₦airaland Forum

Nezzjnr:
Did we all watch Fred during the Copa Competition

Good question...

CapitalCee:
Bruno is holding the team down? So you are atrributing Sporting not winning the league 2 years ago because of Bruno? Forgetting they changed their Manager and brought in new players in Central Midfield and Defence and changed their formation to back 3? Nawao the extent you can go to slander Bruno all because Fred cannot control a bag of cement

We have all acknowledged the fact that Fred aka eph12 is not a competent DM hence we need to starve the opposition of the ball as they cannot hurt us without the ball. To keep the ball, you need your players playing close to each other and in their respective positions. Bruno drifts from his position the most leaving it unoccupied for the most part. How do you expect Pogba to support Fred and still link the midfield and attack?

timay1:
Lampard was scoring all the goals for Chelsea but it didn't stop them from winning Trophies.

We could have won the FA cup last season as well as the Europa league. Fred sent us out of the FA, Ole and De Gea lost us the Europa. It had nothing to do with Bruno scoring all the goals. Infact. It appeared like that because Martial that was supposed to contribute was shit. And greenwood had a slow start to the season due to obvious personal issues he had at the beginning of the season.

Bruno scoring won't stop us from winning Trophies it infact supposed to improve our chances

He should just do the basics expected from him and that is; linking the midfield and attack. The Gail's and assist will come. However, if he keeps scoring/assisting whilst leaving a gapping hole between midfield and attack, we will continue to celebrate his numbers and his numbers only while the team suffers...

Bruno has always had elite numbers however, his team pays the price...

It looked like he was the heartbeat of Sporting but he left and they won the Portuguese Premier Liga...

There’s a problem when a midfielder is consistently the top scorer of a top club like Manchester United. If Bruno is a forward, let Ole just play him as a false 9 and get another body in midfield.

With our obvious lack of a quality DM, we need 3 bodies in midfield and not 2 and a half.

CapitalCee:
Neves and Moutinho where free because Wolves were playing 3 at the back and our wingers James and Sancho were ineffective. So Bruno should troble 5 defenders alone? How can he link Midfield and attack when the Midfield is non existent. So Bruno should go and get the ball from Varane/Maguire then go ahead and trouble Wolves back 5? While Fred and Pogba will be eating salad

Between the 3 CBs and 2 midfielders, there's space and that's where Bruno was supposed to operate from and in the process forcing one of the two midfielders to drop back or dragging one CB out of position but he abandoned that space and instead pushed forward, close to their box that is already choked.

eph12:
Lol Pogba now likes to recycle ball with the CBs. There's plenty instances when the midfield held the ball and everyone was running forward hoping for a looped ball and some miracle. Even Bruno that should come closer, collect the ball and create quality chances. That's why Wolves were able to deal with our threat comfortably.

Bruno was making runs like Inzaghi will do...

Umtiti, Greizmann, Lenglet, Dembele...4 French men earning good money yet little in the way of end product...

Barcelona lost Messi but still have the aforementioned players in their books. Wonders shall never end.

eph12:
You saw James on Traore at any point or in the midfield? I can't remember seeing this

Whatever Ole had in his head didn't work out. Maybe he was thinking James will worry their LWB forcing Traore to drop deep but no, James didn't do nothing...

TheLequte:
Finally finally Trevor has gotten to you.

I am sure if you go back to last season, you'd find me talking about Bruno's rushed passes even before that guy became a regular here...

eph12:
It wasn't a 2 vs 2 because even Traore was drifting into the midfield

I just pointed it out to CapitalCee. Fred was dragged all over the pitch by Traore leaving Pogba alone. If Bruno maintained his position, one of Moutinho or Neves would have had to sit back or one of their CB push up freeing up space for our attackers but no, Bruno must be the furthest man forward for whatever reason.

CapitalCee:
So Pogba and Fred cant engage Moutinho and Neves to allow Bruno to attack? Are we Burnley? So how are we supposed to scored if all we do is midfield battle royale, who are Neves and Moutinho? May be if we meet Bayern in UCL Cavani, Rashford and Sancho and even CR7 will join to rescue Pogba and Fred because you will be coming up against Goreztker and Kimich. My brother leave matter lol

Bayern have Muller in Bruno's position. All to teams have that link man between midfield and attack.

Traore was causing enough havoc meaning Fred was dragged all over the place leaving Pogba alone against Moutinho (This guy is no slush) and Neves. We didn't have a forward player causing them enough problems to worry Neves and Moutinho...

eph12:
Even Messi comes into the midfield to help out, but but

See them already agitated because Bruno is mentioned...

