Aneesh

“Fuck it, let’s do it” - Words to live by || GGMU 🔴👹

[Tim Denning @Tim_Denning]

This article should have 100M views.

[Aneesh @aneeshgupta93]

@indykaila Not this shit again (by the club’s execs). Can’t wait to be in another useless cycle of hiring a manager and then firing him. If the leadership is bad, everything is doomed to fail.

[STATSports @statsports]

Does running more actually win football matches?

A research study over nine seasons and 3,379 Premier League games suggests it’s more complicated than that.

Total distance had NO significant relationship with league position.

Sprint distance showed the strongest relationship with success.

Winning teams averaged just 91m more sprinting than losing teams.

Teams who run less than others can still be successful. Aston Villa were bottom three for distance covered and sprint distance last season - they finished fourth.

The real question isn’t how much you run. It’s when, where and why you run. Context is key.

[Opta Analyst @OptaAnalyst]

Man Utd according to Opta's Expected Points table:

◉ Actual position: 12th
◉ Expected position: 4th

They lead the Premier League for shots (113) and opposition-box touches (182), but have converted just 7.1% of their attempts.

Do they deserve to be higher?

[STATSports @statsports]

This is a good example of how physical data can be often misused in football.

This post has 1.1m views and tentatively insinuates that because Manchester United don’t sprint much out of possession, that’s a bad thing.

Under Michael Carrick, United generally defend in a mid-block.

They will naturally accumulate less OOP sprint distance than a Bournemouth side whose defensive model involves pressing much more aggressively.

Look at the bottom-left quadrant. Many of those teams use structures designed to control space rather than constantly press at high intensity. It’s about running at the right moments.

Physical output is generally a consequence of how you play. Or at least, how you want to play.

Additionally, after the longest World Cup in history, it's another long season ahead for clubs and players in European competitions, and who go deep in domestic cups.

Managing the season physically will be key.

[The Athletic | Football @TheAthleticFC]

Manchester United run less and sprint less than the majority of the clubs in the Premier League.

But it's very difficult to find an overall link between these metrics and the probability of winning matches. There’s no evidence that winning teams cover more distance, or sprint more, than their opponents. These metrics are more a measure of style than quality.

So, is United's lack of running under Michael Carrick an issue? Or is this just how he wants his team to play?

📝 @Zonal_Marking

https://t.co/iT8XqKIwWy

[Soloball🇵🇹 @OginiSolomon]

Now that Amad will potentially be back in full training and available for the first team after the international break, Michael Carrick needs to understand something.

STOP COMPLICATING THIS TEAM.

The left-wing options should be Matheus Cunha and Marcus Rashford.

Nobody else.

If Cunha isn't playing on the left wing, he should be on the bench. It's that simple.

Left wing: Cunha or Rashford.

The striker options should be Benjamin Šeško and Bryan Mbeumo.

If Šeško isn't available, Mbeumo starts up front.

Zirkzee should only play as the central forward if both Šeško and Mbeumo are unavailable.

Then there's the right wing.

Amad Diallo starts.

If Amad isn't available, Shea Lacey starts.

And please, stop playing Mbeumo on the right wing.

That's not his game.

Mbeumo isn't a traditional wide forward. He's an inside forward who naturally drifts into central areas and operates between the lines, almost like a false nine.

So why keep forcing him out wide?

The options are ridiculously simple:

LW: Rashford / Cunha
ST: Šeško / Mbeumo
RW: Amad / Lacey

That's it.

Michael Carrick needs to stop making this Manchester United team look more complicated than it actually is.

Stop complicating things for Manchester United. Stop complicating things for yourself.

[No Question About That @nqatpod]

There's very little correlation between running stats and winning matches. Mostly a measure of style. After this weekend City, top of the league, have run less than United and completed fewer high intensity sprints.

Carrick is employing a zonal mid block off the ball and a technical possession dominant style on it. Both look like less running because they are, and because it suits the players.

For better or worse, United look very different than the man to man intensity of the Premier League. Neville went mad at one passage when they were defending in their shape but not running around.

Much better to analyse why United get into the opposition box (1st) so often and take so many shots (1st) and on target (2nd) without scoring. And why teams do the opposite to United.

Carrick's under pressure but from his perspective the fine margins are going against his team right now.

[Aneesh @aneeshgupta93]

Great thread. Rational thoughts where so many people, including me, just focus on the negatives and worse case scenarios after losses (albeit ones that could have been avoided, which makes them feel worse than they really are).

[Adroit Cadet @Adroit_Cadet]

People are overreacting. @Carras16 may have been sold horrendously short in the transfer market, and while his playing model may not be perfect, his United team can still be, imo, very fun this season

Give them some time

A thread:

[Adroit Cadet @Adroit_Cadet]

THE IDEA: Relational football

Carrick has gone into the season trying to implement a fluid 4231, placing pretty clear emphasis on relational football. He's given freedom to his players to back their quality within a framework and try to find solutions on the pitch, encouraging them to be a little more expressive than in previous years

The aim is to have the players executing short, centralised passing networks & trying to access the attackers between the lines via progressive passes + on-ball quality through Lisandro, Tielemans, Mainoo and, to a slightly lesser extent, Maguire & Shaw.

