Bruno Fernandes image 8

Bruno Fernandes Portugal flag

2024-25 Performances


View full 2024-25 profile

5.5 Season Average Rating
Appearances
25
Goals
5
Assists
11
Yellow cards
4
Red cards
2
Yeah okay... I take back everything I said on the previous page about Bruno for Portugal. What the actual feck was that miss? It's something I'd see him do for us and not be surprised, given the his current form.
 
Not trying to make excuses for that miss, but I genuinely think he didn't expect Ronaldo to pass it there :lol:
 
What is going on with him
Just in case you hadn't noticed, pretty much aligns with what he does in the EPL. Great training regime. Our fearless leader in action! This guy has not scored that much since 20/21. As I have said numerous times, you can count on Bruno for maybe 7-8 goals. This guy peaked in 20/21. How that isn't noticed is somewhat surprising.
 
Interesting deep dive on why he’s a playing so badly so far this season.

A more plausible reason for this alarming decline could be related to a lack of options when on the ball. Interestingly, there is some statistical evidence to support this argument as a result of the tracking data that underpins the Second Spectrum numbers.

These reveal that of the 100 players to have attempted the most passes this season, Fernandes has had the fewest options available to him upon receiving possession - an average of just 1.54. That is down on last season and the fewest of any United player.

Compare that to, say, Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan with 2.87 or even Fulham's Emile Smith Rowe with 2.73 and a picture starts to build of a player who feels that responsibility to make things happen for his team but lacks the opportunities to do so.
 
The fact is that Bruno Fernandes is not good enough today to be in the starting 11 for this team. You can make up any excuse you want, that does not remove the fact that his is now 30 yrs old, he peaked in 20/21 and after that it has been a slow decline in play. This year he will maybe score 6-8 goals and maybe as many assists. He has 2 yrs left where he can compete at the level but will never be the quality player he was in the past. With a value today at 64-65 million, which is what the transfer price was, in order to reclaim that amt he should be sold. His value will start to diminish sharply after this season. The fact that there is no replacement exposes the incompetence of management. In fact I do not believe there is a player on this team today fit to wear the armband. He can look decent on international duty surrounded by quality players, but he is what he is. Every player has a shelf life, some earlier than others, but Bruno has reached his.
 
The fact is that Bruno Fernandes is not good enough today to be in the starting 11 for this team. You can make up any excuse you want, that does not remove the fact that his is now 30 yrs old, he peaked in 20/21 and after that it has been a slow decline in play. This year he will maybe score 6-8 goals and maybe as many assists. He has 2 yrs left where he can compete at the level but will never be the quality player he was in the past. With a value today at 64-65 million, which is what the transfer price was, in order to reclaim that amt he should be sold. His value will start to diminish sharply after this season. The fact that there is no replacement exposes the incompetence of management. In fact I do not believe there is a player on this team today fit to wear the armband. He can look decent on international duty surrounded by quality players, but he is what he is. Every player has a shelf life, some earlier than others, but Bruno has reached his.
All valid points. He has become a huge problem for us and our play but given his status, I doubt he will be benched anytime soon
 
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Pogba is love, love is Pogba. Don't care what people say, I still have great memory of him at United.

I cant imagine any other estate agents in the country getting £300k a week
 
All valid points. He has become a huge problem for us and our play but given his status, I doubt he will be benched anytime soon
Unfortunately, rather than Ratcliffe perhaps Disney should have invested in the team. They are now run more akin to Mickey Mouse than Manchester United!
 
He has too many games on his legs and worst than be physically exhausted is been mentally exhausted. I believe FIFpro complained to the European Commission about that. We have too many competitions, in England 3 I believe then Europa league (or Champion League) and that's 4 for the club, then for the country and if is european we have Euro, World, Nation Leagues. I may left some out but can't remember of any.
 
He has too many games on his legs and worst than be physically exhausted is been mentally exhausted. I believe FIFpro complained to the European Commission about that. We have too many competitions, in England 3 I believe then Europa league (or Champion League) and that's 4 for the club, then for the country and if is european we have Euro, World, Nation Leagues. I may left some out but can't remember of any.

Hey if I have to make excuses for anyone I'm making it for Bruno. He's still my favorite player in the club and leaves it all out there every single game. He definitely needs a bit of rest and hopefully Mount being back means he'll get some.
 
He plays just as awful for Portugal as he does United. They will be a much better team when they figure out he is a fraud. Anytime Portugal plays any decent opposition, this guys goal contributions suddenly disappear. He wasted practically all 9 of Portugals corners, kept giving abymsal crosses all game

Can anyone even name one top class performance he has had in which he had 0 goals and 0 assists? When you think of genuine world class midfielders like Scholes and Modric, they can have zero goal contributions in the match and still be the best player on the pitch. That never happens with bruno, and if it has it is extremely rare. Why would any team with title aspirations want this guy to be their star midfielder when he cannot at the bare minimum perform the basic functions required to run a midfield?

There's so many poor things about his game as many on here have mentioned numerous times. Slow, unathletic, cannot dribble, poor decision making and positioning...the list goes on. And the worst part is, he is getting paid superstar money here despite no other teams showing any genuine interest in getting his services. United is a charity service for mid players, who get rewarded millions of pounds for purple patch 10 game spells
 
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He plays just as awful for Portugal as he does United. They will be a much better team when they figure out he is a fraud. Anytime Portugal plays any decent opposition, this guys goal contributions suddenly disappear. He wasted practically all 9 of Portugals corners, kept giving abymsal crosses all game

Can anyone even name one top class performance he has had in which he had 0 goals and 0 assists? When you think of genuine world class midfielders like Scholes and Modric, they can have zero goal contributions in the match and still be the best player on the pitch. That never happens with bruno, and if it has it is extremely rare. Why would any team with title aspirations want this guy to be their star midfielder when he cannot at the bare minimum perform the basic functions required to run a midfield?

