Unlike many of you who’ve slated the OP, I actually get where he (she?) is coming from. The point (at least mine) isn’t that Maguire or Lindelof is better than Varane or Koulibaly. It is the magical notion that we have Lindelof so we struggle but if we were to sign a strong/physical defender like Koulibaly, we’ll win the title.
The evidence based on last two nights is that every CB makes mistakes. When we see our two CBs making them, we’re in a less generous mood while when ‘Elite Hipsters’ make them in potentially the biggest games of the season, people even on this forum are more forgiving. Maybe the point is to analyse our CBs with the exact same information that we have on the hipsters. The real point of differentiation has actually been created by FIFA where the overall of Varane and Koulibaly is 89-90 etc and when you see them in real life and compare them to our often slated, 82 overall, Victor Lindelof, you can’t help but feel a bit underwhelmed.
Naturally, the best course of action is to watch all players in question for the same amount of games spread across a longer duration of time. But if that were needed to form an opinion, then the caf would have to be shut down. Essentially, on the limited data points that we have, most fans (the people who watch each and every United or their own club game but watch the likes of RM and Napoli only in CL knockouts primarily) don’t really have an opinion on Varane and Koulibaly, but instead a hypothesis based on journalism, FIFA ratings and other fans opinion. When we see them in real life, the hypothesis is immediately tested. If the player plays well, then he’s a messiah. But if he doesn’t, then he’s overrated and no better than Maguire or Lindelof. And that, in a nutshell, is today’s hipster fan.