Sofyan Amrabat | 2023/24 Performances

[Yagami]

Funny you who care so much about passing and press resistance are championing him so when he moves like an oil tanker.

He does actually have press resistant attributes, though! They were much more evident in Italy due to it being a weaker league, granted, but look at him under pressure at times. He has been guilty of being sloppy due to not being up to the speed of the league over here, sure, but he also had moments of keeping the ball under pressure with some nice la pelopina turns and general ball carrying. Not carrying up the pitch but, instead of hoofing it, he just turns and carries it away from the opposition.

It's very simple stuff but extremely vital to have in players if you want to play top football. It's just a shame that, again, he can be sloppy at times!

Thanks for the memories. Was hoping for more.

To be fair, the way the season was going, he did well to offer what he did! Assuming he's done here, it was a brilliant parting gift of a performance. He's etched himself into United's history regardless of what happens now.

 

[RedStarUnited]

People dismiss what match rhythm can do for a player. He is in his late 20s coming into a tough league and barely getting any regular game time and is expected to perform. It took even Rodri a season or so to acclimatise to the league.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

People dismiss what match rhythm can do for a player. He is in his late 20s coming into a tough league and barely getting any regular game time and is expected to perform. It took even Rodri a season or so to acclimatise to the league.

I agree with this, I don't think he's a bad player to be honest.

I do reckon there is better available though so he ultimately came in and played a role. Won something at a club he really wanted to be at so good for him.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Played much better today. Vital for the game plan.

If he ends up leaving, he can leave with his head held high.

 

[The Irish Connection]

Good performance! Really helped the team.

 

[bosnian_red]

Glad he was able to have a big moment in a United shirt, I doubt he stays given he's turning 28 but he did show he's a decent player once he got used to the league. Keeping him at a low price wouldn't be the worst, as a depth option to play alongside Mainoo or covering for Mainoo. We need the main DM signed too though. Amrabat, McTominay and Mount as depth would be ok as a backup 3 to a new DM, Bruno and Mainoo.

 

[Woziak]

For 12m euros plus his €9m loan fee which we’ve paid, why is this even a question, we made a mistake with Sabitzer just as he got used to the league let’s learn from that and get this deal done asap.

 

[NZT-One]

For 12m euros plus his €9m loan fee which we’ve paid, why is this even a question, we made a mistake with Sabitzer just as he got used to the league let’s learn from that and get this deal done asap.

Pretty sure those numbers aren't the ones that were reported. I think, somebody in here mentioned them earlier. Whole package was around 35 iirc.

 

[Ekeke]

Didnt do much and our formation with compactness and solidarity through the middle of the pitch with Bruno rushing around making our most tackles despite being our false 9 through the middle helped but what he did do - take the ball and play a few simple and accurate passes to better players was done without poor errors turning over the ball in our own half this time. First time in a long time that his performance hasnt negatively affected the positive performances of our better players around him. Its a small ask to play that way especially when the opponent has 73.5% of the ball as he only needed to not shit the bed with 25 passes and 37 touches when its normally double but he he met the bar for it in the way we were playing against City

Was one of our worst performers with McTom but didnt cost us and thats a step in the right direction because City are usually one of the better teams to pounce on mistakes and break through a team that are playing in the way we did. So he does deserve some credit that his touch and passing was more assured and accurate than the very poor level in previous games, despite not doing much of it in this game.

 

[tentan]

MOTM today. He was immense.

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

He really stepped up today, really good performance. He hasn’t shown anywhere near enough throughout the season to warrant signing him permanently but at least he got to finish his time here by lifting a trophy and playing an important part in helping make that happen.

 

[Rojofiam]

Much better in this more pragmatic approach of last season that we've seen basically since the Arsenal game. Wouldn't be against keeping him even for the 21m, but maybe we could negotiate that down to 17-18?

He can be a decent squad player and 21 million is nothing these days, even for a 28 year old player.

 

[elmo]

Didnt do much and our formation with compactness and solidarity through the middle of the pitch with Bruno rushing around making our most tackles despite being our false 9 through the middle helped but what he did do - take the ball and play a few simple and accurate passes to better players was done without poor errors turning over the ball in our own half this time. First time in a long time that his performance hasnt negatively affected the positive performances of our better players around him. Its a small ask to play that way especially when the opponent has 73.5% of the ball as he only needed to not shit the bed with 25 passes and 37 touches when its normally double but he he met the bar for it in the way we were playing against City

Was one of our worst performers with McTom but didnt cost us and thats a step in the right direction because City are usually one of the better teams to pounce on mistakes and break through a team that are playing in the way we did. So he does deserve some credit that his touch and passing was more assured and accurate than the very poor level in previous games, despite not doing much of it in this game.

Not doing much? He was critical in keeping Doku quiet in the second half because he realised he was their biggest threat and helped to cover AWB as much as possible.

If Garnacho was as aware as him, we would have been looking at a 2-0 win.