There's so many poor things about his game as many on here have mentioned numerous times. Slow, unathletic, cannot dribble, poor decision making and positioning...the list goes on. And the worst part is, he is getting paid superstar money here despite no other teams showing any genuine interest in getting his services. United is a charity service for mid players, who get rewarded millions of pounds for purple patch 10 game spells
Bruno is a good player but as many of us have maintained, he A) doesn’t justify this iconic status fans have given due to some key pass/ chance creation stats and B) is simply not suited to a top team. His entire game is built around being available, having lots of energy and creating at the expense of general play. When you need to play chaotic erratic football to create those chances then you’re a flawed footballer (despite being a good one) and you play a part in your team playing individualistic moments football.

And this whole poor Bruno who has to deal with this club narrative is off. He’s a top 4 challenger level / cup run player and that’s what we’ve been for the most part during his time here. He’s not like De Gea who was playing at a genuinely absurd level for a many seasons.
 
Interesting deep dive on why he’s a playing so badly so far this season.
That is indeed interesting. I wonder why he has the fewest options of any player; why would United players be making themselves less available for him than for, say, Mainoo? Perhaps they unfairly expect Bruno to pull off a spectacular pass and therefore wander into passing areas that have less likelihood of receiving a successful pass?
 
We need to give Bruno more rest, at least for his psychological benefit. And if Mount mans up to the job then Bruno can start when he's needed, which given Mount's injury record would likely be quite often.
 
Man Utd 2:1 Brentford
Beautiful flick assist, ran himself to the ground as always and was more controlled in his passing. Good performance, hopefully this can be the start to the season for him.

Needs to remember how to score goals though
 
We tend to play much better when he plays a simple game rather than the typical Hollywood nonsense. I've seen this time and time again though, he'll manage to rein himself in for a game before the egomaniac comes out once again. Nice flick assist but with all the wayward flicks he does it would be like complimenting my broken watch for telling the correct time twice a day
 
I usually dont like his flicks but his flick assist was great. He played quite well today but he still caused a big counter chance for Brentford by losing the ball when a midfielder really shouldnt be losing the ball.
 
That's more like it. Only the one sloppy back pass that could have caused damage. Much more measured in possession. More of this please.
 
Nice assist and it is nice to see drop deeper and pass it around, I appreciate his work ethic and hopefully he plays in such controlled manner a lot more
 
Not for me... yes he got an amazing, but his general play was still so far off what it should be. I guess most are just happy he was not really poor as usual
 
This is just disingenuous.

Today was the first acceptable performance of the season from either of them. If they play like that every game then no one will be complaining.

Not only do I dispute this, especially in Rashford's case, but it ignores the tactical shift that Ten Hag has made to emphasise their strengths rather than their weaknesses.

The second half today was massively influenced by the way we brought Onana into the game and directed Bruno to drop deep to create an out ball and break Brentford's press. If we are not doing that and playing 3-1-6, Bruno is just not getting on the ball and if you look at the stats about passes received etc it bares that out.

I am not pretending that Bruno has been amazing but there's a relationship between how players are told to play and what they deliver. Take Bruno out, play Musiala in the same way and see if he looks like the Musiala we know he can be. It's not all on the manager but I feel like you are ignoring his role in Fernandes' outputs.
 
Good assist from him but him slowing down the ball in the 2nd half and just standing still like Rashford used to do is infuriating . We are 2-1 up v Brentford not 5-1 up.
 
Not only do I dispute this, especially in Rashford's case, but it ignores the tactical shift that Ten Hag has made to emphasise their strengths rather than their weaknesses.

The second half today was massively influenced by the way we brought Onana into the game and directed Bruno to drop deep to create an out ball and break Brentford's press. If we are not doing that and playing 3-1-6, Bruno is just not getting on the ball and if you look at the stats about passes received etc it bares that out.

I am not pretending that Bruno has been amazing but there's a relationship between how players are told to play and what they deliver. Take Bruno out, play Musiala in the same way and see if he looks like the Musiala we know he can be. It's not all on the manager but I feel like you are ignoring his role in Fernandes' outputs.

Regardless of any tactical changes, Bruno's got on the ball quite a lot this season and offered very little. It was all flicks with the outside of the boot and hollywood balls to nobody. He's been well below par all season and very little has been coming off for him.

Rashford has been better this season than last but today he put a proper shift in for the 90 mins. If he gave that effort every game he wouldn't be moaning to the press about being picked on.
 
His best performance of the season. Wasn't great, but at least didn't constantly turn over the ball.
 
He was far more reserved today and we ,and himself, needed that.
Great assist though.
 


If certain other players made an assist like this we'd never hear the end of it.

Its fascinating how we almost take this level of creativity forgranted: A backheel off a pass fired into his feet, first time into the path of the striker, beating the offside trap and cutting open the Brentford backline.

This isn't something that happens week in week out across world football. Yet when Bruno does it its almost treated as routine. As if this is what he should be doing and we could find a thousand players to do it if he wasn't in the way.

Maybe one of those who will only be truly appreciated after he's gone from United.
 
Beautiful assist, there really aren't many players in the whole world of football that could have the presence of mind, the technical ability, and the flair to pull off that flick. It makes his games vs Twente etc even MORE frustrating because when you see what he's capable of (and I personally think though I understand the arguments VS), he -can- be truly world class. It's just a shame he sometimes has 70-80 minutes where he's so wasteful sometimes.