[Holters]

Never played defensive midfielder in his life and we immediately decide to play him out of position. Typical United.

 

[theatreofdreams777]

He shouldn't be more than a squad player and that's as a 10 but considering the shit state of our squad he'll probably start much more than he should.

He's not the Eriksen we've watched at Tottenham for years anymore. We basically have 3 no 10s (Bruno, Eriksen, VdB) who should only be squad players and not starters in the squad right now.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Not a defensive midfielder, got some terrible passes and was targeted, can't really blame him for struggling when he has spent most of his career way further forward. It's alright dropping into midfield the odd time from attacking midfield, it's a different proposition and job when you're starting from the deep lying position and you are being targeted with few options. Tough day.

 

[Hammondo]

Never played defensive midfielder in his life and we immediately decide to play him out of position. Typical United.

Felt a bit sorry for him, not close to his position and was lost.

 

[united for life]

Took fred’s role of dropping back for a pass from the keeper. Ended up losing the ball exactly like fred does. He’s not a DM, he should play higher up the pitch. He had some time on the left in tottenham if i remember correctly, maybe play there for rashford

 

[lost7]

Shocking performance, was at fault for 2 goals at minimum

 

[Skills]

Him and Fernandes shouldn't be on the pitch together.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

Our most dangerous man at both ends with a little bit of shit sprinkled in between.

 

[Renegade]

First game - false 9
Second game - DM

He’ll be regretting his move already. Kick Bruno out and play him in his natural position.

 

[Lecland07]

Really should be in Fernandes's place.

 

[DWelbz19]

I see it, @Yagami. Very slightly better than Bruno on the turn or in tight spaces.

 

[Roboc7]

Needs to be him or Bruno, we’re shoehorning him in because ETH has figured out how shit Mcfred are.

 

[BlueHaze]

He legit massively improved a horseshit team like Brentford on his own after arriving in the winter.

What happens?

He comes here and looks a lost poor old bloke who forgot where he put his carkeys. The club is cursed and a career killer for both players and managers.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

Looked bang average imo

 

[Classical Mechanic]

He legit massively improved a horseshit team like Brentford on his own after arriving in the winter.

What happens?

He comes here and looks a lost poor old bloke who forgot where he put his carkeys. The club is cursed and a career killer for both players and managers.

Asked to play like Frankie De Jong.

 

[Kag]

We’re playing a brand new player, one who hasn’t played there in over 500 career appearances, in a defensive midfield position we’ve neglected to fill, and wonder why he doesn’t look all that.

Give it a rest.

 

[Bobski]

I think we have to be realistic about what we expect this season from Eriksen, and about where his game is right now. Was dropping off towards the end at Spurs, was pretty poor at Inter, then almost died at the Euros. Great story and impact at Brentford but we were never getting 23-26 year old Eriksen, and to think he could go into DM, without great defensive abilities and succeed is asking a huge amount from him.

 

[Lowkey]

hes not a 6. Should start in Bruno's position. Would offer alot more. Drop Bruno, play Erikksen there. We will be alot better.

 

[Cassidy]

hes not a 6. Should start in Bruno's position. Would offer alot more. Drop Bruno, play Erikksen there. We will be alot better.

And who do you play behind him? He is only playing 6 because we havent signed one yet

 

[Lyng]

Shocking performance, was at fault for 2 goals at minimum

Both times he moves to draw players to create roome behind for a long pass. But sadly De Gea and Maguire are both absolute donkeys who don't understand even basic plays.

 

[NZT-One]

So far so good about the fantastic idea to play him as the deepest midfielder because, that is what we need. Little thought experiment: exchange Eriksen with FDJ and the match can happen more or less in the same way. Yes we need a progressor of the ball - but we also need a midfield that is able to hold its own. And we are far away from that, even with FDJ.

