Sofyan Amrabat | To Fenerbahçe SK pending medical

I wish we'd stop assessing players by their individual performances and be more focused on how they play with certain players in certain formations.

If we are capable of playing a high line every week amrabat might be acceptable. Not world class I grant you but someone who fits a role.

We all roasted Sabitzer whilst he was here but he looked mint in the euros.
 
stevoc said:
First off I'm not actually advocating signing him I'm only saying he barely got a chance after Xmas last season.

Results improved and we stopped conceding 25-30 shots a match, albeit only for 3-4 games. In my book that was a bit more solid than the shitshow that was the est of the season.
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Based on understat (in descending chronological order):

Brighton W 0-2 (xG 1.97-1.00) 17 Shots against (3 on target)

Newcastle W 3-2 (xG 1.5-2.28) 21 Shots against (8 on target)

Arsenal L 0-1 (xG 0.55-1.73) 11 Shots against (5 on target)

Crystal Palace L 4-0 (xG 2.07-0.34) 18 Shots against (10 on target)

Burnley D 1-1 (xG 3.06-1.90) 16 Shots against (7 on target)

Sheffield W 4-2 (xG 3.51-1.21) 10 Shots against (4 on target)

Bournemouth D 2-2 (xG 2.39 vs 1.52) 20 Shots against (5 on target)


The things, that painted the end of the season in a better light are the results and nothing more. We may have looked a bit more organised and more defensively sound compared to ourselves (which isn't the highest challenge to overcome) but we weren't really effective i.e. fullfilling the task of preventing good chances. Brighton and Newcastle lost those games at least as much as we won them because of how bad they were with their chances. The only games we came up with the better xG from those 7 are the matches against Burnley and Sheffield...

Annihilate Now! said:
It was a great game from him, no sure why it a) needs air quotes or b) deserves downplaying.
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Fair enough, I guess it is a bit of a subjective thing and obviously we can't really separate us winning a trophy against a fierce rival as the underdog from the actual game. I also think we played well and executed a rather simple gameplan good enough so City wasn't able to overcome it on the day. Even though it certainly helped that they somehow were stuck in 2nd gear.

I am happy Amrabat was able to participate but I am pretty sure if we had lost that game 1:0 nobody would have talked about a great performance from us. Results matter when looking back. See above.

Paul778 said:
I wish we'd stop assessing players by their individual performances and be more focused on how they play with certain players in certain formations.

If we are capable of playing a high line every week amrabat might be acceptable. Not world class I grant you but someone who fits a role.

We all roasted Sabitzer whilst he was here but he looked mint in the euros.
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Sabitzer was as much not the right guy for us as Amrabat isn't the right guy. You can't just go look at a player who left and now plays in a completely different team in a different role. Sabitzer is a jack of all trades and flourishes in a well organized counter pressing setup. Such a thing was(is) simply not there (yet) at United. And the one game people rave about Amrabat, the match against City has seen us not play a high line at all, so not sure how you come to this conclusion.

First sentence I am fully on board though. Which is why Amrabat shouldn't be an option for us. When we play with two high 8s the remaining player has to cover much space and has to be dynamic. Amrabat simply isn' that. As replacement for the Eriksen-role next to Casemiro from 2 years ago - I am on board but thats a thing of the past now.
 
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Devil_forever said:
If he's not been signed and this has gone back up then it looks unprofessional, if he has been signed and it's gone back up before an announcement, it looks unprofessional. You'd have thought that we'd do a better job of our website.
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He's wearing the new strip, if it was just the website renewing his profile automatically sure it would be in the old kit?
 
Woziak said:
This was exactly the same for Marcel Sabitzer last year, it just shows you how poorly run everything at the club still is. The website should have been updated July 1st but heh guess that no one noticed, this is really on Dan Ashworth as he’s now in charge of all football matters, Men’s, Woman’s and Youth team.
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Relax, the man barely joined us a month's go and has more important things to focus on.
 
Devil_forever said:
If he's not been signed and this has gone back up then it looks unprofessional, if he has been signed and it's gone back up before an announcement, it looks unprofessional. You'd have thought that we'd do a better job of our website.
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Can't tell if this is serious or not. If it is, do you genuinely think that updating the club website is a key part of Ashworth's job description?
 
devilish said:
https://www.manutd.com/en/players-and-staff/detail/sofyan-amrabat

He is back on the official website
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His profile has never been removed and has been there all summer. The only change is that they've updated the photo in the new home kit, which was done for everyone in the squad.

I suspect he was always going to be a part of the photoshoot before the end of last season. I do feel that Amrabat will be kept on the shortlist as the last option until the transfer window closes.
 
NZT-One said:
Based on understat (in descending chronological order):

Brighton W 0-2 (xG 1.97-1.00) 17 Shots against (3 on target)

Newcastle W 3-2 (xG 1.5-2.28) 21 Shots against (8 on target)

Arsenal L 0-1 (xG 0.55-1.73) 11 Shots against (5 on target)

Crystal Palace L 4-0 (xG 2.07-0.34) 18 Shots against (10 on target)

Burnley D 1-1 (xG 3.06-1.90) 16 Shots against (7 on target)

Sheffield W 4-2 (xG 3.51-1.21) 10 Shots against (4 on target)

Bournemouth D 2-2 (xG 2.39 vs 1.52) 20 Shots against (5 on target)


The things, that painted the end of the season in a better light are the results and nothing more. We may have looked a bit more organised and more defensively sound compared to ourselves (which isn't the highest challenge to overcome) but we weren't really effective i.e. fullfilling the task of preventing good chances. Brighton and Newcastle lost those games at least as much as we won them because of how bad they were with their chances. The only games we came up with the better xG from those 7 are the matches against Burnley and Sheffield...
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And that amounts to all I was saying mate. We looked a bit more solid, we weren't impressive or anything. In fact outside of the final vs City I genuinely can't think of one impressive performance last season where we controlled the game.
 
