Which three players would you take from our PL rivals to improve our team?

Allison Haaland Odegaard. Don’t need Saka as much, Antony and Sancho might come good.
 
Alexis Mac Alister for Eriksen, Kane for whoever, and Mahrez for Antony. I really do hope we take a look at Mac Alister for real. Made to play midfield for Ten Hag
 
De Gea
Dalot - Varane - Martinez - Shaw
Casemiro - Guimarães
Saka - Eriksen - Rashford
Haaland​
Pretty much the obvious three picks IMO. Caicedo, Mahrez and Kane would be good picks also.
 
Thought I had a clever hipster shout with Reece James and then the next 2 posters say him. It was hipster for all of 4 minutes.
 
Haaland, Saka & Allisson.

I’ll try to go with names that haven’t been suggested now.

De Gea
Trippier - Varane - Martinez - Shaw
Casemiro - Rodri
Antony - Bruno - Rashford
Nunez​
 
Saka and Haaland are no-brainers

and probably De Bruyne and play him next to Casemiro
 
Some posters replacing De Gea when he's pretty far down the list of our problems :wenger:

RW, CM and ST is clearly where we're weak lads De Gea is still one of the league's best goalkeepers.
 
Blood Mage said:
Some posters replacing De Gea when he's pretty far down the list of our problems :wenger:

RW, CM and ST is clearly where we're weak lads De Gea is still one of the league's best goalkeepers.
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any basis for that claim?

for this season:
save percentage - 11th best out of 22 goalkeepers with 5+ appearances in the league
actual goals conceded minus expect goals conceded (which take into account difficulty of saves) - 14th out of 22
cross claiming per 90 - 21nd out of 22
sweeping - 18th out of 22
long passing accuracy - 19th out of 22

how can a goalkeeper being so poor at all metrics of goalkeeping be "one of the league's best goalkeepers?"
 
Blood Mage said:
Some posters replacing De Gea when he's pretty far down the list of our problems :wenger:

RW, CM and ST is clearly where we're weak lads De Gea is still one of the league's best goalkeepers.
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Delusional.
 
JeffFromHK said:
any basis for that claim?

for this season:
save percentage - 11th best out of 22 goalkeepers with 5+ appearances in the league
actual goals conceded minus expect goals conceded (which take into account difficulty of saves) - 14th out of 22
cross claiming per 90 - 21nd out of 22
sweeping - 18th out of 22
long passing accuracy - 19th out of 22

how can a goalkeeper being so poor at all metrics of goalkeeping be "one of the league's best goalkeepers?"
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Because stats mean feck all, there's no context - De Gea is certainly not the best keeper in the PL but there's only 2 or 3 that you might say are better, he is almost certainly the best shot stopper but your "stats" say he's crap
 
  1. Allisson
  2. Kane
  3. Bernardo Silva
Bernardo to deep the deeper press resistant CM playmaker. There's actually not many who would fit us that well. Kovačić, bentancur, Gundogan, Thiago... Bernardo Silva is the only one who isn't past his prime or is good enough. 2nd weakest position for us.

Kane over Haaland as I think he is a better all round player. Haaland scores more goals but also IMO funnels goals away from others a bit so it distorts the totals - hard to see if it's still worth more than Kane or not but not IMO (at least not for just immediate couple of seasons). Easily weakest position.

Allisson is the best GK in the world, has been for a while, and that's our 3rd weakest position. No brainer here. Ederson is great with his feet but mediocre with a lot of other aspects.

Very tempted for Saka, but I'd have hope for Antony/Sancho if we got these 3 in to kick on.
 
Blood Mage said:
Some posters replacing De Gea when he's pretty far down the list of our problems :wenger:

RW, CM and ST is clearly where we're weak lads De Gea is still one of the league's best goalkeepers.
Click to expand...
Over Christmas table... De Gea is ranked 17th in the league out of 20 in overall value (analytically speaking). He's very far from the top goalkeepers these days. He's not as big of a problem as ST and CM, but he's easily next most important. We have good players at RW who just need some confidence. GK we are settling with mediocre.


This guy is great on twitter and made a great model to evaluate goalkeepers.
 
bosnian_red said:
  1. Allisson
  2. Kane
  3. Bernardo Silva
Bernardo to deep the deeper press resistant CM playmaker. There's actually not many who would fit us that well. Kovačić, bentancur, Gundogan, Thiago... Bernardo Silva is the only one who isn't past his prime or is good enough. 2nd weakest position for us.