Moutinho and Neves were able to dominate the midfield yesterday because they had little defensive responsibility no thanks to Bruno abandoning his role in our set up. If Bruno was positionally disciplined yesterday, one of Moutinho or Neves would have had to sit deep to defend against him but no, Bruno was playing more as a striker. Greenwood will take it because he is a young lad but Ronaldo won't tolerate it. Bruno should focus on his primary responsibility of linking the midfield and attack...He can still score or assist from there though his numbers will drop but it will be for the overall good of the team.

afrodoc2:
[/b]
Wahala dey be that.

With VDB though i noticed he reduced his off the ball runs towards the end of last season and during preseason. He started functioning more as a CM which is what we asked for.

The guy bulked up and made changes to his game, impressed in pre-season but still the manager is yet to give him any minutes. Only Amaka can explain that one.

VDB should ask to leave, Ole has no use for him.

ChristineC:
we could have retained Pereira then..
besides, one of the stats that doesn't blind says Bruno has covered the most pitch area in Man United since his debut.. even more than Fred.

Positional discipline...

CapitalCee:
I dont understand what you mean by carefully assess his contribution and remove goals/assists from setplays?
Bruno doesn't take corner kicks, and he rarely takes far distance freekicks shaw takes most, the only free kick he takes are ones he has a chance of converting from close range, its only penalties that boasts his G/A stats from setplays. He is the best in both close range FKs and PKs, so how is that a negative for him.

If Patrick is saying Bruno should tone down his hunger for his G/A number to help out in midfield fine, and it is in good faith. You are sounding as if Bruno is a passenger and those his contributions are worthless, when infact we are having this conversation because those saddled with the responsibility of holding their forth in Midfield failed in their duty. In 10/11 Season it was Carrick and Giggs that held the Midfiled for most of the season with aplomb, no one is slandering Rooney's G/A record, because Bruno is occupying the Rooneyesque position.

In France Pogba is flourishing because Kante is a tank and he is good on the ball, alowwing Greizman to join the attack and drop deep occasionally, thats exactly what Ole asked Bruno to do. Our First goal versus Leads clearly showed that, also last season away to Leicester and numerous more. Why should you assess Bruno's contribution and chalk out his G/A record from set plays because our DM and CM are incapable? The conversation you should be making seriously was why Moutinho and Neves ran rings all over pogba and Fred not Bruno who is trying to score and win the game. Moreover Bruno have not scored any goal from set play this season so why the scrutiny on him

This is what we expected to see yesterday.

............................Bruno................................
..............Moutinho......Neves.......................
..............Pogba............Fred...... ...................

If Bruno had occupied that position illustrated above, no way will Neves and Mourinho have the freedom to dictate the play. Bruno left that position and it became a 2 vs 2 midfield battle when in all honesty it was supposed to be 2 vs 3 in midfield.

TheLequte:
So, you’re saying Bruno was benched at the Euros because he wasn’t in sync with Ronaldo - not for any other reason- and that he’ll be benched at Man Itd because he won’t be in sync with Ronaldo?

Who in the past wasn’t in sync with Ronaldo and got benched as a result? And how did Bruno bench other people because they weren’t in sync with him? You said it’s what Bruno does to other people too.

Please explain. I just want to understand.

You are trying to twist my point for whatever reason.

I said Bruno didn't interpret his role on the pitch to perfection or t a level desired hence he was benched...With Ronaldo, Bruno will have to play more as the attacking midfielder that he is else Ronaldo will end up frustrated...

ChristineC:
what else is his job?

Was David Silva all about goals and assist? Check other renowned attacking midfielders. Bruno should do more to link the midfield and attack. A simple pass sometimes to retain possession will do...

I am not blinded by stats...

96forever:
What does Bruno do to others?


You really believe this? He was benched cause they were getting destroyed with a double pivot consisting of those slow mfs, they had to switch to a three to tighten up and Renato Sanches is better at a 3 than Bruno.

Is Bruno not part of the 3? Bruno is not a forward, he is an AMF whose responsibility it is to link the midfield and attack.

What he does to others? Have a go at them for not playing well. Bruno loses possession way too many times even for an AMF. His theatrics is another thing entirely. If Lindelof was the culprit for that Sotton goal, Bruno would have had a go at him.

eph12:
This is my point here but people think I'm trying to defend Fred. Keeping the ball masks helps the team a lot in many ways. Less chasing for the team

That's why I argued the other day that Rodri will look average in our system whist Fred will look world class in that Man City set up...We rush passes as if we are a relegation threatened team.

afrodoc2:
[/b]

I am starting to think it is a tactical instruction from Amaka and his coaching crew because why else would he keep doing the same thing and it has not been corrected.
Especially this is not a matter of skill or talent but just tactical deployment. The guy stays so close to the CF that we are almost playing a 4-2-4 formation.

