Fred and McTominay still haven’t adapted and have difficulties when pressed.
Sofyan Amrabat | signs for United on loan
- Thread starter TheReligion
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Mainoo has been injured in the Madrid match. So now Amrabat has become a must-buy!
Eriksen is hopeless, so yes, we need a midfielder very much
He's gonna be our ball carrier in midfield.
Eriksen has had a mare, so far. Makes me think we need a better 4th choice option now with Mainoo injury. Whether Amrabat is good enough for that I don't know, but clearly we need another player ahead of Mcfred.
Exactly the warrior and press resistant ball carrier / passer we’re missing out there.
This might be a knee jerk reaction but after watching Eriksen against Real Madrid in the first half of this friendly and against City in the FA cup final... I think Amrabat is a necessary purchase.
Yeah TBF Eriksen was concerning out there. Pre season... But man can't move.
Wouldnt be all that surprised if he benches Casemiro in a lot of games, Casemiros passing is so erratic.
This signing has definitely got more urgent with Kobbie maybe out for a little bit
We definitely need at least 1 more midfielder(I'd personally try to target 2 more).
Hopefully we get this deal done quickly if there's interest.
Hopefully we get this deal done quickly if there's interest.
What other profile do we need if this guy is that build up phase DLP (Yes I know he's not the same quality as De Jong)
A player not good enough
A unproven youth
A player past his best
unless your ambitions are that we scrape 4th then this is not enough or good enough
I'd like a metronomic midfielder. We don't really have 1 in that profile. If Verratti wasn't so injury prone, I would have tried getting him in.
Why don't people understand that our midfield is in need of a serious quality upgrades? It's one of the worst midfields amongst the big clubs if not the worst. Nearly every big game last year we were getting constantly dominated because nobody in our midfield could keep control of the ball and control tempo of the game. Yet people keep mentioning Fred, Mctominay, Eriksen. Who cares about their playing time? They are not good enough.
This ain’t gonna change this season too I’m afraid even if we get Amrabat. The manager doesn’t want to prioritise that and doesn’t see the importance of possession for some reason. The constant turnovers in possession from Bruno, Casemiro, Rashford etc is brutal to watch. It puts us under pressure instantly and constantly in the match but seems like ten hag is okayish with it as long as we are effective with our football. Different philosophy I guess.
He will see the benefit of it eventually
Yeah plus he has taken the Saudi money,so any other names in mind for metronome role. Perhaps Erik will look to sign one in January because every team needs one whether or not they are a possession based side.
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Amrabat says hello.
To be fair, as bad as the british press has been this summer, would be nice to see a few more decent journalists speaking about this one. Still confident it'll happen though.
Yeah need him in, Eriksens legs are gone.
Is he that good? I haven’t seen Fiorentina only videos of him. Can he control the tempo of the match? Slowing down the game, dictating the play, spraying passes, upping the speed of the match if needed etc. Can he do all of that atleast to a good level?
The approach is fine it just needs a bit more variety because currently we're overly vertical. And signing someone like a Amrabat should give us more control and ball retention in the defensive third. Currently that's missing and with the exception of Shaw, we don't have a fullback who is comfortable inverting into midfield to create the balance. So signing a technically secure first phase midfielder is very important imo.
Madrid are a fantastic team in transition but they also have options like Modric, Kroos and Camavinga who provide the craft and guile in possession. And then when you add the physicality of Tchouameni and Bellingham, it becomes a midfield that is well equipped to control the game in possession or transition at lightening speed. Some of our players struggled physically to cope and having someone like a Amrabat along with a project like Mainoo is the way to go imo.
Yes, there have been numerous posts on here explaining all that, showing his stats for last season etc.
Why are we not in for Caceido?
I am unconvinced by Amrabat. There's a reason by nearly age 27 (DOB 21.08.96) he hasn't played for a top club. Also, we are all aware how the world cup shouldn't be a showcase on which decisions to buy players are made.
I am unconvinced by Amrabat. There's a reason by nearly age 27 (DOB 21.08.96) he hasn't played for a top club. Also, we are all aware how the world cup shouldn't be a showcase on which decisions to buy players are made.
Wouldn't classify him as a metronomic midfielder, but he'd be a good signing.
We're simply not made of money. We've got too many holes in our squad to spunk such a large fee on him.
Again look at his stats for last season. He was a volume passer in the highest percentile for fiorentina. His game was pretty much pass, pass, pass which is why people are likening him to michael carrick.
"..Amrabat is a high-volume passer within the Fiorentina system and he does so with a high degree of accuracy.
Amrabat is regularly involved in Fiorentina’s circulation of possession, as well as having a very high overall progressive passing distance. He understands how to dictate the tempo of a game whilst possessing the ability to break the lines.
Ranking in the 94th percentile for touches in the middle third in Europe’s top 5 leagues, Amrabat is the hub of what La Viola do with the ball and ultimately makes this possession-centric system work. The Moroccan also specialises in medium and long-range passing. This allows him to diversify his style of ball movement.
Statistically, Amrabat is genuinely one of the best distance passers in Europe, both in volume and accuracy. He’s adept at sitting deep and spraying passes all over the pitch whilst also providing the defensive reliability required of a deep-lying midfielder.