Kane over Haaland as I think he is a better all round player. Haaland scores more goals but also IMO funnels goals away from others a bit so it distorts the totals - hard to see if it's still worth more than Kane or not but not IMO (at least not for just immediate couple of seasons). Easily weakest position.

Allisson is the best GK in the world, has been for a while, and that's our 3rd weakest position. No brainer here. Ederson is great with his feet but mediocre with a lot of other aspects.

Very tempted for Saka, but I'd have hope for Antony/Sancho if we got these 3 in to kick on.
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1. Yes
2. Are you off your rocker?
3. Wouldn't be my choice but he's a good player
 
Red in STL said:
Because stats mean feck all, there's no context - De Gea is certainly not the best keeper in the PL but there's only 2 or 3 that you might say are better, he is almost certainly the best shot stopper but your "stats" say he's crap
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Off the top of my head, I'd take all of these over current day de Gea:
  • Allisson
  • Ederson
  • Pope
  • Ramsdale
  • Martinez
  • Raya
  • Sanchez
 
Red in STL said:
Because stats mean feck all, there's no context - De Gea is certainly not the best keeper in the PL but there's only 2 or 3 that you might say are better, he is almost certainly the best shot stopper but your "stats" say he's crap
Click to expand...

He really isn't the best shot stopper in the last 4 or 5 seasons. Just because he pulls one or two good saves per game doesn't mean he is good at shot stopping. Even an average goalkeeper like Tom Heaton made bunches of world class saves whenever we played Burnley a few years earlier.

"Because stats mean feck all" - what attributes that can't be recorded in stats does he possess? Leadership? He got none.

You are like a Bayern fan in 2013 who says "stats mean feck all" when another Bayern fan says that Mario Gomez can't score any more and is no longer good enough to play for Bayern, or a United fan who says "stats mean feck all" in November 2022 when another United fan says Ronaldo just scored 1 PL goal in 10 games and is no longer good enough to play in PL. Asking fans not to judge a player on goals scored, when ironically that player is a goal scoring one trick pony and offers nothing else.
 
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Red in STL said:
1. Yes
2. Are you off your rocker?
3. Wouldn't be my choice but he's a good player
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Off my rocker for picking Kane over haaland?? I just think Rashford is a quality player and if you put Haaland top, you take away the best stuff that Rashford provides and we would then be looking at Sancho and Antony as wingers - and hoping Sancho produces Dortmund form (in terms of what combo would work best).
 
JeffFromHK said:
He really isn't the best shot stopper in the last 4 or 5 seasons. Just because he pulls one or two good saves per game doesn't mean he is good at shot stopping. Even an average goalkeeper like Tom Heaton made bunches of world class saves whenever we played Burnley a few years earlier.

"Because stats mean feck all" - what attributes that can't be recorded in stats does he possess? Leadership? He got none.

You are like a Bayern fan in 2013 who says "stats mean feck all" when another Bayern fan says that Mario Gomez can't score any more and is no longer good enough to play for Bayern, or a United fan who says "stats mean feck all" in November 2022 when another United fan says Ronaldo just scored 1 PL goal in 10 games and is no longer good enough to play in PL.
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Stats without context are useless, 11th out of 22 in shots saved tells you nothing about how hard or easy those saves are, or how often the hard ones are made or how often the easy ones are made.

DDG has 2 big weaknesses, his distribution is poor and his aversion to claim crosses and command his area, you don't need a bunch of stats to know that, all you have to do is watch him play
 
Saka at RW, Haaland at CF, Bruno Guimaraes to partner Casemiro in midfield.
We win the league this season and the Champions League next season.
 
Red in STL said:
Stats without context are useless, 11th out of 22 in shots saved tells you nothing about how hard or easy those saves are, or how often the hard ones are made or how often the easy ones are made.

