Forget his goals, assists and creativity. Bruno is Man Utd’s problem…

The Mailbox illustrates why Bruno is the problem for Man Utd, despite all the goals, assists and creativity. Also: keep the two-legged ties…

Have your say to theeditor@football365.com.

Bruno is the problem
Some say that he is the second coming of Eric Cantona, the man who glued us together as the final piece of the puzzle.
Some say he is better than Paul Scholes, Scholes himself has said rather tongue and cheek that he is better than he was.

Bruno is in no way, shape or form even close to being what Cantona was for us and to say he is better or even on the same level as Scholes is just ludicrous. To say otherwise is just embarrassing.

Since his arrival he has given us goals and given us assists which is what the team needed at the time. The team however are still no better and no further forward than they were when he arrived. It just seems that the idea of Fernandes being the one who is dragging us through games and carrying the other underperforming players, is a far better narrative than the one of him being a Martyr, wanting to be everywhere, do everything and save us single handedly.

Over the many years of watching Utd, there is one player who stands out who can play that role, that was Rooney. That bloke was literally everywhere and he did carry us for a few years. I remember when the talk about him going to Chelsea was alive and kicking with Jose running his mouth. Chelsea turned up and Rooney ran the show with an incredible selfless performance. In fact, Rooney was always the guy to do all the donkey work that made the other players. Dare I say that without Rooney playing a supporting role, Ronaldo would not have thrived like he did. At the time, he was the glue that bonded us through his sheer will to win.

Back in the 2000’s we had a player who scored an absolute hatful for us. Ruud was without a doubt one of the best finishers I’ve ever seen. Forget Kane, Ruud was way ahead of him, but like Kane, having a player scoring the majority of the goals for your team doesn’t necessarily make you successful. During Ruuds time at the club, we had one of our leanest spells trophy wise and Fergie knew that to move forward, Ruud had to go.

Watching Utd these days, there are some minute signs of green shoots. I think Ralf is slowly finding out more about the players, which is not an easy job. For example, Fred can look like he can do the job one game, then he’s dire and stinking up the place for the next 5, which is the same as all the other players. They’ll have one good game a month, after that people will say they have turned a corner and that they’ll kick on from here. Trouble is they haven’t and they haven’t for a very long time.

So let me come out and say it, maybe, just maybe Bruno is the problem. I don’t quite see where he is playing each game. He isn’t talented enough to have such a free role and yet, game on game we see him at left back, right back, acting as a defensive midfield, out on the either wing, in front of the main front man, behind the main front man, the bloke is everywhere except where he is actually supposed to be.
It looks like the majority of time when Fred or McTominay lose the ball, it’s because they have no outlet to play it to because Bruno is nowhere to be seen. We are having to rely on an under-pressure Fred and McTom to try and pick a pass way further than their skill set allows because Bruno is not where he should be.

Prime example was the Brighton game in the first half when Fred plays a pass inside to nobody, Brighton attack and carve through Maguire and Shaw like they’re cheese, then from nowhere we see Bruno sliding in the try and block the shot. This is our attacking midfielder, the guy who is supposed to be the link between Fred and the front guys sliding in to block a shot from open play. Some might say that he is putting a shift in, I however say that if he had been where he was supposed to be when Fred played the pass, then the attack would have been going the other way. Football is sometimes played on instincts, knowing where the player is automatically. With Bruno going AWOL, how is anyone supposed to know where he is?

There are countless examples of this every game. We all slate Fred and McTom, even Matic when he plays yet many times, they have zero options because when they look up, all they must see is a sea of opposition players. If by miracle, in the split second they have, they do see Bruno, he’s standing there asking for a pass with the opposition right up his behind. I quote, he stands there, no movement to find any space.
Another example from the first half of Brighton, Maguire to Shaw, to McTom, to Lindelof, into Fred, back to Maguire, then again to Shaw. Rinse and repeat because the link up guy is not where he’s supposed to be. A few times he was stood out with either Sancho or Elanga, leaving such a huge hole in the middle that breaking us down is child’s play. Then we blame Fred for giving it away, like give him some options, all very well the crowd chanting attack, but how? By having a player like Bruno, the entire shape of the team disappears.
I remember when AWB was playing and got a lot of stick for pressing a player, can’t remember which match. He left his man which opened Utd up without the need for a mechanical instrument. That player should have been pressed by non-other than Bruno who was waiving his arms in disarray because he didnt get the ball whilst stood on the opposite wing. Being in the sort of position the Beckham would struggle to pick out.

