Which is pretty much it.
What it means is that Bruno needs to rewire himself against big teams. Drop slightly deeper like Scholes did and go over the top rather than through the lines.
Bruno Fernandes against the Premier League Top 6 sides
- Thread starter MyOnlySolskjaer
- Start date
What it means is that Bruno needs to rewire himself against big teams. Drop slightly deeper like Scholes did and go over the top rather than through the lines.
No United player has done well against top 6 teams this season.
Bizarre thread.
Bizarre thread.
He was attempting heroic passes today and also switching play a ton when not needed. Not the greatest performance but you have to put him out there in case he does have that moment of brilliance. Great FK today too.
He practically single handedly knocked Benfica out of the semi finals in the cup but just like At United he was easily the best player and the difference maker so he had more players marking him. When that happens you need other players to step up and be dangerous so that more space opens up for your super star to make things happen.
You can’t just depend on 1 guy alone in these games. In the end of the day he has 3 goals and 2 assists out of the 7 goals vs the top clubs.
Could it be terrible? Yes, but I don’t think it’s horrible.
Bruno was poor yesterday. But he has almost no support. Martial is terrible and should be nowhere near the starting XI in any position. Cavani should be the first choice ST. Rashford is inconsistent. We have no RW and AWB although an excellent defender is awful going forward so there is zero threat on that side of the pitch.
A midfield 2 of McT and Fred does him no favors either. We need to be starting 1 of those 2 and then a more attacking option like Pogba or DvB (who I think will come good). The 4321 is also not our best formation. We should be playing the diamond or a 433.
Outside of all that, by biggest complaint with Bruno is that for every killer ball he pulls off, he sends 2 or 3 directly to the oppostion. He loses possession too easily too often. But overall, I think that is a small price to pay for the overwhelming contribution he's had since his arrival. He just needs some support in the attack. It's not reasonable to expect him to carry the team every match.
A midfield 2 of McT and Fred does him no favors either. We need to be starting 1 of those 2 and then a more attacking option like Pogba or DvB (who I think will come good). The 4321 is also not our best formation. We should be playing the diamond or a 433.
Outside of all that, by biggest complaint with Bruno is that for every killer ball he pulls off, he sends 2 or 3 directly to the oppostion. He loses possession too easily too often. But overall, I think that is a small price to pay for the overwhelming contribution he's had since his arrival. He just needs some support in the attack. It's not reasonable to expect him to carry the team every match.
And people on here were not only comparing him to Cantona, some were saying he's had an even bigger impact 
McFred don’t retain the ball well and then neither does Bruno in the number 10 position. No wonder we look disjointed in big games and only sporadically threatening. We need a better balance between ball retention and risk. I know it won’t happen and he’s barely featured, but would like to see Donny at 10 in a big match.
I think it’s because of the way the team is set up in these games. We commit forward less, and generally attack with less intensity, and so there’s less scope for Bruno to look as effective as he does in the other matches since there isn’t as much support for him going forward.
I don’t think Bruno is the issue, the underlying problem is we never have enough control of the big games to get enough possession into our attackers Bruno included. Sure he can be massively wasteful but he is less wasteful when we as team are more controlling of the game overall.
Exactly this. People are focussing on Bruno, when it’s just us as a team who play shit against the big teams.
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Are we not top of the league because of the effect he’s had?And people on here were not only comparing him to Cantona, some were saying he's had an even bigger impact
Bruno has another level to go up, especially if he is to be put on the same pedestal as Cantona or Scholes.
And so it begins..........
De Bruyne was a gambler at Chelsea and Bremen but not at Wolfsburg, he's just improving and more mature with his pass.
He's nearly 30 now, it's nothing to do with "Pep calmed him down" when De Bryune is definitely on his prime.
We're too respectful and cautious in the big games and it hurts our attack and our attackers. Martial should have been told to stay up with a shifting midfield looking after their full backs. One little taste of Fernandes, Rashford and Martial in the first half and Liverpool would have seriously backed off. Then we would have had the game by the short and curlys.
Actually, we didn't thump Leipzig without him. We led 1-0 having scored on virtually our only serious attack, created nothing whatsoever, and then we put on Bruno and Rashford and then we thumped them.
I’m surprised at how few are aware of this. Take a look at the other top teams this season, and see how many players have looked brilliant if you solely count thegames against other top teams.
