We will never win the league with Bruno Fernandes in the team...

[Rozay]

So if the overall team wasn't good enough to win the league that year, why use the lack of title winning against Bruno?

You can think Bruno is not good enough to play for the best team in the league.

You can't use the lack of a PL title in the last four years as proof.

Harry Kane hasn't won a title. You might think he's not good enough to play for a title winning team.

But Spurs not winning the title doesn't prove your argument.

Clearly, that was never the basis of my argument. Stop running with it ffs. I literally said it in response to points that YOU made. My points are quite simple, and you either agree or don't.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

You mention all these players we could replace - these players were playing just as well as Bruno ffs. Rashford for Mane - pretty sure Rashford scored more goals than Mane even. Martial got 21 goals. Cavani came in and got about 18. And your suggestion is to replace them with not Messi - but Jota?! Jota is a perfect example of a player able to fit into the system of a top team, he's not a better individual than our forwards, give or take for form.

These numbers are almost all incorrect. Martial scored 4 league goals that season (7 in all competitions), and Cavani got 10. Rashford and Mane were equal, but I doubt anyone on this forum will disagree if I say Mane is a better footballer than Rashford and would have improved our 2020/21 team.

And I went with Jota because the other two players I suggested replacing are/were his teammates, clearly. In other words, I'm saying if you took the front three that just fired Liverpool to 90 points and a CL final (scoring 54 league goals across three players) and stuck Bruno Fernandes behind it, I think it'd do better than our guys that scored 32 league goals (across four players) when we finished second. I don't think this is a controversial statement to make.

Let's even get to the point. You watched the games yourself when we finished second and third. You also saw we were miles off winning the league, despite most of our players considered to have played well, especially in the first season. So if you had to turn that same team into title winners, what would you do in the market that you would honestly believe would get it done? If the only answer you can think of is 'buy Mbappe, Verratti, Van Dijk, Haaland' etc - then that just proves my point. Because that isn't what we were up against ourselves. Our rivals had good players playing as great teams. So who from 20/21 would you have upgraded and to make that same team good enough to fight for the league? I mean, we went and added Ronaldo, Sancho and Varane to it and still looked miles off. It's clear as day that we needed to go back to the drawing board and stop this clueless percentage football we have played that worked under Sir Alex but does not in today's game. We needed a new coach, not just for the sake of it, but we needed a new coach BECAUSE we needed to modernise the way we play in order to play a level /brand of football that could compete with the two teams capable of winning the league. Teams that were not full of all the world's best individuals themselves, but they at had the qualities to play the right way. Once we got that coach, we then, obviously, need to get players in that image. In your own opinion, forget mine, is Bruno in such image? This is the simple sequence I have followed to arrive at this thread, so if you disagree with it, tell me which part and why.

Yes, I think he is, because he's a gifted footballer despite his flaws. You think he's not compatible with a modern, top-level approach - the reason I responded to you is because I don't think your arguments to try and "prove" this are particularly sound: nothing in the rest of this paragraph really tells me anything about why Fernandes just can't fit into a top team, or why our 2020/21 season somehow proves this. Without getting into a tedious back and forth, I'll pick out what I think is the most important bit in there: "we were miles off winning the league [when we finished second and third], despite most of our players considered to have played well, especially in the first season" - again, this is simply flawed logic:

1) in the first season, Fernandes joined us 24 league games into the season. In the 14 games he played, we were one of the form teams in the league and virtually doubled our points tally
2) in the second season, "most of our players" did not play well at all, especially the attackers. Martial was AWOL all season, Greenwood was rubbish until March (pretty sure he'd scored twice all season at that point), Rashford was rubbish after March, and Cavani took until February to get going. Hence my point about replacing them all with Jota-Mane-Salah (go Son-Kane-Lucas if you want an example from the same season)

That 2020/21 United team had plenty of flaws, a lot of players in key positions who were off form or just not at the required level, and didn't play the type of well-drilled, cohesive football that would win enough games to sustain a title challenge in most seasons. That doesn't in any way prove that Fernandes, the most consistent attacker in that team, is fundamentally incapable of playing a part in a team that does compete at the top - any more than saying Kane is antithetical to a top level team because he's been at Spurs for a decade and they've only ever finished second and third with him leading the line.

 

[Abraxas]

Theres a bit of a contradiction in saying we'd never win the league with Bruno Fernandes and then saying he's a cherry on top kind of player.

