The Manchester United Thread

Look, the thing about goalkeepers, is there's always a lot more world class goalkeepers, than there's places for them in the elite clubs.

There's maybe 5-6 elite clubs out there, and openings for goalkeeper usually only happen every 5-10 years. These clubs always have a rock solid starter, and he usually plays all the games and he is never rotated. In the midfield or defense there's enough playtime in the season for 6-8 players to show their talents. Goalkeepers just don't get that chance.

As a result there's plenty of fantastic goalies in every generation who never have get their shot to play at the very top. Handanovic, Lloris, Marchetti, Begovic or Muslera would all be considered world class if they were starters in the big club. Alas, they're all in their late 20s/early30s and never were given a chance.

De Gea is great but he's not the only one out there who can catch balls.
 
Look, the thing about goalkeepers, is there's always a lot more world class goalkeepers, than there's places for them in the elite clubs.

There's maybe 5-6 elite clubs out there, and openings for goalkeeper usually only happen every 5-10 years. These clubs always have a rock solid starter, and he usually plays all the games and he is never rotated. In the midfield or defense there's enough playtime in the season for 6-8 players to show their talents. Goalkeepers just don't get that chance.

As a result there's plenty of fantastic goalies in every generation who never have get their shot to play at the very top. Handanovic, Lloris, Marchetti, Begovic or Muslera would all be considered world class if they were starters in the big club. Alas, they're all in their late 20s/early30s and never were given a chance.

De Gea is great but he's not the only one out there who can catch balls.

You are stating this with confidence from what position in the industry?
 
You are stating this with confidence from what position in the industry?

I'm stating this with confidence because there's such thing as statistics. Last year, if I'm not mistaken, Fabianski shat on De Gea, Cortouis and Hart in most of stats, but obviously he can't be world class material because he plays for Swansea.

TV perceptions of goalkeepers is always skewed, because goalkeepers have different styles. Van der Sar relied on his ability to read the game nad hated spectacular saves with passion, to the point where people thought he was past it when he landed in Fulham. And even then it took 4 years until he got his shot in a big club, at the age of 35.

De Gea is fantastic athleticism and a very flashy style, which makes him fan favourite, but I can't help but wonder just how many of the shots VdS would just catch without lunging himself in the air, because he would be in the better position in the first place.
 
You are stating this with confidence from what position in the industry?

Yeah Tyton, **** off with your opinions and your "analysis". It's only industry professionals like Michael Owen who can really offer insight into the game.
 
We could be top of the league this time next week. When was the last time that happened? Don't think we will win the league but considering how well city have played and how ordinary we have looked to only be 2 points behind (without playing well) is a good thing because if we can click on the pitch and start to be more expressive and attack with runners and pace you never know where we might finish. Hopefully kompany and aguero keep picking up injuries as city are not the same without them.
 
I'll just leave it here.

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I'll just leave it here.

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As much as I value stats the one position where they are not a great indicator is GK the stats made Navas look better but, I doubt you would pick Navas over De Gea as a GK. Also some of the stats are useless in comparing ability. Saves per game just means people took more shots at you. If my team gets battered 10-0 and I make 5 saves compared to 1 for the other keeps that doesn't make me better than him
 
Oh and thank god for De Gea, his saves are amazing. His save from the corner kick was just unreal, thought it was sure goal.
 
Whoscored had consistently proven to me that you can never judge a goalkeeper with stats. The fact that Gomes has significantly better ratings and stats than Neuer throughout their careers shows how inaccurate it is. No one in their right mind would say that Gomes is a better goalkeeper than Neuer, but stats show otherwise.
 
Whoscored had consistently proven to me that you can never judge a goalkeeper with stats. The fact that Gomes has significantly better ratings and stats than Neuer throughout their careers shows how inaccurate it is. No one in their right mind would say that Gomes is a better goalkeeper than Neuer, but stats show otherwise.

Exactly. Saves per game is such a vague term, there isn't a stat to tell how good the save was or how difficult it was.
 
Very much impressed with Martial's overall game, not just goals but the way he is leading the line.

He has physical presence, fantastic first touch, dribbling ability and he has very good eye for pass. I was hoping he would shoot a lot more when he dribbled from right wing position yesterday. Very unselfish player but hope he takes few more shots from distance.
 
Also some of the stats are useless in comparing ability. Saves per game just means people took more shots at you. If my team gets battered 10-0 and I make 5 saves compared to 1 for the other keeps that doesn't make me better than him

It doesn't make you worse, either.

Save per game is not useless stat. Simply like all the stats, they can't be taken literally.

But yeah, I guess you can prefer to believe that in a big club people only make world class shots that require world class saves. In a small club all they do is shoot right at goalkeeper, just to farm his save percentage so he looks good on WhoScored.


Whoscored had consistently proven to me that you can never judge a goalkeeper with stats. The fact that Gomes has significantly better ratings and stats than Neuer throughout their careers shows how inaccurate it is. No one in their right mind would say that Gomes is a better goalkeeper than Neuer, but stats show otherwise.

Gomes is certainly as good of a shot-stopper as Neuer. He obviously has other problems, meanwhile what Neuer does can't be easily quantified with stats.
 
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