It was pretty obvious when we signed him he’s an average footballer so no surprises there.
Sofyan Amrabat | 2023/24 Performances
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A lot better than most of them today.
Don’t forget he is new to the league and everyone needs some time to adjust -writing him off this early is crazy.
He willl be a good player for us.
Hopefully this is his bedding in period
How do you downgrade on Fred 
He’s not shite but he’s another nothing midfielder
He’s not shite but he’s another nothing midfielder
Done dirty by Erik ten Hag with the substitution at halftime. He was the only midfielder who was actually working in recovering balls. No wonder why everything went to shit as soon as he was taken off; this was no coincidence at all.
Yeah he looks like a very ordinary player but then you see Mctominay take his place and ordinary suddenly looks like a big upgrade.
Disappointing so far and what worries me it could well be as good as we're gonna get. The money we've thrown away!
Very average and seems a bit of a hot head. Think Ten Hag took him off to stop him picking up a second yellow in the second half.
Ain’t done what he said on the tin according to the transfer forum. But no surprise there really.
Good thing it’s a loan.
Good thing it’s a loan.
He’s shite. He’s showing why he was still at Fiorentina at 27.
There is a good player there - he’s just surrounded by rubbish - really noticed the difference when he was off
look at their squad 99/00. An awful lot of good players stay in Florence at age 27 and beyond.
amrabat is not a good player though.
I only needed to watch him twice in midfield to know he was nowhere near good enough for us.
Palhinha, Douglas Luiz, Alvarez, Sangare, Norgaard, Onana are players at mid table sides (except Luiz) better than him.
ETH really is a moron. In a league that requires athletic players in midfield he managed to get the two slowest and non-agile midfielders to protect the back four in Casemiro and Amrabat.
Palhinha, Douglas Luiz, Alvarez, Sangare, Norgaard, Onana are players at mid table sides (except Luiz) better than him.
ETH really is a moron. In a league that requires athletic players in midfield he managed to get the two slowest and non-agile midfielders to protect the back four in Casemiro and Amrabat.
But they argued he wasn’t slow because he caught up to Mbappe once 
Definitely still adjusting to new league and pace / physicality but just not sure he's good enough to adjust properly
He is 27. We cant really be waiting for him to adjust.
Your comparison is weak. Over 20 years had since passed. Serie A back then is top league. Arguably more important trophy than CL that top players chose to spread across different clubs in Serie A instead easy entrance into CL for a chance to win it. Top league paid well, too. Serie A teams mostly nowadays, especially Fiorentina is not paying as well as teams like West Ham, let alone PL top 8, top 6. Today Serie A looks meek in comparison to their past glorious days.
Pretty much. He's been average so far, but average actually means he's been our best bar some Eriksen appearances off the bench.
Quite easily. Obviously he wasn't amazing, but Fred was always much better than many people made out.How do you downgrade on Fred
Convinced that he was performance enhanced at the World Cup.
He look's very pedestrian here.
He look's very pedestrian here.
The comparison show a lack of understanding of the landscape of the game. Superclubs were not a thing in the 90's, the stockpiling of talent at a small number of clubs was not a thing, world class players being spread across clubs and leagues was the standard. Much healthier competitive environment, but the top clubs from now would be better.
Amrabat is a good player but he has obvious weaknesses for this league, slow and dreadful in the air. The system doesn't help him and I don't think he is showing enough for Utd to make it permanent as much as some have said it is a formality. If this is his level it would be another mistake.
How is it possible that the Caf manages to get me excited over signing bang average players every summer?
A whole summer of reading posts about how this guy is the chosen midfielder, and this is what we get.
A whole summer of reading posts about how this guy is the chosen midfielder, and this is what we get.
That short helped make up many minds about himBut they argued he wasn’t slow because he caught up to Mbappe once
He’s ordinary but ordinary relative for our squad makes him a superstar. He’s a half-decent all-rounder, happy for him to be a squad player but he’ll likely never be anything more.