Surely the implication is then that if you have a cohesive team he is the type of player with a cutting edge to make a difference, whatever his other limitations may be in terms of retaining possession or the consistency of what he does on the ball.

Do City win a league with Bruno in the side? They almost certainly do. Would Pep want him in the current side? Possibly not, but to be honest they have the ability to be very picky and we presently do not.

Bruno isn't going to be winning any leagues at the moment because from 1 to 11 we are not good enough. Maybe he isn't either, so I'd say you could make the same thread for any of them. Which of them are proven league winning quality?

 

[Rozay]

These numbers are almost all incorrect. Martial scored 4 league goals that season (7 in all competitions), and Cavani got 10. Rashford and Mane were equal, but I doubt anyone on this forum will disagree if I say Mane is a better footballer than Rashford and would have improved our 2020/21 team.

And I went with Jota because the other two players I suggested replacing are/were his teammates, clearly. In other words, I'm saying if you took the front three that just fired Liverpool to 90 points and a CL final (scoring 54 league goals across three players) and stuck Bruno Fernandes behind it, I think it'd do better than our guys that scored 32 league goals (across four players) when we finished second. I don't think this is a controversial statement to make.



Yes, I think he is, because he's a gifted footballer despite his flaws. You think he's not - the reason I responded to you is because I don't think your arguments to try and "prove" this are particularly sound: nothing in the rest of this paragraph really tells me anything about why Fernandes just can't fit into a top team, or why our 2020/21 season somehow proves this. Without getting into a tedious back and forth, I'll pick out what I think is the most important bit in there: "we were miles off winning the league [when we finished second and third], despite most of our players considered to have played well, especially in the first season" - again, this is simply flawed logic:

1) in the first season, Fernandes joined us 24 league games into the season. In the 14 games he played, we were one of the form teams in the league and virtually doubled our points tally
2) in the second season, "most of our players" did not play well at all, especially the attackers. Martial was AWOL all season, Greenwood was rubbish until March (pretty sure he'd scored twice all season at that point), Rashford was rubbish after March, and Cavani took until February to get going. Hence my point about replacing them all with Jota-Mane-Salah (go Son-Kane-Lucas if you want an example from the same season)

That 2020/21 United team had plenty of flaws, a lot of players in key positions who were off form or just not at the required level, and didn't play the type of well-drilled, football that would sustain a title challenge in most seasons. That doesn't in any way prove that Fernandes, the most consistent attacker in that team, is incapable of playing a part in a team that does compete at the top - any more than saying Kane is antithetical to a top level team because he's been at Spurs for a decade and they've only ever finished second and third with him leading the line.

Well my focus was more on Bruno's first season, as I thought it would be fairer to focus on that one that the one you seem to have more of a preference for when he played considerably worse. In the season we finished third, our front three all got 20+ goals. Well, Greenwood got 17 having only come into the team in the New Year. The following season, you point out the flaws of everyone but Bruno himself, who was not at the same standard as before either.

And the basis of my argument is not your closing paragraph either, so your Kane argument doesn't stand. I think Kane can play in a top team because I think he can go into any top team and make it play better, or at least play at the same level as the rest of the team. And I don't think that about Bruno. I think Kane is a better footballer than Bruno with more outstanding qualities, mainly being that he looks after the ball better. That is the basis of my argument. That doesn't mean I do not feel that Bruno can ever play well. Simply, I don't think he can play well in a high possession team. I have formed this view having watched him and concluded he struggles to keep possession. I think he can play well in a transition and reactive team, I just have my doubts about such a team approach being good enough to win the league anymore. If you disagree with that you are free to but there really is no more to it than that.

 

[Rozay]

Theres a bit of a contradiction in saying we'd never win the league with Bruno Fernandes and then saying he's a cherry on top kind of player.

Surely the implication is then that if you have a cohesive team he is the type of player with a cutting edge to make a difference, whatever his other limitations may be in terms of retaining possession or the consistency of what he does on the ball.

Do City win a league with Bruno in the side? They almost certainly do. Would Pep want him in the current side? Possibly not, but to be honest they have the ability to be very picky and we presently do not.

Bruno isn't going to be winning any leagues at the moment because from 1 to 11 we are not good enough. Maybe he isn't either, so I'd say you could make the same thread for any of them. Which of them are proven league winning quality?