 

[croadyman]

Did really well yesterday, however can we afford to take him on a permanent deal with the other issues

 

[Malons]

Worked both balls off yesterday. Not my favourite player but that was a shift.

 

[DJ_21]

Got a lot of stick before even the kick of yesterday when he was seen in the starting line up. If you play him in his correct position and let him defend, man mark he puts in a shift. Hunted players down yesterday. Best performance for us. Probably his last aswell.

 

[OldTrevil]

He covered so much grass in the middle putting out fires became they became big, or giving time for a teammate to arrive and deal with the situation. He's vital to a player like Mainoo by giving a good defensive cover, be close to him and pass to him well and often.

A lot of times this season he has been playing like someone anxious to make a mark in every action he did, and that often leads to many errors in execution and decision making. Whether we keep him or not, he is the kind of profile that works very well with a creative ball progressor and passer like Kobbie and overall key for defensive and passing stability.

 

[statpadder]

Did really well yesterday, however can we afford to take him on a permanent deal with the other issues

No. At 15-20m he is a gamble. We should be better off spending 50m or so on someone like Mason Mount.

 

[rcoobc]

MOTM today. He was immense.

Agreed. Actually thought he deserved MOTM over Mainoo

 

[rcoobc]

He covered so much grass in the middle putting out fires became they became big, or giving time for a teammate to arrive and deal with the situation. He's vital to a player like Mainoo by giving a good defensive cover, be close to him and pass to him well and often.

A lot of times this season he has been playing like someone anxious to make a mark in every action he did, and that often leads to many errors in execution and decision making. Whether we keep him or not, he is the kind of profile that works very well with a creative ball progressor and passer like Kobbie and overall key for defensive and passing stability.

Yeah, you need terriers in midfield. You need the player that will run and cover every blade of grass to win the ball. Your Ji-Sung Parks, etc.

Sign him.

 

[Dan_F]

Yeah, you need terriers in midfield. You need the player that will run and cover every blade of grass to win the ball. Your Ji-Sung Parks, etc.

Sign him.

Find one who isn’t 28, slow and can release the ball quicker. Fred had games like we saw yesterday fairly often and wasn’t good enough.

He doesn’t start for any of the teams that finished above us.

 

[rcoobc]

Find one who isn’t 28, slow and can release the ball quicker. Fred had games like we saw yesterday fairly often and wasn’t good enough.

He doesn’t start for any of the teams that finished above us.

Losing Fred is one of the big reasons we're 8th. You need players that do the shit work so the others can play football.

Obviously I'd rather have Roy Keane and Rooney, players that will run over the entire field *and* play decent football. Garnacho is one that will put a shift in and work hard. Aside from Doku beating Garnacho with a weak shot, Garnacho did a great job of keeping the pressure away from our area.

But sometimes that's not possible. Amrabat closed players down and won the ball back.

 

[BenitoSTARR]

I thought yesterday was his best game for United, possibly his last, but he can leave knowing he was vital in a big cup tie win.

 

[11101]

Put a shift in and had a simple game plan, cover the middle and let Mainoo move the ball forward. Fred was better at the job but we let him go so we need Ambrabat to stay until we find a younger, faster player to do that job.

 

[Pronewbie]

Not good enough to stay for next season IMHO if Fred wasn't either. Surely there are better players available in this window that would cost around the same price.

 

[Dan_F]

Losing Fred is one of the big reasons we're 8th. You need players that do the shit work so the others can play football.

Obviously I'd rather have Roy Keane and Rooney, players that will run over the entire field *and* play decent football. Garnacho is one that will put a shift in and work hard. Aside from Doku beating Garnacho with a weak shot, Garnacho did a great job of keeping the pressure away from our area.

But sometimes that's not possible. Amrabat closed players down and won the ball back.

Yes you need hard working players, but we can’t sign people based on that. The moment this team has players more comfortable on the ball than AWB and Amrabat, it changes everything.

If Amrabat was early 20s it would make sense, right now we need to build for two years time.

 

[Lee565]

If we go into the next season without the the kamikaze tactics of leaving 1 man in midfield as seen this season then he is worth keeping for 20 million as a back up dm, to put it into context, man City spunked 55 million on philips as their back up dm...

 

[Trequarista10]

Thought defensively he was very good. Not by making multiple big tackles, but largely by being in the right place defensively. This is something our midfield has lacked for ages, a disciplined holding mid. It's crucial vs City because they would exploit any space in that position. He also hassled reasonably well when needed, covered the spaces in the channels especially the last 20 minutes when City's game plan was for Doku to run at AWB every time, but mostly he was just in the right position to block or deter through balls through the centre.

On the ball, he was quite awkward. Somewhat like AWB, he's just clearly uncomfortable at this level, touch is a bit off, needs a bit of extra time and space otherwise he gets panicky.

I think we need a player of his profile to partner Mainoo. Ideally, just someone a bit better on the ball.

