This is a great analysis and response. Wish there were more posts like this.It's a fair point about taking stats like that at face value. And that you expect dominant teams to perform less defensive actions. But by that measure, you'd expect Amrabat playing for a far less dominant team (City won the league and finished top of possession charts with 65%, while Fiorentina finished 9 on the table and only had 56.4% possession) to have more defensive actions than Rodri. Right? Wrong.
By the way United finished 4th with 53.8% possession and Fiorentina 9th with with 56.4% possession. Fiorentina are not that much more dominant that it justifies such low number of defensive actions. Their league position betrays a team with frailties.
You might argue that these are league differences. Football is more fast & furious in the EPL, so more actions. So if we look across to the Serie A, the most dominant team is Napoli. Who won the league and dominated possession charts with 62% average. Better than Fiorentina in every way. They were the Serie A's Man City. So if we look at their DM, Lobotka, he should have less defensive actions than Amrabat. Right? Wrong.
Lobotka has more challenges, in every area of the pitch and with higher % of success. Lobotka's numbers are close to Rodri's and he plays a very crucial part in playmaking for Napoli too.
You can go and check the same against Barca and Busquets. Barca won the league, most dominant team (61.4% possession) so Amrabat must have more defensive actions per 90 than 34yo Busquets. Right? Wrong.
Worse in every defensive category again.
Finally, this isn't just me throwing stats and hope they stick. I'm throwing stats to back up something I see with my own eyes. Amrabat is indeed a pretty good deep playmaker and a big part of why Fiorentina dominate possession against most teams. We saw that in the UConL final too.
However he suffers on the defensive side of the game. Which is also why Fiorentina play another DM next to him. And again we saw a bit of that on the UEL final where Fiorentina dominated but on the occasions when West Ham attacked, Fiorentina and Amrabat failed to cope including in the second goal. And it's worth remembering that we he don't plan to play with 2 DMs. We'll play with Mount and Fernandes, without a doubt. Which means only 1 DM to do all the defensive work, which Amrabat is not cut out for.
Great post, but 1 minor important typo. United finished 3rd. Sorry.It's a fair point about taking stats like that at face value. And that you expect dominant teams to perform less defensive actions. But by that measure, you'd expect Amrabat playing for a far less dominant team (City won the league and finished top of possession charts with 65%, while Fiorentina finished 9 on the table and only had 56.4% possession) to have more defensive actions than Rodri. Right? Wrong.
By the way United finished 4th with 53.8% possession and Fiorentina 9th with with 56.4% possession. Fiorentina are not that much more dominant that it justifies such low number of defensive actions. Their league position betrays a team with frailties.
You might argue that these are league differences. Football is more fast & furious in the EPL, so more actions. So if we look across to the Serie A, the most dominant team is Napoli. Who won the league and dominated possession charts with 62% average. Better than Fiorentina in every way. They were the Serie A's Man City. So if we look at their DM, Lobotka, he should have less defensive actions than Amrabat. Right? Wrong.
Lobotka has more challenges, in every area of the pitch and with higher % of success. Lobotka's numbers are close to Rodri's and he plays a very crucial part in playmaking for Napoli too.
You can go and check the same against Barca and Busquets. Barca won the league, most dominant team (61.4% possession) so Amrabat must have more defensive actions per 90 than 34yo Busquets. Right? Wrong.
Worse in every defensive category again.
Finally, this isn't just me throwing stats and hope they stick. I'm throwing stats to back up something I see with my own eyes. Amrabat is indeed a pretty good deep playmaker and a big part of why Fiorentina dominate possession against most teams. We saw that in the UConL final too.
However he suffers on the defensive side of the game. Which is also why Fiorentina play another DM next to him. And again we saw a bit of that on the UEL final where Fiorentina dominated but on the occasions when West Ham attacked, Fiorentina and Amrabat failed to cope including in the second goal. And it's worth remembering that we he don't plan to play with 2 DMs. We'll play with Mount and Fernandes, without a doubt. Which means only 1 DM to do all the defensive work, which Amrabat is not cut out for.
Shit that’s embarrassing, lemme fix that real quick
It's a fair point about taking stats like that at face value. And that you expect dominant teams to perform less defensive actions. But by that measure, you'd expect Amrabat playing for a far less dominant team (City won the league and finished top of possession charts with 65%, while Fiorentina finished 9 on the table and only had 56.4% possession) to have more defensive actions than Rodri. Right? Wrong.
By the way United finished 3th with 53.8% possession and Fiorentina 9th with with 56.4% possession. Fiorentina are not that much more dominant, not enough that it justifies such low number of defensive actions. They are closer to United than City and their league position betrays a team with frailties.
You might argue that these are league differences. Football is more fast & furious in the EPL, so more actions. So if we look across to the Serie A, the most dominant team is Napoli. Who won the league and dominated possession charts with 62% average. Better than Fiorentina in every way. They were the Serie A's Man City. So if we look at their DM, Lobotka, he should have less defensive actions than Amrabat. Right? Wrong.
Lobotka has more challenges, in every area of the pitch and with higher % of success. Lobotka's numbers are close to Rodri's and he plays a very crucial part in playmaking for Napoli too.
You can go and check the same against Barca and Busquets. Barca won the league, most dominant team (61.4% possession) so Amrabat must have more defensive actions per 90 than a 34yo Sergio Busquets. Right? Wrong.
Worse in every defensive category again.
Finally, this isn't just me throwing stats and hope they stick. I'm throwing stats to back up something I see with my own eyes. Amrabat is indeed a pretty good deep playmaker and a big part of why Fiorentina dominate possession against most teams. We saw that in the UConL final too.
However he suffers on the defensive side of the game. Which is also why Fiorentina play another DM next to him. And again we saw a bit of that on the UConL final where Fiorentina dominated but on the occasions when West Ham attacked, Fiorentina and Amrabat failed to cope including in the second goal. And it's worth remembering that we don't plan to play with 2 DMs here. We'll play with Mount and Fernandes, without a doubt. Which means only 1 DM to do all the defensive work, which Amrabat is not cut out for.
Some of you are too rigid in your thinking. Many teams play without a Casemiro type dm.
He is an enforcer like McT, but he can pass and is press-resistant. I think he can play the 8 or 6 spots.
Who's a huge name past his prime ETH has signed exactly?
Eriksen played a lot and made a lot of meters. Had to play too much because of lack of other good options.
Heavily linked with Barca but they’re financially fecked.
They were looking for free agents and loans. Amramalt isn‘t either of those. They wanted him.
Well enough people on here wanted Caicedo.
I don’t see why we have to divert from that quality.
I’m sticking to Tchouameni. Realistically I don’t know but I do know if we are signing a second midfielder it’s not happening until August and that why I’m sticking to him, as I can see him being available later on in the window.
I'm not sure, I've never heard of him
Or if we sell some players. Not beyond realm of possibility even for us.
It's just a wet dream. Tchouameni, Camavinga, Jude and Valverde are their future.
I have to say, from the clips I've seen of him, he looks like a ball winner/destroyer. He's physically strong, quite the specimen. If he doesn't win the ball with a strong tackle, he wins it by brute strength, barging the player off the ball. He's aggressive. I really like the look of this guy in comparison to other DM's we've been linked with, even Caicedo. We've been a soft touch in midfield for far too long, I'm sick and tired of seeing opposition players dance through our midfield, we need a physical monster in there who isn't just a great tackler, but can throw his weight about a bit and let players know, it's gonna be a difficult day for them. We need to get that fear factor back.
In the Marroccan team he is. He is an enforcer/playmaker. You can also play with both a screening dm and a tackling enforcer. A hard man if you please.