Not really, because I said he's a cherry on top of a cake that is ultimately not a good enough cake. I think he can be a star man in a team that plays a certain way, the issue is that I don't think that way is good enough. It doesn't mean it isn't good, just not good enough. Not anymore.

 

[JPRouve]

Because, when it comes to Fernandes, he don't have energy for anything but running right now. He is running for Sancho, Rashford and Antony. I can't see him play next to Eriksen in this fomation with this kind of wide players because Eriksen is not good enough to play defensive game when Fernandes is all over place. I don't have any issue McTominay playing like he did last month.

But it's not a new thing, Bruno being poor when it comes to the possession phase is normal, it has nothing to do with running too much at the moment. Bruno has a career pass success percentage of 76.4. He has never been a reliable recycler and he has largely been subpar against top oppositions.

 

[Abraxas]

Not really, because I said he's a cherry on top of a cake that is ultimately not a good enough cake. I think he can be a star man in a team that plays a certain way, the issue is that I don't think that way is good enough. It doesn't mean it isn't good, just not good enough. Not anymore.

And what though? Any of us can say any of our players won't feature in a league winning side. It's not a compelling statement because very few are title winners and even fewer title winners in England. Which player would your thread not apply to? I could pick holes in any of them, I'd just swap possession play and individualism for whatever their apparent flaws are.

Maybe he's not, but ultimately we have bigger problems than focusing on a guy that scores and provides a lot of our goals and that's my issue with making a big deal out of Bruno at this juncture. You can say we're never going to win a league but I'd be extremely happy to see that experiment play out when I'm confident we've got a nucleus of players that are anywhere near good enough. We're at least a couple of transfer windows from that on the evidence of what City are capable of. For now we need him, I'm pretty confident of that.

 

[Rozay]

And what though? Any of us can say any of our players won't feature in a league winning side. It's not a compelling statement because very few are title winners and even fewer title winners in England. Which player would your thread not apply to? I could pick holes in any of them, I'd just swap possession play and individualism for whatever their apparent flaws are.

Maybe he's not, but ultimately we have bigger problems than focusing on a guy that scores and provides a lot of our goals and that's my issue with making a big deal out of Bruno at this juncture. You can say we're never going to win a league but I'd be extremely happy to see that experiment play out when I'm confident we've got a nucleus of players that are anywhere near good enough. We're at least a couple of transfer windows from that on the evidence of what City are capable of. For now we need him, I'm pretty confident of that.

And nothing. That's it. As I've said a few times, this same thread has been made about others over the years by people who have felt that we were hanging our hat on the wrong players in key positions. And it's been considered fair enough. I've made this thread because this is how I feel about Bruno, but clearly, he's off limits. Now it's all about 'what about this player and that player though?' Well I'm talking about this player today.

 

[Leftback99]

His new contract was ridiculous and has basically made him undroppable when his performances are terrible.

He should be competing for a wide role with Sancho, Rashford and Antony because we just concede the midfield by playing 2 plus him.

He, like Sancho, Rashford and others are fortunate that the defence takes all the flak for bad results when our attack can't dominate games at all.

 

[Gordon S]

We dont have one single player at the level we would need to beat this City team to the title.
Bruno being sloppy in possesion is just one of our problems.

 

[King Azaz the Unabridged]

Well my focus was more on Bruno's first season, as I thought it would be fairer to focus on that one that the one you seem to have more of a preference for when he played considerably worse. In the season we finished third, our front three all got 20+ goals. Well, Greenwood got 17 having only come into the team in the New Year. The following season, you point out the flaws of everyone but Bruno himself, who was not at the same standard as before either.

Yes, because despite not maintaining the same levels in the second half of 2020/21, he was comfortably better over the season than any of them. I'm mostly ignoring 2019/20 because Fernandes wasn't even around for over half of it

And the basis of my argument is not your closing paragraph either, so your Kane argument doesn't stand. I think Kane can play in a top team because I think he can go into any top team and make it play better, or at least play at the same level as the rest of the team. And I don't think that about Bruno. I think Kane is a better footballer than Bruno with more outstanding qualities, mainly being that he looks after the ball better. That is the basis of my argument. That doesn't mean I do not feel that Bruno can ever play well. Simply, I don't think he can play well in a high possession team. I have formed this view having watched him and concluded he struggles to keep possession. I think he can play well in a transition and reactive team, I just have my doubts about such a team approach being good enough to win the league anymore. If you disagree with that you are free to but there really is no more to it than that.