Combinations, wall-passes, little turns to open the pitch, disguised slipped passes, piercing balls between the lines - whatever the means.

Show bravery and quality in the middle of the pitch and open the game

[Adam @AdamJoseph]

Michael Carrick shouldn't be under as much pressure as those who hired him, those who left him short this summer when they didn't do enough in the transfer market & those who set him up for what happened.

I'm more interested in the pressure Jason Wilcox is under, the pressure Omar Berrada is under. Should they have also beefed up Carrick's backroom staff? Is the players' conditioning at the level required?

Glazer debt matters. Transfer debt matters. It is not a cover all excuse, clubs do far more with much less.

[Aneesh @aneeshgupta93]

I swear to god I relate to this so so so much.

[Kata @utdshows]

🚨🎙️ Patrice Evra says he doesn’t understand Manchester United anymore:

🗣️ “Manchester United is confusing me right now. 😭

The moment you start Dalot at right-back, you start missing Mazraoui. Then, the moment you start Mazraoui, you start missing Dalot. 😭

The moment you start Shaw, you miss Dorgu. Then you start Dorgu, watch him play for 15 minutes, and suddenly you’re missing Shaw again. 😂

The moment you play Cunha as a false nine, you complain that you miss Šeško. Then Šeško starts, and suddenly you’re missing Cunha and saying Šeško is playing against Manchester United and just walking around. 🙆😂

And it gets even crazier with the managers.

The moment you sack the manager you thought was the problem and hire the manager you thought was the solution, that’s when you suddenly start missing the manager you wanted gone.

At this point, I think we just miss whoever isn’t playing.” 😂😂

[£n£y£ @deckofcardds]

- PATRICK DORGU

I made a video highlighting another school boy error made by Dorgu during the game vs City that you probably spotted too.. If he's neither a winger nor a reliable LB option then Manchester united have a serious Patrick Dorgu problem..

[EBL @EBL2017]

Sack Carrick?

Definitely not.

Michael Carrick has never been an elite tactician despite the good results last season.

Manchester United won football matches because of their player quality and the basic balance that he provided the team with.

Well-coached with the ball, not well-coached without it.

This season, the balance hasn’t been there as often (his fault) and the quality hasn’t bailed his sub-elite coaching out (the players and his fault).

What reassures me is that this is not an Arne Slot and Liverpool situation where they were never elite tactically yet their balance + quality got them through a season to win a title but what happened in the second season was the team’s balance was lost with all the new signings, so they fell off a cliff.

United didn’t undergo as much of an overhaul as Liverpool did in that window this summer. They only have a ‘new midfield’ which is actually better than what it was last season.

The problem is that some of Carrick’s (lack of) coaching has been exposed because the players haven’t bailed him out but also because he has failed to provide the team with the balance that it had last season.

Rashford + Cunha together makes everything too fluid. It should be one or the other outside of once-off games like against City where it worked 11v11. Otherwise United need a focal point in the attack (which they lacked against Everton, Hull, and against 10-man City) and everything is too fluid because of that. That’s why Sesko should start as the #9. They are also better defensively without both Rashford and Cunha.

I wouldn’t look too much into the cup defeat. It was United’s reserve team, basically. It happens. And Brighton are really good.

So all Carrick has to do to restore United’s season is get that basic balance back and the results will start to flow again, even if the actual coaching isn’t textbook.

It’s not like the Liverpool situation where they signed Kerkez, Frimpong, Wirtz, and two #9’s and the whole team balance was dismantled. That’s not the reality.

The reality is that United’s team is largely the same one that had them at an 84 point pace in the second half of last season.

And, as much as people moan about a lack of depth, Carrick still has two players in every position to choose from, so it’s not as bad as people make out.

#1) keep a calm head.
#2) restore the balance.
#3) keep adding coaching details like pressing man-to-man high before reverting into a zonal block lower and even if that’s as basic as it gets, that’s still better than what the coaching was last year (which had success outcome-wise despite being flawed).

These are the 3 things that Carrick needs to do to get Manchester United back to winning football matches again.

Will he do them? Or any of them?

Only time will tell, but #1 and #2 are quite likely based on everything we’ve seen in his tenure so far. #3, not as much, but Arne Slot showed that you can still win major titles even with a sub-elite game-model.

For now, I am calm about the situation, and you should be too.

✌️

[The Football Feed @TheFootballFeed]

😳

[. @saundzo]

I didn’t realise people are using this situation as a stick to beat Ineos / the club with. I’d accept any opportunity to do that but this isn’t one. There’s problems wherever JJ goes and there’s one prime common denominator.

[Liam Canning @LiamPaulCanning]

As soon as there's a bit of pressure - like playing against 10 and having the expectation to win - United's players crumble. Did the same v Everton last week. City completely schooled them on game management. Men v boys.

[Fathalli @FathalliMo]

Head’s still hot not sure I should post anything.

[h @htomufc]

Pretty much. Yep. Still a big space team.

[Rich C @RichRedVoices]

The lack of a win is on Carrick. The lack of a point is on VAR.