Feels like we've expected him to move to a new country into a disjointed as feck side and be our saviour. Really want to see him get settled with a regular midfield partner (Casemiro) and our first choice back 4 behind him. Think he's only played 45 mins in midfield with Casemiro so far in an admittedly bad game v Brentford but our selections in every game he's played have been all over the place
It's an expectations thing. When we were linked, it was for being a squad player. Cover for Casemiro at times, play next to him at times, be on the bench at times. I'd say he has shown that exact level. Problem is everything else has gone to shit and we want him to be prime Casemiro... So yeah. That's obviously not gonna happen. As a squad player in deep midfield he's fine though.
We should be picking 2 of Casemiro, Amrabat, Mainoo, Eriksen every game to actually play as a double pivot. And then stick with whatever finds form/provides balance. Bin whatever we are trying now, it doesn't work.
We should be picking 2 of Casemiro, Amrabat, Mainoo, Eriksen every game to actually play as a double pivot. And then stick with whatever finds form/provides balance. Bin whatever we are trying now, it doesn't work.
I don't think I've seen a single compilation plastered over twitter as many times as I saw the Amrabat vs France one.But they argued he wasn’t slow because he caught up to Mbappe once
Not surprised one bit by what I've seen. The cherry on the cake would be ETH still here in the summer and making it permanent.
I saw the first half and then I had a look at the stats to see they corroborated what my eyes saw. Basically, I really can't comprehend how anyone watched that half of football and thought Amrabat was the problem. Least of all our coach.
In the first half Amrabat had the 2nd most defensive actions, 6, only one behind Maguire. More than Dalot, Lindelof and Evans. For reference, Eriksen was at 0. That is 0 tackles, interceptions or blocks. Amrabat played quite deep and so he was naturally conservative with his passing. He had 10/12 passes (83%) but low actual progression (measured in meters).
Meanwhile McTominay was playing at #10 and doing sweet fa. No defensive actions, no passes, nothing until that chance at the end of the half. God knows why he was playing there ahead of Bruno. Bruno was shifted to the RW but as per his natural instincts he kept drifting centrally which meant we were too narrow (he ended up in the same average position as McTominay) while offering no outlet/width or adequate defensive cover on the right. Eriksen occasionally pinged some good passes but he was a non-entity defensively while having only 70% passing (12/17). Largely because he was pinging hopeful long balls at times without an easy outlet on the wings or upfront.
Amrabat was doing a job at a satisfactory level. He was shielding the defence and playing out with simple passes. In front of him, there was absolute chaos with McTominay, Erisken and Bruno unable to press effectively, retain the ball or combine in any meaningful way that would result in dangerous attacks.
Somehow ETH decided Amrabat was the problem and benched him for the second game in a row at halftime (must be doing wonders for his confidence). Meanwhile the completely absent McTominay gets a pass and gets moved to DM while Bruno plays the full 90' as per usual, no matter how bad a day he is having. The team proceeds to collapse in the 2nd half and it's a miracle it only conceded 3.
Amrabat does need to adapt to league and raise his level. But he's not the problem. The only thing worse than ETH's tactics at the moment is his in-game management and subs.
In the first half Amrabat had the 2nd most defensive actions, 6, only one behind Maguire. More than Dalot, Lindelof and Evans. For reference, Eriksen was at 0. That is 0 tackles, interceptions or blocks. Amrabat played quite deep and so he was naturally conservative with his passing. He had 10/12 passes (83%) but low actual progression (measured in meters).
Meanwhile McTominay was playing at #10 and doing sweet fa. No defensive actions, no passes, nothing until that chance at the end of the half. God knows why he was playing there ahead of Bruno. Bruno was shifted to the RW but as per his natural instincts he kept drifting centrally which meant we were too narrow (he ended up in the same average position as McTominay) while offering no outlet/width or adequate defensive cover on the right. Eriksen occasionally pinged some good passes but he was a non-entity defensively while having only 70% passing (12/17). Largely because he was pinging hopeful long balls at times without an easy outlet on the wings or upfront.
Amrabat was doing a job at a satisfactory level. He was shielding the defence and playing out with simple passes. In front of him, there was absolute chaos with McTominay, Erisken and Bruno unable to press effectively, retain the ball or combine in any meaningful way that would result in dangerous attacks.
