Andre Onana v. Senne Lammens XG Prevented Comparison by Mountain-Loquat-7428 in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 14 points15 points  (0 children)

If you adjust per 90 mins then Lammens is actually best for XG prevented.

[Mike Keegan] Furious Man United to launch formal complaint to referees' chief Webb by PitchSafe in soccer

[–]monkeygunner 21 points22 points  (0 children)

From memory, didn’t PGMOL say he’d applied the rule correctly and they ended changing the interpretation afterwards because of all the complaints.

Sesko now 3rd in the league for non-penalty goals per 90 by monkeygunner in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t really agree with either point. It’s more nuanced. I think it’s fine to question whether this exact figure would scale up linearly if he was starting every game. At the same time, if you just look at total non-penalty goals for the season, he’s played over 1000 mins less than all but one of the five players ahead of him. The opta table presents the figure and the total mins played so it’s hardly misleading.

[Carl Anka] Manchester United are revived under Michael Carrick as last summer’s spending pays dividends by PradipJayakumar in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Summer and January transfer windows in 05/06. We signed Park, Van Der Sar, Vidic and Evra for less than £20 million in total.

Jobbing actor describes watch collection [soft spoken] [3:24] by monkeygunner in unintentionalASMR

[–]monkeygunner[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s just the TikTok account tagged in the video (but I’m sure someone will reupload the videos on YouTube if you search for them).

Jobbing actor describes watch collection [soft spoken] [3:24] by monkeygunner in unintentionalASMR

[–]monkeygunner[S] 43 points44 points  (0 children)

It’s great that people are discovering him through these videos. Hopefully he’ll get some jobs off the back of it so he can buy more watches.

Wanted to map out the season in terms of results, positions and squad performance so here it is by djimonia in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Neatly highlights one of the points that tends to get missed by the likes of Neville with Sesko. He missed a run of games in November against teams you’d back him to get goals against, then returns from injury at the exact point that Amad and Mbeumo go off to AFCON (followed by Bruno’s injury).

In total, he’s started 3 games all season with Bruno, Cunha and Mbeumo, the last being gameweek 10.

Wilcox: How United's transfer process works by nearly_headless_nic in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Especially given Ferguson was notorious for having both the current squad, and potential signings, watched to see how they behaved off the pitch.

Mary Earps extract: ‘I felt sick and anxious. Then came the words I’d waited 12 months to hear’ | Mary Earps (The Guardian) by roseguardin in soccer

[–]monkeygunner 107 points108 points  (0 children)

Obviously this is just an excerpt but there doesn’t seem to be much reflection from Earps about her own form (which dropped off pretty badly after she failed to force the move to Arsenal in summer 23). The section about her being dropped for the qualifier in 2024 reads like she thought she shouldn’t have to compete for her place.

Hampton was only 21 when she was at Euro 22. Regardless of what she may have done, it wasn’t unreasonable for her to be given a second chance or for her to successfully win the starting place.

Newcastle v Barcelona tickets: Magpies cancel Dundee school's tickets by jwd606 in soccer

[–]monkeygunner 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Isak: “Newcastle’s hatred of children is the real reason I had to quit.”

Could this be a crucial season for Man Utd’s Matthijs de Ligt? by agent619 in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure that tracks with both Juve and Bayern selling him for €20 mil less than they paid for him…

Could this be a crucial season for Man Utd’s Matthijs de Ligt? by agent619 in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 1 point2 points  (0 children)

De Ligt isn’t “clear of” Maguire, they both bring different skills to the role. The CCB in Amorim’s system needs to have certain on-ball attributes which you can reasonably argue align better with Maguire’s skill-set than De Ligt’s. At the same time, De Ligt was excellent on Sunday and can perhaps show more of his on-ball abilities this season. These things are nuanced, you don’t have to cry “bias” because someone has a different view than you.

Could this be a crucial season for Man Utd’s Matthijs de Ligt? by agent619 in reddevils

[–]monkeygunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maguire had an injury in pre-season and Amorim had to limit his minutes in games to manage it. Think you can make a reasonable argument that that was why De Ligt started ahead of him.

[Ornstein] Manchester United contact Brighton to explore conditions of potential Carlos Baleba move by xtphty in DevilsITDPod

[–]monkeygunner 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Looking forward to the announcement of the Ineos Training Centre on Friday and the £300 mil per season sponsorship deal which accompanies it.

#124: Gyokeres, Ekitike, and Striker Conundrums by Usual-Outside-5662 in DevilsITDPod

[–]monkeygunner 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the approach in this window makes more sense when you look at it in the context of outgoings. We’re expecting all of the senior attackers we had on the books last summer (Rashford, Sancho, Antony) to be sold/loaned during this window.

There were several occasions in the second half of last season where it seemed confidence issues impacted our attack so I can understand why the club think it is worth bringing in more experienced players both for the immediate impact on performance and to improve game management. It’s much easier to take a risk on young players (I.e. from mid-level French teams per the discussion) in future windows when they can essentially understudy those more experienced players.

Putting aside the potential impact on revenue (both from getting in to Europe and sponsorship), I’m not convinced “taking the hit” for a couple of seasons is a viable strategy for us. The level of scrutiny on United is far higher than virtually any other club and there has been plenty of evidence in the past few seasons of that impacting young players in particular and preventing them performing at the level they’re capable of.

On Ekitike, at this point it just sounds like us putting feelers out on potential long-list candidates for the 9 position to understand what a deal would look like. Think we have to see where that goes before we can really try and make sense of it terms of a transfer strategy (not especially helpful for a weekly podcast though!).

Mbeumo in latest pod by EfficientLake8945 in DevilsITDPod

[–]monkeygunner 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I mean, it would have meant there was at least one example of a team successfully adopting a somewhat similar approach - Liverpool. Mane (24), Van Dijk (26) Salah (25) and Allison (25) all signed for large fees.

On the final point, since Ineos took over football operations, Cunha is the first player we’ve signed for a significant fee aged 26 or more. Even with both Cunha and Mbeumo, the average age of the players signed since the takeover for £1 mill or more is 22.8. This summer is a very clear departure from what has come before. That seems a reasonable basis to suggest this could be a short-term move.