Then you can understand why I entered this discussion where I did (post 137), quoting the specific post that I did (127, which was responding directly to 121 - a post I agree with the gist of).

I don't have a problem with any of the rest - it's fine to think Fernandes's weaknesses in possession outweigh the benefits of his creativity. The issue is with using his best form for us in the past to try and argue "this was his best and that team was nowhere near good enough".

 

[Rozay]

Yes, because despite not maintaining the same levels in the second half of 2020/21, he was comfortably better over the season than any of them. I'm mostly ignoring 2019/20 because Fernandes wasn't even around for over half of it



Then you can understand why I entered this discussion where I did (post 137), quoting the specific post that I did (127, which was responding directly to 121 - a post I agree with the gist of).

I don't have a problem with any of the rest - it's fine to think Fernandes's weaknesses in possession outweigh the benefits of his creativity. The issue is with using his best form for us in the past to try and argue "this was his best and that team was nowhere near good enough".

Well I don't think he was comfortably better at all. My recollection of the second half of the season, in which he scored what, 1 goal from open play, was him playing poorly and everyone on here saying it was due to him being fatigued. He was certainly not 'comfortably better' than Cavani across the season, and in the second half of the season, he was behind Cavani, Pogba and Greenwood in my personal opinion.

I never brought this season into the thread, I only responded to it being used as an example. I'm not sure what it's an example of, as it's obviously not an example of when we were able to win the league with him in it. I agree that the two seasons represent an example of him playing better at times than he is now, but so what? His ability to ever play well was never my point, it's always been the ability of 'Bruno Ball', effectively, to win titles.

 

[90 + 5min]

But it's not a new thing, Bruno being poor when it comes to the possession phase is normal, it has nothing to do with running too much at the moment. Bruno has a career pass success percentage of 76.4. He has never been a reliable recycler and he has largely been subpar against top oppositions.

Ofcourse it have an affect. When tired, you make misstakes. Bad decisions. I agree that he is sometimes reckless with ball and need to work on that. But on other hand, he is that kind of player who can give you everything from brilliant to poor passes.

 

[JPRouve]

Ofcourse it have an affect. When tired, you make misstakes. Bad decisions. I agree that he is sometimes reckless with ball and need to work on that. But on other hand, he is that kind of player who can give you everything from brilliant to poor passes.

So you are saying that he has been tired for the entirety of his career? From the first minute of nearly every games to the last?

 

[pascell]

He and Fred can't play in the same team, neither knows how to press with intelligence and leave huge gaps behind them when they press like a headless chicken.

His passing the past 18 months has been horrific also and I'm sick of him moaning to refs at any given opportunity.

 

[Canagel]

Forget the Premier League we won't any trophy with him as a main starter. I have been vocal enough about him and have deliberately avoided his thread recently because I got tired of repeating the same things every week.

His die hard defenders need to come to the terms he isn't the messiah they portrayed him as.

 

[Marwood]

And nothing. That's it. As I've said a few times, this same thread has been made about others over the years by people who have felt that we were hanging our hat on the wrong players in key positions. And it's been considered fair enough. I've made this thread because this is how I feel about Bruno, but clearly, he's off limits. Now it's all about 'what about this player and that player though?' Well I'm talking about this player today.

Which other players have had a thread started about them saying we'll never win a league with them?

Apart from Pogba.

 

[90 + 5min]

So you are saying that he has been tired for the entirety of his career? From the first minute of nearly every games to the last?

Are you saying that he is poor player and have been through career? I don't think you are fair at all now.

A player like him will have brilliant to bad passes. It is because of lot of different things. From players you play with to condition you are in. This year, I have said why I think he is little bit reckless when he is in possesion of the ball.

 

[Silas]

Not sure what this is all about. Pogba, who missed 81 games in 5 seasons and voted by caf as someone with whom we can't win the league, Herrera, who wanted to leave and again voted by caf as someone who is not good enough to win the league with and old Matic.

Talking specifically about their performances during that season.

 

[JPRouve]

Are you saying that he is poor player and have been through career? I don't think you are fair at all now.

A player like him will have brilliant to bad passes. It is because of lot of different things. From players you play with to condition you are in. This year, I have said why I think he is little bit reckless when he is in possesion of the ball.

No I made my point perfectly clear, Bruno is poor during the possession phase, he has always been like that, regardless of who plays with him and which club he plays for. Trying to put it on tiredness is strange when we are talking about a trait that has existed for the entirety of his career, everywhere.