Somehow ETH decided Amrabat was the problem and benched him for the second game in a row at halftime (must be doing wonders for his confidence). Meanwhile the completely absent McTominay gets a pass and gets moved to DM while Bruno plays the full 90' as per usual, no matter how bad a day he is having. The team proceeds to collapse in the 2nd half and it's a miracle it only conceded 3.
Amrabat does need to adapt to league and raise his level. But he's not the problem. The only thing worse than ETH's tactics at the moment is his in-game management and subs.
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I saw a video with the rundown on him before we go him. A very well balanced video that made me understand that he was a bang average midfielder that could do a job.
McT, Fred, Sabitzer, Amrabat, Van der beek. Proper midtable stuff all this.
McT, Fred, Sabitzer, Amrabat, Van der beek. Proper midtable stuff all this.
Ten Haag didnt think Amrabat played badly. He thought he could attack City. The reason why he keeps McTominay on instead of Amrabat is for his height and praying he scores. The fact that Amrabat did ok doesnt mean he is not shit. He is just surrounded by more sht players. Go see how Rice played against City and see the standard we should be at for a DM and see how far off we are are off that. Or just watch Rodri.
Him and Cas will work well together when both are fit at the same time. Just a shame we have constant injuries. Them 3 with Martinez fit behind them and you will see our performance lift.
Perhaps. But if he thought he could attack City from 45' onwards not by fixing the issues with the attack further up the pitch, but by removing the only natural DM who was doing a lot of work in a game where City were dominating...then he's still culpable for his bad decision.
Penalty aside, City had only 0.7xg in the first half compared to 2.5xg in the second. We were somewhat unlucky with the pen and going behind in the first half, but in the second half we got battered and were lucky it was only 2 more goals.
Amrabat is not supposed to be Rice nor Rodri. No one had such illusions, did you? He was signed as a 20m backup to Casemiro, because after Fred left we had no other DM in the club than Casemiro. We were also looking to cash in on McTominay. People here were screaming for 120m Caicedo but I don't see him pulling up any trees at Chelsea either. Is it the players themselves that are bad or the fact they went into unsettled, underperforming teams?
At the moment Amrabat is doing an adequate job of covering the DM position, considering the price he cost and the fact he is new to the league. He can and should improve of course. But like I said (and you said) he wasn't the problem. It was the tactics and performance of the rest of the midfield/attack that was disjointed, toothless and frankly... shit.
Basically what @bosnian_red said:
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Big
To the doubters "those with biased propaganda". Any footballer who at least played football for two years would actively observe how Amrabat was deliberately and intentionally avoided, boycotted and deprived from the ball but not passing him the ball during both last games against Copenhagen and City.
ETH should be stepping up and protecting his player by calling out the saboteurs.
I will give you a hint, who are the players who are still here after we sacked three last mangers?
To the doubters "those with biased propaganda". Any footballer who at least played football for two years would actively observe how Amrabat was deliberately and intentionally avoided, boycotted and deprived from the ball but not passing him the ball during both last games against Copenhagen and City.
ETH should be stepping up and protecting his player by calling out the saboteurs.
I will give you a hint, who are the players who are still here after we sacked three last mangers?
If Watford were in the Premier league he'd be a player they'd sign. He's that awful.
Spot on assessment, tbf. I agree.
Someone I think @evil_geko told me I was wrong about how slow he is. Him being stripped of the ball for the third is what I meant, he’s so fecking slow that it was noticeable in a slower league like Serie A. It’s clear that it would cause problems in England.
Guarantee in a couple months time, every team in the league will target him when he has the ball
Guarantee in a couple months time, every team in the league will target him when he has the ball
The mistake for the 3rd goal was bad for a player in his position and what hes supposed to bring to the team. That said I think he was our only midfielder other than Mejbri who actually did something good at some point during the game. Small praise yes, but essentially I think we had bigger problems today even if his performance wasnt good for a player who needs to be trying to convince us to spend another £20 million on him.
I thought, his first couple of minutes were quite promising, he showed a bit of urgency and zip in his passes and he was very mobile. That Newcastle midfield was quite a handful though, I think, we would have lost that battle in all combinations of players. He faded away just like the rest of the team did.
Look at us, being the first ones to find something positive about him today
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