 

[Ekeke]

Not doing much? He was critical in keeping Doku quiet in the second half because he realised he was their biggest threat and helped to cover AWB as much as possible.

If Garnacho was as aware as him, we would have been looking at a 2-0 win.

He helped double up, with no success in actually winning the ball and one time both he and AWB confronted Doku, Doku went on the outside and got a cross in that was cleared

AWB actually did better against Doku 1 vs 1. But yes he absolutely did help by doubling up 2 or 3 times which is his job, unfortunately it was with little success

 

[Gaidal]

Getting rid of Case and keeping Amrabat as the backup while buying a true starter seems like the best and obvious choice.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

He helped double up, with no success in actually winning the ball and one time both he and AWB confronted Doku, Doku went on the outside and got a cross in that was cleared

AWB actually did better against Doku 1 vs 1. But yes he absolutely did help by doubling up 2 or 3 times which is his job, unfortunately it was with little success

Little success!? City's whole second half game plan was get it to Doku, and the only time he did something of note (score) was when he was fronted up by Garnacho.... So actually Amrabat getting over there too help out AWB was with great success.

 

[flameinthesun]

Thought defensively he was very good. Not by making multiple big tackles, but largely by being in the right place defensively. This is something our midfield has lacked for ages, a disciplined holding mid. It's crucial vs City because they would exploit any space in that position. He also hassled reasonably well when needed, covered the spaces in the channels especially the last 20 minutes when City's game plan was for Doku to run at AWB every time, but mostly he was just in the right position to block or deter through balls through the centre.

On the ball, he was quite awkward. Somewhat like AWB, he's just clearly uncomfortable at this level, touch is a bit off, needs a bit of extra time and space otherwise he gets panicky.

I think we need a player of his profile to partner Mainoo. Ideally, just someone a bit better on the ball.

Yeah I agree. His application once fit is good but on the ball he is below what we need.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Getting rid of Case and keeping Amrabat as the backup while buying a true starter seems like the best and obvious choice.

Leaning towards this if possible.

 

[Giggsyking]

10 m loan fee well spent, better than 60 fecking m on Mason Mount.

 

[NZT-One]

No. At 15-20m he is a gamble. We should be better off spending 50m or so on someone like Mason Mount.

Understandable counter but also two wrongs don't make a right. I think, there aren't many on here who thought that buying Mount the way we did was the right thing to do. But if we had splashed 35 to 40 on Amrabat instead, people would have labeled him a flop also. We have to make better decisions and making the move a loan deal was one of the slightly better ones because it meant we got the chance to see him play. And while I would also say he should have been given more opportunities to show himself, he didn't exactly covered himself in glory when he did. The "quality" of our last 4 games is vastly overstated on here and we shouldn't evaluate him on whether he is better than Scott "I have no idea what my best position is" McTominay, 42 yo Eriksen (an AM having to play in CM because...), Bruno (an AM having to play in CM a lot) and the ghost of former Casemiro isn't exactly helping to move us forward. All those players have their traits but aren't suited to form a top midfield anymore. Amrabat doesn't seem to be as well so there is no point giving money away for him because "he may be a good bench option". We became 8th. The underlying numbers had us even lower - we have to fix the 1st team first before we splash cash on players who "could do a job in certain games".

 

[didz]

If he leaves then he needs replacing. Meanwhile, Casemiro looks like he's leaving and will need replacing. Signing two players for the same position in the same window is gonna be a tough ask and, with the market how it is for that role especially, a very expensive one.

£20m might not be nearly as much as people think it is in the grand scheme of things.

 

[van Nistelrooy]

Excellent performance in the final!

Think he's been treated quite harshly considering he was playing left-back in his early games this season. Thanks for helping win the FA Cup, but there hasn't been enough to justify making the loan permanent.

 

[The Corinthian]

He’s deffo worth keeping for £15m. If we’re sending Case, Eriksen, Donny etc out of the door we will need him, especially as we’re playing Europa.

 

[VP]

He's perfect for these type of games ( also why he thrived for Morocco in the World Cup). Not sure if that's enough to warrant a permanent move though.

 

[flappyjay]

Thought defensively he was very good. Not by making multiple big tackles, but largely by being in the right place defensively. This is something our midfield has lacked for ages, a disciplined holding mid. It's crucial vs City because they would exploit any space in that position. He also hassled reasonably well when needed, covered the spaces in the channels especially the last 20 minutes when City's game plan was for Doku to run at AWB every time, but mostly he was just in the right position to block or deter through balls through the centre.

On the ball, he was quite awkward. Somewhat like AWB, he's just clearly uncomfortable at this level, touch is a bit off, needs a bit of extra time and space otherwise he gets panicky.

I think we need a player of his profile to partner Mainoo. Ideally, just someone a bit better on the ball.

The opposite of what i expected of him. He knows the spaces he needs to be defensively and does a decent job. On the ball he is a big weakness.