game really, just one or two passes from destruction.
 
Really poor again last night

Trying too hard to find that killer ball, think he knows his G/A numbers are down and seems desperate to boost them.

I'd be tempted to drop him back into a more traditional midfield 3 and bolster the midfield and give him more time to see the game in front of him.