If we add into the equation, that Bruno does give the ball away a lot, well, actually he gives the ball away a hell of a lot and from a Mathematical point of view, is him losing possession trying to play a non-existent Hollywood pass time and time again, only to finally get it right on his 10th attempt, really helping matters?

He is a cheat, we all know players dive, but Bruno is really up in the Eden Hazard category here. The slightest touch and he’s falling and rolling about. Should he then not get a free kick that wasn’t a free kick then the complaining, more arm waiving, moaning commences. It embarrassing.

The constant smoke blowing up Fernandes behind is the reason Donny never got a game. Donny a player who probably wouldn’t have Bruno’s last season stats but would have played the unsung hero role and created far more in an attacking sense by bringing others into the game. I’d rather have 4 players hitting double figures each season than 1 hitting 20.

So how to fix this? I really cannot believe I am going to say this but, drop Bruno and play Pogba as an out and out advanced Midfielder. You know you’ll get very little from him defensively so he’ll more or less always be a head of play. You know Ronaldo isn’t going to be dropping too deep and I think back to how Ibra combined with Pogba. That would mean that our wide players have to tuck in more into a more standard 4411 when we defend. Then when we break, we know that if Pogba can have that extra second on the ball that he can pick people out, which would benefit Sancho, Elanga and Ronaldo and give the likes of Fred and McTom a bit of breathing space. Bruno either just gets in the bloody way in order to draw a nonexistant foul hense losing it or is nowhere to be seen.

Bruno World Class, do us all a favour and please sit down. The positional sense of our players gets questioned every game, never any mention of Bruno though. He’s our leader, talisman, legand, should be captain. If that’s the case then we really are f**ked.
Our problem is Midfield, Our problem is Bruno. Oh and Maguire.
Mike. (awaiting a backlash that I know nothing)

Bruno’s backbiting
Quick answer to Pat, Knowhere’s email – no.

If Fernandes just calmly and politely articulated why he thought the ref was wrong, he wouldn’t have been booked – being right doesn’t give you licence to behave like a dick to another person.
Andy (MUFC)

….Ask, and it shall be given unto you

In response to Pat’s question about players’ cautions being overturned when they are in fact correct in their immediate calling of a serious foul I would say, in most cases, probably. But, that obviously depends on the nature of how they call it out. Bruno was rightfully shown a yellow card and the ref had no cause to rescind it. Now, this isn’t just because Bruno is a slimy little gob-shite, nor is it because he’s a weasel-faced arse and a petulant whinger. In fact, the playground scrapping dissent machine ought to be getting booked every other game. Regardless, Bruno was booked for immediately gesturing to the ref to get a card out, which (whether the right or wrong call) has been a bookable offense in itself for at least 20 years. It’s just that we don’t always see refs following up on this.

I myself have a question for the mailbox. When was the last time you witnessed an indirect free kick awarded in the penalty area in a top tier game? For me, it was as far back as 96/97 in a World Cup qualifier for England. Should we not be seeing more of these in situations where an attacker gets stamped on by a defender but appears to do it accidentally and the ref/VAR won’t give a penalty for it? Is that such a crazy suggestion?
Simon, Norf London Gooner

…Just a quick response among many you’ll get to Matt, Knowhere’s question.

It’s a good point, but the dissent rule isn’t about right or wrong, it’s about respect for the officials. They have to be given the assurance and space to make the decisions they feel are correct at the time. They can’t have people constantly harassing them (which is basically a tool for biasing their decisions).

Yeah, Fernandes was right in this situation, but you can guarantee he didn’t lay out his argument in a cool and calm manner. Nor is he the captain, so really he has no say in the matter.

