anant
Correctly predicted Italy to win Euro 2020
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2015
- Messages
- 8,259
A part of your post is subjective or something I agree with, so will ignore that piece.I answer the other way around...
I understand your point and there is a chance, that in some cases, the managers name might really be not fancy enough. Additionally something new and potential great is always appealing, more so than the thing you know the pros and cons of. So I get your feeling, that the criticism is coming from that sort of direction but maybe it does only way fewer cases than "you" think.
I think, the mood around here would be more relaxed, if not anybody, who is expressing criticism would be met with such a prejudice because for some, they just see things a bit differently than for example you. I highlighted in your sentence the core thing: you decided based on your judgement, that "this is all we can hope for". But this is your personal stance, an absolutely valid one but a subjective opinion not really having more substance than the stance of somebody who acknowledges the good to great results but isn't satisfied about us seeing this brand of football more often than not.
I know, why you did it, but United has a deeper squad than most other teams so this "fair" is always somewhat faulty. Plus I mean it isn't like we played the big teams there so I understand your thinking but for me, it is a bit overstated. To be honest I see no huge issues with the bad start, it is what it is, our preseason wasn't a good one but we overcame it. Well done. Therefor I see no reason to not go with all results of the season. They of the season are very good - even with the first ones. It is the performances overall - not just at the start. And they don't change, even if you take the first few matches away. What is your take on the numbers I presented xG wise, I asked if it rings a bell - does it for you or do you think, that's fine and part of the process (this is no trick question)?
You said we are 2nd xG wise excluding a few matches - did you calculate on your own or how did you come up with the number?
(genuinly interested because I find it pretty tedious to work with fbref to get that sort of data, maybe you have better way)
Nice conversation by the way
I'll expand on what I meant when I said" This is all we can hope for" - A team that has been playing 2 weeks every GW, and isn't really the deepest bar a couple of positions can't be expected to keep up the level of quality week in week out. I mean, look at the sides that have been playing in Europe and had even a decentish run in both cup competitions - That'd be only us and City? Leicester crashed out of EL when they had fixture congestion, Chelsea's form was poor early in the season despite them having deeper depth and more favourable draws, Spurs burnt out now when they were tasked with competing on all 4 fronts, Pool have injury issues, Arsenal - the lesser said the better.
I agree the play can be more convincing, but compared to our rivals, I'd say it's still better than most bar a couple of sides. I'd love us to see us thrash teams left, right and centre, but we're getting good number of goals on a weekly basis when our forwards have been extremely poor.
And for the last bit, you can use the date filters on understat. Statsbomb model is better, but over a larger number of games, their xG's match quite closely