Cantona v Bruno

Oscar Bonavena

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Eric Cantona is my favourite United player of all time. He was the missing piece of the jigsaw for that team of the 90s. I loved everything about him, his brilliant goals, assists, style, arrogance, the fact that he was a bit of a dirty bastard at times too!

I'm conscious though I only saw him live once so most of my experience of watching him was whenever a United game was on telly or the highlights on MOTD, so maybe I'm viewing his time at the club through rose tinted glasses.

What are older, match going fans' memories of Eric, who saw more of him live and up close? Did he have lots of stinkers, did he often give the ball away stupidly, but I'm blanking that out of my memory?!

At the moment, I'm comparing Bruno to Eric as they both have/had similar roles in the team (main creator, captain etc.) but at the moment I'm praying for the day Bruno is dropped even for a few games.

Am I being unfair on Bruno in comparing him unfavourably to Cantona? Would Eric have been as wasteful as Bruno in this current United team, or would Bruno have been as brilliant as Eric in that United team of the 90s?!
 
i think Bruno has declined this season, but Cantona had an air about him that even when he made a mistake - and let's be honest - no-one can be 100% perfect - fans just overlooked his mistakes. On the whole, Cantona was the better player (IMHO)
 
Can't see this thread going well for Bruno. And I like Bruno a lot.
 
Bruno is not even in the same class as Eric. Eric was a truly world class player, a changemaker and talisman. He was like having an extra player on the pitch. His aura alone was another player. Bruno is a gifted opportunist, sort of like Griezman, good players who have good timing but truly don't put their stamp on a game. Cantona would demand the ball and make things happen, he would drag the team forward and he did it all with superior technique, flair and precision.

Bruno under Ole at the start was the best player we've had since SAF left but now he's a liability, I was a huge supporter but I can't defend his recent form, recent going back a whole year. Please never talk about him in the same breath as King Eric.
 
Cantona will always win on nostalgia factor and I think he was the better player but if you put Bruno in place of Cantona in Fergie's United he'd look a hell of a lot better and Cantona would probably not be able to drag this United team to titles.
 
Well to sum up. Vinnie Jones went in with full force to break Cantona's leg and Cantona just stood up straight as if nothing happened.

Bruno would have broken his vocal chords, shouting in pain if the same happened to him.
 
Ole'sgunnarwin said:
Well to sum up. Vinnie Jones went in with full force to break Cantona's leg and Cantona just stood up straight as if nothing happened.

Bruno would have broken his vocal chords, shouting in pain if the same happened to him.
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I mean there's a strong chance Fernandes actually gets his leg broken
 
Shouldn’t be a comparison really, Bruno could never bench Cantona even if Cantona had a really bad run of games.
 
horsechoker said:
Cantona will always win on nostalgia factor and I think he was the better player but if you put Bruno in place of Cantona in Fergie's United he'd look a hell of a lot better and Cantona would probably not be able to drag this United team to titles.
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This is the correct answer.
 
What a silly thread as it's not even close. Cantona was leagues ahead and could raise a whole teams level.

It's no coincidence Fergie won his first PL the season we signed Cantona.

Don't forget, we were 8th in the table after 16 games, 9 points off the leaders before he signed. We also lost the league in the year of the kung fu kick such was his importance.

We finished 2nd in the league 1991/92 to Leeds. Guess who their star man in the run in was?
Leeds went from Champions to 17th the very next season after losing Cantona.

If I could add one former player to our team now, it'd be Cantona followed by Keane/Robson.

He was an amazing player.
 
Iffin said:
Shouldn’t be a comparison really, Bruno could never bench Cantona even if Cantona had a really bad run of games.
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That doesn't really make sense, if Cantona had 0 g+a in several game and Bruno was in his 2021-22 form you'd definitely bench Cantona.

I'd bench bottom level Rooney for top level Bruno too.
 
I was 13-18 years old when Cantona was at United so watched football in a different way, caught up in the excitement, perhaps less aware of what was really going on. We didn't have statistics back then either which can help shape our opinions.

What I'd say though is that I remember his poorer games as the ones where he was quiet, where he wouldn't get as much of the ball as you might like rather than ones I wish he hadn't seen so much of it due to giving it away. A stretch to say going missing, but he'd have games where he wasn't involved so much.

That's also not to say he was perfect on the ball. Nobody is, and a player who is trying to be creative has to be willing to fail at times when it comes to what they're trying to do.
 