Bruno is a player that shines through isolated moments, he is one of these players that is often average to below average for the vast majority of games but create one or two great opportunities. This kind of player is often crucial for teams that aren't at the top and a problem for teams that are.

 

[Siorac]

I don’t understand Bruno or the role he’s playing

He joined and looked world class as an attacking midfielder/second striker behind the front man scoring goals and making assists for fun

Hes nowhere near that player these days he’s almost a deep playmaker who struggles to pick out players and constantly gives the ball away it’s a complete waste of time.

You want Bruno in and around the box for some reason he’s been playing like a De Bruyne clone who can barely pass a ball

This is pretty much the point. He can't play like a De Bruyne because he's simply not that player - but having him in and around the box means, essentially, a two-striker formation and those are very hard to pull off nowadays without going three at the back. Bruno certainly doesn't warrant such a major tactical switch. Trying to get him to play as a third midfielder is pointless, however. That's the dilemma.

 

[honirelandboy]

The 4-2-3-1 formation just needs to be scrapped. Its not working and didn't work under Ole. We need to switch to three solid centre midfielders in a 4-3-3 and I'd actually play VDB Casemiro and Fred. Could Bruno be accommodated as a false nine with Martial on the left and Anthony on the right. Rashford and Sancho need to be dropped and quick. Could we go 4-3-2-1 with Anthony and Bruno as attacking midfielders and Martial as the striker.
Something needs to be changed quickly. I hate that fecking 4-2-3-1 formation. Needs to be changed.

 

[DJBillRemfry]

Teams that lose games where they concede fours, fives and sixes on an increasingly common basis need to be worrying about the other end of the league.

It's the kind of thing that happens to Bournemouth and Norwich.

 

[sosolid4u09]

Yea watching eriksen week in week out exposes brunos lack of technique even more. Eriksens touch, passing, control and all round awareness pisses all over brunos

 

[Lay]

Yeah, he’s far too inconsistent with the ball. Won’t work for a club trying to win trophies

 

[(...)]

I can see him having a similar path to the one Ozil had with us. He's by far your most creative player, but it's so hard these days to fit a player like that in a top team.
This second striker / AM role is disappearing and players like Bruno need to play as 8 or as false wingers. Not sure Bruno has what it takes to sacrifice for the team.

 

[cyril C]

So what? Similar argument can be drawn on Rooney, who is too short to be a #9, lack discipline in some cases, particularly off pitch, but he is still the top scorer in Club's history. In fact, similar argument can be drawn on Messi as well, although not on the discipline part. You simply have to build a team around him. It was too much to do when we had BOTH Pogba and Bruno in the same team, but focusing on 1 player is easier, by accommodating your tactics and squad to maximise his strength and cover his weakness.

IMO, David Silva, Mata, Maddision, VDB, Makit, Kagawa are similar in this cateogry, you just have to decide whether such player (in your squad) that worth the effort. And IMO, only Silva is worth it in hindsight.

 

[tjb]

So what? Similar argument can be drawn on Rooney, who is too short to be a #9, lack discipline in some cases, particularly off pitch, but he is still the top scorer in Club's history. In fact, similar argument can be drawn on Messi as well, although not on the discipline part. You simply have to build a team around him. It was too much to do when we had BOTH Pogba and Bruno in the same team, but focusing on 1 player is easier, by accommodating your tactics and squad to maximise his strength and cover his weakness.

IMO, David Silva, Mata, Maddision, VDB, Makit, Kagawa are similar in this cateogry, you just have to decide whether such player (in your squad) that worth the effort. And IMO, only Silva is worth it in hindsight.

Bruno is a decisive player and his direct play and his belief in his abilities was the reason he came into the team and almost singlehandedly carried our attack for 2 seasons. In those seasons, because of his influence, we finished 3rd and 2nd.

What was his influence? Creating chances out of nothing, scoring goals and linking our attack to the rest of the team on his own, something we hadn't managed since 2013 prior to his arrival.

Now the team has signed good players since then, but the performance of the team hasn't improved. Due to his numbers dropping off and the team not performing well, Bruno is now part of the problem apparently. Now he doesn't have the hold up ability or insane first touch to react to poor possession.

