Oh I know. I've been saying the same thing. Personally I wanted just a true anchor/destroyer type (Onana was my preference) that could just win countless duels and constantly get the ball back. There's almost no one that can do both that and be a technical progressor from deep.
Manuel Ugarte | Romano - he’s signed | Awaiting Club announcement
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Every now and then I will watch it for about ten minutes just to see if it is still utter shite and it never fails to disappoint.
Rodri isn't a lone 6 either. Huge myth.
Would watch it if he was on Paddock, Webby & O Neill or United People's TV but not that channel
I like Carl
Yeah I think he's quite poor too. Tries to come across overly analytical when I don't think he comes up with that many good points. He's getting better than he was under Ole though.
A lot of concerns with this player, is he just a destroyer? or can he play?
Might be just me being overly sceptical but we often see these stories coming out around the time of a game, feels like it’s designed to improve fan morale and then goes quiet.
He's grown on me, but definitely has a tendency to come out of his lane as a journalist and into tactico territory. He seems very well meaning though and a proper fan.
He is a data analysis guy though...he's the one out of the United journos on the Athletic who's job it is to look at data and write articles based around that. He openly admits he's not a 'sources' guy who's going to get a scoop, à la Whitwell and Ornstein. He occasionally does an interview, but he's more a guy who writes about football rather than a journalist who reports the news on it.
It's fine if you're not into that kind of thing, but lots of people seem to enjoy it and put a lot of stock in it. I personally enjoy it sometimes but I don't think it tells you everything when it comes to football, otherwise those guys on tifo wouldn't have kept suggesting United sign Ibrahim Sangare every year!
Don’t think we’ve had a player like him since Roy Keane. Or am I wrong!?
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Yeah he definitely loves the game and loves United.
I think he’s got a wonderfully silly streak in him if you’ve seen him do any YouTube clips for the Athletic so I quite like him.
I do like that side of the game, I just struggle with the certainty things can be stated with with analysis. True data analysis would be heavily caveated, but football you get a bit of a free pass. But I think if you take it through that lens, I like him as a journalist in general and can put up with it!
Yeah, I didn't like him to begin with on the talk of the devils podcast, but I enjoy his humour now, plus his criticisms are usually very balanced and fair.
He was a guest on Stretford Paddock last week and started talking about how certain CBs are 'cats' or 'dogs' - apparently Lindelof is a cat and Martinez is a dog. You could tell he thought he was making some poetic, insightful analogy when in reality he came across a pretentious little wetwipe.
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The cats and dogs thing isn’t an original observation it’s been used for many years.
I think Anka likes using silly analogies as part of his humour.
Anyway based on recent reports I’m expecting:
- Ugarte
- Mazraoui
- De Ligt?
No we haven't, that's why I'm intrigued.
Based on fbref, this is a midfielder with most challenges lost in major European leagues.(1 percentile). He's not Kante, nowhere near.
Said it before too but I think he's more like a Herrera with extra bite.
Am I old man shouting at clouds to hate how so much of the chat on players comes down to this percentile guff now? It’s so boring. Even if it’s potentially right and accurate, I’d rather just watch the player and make my own mind up.
Ugarte and Keane don't belong in the same sentence. There's some heavy overrating of a PSG reject here.
Carl Arka says a lot without saying much. You listen to him and think wow! Then you realise he has said nothing meaningful. He can make the most boring story sound interesting.
Glad people are realising Anka is a pretentious douche. Been saying it for a while.
I’m not saying he’s Roy Keane. I’m saying a proper DM enforcer to stop the opposition play. The sort of player that annoys the other team and fan base. A warrior in midfield
He comes across as someone who doesn’t even like football but got into it for a job. If it came out he only started watching a few years ago I wouldn’t be shocked. There’s just something inauthentic about how he talks about it, maybe it’s just how he communicates his views, it just never sounds genuine to me.
Keane had far more to his game than being an enforcer. He looks average at best on the ball.
Don't buy he is a lifelong Utd fan at all
I hated how with all the MG news a few years ago he was desperate to tell people how he'd been donating to women's charities. Nice gesture of course but it was a bit of a "Look at how nice a person I am" moment.
It's not exactly shocking that players that go into most duels also lose more than others. It's just how it is. Kanté was also bottom 22nd percentile for the same stat. It's not because he frequently loses a lot of duels, it's because he engages in more than most so obviously these players will also lose more.
He just seems nerdy about stats, and sees football through that lens.
Which is...a choice. Wouldnt make him less of a red in my book though.
Doesn’t even know how to pronounce Salford
To me a journalist lives and dies by his contacts in the game and Carl doesn’t have any. Hence the boring, long rambling “articles” on the Athletic. Mitten is the same, they are just fans.
Mittens the most well connected United journalist there is so you’re contradicting yourself there.
Nah, it’s all smoke and mirrors. He’s just a fan
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No he isn't
Isn't that what most journalists do? He is not claiming to have scoops on transfers or anything, he just collects info (from other journalists and so on) and gives his insight on it.
For each news story there's 1 person who breaks the story, the others are rehashing it anyways. I don't mind that he does that.
This guy would not be worthy of tying up Roy's boots.
We’ve signed a lot of supposedly solid midfielders, though, who’ve turned out to be lazy, soft and generally shite. Even Van de Beek was a shithouse at Ajax, soft as feck here. Wasn’t that just the weirdest signing?
Herrera, Fred, even Casemiro who’s renowned for being a brute and hardworking now can’t be fecked. Makes you miss Fellaini
Herrera, Fred, even Casemiro who’s renowned for being a brute and hardworking now can’t be fecked. Makes you miss Fellaini
He definitely has connections but he's far far from a transfer journalist. I can't think of a time he gave any useful transfer news.
As much as I respect him I can't help but feel he often gives a series of anecdotal bits of info that are sort of irrelevant in isolation or without proper context.
Does my head in that I keep seeing people talk bollocks about Andy. You are spot on, he's arguably the hardest working, most respectful and well connected journalist covering United. Not only this but he's had to carve out his career from nothing by proving to his contacts he can be trusted not to sell them out for clicks.
And this is a deliberate choice mate. He's said numerous times he could easily put up transfer stuff, but it would instantly cost him the trust of the person that told him. So not worth it to him. He leaves all that to the others and I don't blame him.
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