They're issues we have identified on these board with a lot of our players yet they remain issues. VDB for instance.

I don't think Ole is even aware it's an issue talk less of it being a tactical instruction...

TheLequte:
I’m curious. What does CR7 do to others?

What Bruno does to others...

Bruno was relegated to the bench in the Euros because he was not in sync with CR7. He was supposed to be their creative outlet but he left the job for Carvalho and the other guy.

adisaaowala:
Baba, the truth is that this is a conversation most peeps here arent ready for.

I talked about his game during the Euros but some folks here jumped at his defense. The thing with folks here is that when a match is ongoing, you see folks talking about the very issues affecting the team but once we some how manage to bag the 3 pts, they forget about all the issues they had earlier pointed out...

When a match is ongoing, you hardly see Bruno between the midfield and attack and when he is around that position and gets the ball, he loses it because he is so much in a hurry to release the pass...With Ronaldo, he will need to be more a creator, a patient one at that because CR7 will not hesitate to do to him what he does to others...

afrodoc2:
Trincao and Traore especially got tired in the 2nd half as well and that allowed us some space to breath. Another thing was AWB giving Traore some breathing space rather than rushing towards him rashly like he was doing in the first half.

Traore prefers you to rush him or close mark him so he can roll you or outmuscle you and then leave you behind. That is why i liked the way Varane was holding him off and marking the space rather than rushing to make a tackle.

Varane showed his experience and intelligence in dealing with Traore...

elampiro:
What I saw in today's match

1. One would wonder if it was the same team that played Leeds two weeks ago that played Southampton and Wolves. There seems to be only one player that has missed the last two games and that is McTominay. This guy seems highly underrated by fans.

2. The first game, it looked like we have a playing system. Todayäs game we looked like we have no playing system until the last quarter when the players slowed the game down.

3. Forward players were not making movements today, thereby giving fewer passing options and forcing the passers to make mistakes.

4. With a new player (Sancho), there was a little lack of understanding of one another. Having James on the other side made it worse. Cohesion was lacking.

5. The DM was a problem today and the last game. But the pairing was also a problem. I think McTominay and Fred should fight for that position for now, and whoever is pairing with them should trust them enough to play ahead of them instead of on a parallel line with them. This was the case of Matic and Pogba. The problem with these two is lack of pace. McTominay would easily leave Fred behind and can return quickly if there is a problem. Vice versa ....
But I think McTominay looks like the guy who will get the role at the end.

Well said...

eph12:
At a time when Wolves were all over our midfield, being physical and all, the team could have done better to keep the ball and pass around, making wolves team tire out and frustrated. But they were always in a hurry to get forward, losing the ball easily.

What exactly is Bruno's role in the midfield?

We will have to talk about Bruno away from his goals and assist at some point...

elampiro:
I think the rest of the team and coach should have the trust that whoever is playing DM, has the ability to do the job. It's when Pogba decided to shift to final third and Fred was left alone that we began to play well in the last quarter of the game. If Pogba had remained there with Fred, not trusting him to do well by himself, we would not have won.

Another perspective...I noticed we improved too and thought to myself that maybe Ole told the players to relax and keep the ball more...

Nice one...Forza Milan...

That UCL group is just too tough tbh.

Illimitable:
David De Gea: “28 unbeaten games away from home, it is something difficult to make, but now it is time to fight for titles not records."

DDG should be United’s captain. I hope Ole doesn’t bench him after this latest remark.

Gbam!

It's not the time to celebrate records without trophies.

handelex:
Ole needs to address this asap. It's becoming a joke.

I doubt he even realizes it's a problem.

Illimitable:
Rodri does what Fernandinho does. He’s even getting better at it than Fernandinho these days.

Fernandinho laid the blueprint that other DMs at the club must follow & Fernandinho was so clever at it that he makes the fouls in the opponents half and he doesn’t even get booked 9 times out of 10 with those professional fouls.

Herrera could have done this job but the Norwegian fraud sold him.

I am not disputing the fact that we need a solid DM but our players have to play close to each other and press as a unit...

elrony:
Make Henderson buy Aboniki and extra foam, be like he fit need am this season.

De Gea still has 3 solid years in him...With Varane and hopefully a DM to come, watch us keep clean sheets...

GloryIsaac:
He didn’t do bad when he came on. Hope he kicks from there.

I know I still have you on that bandwagon...When he gets going, you go come out fully...