The funny thing is, the problem with our team has been our ability to control the midfield, both in getting the ball back and in moving the ball to the attack. Bruno is a very good pressing player and at times has been the only player in our front 6 that actually harasses the opposition. He's also the only player prior to the arrival of Eriksen that has had the bravery to consistently try and connect our defence and midfield to the attack. Yet somehow he seems to be getting more blame. In fact, some have clamoured for him to be replaced by Eriksen, without actually realizing the workload he's had to endure covering spaces in attack and midfield due to how poorly players around him have pressed since the start of 21-22. In fact, I would make the case, that this, more than anything else, is the reason for a slight drop off in performance. He's expended so much energy in trying to do too many things and covering defensively, that it's affected his ability to attack. Rashford, Ronaldo and Sancho have consistently been lazy since last season. Where despite their shortcomings in 20/21, the likes of Cavani, Martial and Rashford were capable of supporting his pressing, this has not been the case over the last season.

What's concerning about the criticism is the premise. We seem to have only ever blamed our highest quality, high profile players during the last ten years. If we got Hazard and he played during this period with his 14/15 form, people here would be saying his overdribbling would be inconducive to a title winning team. We did the same thing with Pogba. Ibrahimovic in 2017 was blocking our attack from flourishing apparently. Di Maria was too selfish too. Yet not enough is said about the true reasons why we have struggled in those periods. Players like Mctominay, Fellani, Herrera, Daniel James, Andreas Pereira, Lingard etc have been consistent features in our front 6. We've also had the likes of Maguire, Smalling, Jones, AWB, Darmian and Telles in the back as well. Yet somehow, despite being our best performers, De Gea, Bruno, Pogba, Lukaku, Ibrahimovic and Di Maria have been the players to get peppered with criticism, discounting all the things they have to deal with. It would be like Tottenham blaming Kane for not winning the league. Eriksen is not better than Bruno. His lack of athleticism has not been nearly as exposed due to not having to cover the no.10 position and that's something a lot of fans are discounting.

Should we change our formation? Maybe. But Bruno should be the first name in our attack, given that he's been our best and most consistent player since the day he arrived. This guy, a midfielder, scored 28 goals and had almost 20 assists in the 20/21 season. This is the guy people want to scapegoat????

 

[NZT-One]

Are you saying that he is poor player and have been through career? I don't think you are fair at all now.

A player like him will have brilliant to bad passes. It is because of lot of different things. From players you play with to condition you are in. This year, I have said why I think he is little bit reckless when he is in possesion of the ball.

A little bit reckless? He is giving the ball away on a pretty regular basis, often while attempting low percentage passes. Obviously a player like that can be benefitial. But the really good ones learn to know the moments when to take risks and when doing something easier is better. Bruno is a truly instinctive player with awesome vision and seemingly fantastic eye-foot-ball coordination. But there is every reason to get seriously skeptical about his decision making.

So what? Similar argument can be drawn on Rooney, who is too short to be a #9, lack discipline in some cases, particularly off pitch, but he is still the top scorer in Club's history. In fact, similar argument can be drawn on Messi as well, although not on the discipline part. You simply have to build a team around him. It was too much to do when we had BOTH Pogba and Bruno in the same team, but focusing on 1 player is easier, by accommodating your tactics and squad to maximise his strength and cover his weakness.

IMO, David Silva, Mata, Maddision, VDB, Makit, Kagawa are similar in this cateogry, you just have to decide whether such player (in your squad) that worth the effort. And IMO, only Silva is worth it in hindsight.

That might be true but a team that is trying to make better use of possession, especially one that is slowly learning to adapt such a system, isn't really helped by having someone in the team who gives it away as often as he does. As long as he isn't able to learn when to take risks and when it is better to pick an easy pass to keep the ball moving he will be problematic for a side, that tries to make more use of possession. I don't say, Bruno can't learn that but until now, he doesn't seem to improve on that aspect since he joined us. Because even when he was making goals and assists, it was kind of a numbers game, if Bruno goes for 11 hollywood balls over the top, good chances that one will reach Rashford.
I hope ETH can teach him something.

 

[berbatrick]

This is a mirror, not just of the same argument with DDG, but also with RvN in 2006. Not sure why people are finding it so hard to grasp.

I'll admit I'm bitter because I always thought there was massive potential for a 4-3-3 with Pogba having an advanced role which the club and coaches refused for 3.5 years and 7 transfer windows of directionless brainless spending. Bruno's signing was the end of any chance of that, and now the team has to be wedded to 4-2-3-1 forever.

