Another clean sheet, building from the back very much a Sir Alex trait we are going places. Discuss!
Clean Sheets
- Thread starter Deery
- Start date
Playing like that is not sustainable for clean sheets.
Agree that building from the back is the way to go, but todays clean sheet was down to Norwich's lack of quality in front of the goal and De God in goal.
A solid foundation is more important than attacking outlet we saw this with SAF.
There's an argument to make that Rangnick has been focusing on defensive organisation in training and that's why we're less leaky but our attacking play is still Ole standard.
Was about to make a thread about this and backed down...
Anyway yes it's a good thing so hopefully we can continue. This is the first time we've get two clean sheets in a row all season.
Anyway yes it's a good thing so hopefully we can continue. This is the first time we've get two clean sheets in a row all season.
4 goals conceded in 6 games since Ole left is a big improvement on 15 in 6 games before he was sacked. Football is not great to watch, but we can grind out results this way at least and not have teams running through us at will.
Why does it have to be a Sir Alex trait? Why can’t it be a trait of a winning football club?
Spot on!
Yeah, a bit misleading if you watch our games.
Could have easily conceded at least twice in both games.
Poor finishing/ Great goalkeeping/ a bit of luck.
Our defense has improved less then 5%.
Nothing to be cheerfull so far.
Could have easily conceded at least twice in both games.
Poor finishing/ Great goalkeeping/ a bit of luck.
Our defense has improved less then 5%.
Nothing to be cheerfull so far.
A string of 1-0 victories will do the team a lot of good, the players have to learn CONTROL! Lots went wrong today, but you stick to the plan and give them 5-6 games to learn.
Well done DDG for his 200th clean sheet of his career.
Well done DDG for his 200th clean sheet of his career.
Just reminds me on what Alex was all about (there are other managers).
Relying on goalkeeper to pull a few worldies every game seems like a weak tactic.
It feels so lovely.
The clean sheet today was thanks to De Gea. We didn't even play a good defensive game to take it as a positive.
Thought Maguire and McTominay were very good at winning first and second balls.
There was nothing solid about that. De Gea pulled off three brilliant saves.
DeGea was inspired I agree…
Now you sound like the BBC ‘other managers are available!’ (Just joking
)I wonder if Sexton, O’Farrell and Atkinson were compared to Busby traits? Not a dig at you fella, I just feel now is the time to look forward and not back. We need to let Sir Alex retire and finally become a modern forward thinking football powerhouse.
No problem. I think a fully fit and firing Alex would be more than enough for Pep or Klopp though or at least have us in the mix..Now you sound like the BBC ‘other managers are available!’ (Just joking
I wonder if Sexton, O’Farrell and Atkinson were compared to Busby traits? Not a dig at you fella, I just feel now is the time to look forward and not back. We need to let Sir Alex retire and finally become a modern forward thinking football powerhouse.
But I understand the wanting to move away from that thinking it’s been nearly 10 years after all…
They start to mean something when they aren’t 100% down to your goalkeeper tbf
I do agree with Ole on one thing....there seems to be a narrative that our GK is not allowed to make saves!
De Gea made three very run-of-the-mill stops on Saturday, and I believe one of them was offside anyway. Any GKer in the league would have saved all three of those shots. Routine stuff.
De Gea makes those saves and once again it's 'De Gea saving Utd' or 'where would United be without De Gea?'
I reckon if you sat down and watched soft goals conceded vs genuinely top saves made, he'd still have cost us more goals than he has saved us this season - and by all accounts I do believe he has been better than the last couple of seasons!
De Gea made three very run-of-the-mill stops on Saturday, and I believe one of them was offside anyway. Any GKer in the league would have saved all three of those shots. Routine stuff.
De Gea makes those saves and once again it's 'De Gea saving Utd' or 'where would United be without De Gea?'
I reckon if you sat down and watched soft goals conceded vs genuinely top saves made, he'd still have cost us more goals than he has saved us this season - and by all accounts I do believe he has been better than the last couple of seasons!
The xGA since Ole has left has been
0.8
0.7
1.5
0.9
0.9
0.8
The xGA was only under 1 in 3 of 17 PL & CL games this season under Ole.
Strong indications that we're defending better.
0.8
0.7
1.5
0.9
0.9
0.8
The xGA was only under 1 in 3 of 17 PL & CL games this season under Ole.
Strong indications that we're defending better.
Why are you worried about what labels people use?
He's actually in the top 5% of all keepers in the top leagues this season by that metric - saved us roughly 4.5 goals in the PL based on the quality of shots he's faced so far (source: FBRef). So that very much reflects the common consensus that our defence has been a shambles for much of the season but De Gea's shot-stopping has been excellent.
Now naturally, being De Gea, he's also in the bottom 11% for crosses stopped, and bottom 5% for defensive actions outside his penalty area. Curious to see if the latter stat changes based on what he's been saying about Rangnick wanting him to sweep up more, but the crosses one is massive and just reinforces what I'm sure everyone here notices - a big part of the reason we look so unconvincing every time the ball comes into our box is because the keeper stays glued to his line and the defenders know exactly what he's going to do (i.e. nothing, until he has to make a reflex save)
It’s not really about labels though is it? It’s about this idea that we have to replicate everything at the club the way it was under SAF to get any success. The club has moved on, football itself has moved on and if we don’t stop pining for the past then we will sleepwalk into becoming a fallen giant or sleeping dinosaur or whatever sporting cliche you care to use. Clean sheets are fantastic and have been sorely missed in recent times, but they should be part of a modern forwards thinking footballing philosophy, not a retrospective rose tinted sense of what once was.