It is nothing new that top games are tight games, and tight games are games were normally no attacking player look particularily fantastic, and margins will decide. Our exception has been Rashford, and this season he has been that one meter offside against the PL sides, whereas in CL he demolished PSG and Red Bull.
We play exactly how we set up to play, not sure what people expect with midfield pair of McTominay and Fred. The former cannot pass the ball at all and the latter is extremely inconsistent doing that. We rely on him way too much and it's a massive problem. Unfortunately we have nobody else to rely on. Our forwards are in terrible form and the likes of Rashford even seem to have forgotten basic football rules.
Can we stop doing this? Bruno was not the only player forcing it, Pogba was playing the same kind of balls. It was a tactic to get Rashford through... it was the game plan with was not executed well.
Whenever the ball gets to Bruno there isnt anyone around him.
Finally, he has been here one year so, I don't get this he does't do it against the big teams business.
Whenever the ball gets to Bruno there isnt anyone around him.
Finally, he has been here one year so, I don't get this he does't do it against the big teams business.
Let’s be honest here, whatever your thoughts on Martial, Rashford, Fernandes, Cavani etc, the way we set up in big games is simply kick and rush football.
It must be very difficult for all our forward players in these games.
I can understand pragmatism, but at the same time I’ve seen us go toe to toe with PSG this year and have no problems in doing so (until we lost a man). I won’t complain because we are in a great position in the league but I think long term we have to be prepared to go at teams in the big games.
It must be very difficult for all our forward players in these games.
I can understand pragmatism, but at the same time I’ve seen us go toe to toe with PSG this year and have no problems in doing so (until we lost a man). I won’t complain because we are in a great position in the league but I think long term we have to be prepared to go at teams in the big games.
And that's the key I think - he needs to learn to adjust his game against strong opponents. I think it seems clear by now he needs to. Not only is he usually much less in evidence in these games than normally, also he much more often does not succeed in what he attempts to do.
Do we look like we’re trying to “calm anyone down” in big games though? Our default in these games is kick and rush football, the opposite of calm.
Sell him and buy Cleverly. That’ll show Bruno a thing or two about ball retention and passing completion percent.
He played well against PSG as well. Not, strictly speaking, top 6. But they were big games against a top team.
I agree
He's been a major factor, yes. Also he's definitely in the discussion about the best player since he's joined. I'd vote for him, in fact.
He's not close to being mentioned in the same breath as Cantona though, that's my point.
He was very ineffective but he’s competitive and a winner. You saw his reaction
We can’t start suddenly throwing criticism at him
When he’s carried us all season. About time others started putting good chances away. Pogba has stepped up to the plate. Martial, Rash, Mc T, Free need to start
We can’t start suddenly throwing criticism at him
When he’s carried us all season. About time others started putting good chances away. Pogba has stepped up to the plate. Martial, Rash, Mc T, Free need to start
Against Leipzig, we only started spanking them when he came on. He changed the tide of the game.
While I agree that he's been poor in these high profile games, I don't think he's a flat track bully, I just think he needs to learn when not to rush things. We're a better team that only hoping for a one touch wonder ball to setup the counter. We need to trust ourselves to get the ball under control and play through good opposition.
By the way, He plays a different role in his national team - central midfield, and there's no pressure on him to create everything so he actually appears more tidy in possession.
Sometimes I'm convinced some our fans want us to stay useless forever.
I'm invent debates to create narratives like he not a big game player when he already shown he can perform in big games.
Pointless debate
Yes he was. I watched him because he had great output stats, but he always looked wasteful and his pass percentage was 76%, 74% and 74% at Wolfsburg
Bruno is 75% for us this season, 77% for his last season at Sporting and 75% the two seasons before.
Because he was wasteful despite the great stats, I didnt think Pep or Van Gaal for us would be interested in him. But at City he retained the ball better under Pep whilst still making the difference in matches
Lingard has scored in a cup final for the club while Bruno has gone missing in 4 semi finals and bottles every big game. So you're right maybe they deserve Lingard
Bruno has 2 goals in 3 Semi final games and wasnt here for the Carabao cup last season.
Utter nonsense.
I believe that the instructions from Ole were to be as straight as possible yesterday in order to bypass Pool's press. Hence, Bruno was really rushing things and thus his passing was off. He also needs a lot of rest, he is totally knackered, and it affects timing and accuracy of his passes.