The card stands for me, Clive.
Phil, Somewhere

Klopp knows
Was worried when Fabinho came off.
Inter were really good and I would’ve happily taken a draw before those subs.

Turns out Klopp knows more about football than I do. Who knew?
Aidan, Lfc (everyone)

Keep two-legged ties
Ian King is very, very wrong. Two legged European ties are fundamentally very satisfying. They are awesome. A home and away match against a fortuitously selected European team is just marvellous. I’m a Liverpool fan and Liverpool loves European cups. Each round you see your team playing a different European stadium. You get their team and fans coming to yours. There’s a culture exchange. There’s jeopardy.

Ian’s example from last night are that City scored too many and PSG/Real Madrid didn’t score enough. Tough titties Ian – that’s football. Are you telling me that you’ll only tune in to PSG at the Bernebeu with Real Madrid needing to score because its your job? Real Madrid with Casemiro suspended because of a yellow in the first leg. You aren’t going to find any fundamental satisfaction in that scenario? Isn’t that a mouth wateringly awesome prospect! That is unique to two legged European cups – until we get a European Super League of course.

Some of the greatest games have been because of the two legged format – the best being Liverpool’s comeback vs Barcelona. Ian King – were you not entertained?!

First knock out rounds you may get a big boy vs a not so big boy. You still find your City vs Sporting Lisbon or Your everyone else vs Arsenal. Remember that time you got past the first knock round Gooners? The kids don’t! But everyone after that first round deserves to be there. That includes the lesser fancied teams like Ajax or Spurs or even 2005 Liverpool. The two legged ties means those individual moments are less relied upon. Each progression is more based on skill and class, than fortune.

Mr King, you can piss on a relegation free European Super League or two year World Cup cycle but you leave two legged European ties alone.
Alex, South London

Two-legged Champions League ties should be next for UEFA axe

…Ian King is just wrong about two legged cup ties.

Home team advantage is a very real thing that’s well documented. Two-legged ties are fairer.

I also think there’s something quite special about them. It adds a kind of grandeur.

I do agree that it leaves a bit of an issue for fixtures like City’s though… no one wants to be watching that second leg.
Andy (MUFC)

Confected rivalries
Enjoyed Dave’s article on creating an Everton – Villa rivalry, but let’s be honest, anyone who had to endure it this summer knows environmental Villa fans set their sights higher when it came to creating artificial beef.

Namely Arsenal.

Between ‘winning’ Buendia, definitely getting and then definitely not fancying Smith Rowe anyway and one Emi ‘That one time Arsenal disrespected me…’ Martinez, Villa fans got chippy enough to run the UK out of potatoes.

That’s all quietened down for now (thank god), only to be replaced by the infinitely more tedious ‘celebration police’ Wolves fans, so as a request to our midlands friends, could you sort it out amongst yourselves, then get back to us?

Cheers,
Tom, (maybe we need some allies; Baggies, it’s always been a delight having you in the Prem, that one time Martin Fulop gave us two goals to beat Spurs to 3rd was mint) Walthamstow

No hostages
Marcel g lfc in the morning mailbox talks about ‘African players no longer being able to hold the contract negotiators to ransom’. It’s pretty common language these days- player X is ‘holding the club to ransom’ because they don’t want to accept the contract offer on the table.

I always find that phrasing annoying- in what sense is the club being held to ransom? They aren’t forced or coerced to meet the player’s demands and if there is no agreement, the player can move elsewhere and the club can replace him. Doesn’t sound much like a hostage situation even when the player involved is your best player. The player is within his rights to try and maximize his earnings and the club is within their rights to work within their wage structure and other considerations. It’s useful to think about how a player would be judged to NOT hold the club to ransom in such situations- presumably by simply accepting the offer they have been given. Why should the burden automatically be on the player to fold in the negotiations?

It seems really strange that players end up looking like the bad guys in this situation. Sometimes there are no bad guys- just two parties failing to agree on a matter.
Turiyo Damascene, Kigali, Rwanda.