 

[Lowkey]

And who do you play behind him? He is only playing 6 because we havent signed one yet

id play garner and iqbal.

they cant be worse than what we already have. I really dont care about any of the other midfielders that have been failing for the last 3-4 years

 

[#07]

I thought he was shocking, especially on the second goal. He should be taking the ball on the half turn. Even if you take it facing the goal, look over your shoulder. Eriksen is skilful enough to drop his shoulder and turn away from someone tackling him from behind. Just didn't know where he was.

When he signed I asked where he'd play. I felt we needed a #6 and we'd signed an attacking #8/#10. Today he plays #6 and what happens.

I don't get the people saying he's replaced Mata. Mata didn't need replacing. We had too many #10s. This summer was the time to try and rebalance our midfield so we could play a quality double pivot.

Murtough madness at work again...

 

[soapythecat]

Had a shocker of a game but still showed more composure and urgency than Bruno.
Needs to be played behind the forward and Bruno needs to feck off until he stops whining and tries to play football again

 

[NZT-One]

I think, bringing him in was totally correct. After all, he is a free agent and even the most optimistic fan would have confirmed that we need a player for Bruno if he is injured or needs a rest. A less optimistic fan would have said, maybe competition isn't the worst thing for Bruno because his gung ho style becomes more and more an issue. Play Eriksen instead of Bruno and we should be fine. Asking him to play a DLP role is just daft, never did that in his whole career. Following this logic we could ask Ronaldo to play RB or DM as well. He is physical and usually sharp with his passes and probably still one of the better crossers in the team. Buy players to play them in their strongest positions. It's pretty straight forward rule you'd guess.

 

[11101]

Both times he moves to draw players to create roome behind for a long pass. But sadly De Gea and Maguire are both absolute donkeys who don't understand even basic plays.

Exactly. What the feck was De Gea thinking on the second goal, but most will not see that. Identical situation to Fred against Leicester a few years ago. They make a run to draw players away and never in a million years should be receiving a pass.

 

[CloneMC16]

I thought ETH would try him at #6. It well and truly failed. Brentford pressed the shit out of him. He lost the ball in dangerous positions 3 times in the 1st 30 minutes. He was given some terrible passes, though. Asking players to play as a #6 when they can't do it is suicide. I wish the club would stop doing it.

 

[Dominos]

I always wondered how on earth we expected to fit him in the team given he plays Bruno's role, we essentially just brought in competition for Bruno, which is fine, but it also kind of made Van De Beek obsolete (in which case, sell him).

Then I was told all summer on here that we're going to convert him into a deep lying midfielder and we should just take it as a given that he can do that role to the level we need.

He's been an attacking player basically his whole career. You can't just assume you can change his position in his 30s and he's going to be elite at it because he's a decent passer. Playing in a deep midfield role requires a level of tenacity, combativeness and physicality that a lot of these types of players don't have. And it puts him in situations where he's going to be pressed and pressured in dangerous areas more often, we have no idea how he was going to cope with that.

It felt like Ten Hag was never fully convinced he'd be a starter in that deep lying role either given interest in De Jong and Milinkovic.

Just play him high up the field where he can do what he's always done, create chances and score goals.

For the love of Christ, please can the club just go sign 2 midfielders who are competent in terms of their physicality, technical ability, midfield intelligence and defensive nouse. Currently we have zero who fit the mould.

 

[kouroux]

Decisions to play him there is what worries about ETH for the long term. Very very worried even

 

[Skills]

Decisions to play him there is what worries about ETH for the long term. Very very worried even

I think he recognises the fact that we were struggling to move the ball up field, and that Fred struggles on the half turn. So he tried to address that, but I don't think he knew that Eriksen also has the same problem or lacked that skillset.

He knows what he needs - a midfield who's capable of playing facing his own goal, but he doesn't have the skillset to identify the players who are best suited to playing that role. This is where other people need to help him - recruitment wise and also internally in the club.

 

[Borys]

I've been running internet battles about how he is an attacking midfielder by nature and that's how he should be played - in Bruno position. I've said milion times there's no way we can pull this out to play them both.

Obviously he's not a DM, not a false 9,most likely not a winger nor fullback. So kind of difficult to judge Eriksen.
ETH, on the other hand, is extremely naive. Or desperate.

