Marcel Sabitzer - (Use the Player Performance thread to discuss his matchday performances)

But how is he similar? Eriksen is about exquisite passing, whereas Sabitzer is more about stamina, pressing and defensive nous (whereas they are probably equally good at long shooting)
I don’t think that’s quite right. Sabitzer is a converted AM who also played on the wing. He is now an all round midfielder but more on the attacking / creative side of the spectrum than the defensive side. He also has a good engine and can press. Not as clever as Eriksen but more like him than, say, Fred.
 
@Tom Cato 's post. Change English to Chinese and read this part again: "Many Europeans don't fancy the language"

So pride was indeed never part of the conversation, nor was ignorance. How many languages do you speak fluently, how many languages the average english speaker speaks without that language having any cultural link to them?
 
EtH is big on fitness so he might get the Casemiro treatment and not appear for a few weeks.

Upcoming fixtures are Forest, Palace, Leeds x2 then the big one against Barca.

I think with Eriksen VDB and Mctominay all out he's going to be playing as soon as possible.
 
I think it was. It was the entire motivating factor for my reply.

And your reply was senseless. There was no pride nor celebration of ignorance in that post.
 
Semantics. You are being deliberately obtuse. I can say its not a panic buy because the word panic denotes sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety and there is no proof that anyone at United were scared or anxious therefore it cannot be called a panic buy. Maybe slightly concerned late in the window low risk loan? Happy? Although the definition of low risk loan needs to be defined. Arnt all loans low risk by their definition? Well maybe not Felix. But I would deem it standard risk for a loan. So.....slightly concerned late in the window normal risk loan?

Sure, semantics indeed and the fact that it happened late is the main concern probably, and I wasn't trying to be obtuse or anything, in my view, it is just a simple short term loan that has no fee probably (compared to Felix or our own expensive loan of Falcao back in the day), and it is just to cover for an injured player, so I don't see why someone like Merson was making it a big deal, as if we were looking to bring a CM all window and we just ended up with Sabitzer! clearly that was not the case here.
 
Why do so many of you on here give a single flying feck what Paul Merson has to say about our transfers? There's far too much time and energy being wasted giving his comments any air time whatsoever.

File him under "Souness" and ignore him.

The mere fact that so many ABU's are creeping out of the woodwork again to give their ignorant opinions on our club should give you some satisfaction - we're relevant again and the bitters are worried. Bask in that and filter out the noise.
 
I think you missed the point. I was talking about the importance of the language. If cantonese ever became in demand, I would probably have to learn it.


Well if you were proud of the fact then it would seem like celebrating ignorance..


English has now come in demand for Sabitzer. I fail to see why that is somehow different from you not knowing cantonese or even mandarin. I cant say I agree with the principle of calling someone "ignorant" for not speaking a language they have had no reason to speak. In Germany, they speak German.
 
It just goes to show how well run Bayern are when the like of this lad can’t get into the team in one horse league. the depth and standard of talent on their books is really something we should learn from. That’s what you’re up against at the highest level. We are still miles off but pleasing to see we can spot weaknesses and just get it done instead of waiting years to fix an issue

I mean not just United can learn from this surely?
 
English has now come in demand for Sabitzer. I fail to see why that is somehow different from you not knowing cantonese or even mandarin. I cant say I agree with the principle of calling someone "ignorant" for not speaking a language they have had no reason to speak. In Germany, they speak German.
Perhaps I misread the tone of your post, I thought it sounded like some people were proud or happy to not learn english. I agree it would be inappropriate to label someone as ignorant simply for not speaking an additional language.
 
EtH is big on fitness so he might get the Casemiro treatment and not appear for a few weeks.

Upcoming fixtures are Forest, Palace, Leeds x2 then the big one against Barca.

That should not be a problem. Bayern is big in fitness, too. The only thing he might not have is actually match fitness, as he did not play 90 minutes regularily and after the World Cup, that he did not play because of Austria not being qualified, and Xmas we had a 2 week preparation until a week ago. But that rest should not be negative for you on the long run, too. Even if he needs to be eased in and might not play 90 minutes every match from the start on.

So - 4 matches will be played against teams that have players in them that left Bayern in the last year. Palace with Chris Richards, Leeds with Marc Roca and Barcelona with Lewandowski.
 
Just had another look at this guy and style-wise he will be a perfect foil for Case imo.

The other question is can he deliver the required level and consistency? We’ll see, but he’s obviously been brought in to fill the creative void, he’s not just another body to fill out the squad.
 
That should not be a problem. Bayern is big in fitness, too. The only thing he might not have is actually match fitness, as he did not play 90 minutes regularily and after the World Cup, that he did not play because of Austria not being qualified, and Xmas we had a 2 week preparation until a week ago. But that rest should not be negative for you on the long run, too. Even if he needs to be eased in and might not play 90 minutes every match from the start on.

So - 4 matches will be played against teams that have players in them that left Bayern in the last year. Palace with Chris Richards, Leeds with Marc Roca and Barcelona with Lewandowski.

Yeah 100%

Just needs to be mentioned that he hasn't played much football at all in the last 2 months, so fans should be patient...which is never going to happen! But that won't stop me mentioning it a few times on the Cafe ;)
 
I'm actually amazed when players speak no english whatsoever... did they grow up in some obscure village that has no internet or contact with the outside world?
If you watch videos on youtube and some guy visits slums of some random african country, most of them speak ok english

Most players who arent comfortable speaking english would rather speak their native language in interviews and that doesnt mean they dont know english AT ALL. Now put yourself into their position, lets say you know spanish but its far from perfect and then you have to go live on spanish tv with spanish journalist asking you live questions, bet you'd rather speak english.
 