Looks like early candidate for Agenda poster of the year or maybe shit poster of the year too.
There's less going on around him in midfield because we always start Fred and Mctominay with him in the "big games", who offer nothing of real quality attacking wise to worry the opposition. I really don't think that helps, but we've got no choice as we need a proper DM.
I really don't put much blame on him, he wasn't at his best yesterday, but oh well. Mad to slag him off really.
I really don't put much blame on him, he wasn't at his best yesterday, but oh well. Mad to slag him off really.
Some of the comments here really are baffling.
In recent years we’ve been drowned with sideways passing, tumescent football, non-risk taking, shit football. We’ve endured the recycling centre of Pereira and Lingard and been crying out for someone who will actually try to win us a game or create a chance.
Along comes Bruno and puts up the best stats any player has done in a calendar year in the premier league and created the most goals and assist opportunities in Europe, yet some are still not happy? Has there ever been a player who puts these kind of numbers up and yet still has a 100% pass completion? Some of the expectations here are insane.
In recent years we’ve been drowned with sideways passing, tumescent football, non-risk taking, shit football. We’ve endured the recycling centre of Pereira and Lingard and been crying out for someone who will actually try to win us a game or create a chance.
Along comes Bruno and puts up the best stats any player has done in a calendar year in the premier league and created the most goals and assist opportunities in Europe, yet some are still not happy? Has there ever been a player who puts these kind of numbers up and yet still has a 100% pass completion? Some of the expectations here are insane.
It's no surprise that ANY player struggles a bit more against better opponents, that is just common sense.
He certainly has room to grow and refine his game to be more mature in these big games. A little more patience is needed from him, which will come with experience. It felt yesterday like he thought every chance he had could be the only one, so he was trying the killer pass every time. With the way the game started, you can't really blame him for thinking this because possession was few and far between. But as I said, with more experience of these types of games he will realise that if he has patience, he will be able to spot when the opportunity is there for the killer pass rather than trying to force it at every opportunity.
I also think you need to factor in that it was his first United/Liverpool game so he may have been a bit overhyped for the game. Nobody will be more disappointed in his performance than himself, which you could see throughout the game.
He certainly has room to grow and refine his game to be more mature in these big games. A little more patience is needed from him, which will come with experience. It felt yesterday like he thought every chance he had could be the only one, so he was trying the killer pass every time. With the way the game started, you can't really blame him for thinking this because possession was few and far between. But as I said, with more experience of these types of games he will realise that if he has patience, he will be able to spot when the opportunity is there for the killer pass rather than trying to force it at every opportunity.
I also think you need to factor in that it was his first United/Liverpool game so he may have been a bit overhyped for the game. Nobody will be more disappointed in his performance than himself, which you could see throughout the game.
It happens I guess. Of course the best teams are going to target the best player the most in order to get them out of the game. He did fine for me against Liverpool.
If he’s not on it or he’s been marked out the game then someone else will step up. As long as someone steps up in their place, I dont care. It’s a team game at the end of the day.
Salah has only scored once against us and even that was when we threw the kitchen sink in 90 minute stoppage time and he had the freedom of the Anfield pitch and the luxury of an existing lead to score it.
If he’s not on it or he’s been marked out the game then someone else will step up. As long as someone steps up in their place, I dont care. It’s a team game at the end of the day.
Salah has only scored once against us and even that was when we threw the kitchen sink in 90 minute stoppage time and he had the freedom of the Anfield pitch and the luxury of an existing lead to score it.
I really wouldn't read much into this other than he looks knackered at the mo cos we have needed him to play every game as he has carried us for most of the last year.
But of course, he is going to less influential against the top team, he at his best with the ball, generally we set up to play without the ball against the other top teams.
For me, Fernandes is the best player in the league right now. Give him a week of so off and I'm sure he will back to demonstrating that on a regular bases.
But of course, he is going to less influential against the top team, he at his best with the ball, generally we set up to play without the ball against the other top teams.
For me, Fernandes is the best player in the league right now. Give him a week of so off and I'm sure he will back to demonstrating that on a regular bases.
Wouldn't be surprised if some of the posters are the ones on twitter with dedicated player worshipping accounts, just praise 1 player and shit on every other player.