Objectively (as much as possible) - I don't think he works in one of these heavily coached teams that have been doing well. City, Liverpool, Barca, PSG and Real all play 4-3-3, where he simply doesn't have a position. You can argue City play two 10s, but KdB is better in every department, and Bernardo Silva is *much* safer with the ball. And PSG have their free-role reckless stars, but accommodating Messi is a different level of problem.
For the other big teams... I don't know if he'll improve Arsenal, since Odegaard does a safer, less flashy job, and I have no idea what Bayern are doing nowadays with Muller.

I thought his matches against Liverpool and Arsenal were much better and promising that he could be more disciplined, but now I don't know...

 

[TheNewEra]

I never liked Brunos lack of game management. He looks for holly wood every chance he can. When he can retain possession or keep control of a game he tries a through ball or just do something that hands the ball back.

When I first saw him for United I wasn't enamoured but he had a great run of form. I just saw he took too many risks, and ultimately if Bruno has a shit game the entire team does. Is it because Bruno is our best player? is it because without Bruno we just whimper to nothing? no it's because he will just give the ball away and everything turns to turd.

With him you get the ball back, play the ball to him and if he has a bad game the other team just takes the ball and you are back under pressure.

He's a very good player, and might be in a very good pressing team but its night and day between him and De Bruyne who just picks the right options.

 

[always_hoping]

Never win the league with "insert player you don't like" in the team.

Can such winning the league talk be curbed until such time that United have team good and consistent enough to actually challenge and newsflash that will not be this season.

 

[RedRonaldo]

I’ve said it many times, Bruno is essentially a great counter attack player, and a very bad possession player. If we build our team purely around counter attacker system, he will shine and we may get our best result out of it. Anything else we will suffer m because of him.

Unfortunately (for him), we have a manager who shines based on possession football.

 

[colombianmancunian]

Terrible thread. This is a team sport: when the team is clicking and as ETH said “believing”, Bruno is world class. When the team starts bad, Bruno and most of our players have a bad day.

Please don’t look for scape goats. We lost to the most in form team at the moment, and we played badly as a whole.

I’m sure Bruno will be key, when we win the league again in a few years. Stop the senseless negativity and scapegoating.

 

[croadyman]

Never win the league with "insert player you don't like" in the team.

Can such winning the league talk be curbed until such time that United have team good and consistent enough to actually challenge and newsflash that will not be this season.

Won't win it until leeches, Guardiola and that robot decide to make league interesting again by leaving

 

[TheNewEra]

Won't win it until leeches, Guardiola and that robot decide to make league interesting again by leaving

Good news for you, I strongly believe Guardiola will leave in the summer, and the robots dad said he will do 2-3 years in each league.

The increasing silver lining is when the Robot leaves KBD will be 34, and Bernado Silva might have gone to Barca.

The worst news is, City have a succession plan for Guardiola and they're a brilliantly run football club.

 

[croadyman]

Good news for you, I strongly believe Guardiola will leave in the summer, and the robots dad said he will do 2-3 years in each league.

The increasing silver lining is when the Robot leaves KBD will be 34, and Bernado Silva might have gone to Barca.

The worst news is, City have a succession plan for Guardiola and they're a brilliantly run football club.

Brilliantly run but owners bent as anything, sadly Guardiola won't leave even when they finally win Champions League this year.

 

[TheNewEra]

Brilliantly run but owners bent as anything, sadly Guardiola won't leave even when they finally win Champions League this year.

Watching his interviews he hints at a break.

He said he will discuss his future in the summer but added: "After the World Cup we will talk. The best for the club, for me. When you play every three days, it's like eating spaghetti every day - at the right moment, I want to eat something else. Maybe take a break is good."

He also said in an interview last year: "Being a manager it is your life, you wake up football, you go to sleep at night you think about football, as a player you can switch off as a manager you can't"

He did 3 years at Bayern, he's on his 7th year at City, I think he's going to step down this summer .

 

[croadyman]

Watching his interviews he hints at it.

He said he will discuss his future in the summer but added: "It's like eating pasta every day, I love pasta but I don't enjoy eating it every day"

He also said: "Being a manager it is your life, you wake up football, you go to sleep at night you think about football, as a player you can switch off as a manager you can't"

He did 3 years at Bayern, he's on his 7th year at City, I think he's going to step down this summer .

No chance when he has unlimited resources and lawyers able to buy them off any charges too

 

[TheNewEra]

No chance when he has unlimited resources and lawyers able to buy them off any charges too

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