Only a handful of people where we live in Italy speak English (at all, let alone fluently). It's really not unusual. Some European countries are different, like Germany and the Netherlands, but maybe your perception is skewed because of the high percentage of Scandinavian people who are fluent.

I worked in an insurance company and even if all have learned English as second language - and about all of them had the German Abitur (the permission to go to German university - we have a school system that divides into 3 sectors after elementary school) where they learned atleast 2 languages - whenever we got an English caller on the other side of the phone they did not try to answer but connected the caller to me. A lot can read English very well but are unsure when it is about talking, are afraid to speak and make mistakes. There is really a big difference between being immersed into the language and theoretically to just being able to understand it.

The northern European countries do not even translate English films into their own language but show them with undertitles. I think it is the same with the Netherlands. Austria speaks German - and with so many German speaking people about every film is translated.

I was unsure on which level Sabitzer is in his English. What I could find out is that he does not have a higher education but just went to the "necessary" schools before starting his career. But he for sure had some years of English in school, needed English before in international dressing rooms like the one in Leipzig and is travelling around a lot like most professionals. So English for sure is not a problem for him.
 
Perhaps I misread the tone of your post, I thought it sounded like some people were proud or happy to not learn english. I agree it would be inappropriate to label someone as ignorant simply for not speaking an additional language.

Not at all. The point I made is that simply by existing, a very big part of the world never have any reason to learn the language to begin with.
 
I'm glad he's only on loan. We needed an extra midfielder for sure and he seems to be able to fit into a few positions.

Good pick to get us to the end of the season.
 
EtH is big on fitness so he might get the Casemiro treatment and not appear for a few weeks.

Upcoming fixtures are Forest, Palace, Leeds x2 then the big one against Barca.
He’d of been training with Bayern though? Only training session he missed was obviously deadline day as he wanted to move. Weghorst came straight into the 11. I expect to see sabitzer play some part against palace.
 
I could be totally wrong but my gut instinct says this happened because of ETH's reputation in Europe. I have the feeling that he has so many solid contacts in world football that when he calls people answer and are willing to help him.

He looks to be a great addition to our midfield.
 
I could be totally wrong but my gut instinct says this happened because of ETH's reputation in Europe. I have the feeling that he has so many solid contacts in world football that when he calls people answer and are willing to help him.

He looks to be a great addition to our midfield.

I don't think that he is the one calling, that's Murtough and Fletcher. I would say that ETH's influence here is that United look like a team and it's easier for players and agents to convince themselves that United is the right place.
 
So when can he play? Is it going to be another situation like with Varane? I hope he can start against Palace.
 
So when can he play? Is it going to be another situation like with Varane? I hope he can start against Palace.

No point in rushing, Fred will do fine for a game or two. He has to get used to the training methods etc.
 
No point in rushing, Fred will do fine for a game or two. He has to get used to the training methods etc.
We shouldn’t hang about. I like Fred and he may be fine tonight (because we don’t need to win) but we play in a completely different way when he is one of the midfield two. We need to get Sabitzer in for Palace if he is fit.
 
I could be totally wrong but my gut instinct says this happened because of ETH's reputation in Europe. I have the feeling that he has so many solid contacts in world football that when he calls people answer and are willing to help him.

He looks to be a great addition to our midfield.
Ten Hag's playing days are long behind him, and he was a centre back anyway.
 
I would be surprised if he is eased in too slowly. We have a lot of games coming up and the danger of losing ground in the league is high and the step down from Eriksen to McFred is quite large unless Fred really steps up. He also can't have 2-3 weeks to get his fitness up because that will be far too large a portion of the loan wasted.

He might play a bit part in a few games but then he should be starting most games.
 
This probably happened because ETH used to be a coach at Bayern and knows the people
That's why he was a centre back or stopped playing?

Edit (before this takes too long): I was just kidding about @gerdm07 switching the subject of 'he/him' to Sabitzer in the last line without mentioning the player's name. It therefore looked like the post was still talking about Ten Hag.
 
EtH is big on fitness so he might get the Casemiro treatment and not appear for a few weeks.

Upcoming fixtures are Forest, Palace, Leeds x2 then the big one against Barca.

Case came in probably without proper pre-season. THus he needed time. But, just like Weghorst, Sabitzer is coming mid-season with games in belt already.

Also, I want to see him play. Have a very good feeling on this loan.
 
I would be surprised if he is eased in too slowly.
And why should he? The season is well underway, Sabitzer was training, was a part of a very strong team (so training and coaching were high level), had some playing time (even if not too much) - there are no reasons for him not to be fit and thus able to play.
 
Case came in probably without pre-season. THus he needed time. But, just like Weghorst, Sabitzer is coming mid-season with games in belt already.

Also, I want to see him play. Have a very good feeling on this loan.
And why should he? The season is well underway, Sabitzer was training, was a part of a very strong team (so training and coaching were high level), had some playing time (even if not too much) - there are no reasons for him not to be fit and thus able to play.

He's played about 45 seconds in the last 2 and half month
 
I don't think that he is the one calling, that's Murtough and Fletcher. I would say that ETH's influence here is that United look like a team and it's easier for players and agents to convince themselves that United is the right place.

This, I think players from other teams notice how much players seem to enjoy playing for ETH and it makes them more willing to come than in previous seasons...a huge benefit.
 
I watched a couple of highlight video compilations on Sabitzer and I was surprised how small he was. I guess because he's Austrian / German I was expecting him to be a big lad.
 
Hope this is not a dumb question, but no option to buy just means Bayern don't have to sell right? If he's good for us, is there anything to stop us enquiring at the end of the season in case circumstances have changed?
Sure thing and this also means Bayern do rate him or/and still have him in their plan imo. If they don't there's usually an option to buy.