 

[RedRonaldo]

First game - false 9
Second game - DM

He’ll be regretting his move already. Kick Bruno out and play him in his natural position.

This. Its either Bruno or him. I hope ETH would make up his mind soon.

 

[jem]

I haven't given up on him but he should be starting ahead of Bruno, not playing some kind of DM role.

 

[kouroux]

I think he recognises the fact that we were struggling to move the ball up field, and that Fred struggles on the half turn. So he tried to address that, but I don't think he knew that Eriksen also has the same problem or lacked that skillset.

He knows what he needs - a midfield who's capable of playing facing his own goal, but he doesn't have the skillset to identify the players who are best suited to playing that role. This is where other people need to help him - recruitment wise and also internally in the club.

In the current situation where no one is suited for that, why not instruct the team to go long if the CBs and the DM is closed down ? How many stupid passes did we do on the edge of our box with Brentford pressing us so high? Why risk it when you don't have the GK nor the players for it ?

 

[Joga Bonito]

In the current situation where no one is suited for that, why not instruct the team to go long if the CBs and the DM is closed down ? How many stupid passes did we do on the edge of our box with Brentford pressing us so high? Why risk it when you don't have the GK nor the players for it ?

It was a poor tactical decision, no doubt. I reckon he figured our severe lack of physicality and aerial prowess - with Rashford, Sancho, Bruno and Ronaldo* being near non-entities - meant that we'd have a much better chance of retaining possession and playing out from the back.

In hindsight, he should have gone with a balanced approach with an emphasis on playing out from the back, instead of being obstinate on purely playing out from the back. Suicidal tactics with DDG, Dalot and Fred being liabilities on the ball and the supposedly decent passers being off color - Maguire and Shaw severely off form, with Martinez and Eriksen just settling in, and the latter playing in an alien position for good measure.

Ultimately he has to take his fair share of blame too. It's clear as sky that we have a piss poor squad and that our upper management is rank, but he should be trying to maximise what little he has and be brave with his decision making. In an ideal world, most of those players (DDG, Shaw, Dalot, Fred, Bruno, Rashford etc) wouldn't be starting for us, but I also understand that we don't exactly have City's squad to have a ready made second XI to walk in and replace the first XI.

However, that does not excuse repeatedly starting the likes of Shaw, Rashford, Bruno and Sancho when there are decent and relatively 'hungrier' alternatives in our squad - Malacia, Hannibal, Pellestri etc. Maybe the performance levels won't go up, but we'll be at least giving ourselves a chance and we won't be seeing the same old predictable dejected performances, with team morale plummeting.

At the very least dropping Bruno and playing a midfield trio of Fred, McTominay and Eriksen makes a lot more sense, than having Fred play the holding role (1st game) or Eriksen being experimented in weird roles. All that for the sake of shoehorning a petulant and off-form Bruno into the team. Simply put, ETH has to show more authority here.

*When it comes to physicality and aerial battles.

 

[balaks]

Seeing him being played in a position he has never played before in his entire career was mind boggling.

 

[Tony247]

He was in decline when spurs sold him. Yet still he is a good player to have in 20 players squad. Certain matches he can start, some he can be a good sub. But should never assume that new united team can be rebuilt with him as starting 11.

 

[Yagami]

He's literally just replying to the people who quoted him after he gave his opinion

Thanks, mate! I haven't gone after anyone. It's people who have a problem with me calling him overrated.

I see it, @Yagami. Very slightly better than Bruno on the turn or in tight spaces.

There you go, mate. He's terrible under pressure, and why I was against signing him.

We need press resistant players. We already have too many lightweight ones.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

Seeing him being played in a position he has never played before in his entire career was mind boggling.

I almost think Ten Hag starting Eriksen as a striker one week and a DM the week after is a sign of protest at the board massively letting him down.

 

[ForeverRed1]

Shocking performance, was at fault for 2 goals at minimum

Let’s put de Gea as a striker than say it’s a shocking performance when he doesn’t score goals.

he isn’t a DM.