He is very capable as a passer in advanced positions, especially as Fiorentina retain possession at such a high rate and enjoy sustained possession in opposition territory. He’s then able to use his tremendous vision and high-quality technique to exploit passing lanes and deliver excellent progressive and penetrative passes and crosses from the half-spaces.
Amrabat’s value goes beyond just his passing. The Morocco international is also a strong ball carrier, using powerful runs and close control to evade pressure. Standing at a reported 1.85m tall, he possesses both the size and strong frame to win duels regularly and cover plenty of ground with the ball..."
https://breakingthelines.com/player-analysis/player-analysis-sofyan-amrabat/
What injury did he get towards the end of last season? I forget.
If he's this good, why is he costing us only 20+million? In his contract?
Eriksen controls the tempo of the game better than Amrabat, his passing and ball control is also better. Amrabat is no upgrade in that regard. Also, we were getting dominated mostly because we struggled off the ball and against runners in midfield. Maybe Amrabat helps with but I don't think he is going to play in big games unless Casemiro is out.
+1
That certainly seems to be the case. And with Mount replacing Eriksen we are becoming even more of a vertical team - expect a lot of tennis games.
Amrabat is just a cheap squad player that can cover #6/#8. Good passer of the ball but I have concerns about his dynamism and even more about how slow this italian league looks on those clips. Can't complain if we get him for 20/30m though. Although we need to ask ourselves a question if we could've gone for Caicedo with Mount + Amrabat money (depending on how much he goes for in the end).
Get the outs done and we do have the money.
Yeah we are fecked with Cleverley retiring too
But ETH and the club have addressed something I was raising here for sometime till I was branded a City fan.
In January when people were positive around here, I was the most critical especially with how our midfield was getting overrun. My judgment for ETH i said will be determined by how he conducts his summer business.
We’ve had 2 major problems in our club since 2013.
1. Wrong diagnosis of the problem.
2. Wrong treatment of the said diagnosis.
We’ve been getting wrong, what problems we have, I turn getting wrong medication for the wrong diagnosis. This has made us be in a circle loop of underperformance & mistakes.
Even here on Cafe people thought out problem is just having a striker. I said, even if we buy Kane & Osihmen alone we won't win the league.
You need to win 28 games minimum to have a shot on the league, that can not be carried by 1 or 2 players. You need the whole players to pull it's weight behind the club.
You need to win 21-22 games comfortably in a season. Not those last minute gasp goals, no just winning through control then even a deflection. So essentially you need to have a team that can control a 22 games in a season.
Then you need another 6-7 games which you will win through hard work, and holding on to the lead.
Then another 4 games which you draw either through coming back from defeat mostly.
So for you to achieve this, it's not a matter of signing Kane, no it's a matter of how does the team play in 28 games which can have high probability of winning. For sure you can't win with the game we played of 90% of our team not comfortable on the ball.
So this was the main problem first. I said we needed players who can stay with the ball atleast 5-10 seconds when under immense pressure. This is extremely vital as it gives other players, time to breath, regroup, find better passing angles, etc. Biggest culprits were our midfielders and De Gea. You saw how De Gea would just kick the ball without big pressure then it brings more pressure on us.
Eliminate that first, then all other team deficiencies will come up, then address them thereafter, which will make you a solid team, almost immediately.
But us we were starting solving winning league problem by getting wrong diagnosis then in turn getting wrong the medication. End result this unending loop of big money spent while little to show.
I can tell you ETH has really grasp where our problems lies. I've watched united for the last 25 years. All my other accounts were banned here since 2013 for being critical to the team.
I can tell you for free, we have a person who knows our problems precisely and crucially, he knows how to solve them.
So, worry not mate. Everything will work out. If Pep was not around I would bet with my house we would win the league in 2024. 100%.
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And how do you do that when no one is willing to pay good money for our players? Get the outs done, have the money then go for shopping and buy class players. How cool.
This morning tweets in transfer tweets thread said €35mil
What you're basically saying is that a team needs to be developed that can both control a game in possession aswell as having the ability to transition quickly, whilst also having the ability to control/contain the opponent's transitions out of possession. Those are three things that need to happen.
And if we can do that, then your criteria will be met imo. Hence it's important to sign a deeper lying midfielder who provides technical security in possession aswell as having the physical and athletic capabilities to contain the opponent's transitions. That's something Eriksen struggles with out of possession hence someone like Amrabat would be a sensible option for a low transfer fee in a EPL that is being dominated by teams who look to exert control with and without the ball.
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He’s linked with Utd so he must be shite. 
If Liverpool bought him, the same people complaining about him not being good enough, would be praising him and saying he'd be an incredible improvement in Liverpool's midfield.
Since we're linked with him, he's a downgrade on McTominay.
Since we're linked with him, he's a downgrade on McTominay.
Agreed. Which makes players like him more important now we have Onana and can play a high block. We need to retain posession when we compress the pitch. No point giving it away constantly and expecting Onana to bail us out when the opposition play balls over the top of our high defensive line.
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