Playing with a midfield of 1 person

noodlehair

"It's like..."
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Apr 1, 2004
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I remember before the start of last season pointing out what an obviously stupid idea this was.

Here we are over a year later, still trying it over and over, despite the fact that, on every occasion, it's turned out to be an obviously stupid idea.

What's the thinking here from ETH? Eventually opponents will just give up tactically outplaying him out of pity?

Can't wait until the next game where he drops Casemiro for Ugarte, plays Ugarte in midfield on his own and it inexplicably doesn't fix the problem.

It's actually even dumber now as Mainoo isn't a no10 or a no8 yet is being forced to ply in no man's land to facilitate a system that's main purpose is to help the opposition.

It's frustrating seeing our players get so much stick when we persist with childishly stupid tactics that make it near impossible for them to ever control a game or build any kind of confidence in what they're doing.
 
It’s actually irritating now. You could drive a bus through the middle.

Liverpool were queuing up
 
Absolutely agree with this post. The setup is our biggest glaring weakness and will be the reason ETH gets the sack fairly soon.
 
We actually looked fairly compact and organised with Mount on the field.

Ten Hag doesn't seem to have any clue how to achieve that without him. It's just been chaosball again.
 
4-2-3-1 will be the death of United. It simply aint United.
 
too depressing to even talk about.
the one game that has kept this fraud here this season was the final, where he told the midfield to actually sit a little more than usual. immediately abandoned it once his job was secure.
 
The incompetence is amazing when you look back.

Everyone acknowledged it was a huge problem for a year.

We played three in midfield in the FA cup final after shipping about 30 shots a game, looked a lot more cohesive and won.

Glossed over it in the first two games with Mount in midfield, and the problems miraculously reappeared after we took him off.

Then today the whole management team just forgot about the issue again against one of the best teams in the league.
 
0c7a156cfaa451f94d7e587d81c72002.png


As if it needed to be pointed out, we obviously played 2 midfielders as per normal with Bruno in an attacking area in front
 
Lyng said:
It's why I am not as harsh on our players. He is setting them up to fail.
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This is it. Everyone was piling in on Cas for giving the ball away for the second goal, but it was on the halfway line! Liverpool just walked through and scored.
 
ItDoesntEvenMata said:
It would be 4-3-3 if our captain had any tactical ability
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Yes agreed, Bruno is a big problem for us and I don’t care he’s still a bit creative, he messes up as many as he creates anyway. He has no tactical awareness and leaves the midfield wide open and when the double pivot is as non athletic as ours it’s suicide.
 
It's just downright stupid now. I thought he would adapt the midfield like he did against City, that should've been our blueprint going forward. But no.
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
Just remember everyone that was fully on board with this for another year just because he fluked a final!
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I will never understand a large portion of the fanbase going crazy after one game. Our PL campaign was horrible and CL group stage was horrific.
 
jimmyb2000 said:
4-4-2, 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 is United.
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We haven't got enough quality up top right now to make 4-4-2 work. If we had a pair of handy strikers, I'd love to see how that would look.

4-3-3 is something I want to see. I want us to be tighter in the middle and more fluid up top.
 
Ollie Derbyshire said:
Yes agreed, Bruno is a big problem for us and I don’t care he’s still a bit creative, he messes up as many as he creates anyway. He has no tactical awareness and leaves the midfield wide open and when the double pivot is as non athletic as ours it’s suicide.
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Bruno basically is not a midfield player. He's an attacking forward, an ill-disciplined attacking player as it were. Maybe with 2 world class DM's behind him we'd get away with 4-2-3-1 but as we dont have that (and never have) then he is a liability to the side. Its not his fault. He's a fantastic player.....for the right team and the right formation.

But in our existing 4-2-3-1 he is a nightmare.

Until we move away from 4-2-3-1 we will keep repeating the same nonsense we have seen over the last 5 to 11 years.
 
The most annoying thing is, 5 minutes before half time just put Bruno back in the midfield to sure it up until half time

It's basic shit that everyone can see. Literally no exaggeration it's like watching amateur league (actually a level below this). I see this shit every Saturday down the local pitches
 
We will never have a functioning midfield as long as Bruno is in the team. He does not have the tactical awareness or discipline to actually occupy the middle of the pitch when we need to fill it up. He gets drawn out of position and goes way too high up the pitch in every single game. Always have, always will.

And he was just given a new extension on his long-term contract with crazy wages, so... That's how we run a football club.
 
jimmyb2000 said:
Bruno basically is not a midfield player. He's an attacking forward, an ill-disciplined attacking player as it were. Maybe with 2 world class DM's behind him we'd get away with 4-2-3-1 but as we dont have that (and never have) then he is a liability to the side. Its not his fault. He's a fantastic player.....for the right team and the right formation.

But in our existing 4-2-3-1 he is a nightmare.

Until we move away from 4-2-3-1 we will keep repeating the same nonsense we have seen over the last 5 to 11 years.
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Basically this. Spot on. Although I don't agree he's fantastic. He has some fantastic attributes for sure, but he also has a lot of awful qualities. That averages him out to a good player, at best.
 
Grib said:
The most annoying thing is, 5 minutes before half time just put Bruno back in the midfield to sure it up until half time

It's basic shit that everyone can see. Literally no exaggeration it's like watching amateur league (actually a level below this). I see this shit every Saturday down the local pitches
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Same here. These are the exact same scenarios I also see in Sunday leagues.
 
It's not unfair to say a midfield with Fernandez in it is a midfield with a man down.
He should be playing as a deep lying attacker or not at all.
 
Garethw said:
This is it. Everyone was piling in on Cas for giving the ball away for the second goal, but it was on the halfway line! Liverpool just walked through and scored.
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Thank you. I understand why pundits pick one player and criticize. But don’t understand how our fans cannot see this. Case was bad today but there were lot of misplaced passes from both sides , unlucky for him his ones got punished.
 
Maybe Casemiro + Mainoo look good enough for the task because they look great in training when facing other United players,
who play like crap a/o fill instructions that make them look like crap?

This is the only explanation I can think of, and even that sounds mental.

How come an entire forum of armchair fans can sniff the failure of it from a mile away,

But a manager who is paid millions fails to see it coming?

batshit crazy.
 
Been saying this for a long time: a one man midfield is a zero man midfield
 
Two seasons in a row, anyone who thinks the players aren't listening, reassess.
 
This 4-2-4 system he has playing is so daft it’s beyond words. We can’t do it effectively cause we don’t press properly and it’s not working yet he continues to do it 3 fecking years in. Stop pressing high up the pitch and have a low block. There is nothing wrong in playing on the counter as long as you get results.
 
The worst thing Ole did was that he signed Bruno and he became a fan favorite at this club and the fans who know feck all about tactical awareness, tempo and basic football.

A team that is chaotic and built to only play transition football will always be this open in the middle.
 
There is no room for a number 10 in the modern game. So we put Bruno as a midfielder and defend a man light every time.
 
CloneMC16 said:
I will never understand a large portion of the fanbase going crazy after one game. Our PL campaign was horrible and CL group stage was horrific.
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People literally signed petitions to keep him on after finishing fecking 8th and last in our CL group!

All while playing horrid football. But hey it’s because the Glazers sold the club and we didn’t have Martinez or Shaw!
 
Ekeke said:
0c7a156cfaa451f94d7e587d81c72002.png


As if it needed to be pointed out, we obviously played 2 midfielders as per normal with Bruno in an attacking area in front
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Look at that nice big gap on the left. How can we be that lopsided? No wonder TAA and Salah had a field day.
 
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