Bruno’s poor performances have reached a point where I’m genuinely reflecting on his career at United. When he was good, especially in 3 with Matic and Pogba, he was the best United player we’ve seen in the post Fergie era. But he has also had the worst drop off when the team has hit the latest lows. And he doesn’t seem like the character who can give a regular 7/10 performance. It’s all or nothing. And there has been a sustained period of nothing.

I started watching United a couple of years after the treble year so unfortunately have never seen Cantona play live. But despite being tinted by success, I doubt if Cantona’s not-great performances would be as poor as Bruno’d poor performances have been. And if yes, I highly doubt if you would have had the same reverence.
 
Cantona was the final piece in the jigsaw, Bruno is part of a jigsaw that’s been bought from a car boot sale, with pieces missing mixed with pieces from other jigsaws.
 
You were better off creating a thread asking these questions but leaving Bruno out of it.

You know how successful we were when Cantona played here and he was our best player so obviously he wouldn’t be viewed the same. It would be like creating a thread comparing Rashford to Ronaldo because they have similar roles in the team.
 
El Jefe said:
It would be like creating a thread comparing Rashford to Ronaldo because they have similar roles in the team.
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Not meaning to derail, but the gap between Bruno and Cantona is far smaller than the gap between Rashford and Ronaldo.

That being said, of course Rashford would look much better in that 2008 team than he does these days.
 
:lol: :lol: :lol: I'm convinced this is another thread created to shit on Bruno. Don't mind if I do. They are not even in the same universe.
 
Fergie wouldn't have made Bruno captain, which would have helped him.
 
Cantona remains and probably always will be my favourite player.
Saying that, the comparison is difficult.
What would Bruno be like playing in the United teams of the 1990s under Ferguson?
Impossible to say.
What would Cantona be like in the current shambolic mess? Also impossible to say.
 
The thread isn't really asking "who was better, Eric or Bruno?" because it's f**king obvious Cantona was the better player!

It's more asking if I'm remembering Cantona through rose tinted glasses, and was he ever as erratic and inconsistent as we criticise Bruno for now, but I'm just blanking it from my memory!
 
The first couple seasons we got Bruno he was magic. He dragged us into the champions league in that first season despite joining in January and in fairness to him he’s the best signing of the poor era.


The issue he has now is that when your playing in a team that is trying to keep possession and doing so, every time your wasteful with the ball it is highlighted more. He needs to strip it back and play it simple with the occasional dash of extravagance rather than constantly trying Hollywood passes and it only working 1 out of 10. He is capable of the sublime when on song.


Cantana was the catalyst in all good that happened to United during that era. He lit the spark. You can’t compare many to him imo.
 
Oscar Bonavena said:
The thread isn't really asking "who was better, Eric or Bruno?" because it's f**king obvious Cantona was the better player!

It's more asking if I'm remembering Cantona through rose tinted glasses, and was he ever as erratic and inconsistent as we criticise Bruno for now, but I'm just blanking it from my memory!
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No, Cantona's floor level wasn't disruptive to our game. And you could count on him when the going got tough even when he wasn't in the best form. Different times back then. Cantona added nuances to Fergie's design which gave us an edge over the rest of the competition. Bruno, on the other hand, seems to take away such nuances (with the way he plays) in an era when the best sides in the world are the ones who analyse and work on every minute detail.
 
Cantona did better looking at most metrics, but Premier League wasn't even a top 5 league when he was here whereas its been the #1 league for the last 5 years.
 
Put it this way..

Before a match, if you saw Roy Keane's name on the team sheet you knew you had a great chance and feared no-one

But when you saw Cantona's name on the team sheet, you knew you were gonna win - and he had that effect on every player around him

I've never seen Bruno rally our team this way
 
Cantona is a physical abuser & should have spent the rest of his career at Marseille.

Lucky cnut.
 
A bit like Zidane, Cantona was a high floor/high ceiling type of player but he was generally closer to his floor which is generally the case for these players.
 
horsechoker said:
Cantona will always win on nostalgia factor and I think he was the better player but if you put Bruno in place of Cantona in Fergie's United he'd look a hell of a lot better and Cantona would probably not be able to drag this United team to titles.
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Bruno certainly won't get us to a title.

Not sure where Bruno fits into a Fergie United.

Cantona, for me.
 
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