This could well be the player that comes back in.. he's cheap and every other option will be exhausted then in he will come ?
 
He is so much coming in, available, cheap and knows the team. That would mean we would have replaced Varane with Yoro, Martial with Zirkzee and Amrabat with Amrabat. We would not have improved the team but most likely be at the same quality as last season with only upside being that with lower degree of injuries through the season we should do better than last year
 
I love how results improve when Amrabat comes into the team and someone tries to paint him as only looking good as the results improved. He contributed to the upturn in results. At his best he is excellent - dominated Rice in a European final.
 
I'm not up to speed on what it would take to complete the move for Amrabat, but if we're too broke to bring in Ugarte or other highly regarded midfielders let's get this one done. Once he was played in the position he's comfortable with he performed very well for us. No, he's no Keane or even Carrick but he managed things well enough for us.

This is a top four season for us, not a PL or CL chase. Let's improve the squad where we need to with the limited funds that we have (sniveling Glazer shitbags and various financial rules), restore our dignity with a top four finish and long cup runs and then bring in top names next season.
 
lex talionis said:
Once he was played in the position he's comfortable with he performed very well for us.
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Standards really are at an all time low. He was largely awful all season. He’s nowhere near good enough. Would be a complete waste of time and money once again. He’d be on the deadwood pile within 6 months.

I’d rather sign no one and give one of the youngsters a chance then waste money on a player who at 28, is never going to be good enough for United.
 
I like a lot about him, I think he positions himself well, he's a strong lad, very decent passer and gives his all.

The lack of mobility is just such a killer in the Premier League. I think he has all the problems Casemiro has and is a step below in all the good points.
 
I really don't think his lack of pace or mobility stood out as a major issue last season to be honest. He seemed to cope a lot better than Casemiro from my perspective.

The biggest problems for me were 2 things. Firstly how slow he was on the ball, he couldn't receive and release the ball quick enough which caused him to get caught in possession. And secondly, his passing was a lot more sloppy than I anticipated.

His passing stats on paper looked exceptional in Italy, but didn't really see that materialise for us. Needless to say you need to watch a player every week to make sure the eyes tell you the same story as the stats before you conclusively judge a player.
 
Devil_forever said:
I can’t tell you if can read or not, when did I say Dan fecking Ashworth was in charge of the website?
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Weird, I intended to quote the post below, not yours. Apologies!

Woziak said:
This was exactly the same for Marcel Sabitzer last year, it just shows you how poorly run everything at the club still is. The website should have been updated July 1st but heh guess that no one noticed, this is really on Dan Ashworth as he’s now in charge of all football matters, Men’s, Woman’s and Youth team.
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As I've mentioned on this chat, I actually rate him more than a lot of folks seem to. I don't know any player we would have brought into our chaotic system last season that would have looked good. The minute we stopped the 1 man midfield weirdness, he looked good. His passing numbers may not have looked as elite as in Italy but I still feel he was usually among the highest in terms of volume and completion of passes in our team.

Regarding all the talk of mobility, he's a lot more mobile than Casemiro but holds his position. He's chased down many a player and caught up to them. Not saying he's without his flaws as he can look slow to react and a bit rigid but then he's coming from one of the slowest leagues to one of the fastest. He obviously offers zero goal threat and I'm personally Ok with that.
 
Malone_Post said:
Standards really are at an all time low. He was largely awful all season. He’s nowhere near good enough. Would be a complete waste of time and money once again. He’d be on the deadwood pile within 6 months.

I’d rather sign no one and give one of the youngsters a chance then waste money on a player who at 28, is never going to be good enough for United.
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Yes, Amrabat was awful most of the season…until he was played in his actual position.

Put Martinez in at LB and he’ll look rather shit too. Rashford at CF…fairly shit. Bruno at 6…fairly shit.
 
lex talionis said:
Yes, Amrabat was awful most of the season…until he was played in his actual position.

Put Martinez in at LB and he’ll look rather shit too. Rashford at CF…fairly shit. Bruno at 6…fairly shit.
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He was awful in all the positions he played. Because he’s not a very good footballer.
 
Neither Amrabat not Casemiro are good enough (former never was, latter got too old) as a starting DMF for us. It is clear for anybody with eyes.

We 100% need to sign a strong starting DMF and that is NOT Amrabat

That said, we need a backup DMF too, for enormous number of games we play + injuries and it makes way more sense to have Amrabat as backup on 100K or less than Casemiro on 300K+ a week.

That is basically it. Had Casemiro left for Saudi, I am sure we would have signed Ugarte or somebody by now and probably kept Amrabat if he comes on reasonable fee

Casemiro really fecked us over by deciding to stay and keep milking us
 
lex talionis said:
Sorry to break the news to you, but Imhotep was very good in the two matches in which he was deployed in his actual position.
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You obviously didn’t watch the Brigton match then, where he was doing poor man’s impression of a footballer. Brighton were picking him off for fun. It was quite brutal to watch.
 
lex talionis said:
Sorry to break the news to you, but Imhotep was very good in the two matches in which he was deployed in his actual position.
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What on earth are you talking about? He played plenty and literally only once was out of position. He's got some good attributes but his draw backs are huge negatives for the Premier League.
 
I think this is an accident that he was just photographed in the updated kit like the rest of the spot at the time. But nobody has said to take him off because we don’t know what we’re doing for midfield yet

I have looked repeatedly this summer and Amrabat was never removed at any point

If he stays, I hope he’s ready to give his number 4 to de ligt!
 
Bring someone else in. I actually rate Amrabat but he's not the player to make a difference in our midfield.
 
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