DDG has 2 big weaknesses, his distribution is poor and his aversion to claim crosses and command his area, you don't need a bunch of stats to know that, all you have to do is watch him play
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come on, can you read??
"actual goals conceded minus expect goals conceded (which take into account difficulty of saves) - 14th out of 22 "
he performs WORSE if we factor in difficult of saves.

you think De Gea is best shotstopper in PL because of (A) your sentimentalism as a United fan on a long term servant of the club and (B) your lack of awareness of the fact that all average PL goalkeepers cant pull in a dozen of amazing saves every season

He doesn't only have 2 weaknesses as a goalkeeper

he is an average/decent shotstopper at PL standard, but is bad at:
sweeping
high ball claiming
commanding and organizing defence
long balls kicking
shot passing or passing out from the back
throwing
penalties saving
consistency/concentration
i.e. every single relevent attribute of a goalkeeper
 
bosnian_red said:
Off my rocker for picking Kane over haaland?? I just think Rashford is a quality player and if you put Haaland top, you take away the best stuff that Rashford provides and we would then be looking at Sancho and Antony as wingers - and hoping Sancho produces Dortmund form (in terms of what combo would work best).
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Both Kane and Haaland will score more goals than Rashford ever will, Rashford will score as many as he does irrespective of who plays as a 9
 
Red in STL said:
Both Kane and Haaland will score more goals than Rashford ever will, Rashford will score as many as he does irrespective of who plays as a 9
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Not true. Kane will score bucket loads, but Rashford alongside Kane will get ~25 as well as he's on pace for this season. Put Haaland in there and he funnels the goals to himself away from Rashford, as a lot of Rashfords comes from his runs in behind (which Haaland also does). It depends on your team for what suits you better. For me, we need a Kane/Benzema/Lewandowski type more.

Are we better with Haaland at ST and Sancho at LW, or Rashfords LW and Kane ST. It's Kane for me but understand Haaland too. Also - not exactly picking for longevity, just immediate 3 seasons basically.
 
JeffFromHK said:
come on, can you read??
"actual goals conceded minus expect goals conceded (which take into account difficulty of saves) - 14th out of 22 "
he performs WORSE if we factor in difficult of saves.

you think De Gea is best shotstopper in PL because of (A) your sentimentalism as a United fan on a long term servant of the club and (B) your lack of awareness of the fact that all average PL goalkeepers cant pull in a dozen of amazing saves every season
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Firstly I am not sentimental and I would prefer that we sell him, but he's not anywhere near the lower percentile of PL goalkeepers your stats say he is

Expected goals scored or conceded - who determines what is expected, it's no more than a prediction of an outcome, it's not a fact
 
Red in STL said:
Firstly I am not sentimental and I would prefer that we sell him, but he's not anywhere near the lower percentile of PL goalkeepers your stats say he is

Expected goals scored or conceded - who determines what is expected, it's no more than a prediction of an outcome, it's not a fact
Click to expand...

he may not be the worst PL goalkeeper, and stats may not 100% represent a player's ability. But stats must tell something about a player
taking striker as an example
a "25 PL goals per season" striker may not be better than a "15 PL goals per season" striker since that 15 PL goals per season striker may offer something more than goalscoring like pressing or dribbling

but it is almost impossible for a striker who scores 1-2 PL goals in 38 games to be better than the "25 PL goals per season" striker.

a goalkeeper who is 11th at shotstopping %, 21st at cross claiming, 18th at sweeping, and 19th at long passing % in PL may not be as bad as being the 17th (i.e. average of the 4 rankings above) best goalkeeper of PL , but it is impossible for him to be anywhere top 5 in the league.
 
Blood Mage said:
Some posters replacing De Gea when he's pretty far down the list of our problems :wenger:

RW, CM and ST is clearly where we're weak lads De Gea is still one of the league's best goalkeepers.
Click to expand...
Goalkeeper is a bigger issue than RW as things stand.

De Gea might be among the best shot stoppers in the league but he isn't among the best in any other metric
 
charlenefan said:
I'll go realistic picks

-------------------Raya-------------------
Dalot---Varane--Martinez--Shaw
-------Casemiro----Caicedo-------
Antony------Fernandes-------Rashford
-------------------Kane-------------------

Struggled to come up with 3 realistic ones from the PL tbh as would prefer a different profile of CM to Caicedo
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Mac Allister as a better passing #8.

I'm not a huge Raya, fan, so for realistic i'd go Sanchez, Mac Allister and Kane. 100M to Brighton for the first 2, an annoying 75M to Spurs for Kane, sell Maguire and McTominay, let De Gea's huge wages go and sign someone to cover RCB/DM so let's say Edson Alvarez.
 
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