2024-25 EPL Season
- Thread starter bluesfan94
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Jussi
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spintheblackcircle
incoming!!!
- Mar 1, 2002
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Spurs were the 1st club this season to have 4 teenagers on the pitch at the same time against Southampton. Here comes another one.
cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com
"“My goal is to complete the remainder of the season without injuries, participate in matches, and contribute to the team with goals or assists."
Yang Min-hyeok has arrived in London ahead of Tottenham transfer
I for one welcome our new South Korean overlord!
cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com
"“My goal is to complete the remainder of the season without injuries, participate in matches, and contribute to the team with goals or assists."
Jussi
Registered User
Spurs not content with having their kits made by teenagers, now they're also playing teenagers!Spurs were the 1st club this season to have 4 teenagers on the pitch at the same time against Southampton. Here comes another one.
Yang Min-hyeok has arrived in London ahead of Tottenham transfer
I for one welcome our new South Korean overlord!
"“My goal is to complete the remainder of the season without injuries, participate in matches, and contribute to the team with goals or assists."
Savant
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- Oct 3, 2013
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He has a tattoo that says “talent isn’t enough”
Paulie Gualtieri
R.I.P. Tony Sirico
- May 18, 2016
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Will be weird seeing Rashford on another team. His options might be very limited unless he takes a pay cut.
Jussi
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Power Man
Grrrr
VEGASKING
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bluesfan94
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spintheblackcircle
incoming!!!
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Power Man
Grrrr
The 7 PL players who have outscored him since his Man Utd debut:
7. Sergio Aguero - 92 goals
6. Sadio Mane - 98 "
5. Raheem Sterling - 100 "
4. Jamie Vardy - 118 "
3. Son Heung-min - 123 "
2. Mohammed Salah - 168 "
1. Harry Kane - 173 "
Wee Baby Seamus
Yo, Goober, where's the meat?
This doesn't surprise me, although Haaland (11 goals behind) will likely overtake him by the time the season is done, and it's conceivable that Chris Wood (8 goals behind) will as well.
Rashford's problem has never been quality. We know how good he can be. When he broke out in 2019-20, it felt like he had really arrived. He was absolutely brilliant and - critically - he wasn't streaky. His 17 goals were distributed relatively evenly throughout the season.
Contrast with 22-23, where he also had 17 goals. 10 of those 17 came in a 9 game span between December 27 and February 19. His last 'good' season was basically a hot streak two years ago.
The consistent question, outside of 19-20, has been whether or not Rashford can remain in form over longer periods. He's so good when he's in form. But if you want him to be 'your guy', he's gotta be more reliable. I think a change of scenery would likely do him well. If he can persuade United to basically pay him out, I think he'd make sense on lower wages at Spurs or Newcastle.
The Abusement Park
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- Jan 18, 2016
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Good riddance to Rashford at this point. Which is a shame to say, because for such a long time he was exactly what United needed and was such a sign of hope. But as time has gone on he’s clearly a huge part of the problems going on with United on and and off the field. And him announcing this right after a huge win against City where he wasn’t involved leaves a bitter taste in my mouth as well.
Wee Baby Seamus
Yo, Goober, where's the meat?
It's December 18 and I don't wanna work, so I'm on FBRef deep-diving into Rashford, and the underlying stats paint an even grimmer picture than his basic on-paper performance.
Rashford has 4 goals from 15 matches (only 10.9 90s, so we'll be gentler). 0.37 g/90, which is lower than his two peak years (0.58 and 0.53) but middleground for his career. Better than the two famously dour Rashford seasons of 21-22 and 23-24 (0.29 and 0.28, respectively). When you remove penalties, his /90 goals are actually level with 2019-20, which I would say was comfortably his best season. So seems to not be going too poorly!
Except for the fact that his /90 xG is 0.16. He has 4 goals off 1.7 xG. His non-penalty xG/90 is a third what it was in 22-23, and barely over a third of what it was in 19-20. His xG/shot is lower, and he's shooting quite a bit less. What's going on there?
He's receiving progressive passes in slightly lower quantities than in past years. But not an insanely lower amount. So it's not that he's being starved of the ball in dangerous areas. His touchmap in most areas of the pitch looks pretty similar. The exception? The penalty area. Prior to this season, Rashford had never had fewer than 5 touches in the opposing box per 90. This season he has 3.12.
Rashford made chances by carrying into the penalty area and pulling the trigger. His shot-creating action stats tell a huge story here, I think. He's creating basically the same amount of shots from progressive passes to teammates, and a similar amount of shots that produce a rebound. But his shots-created from take-ons is 0.18/90, compared to a career average of 0.46 and a previous career low of 0.31. Given that his goal-creating actions have totally collapsed (0.09/90, compared to a career average of 0.47 and a career high of 0.65), I think we can safely assume that an enormous chunk of his shot-creating actions that actually turned into goals were take-ons.
His take-on success rate this season is 23%, which is a career low by 16%. He's attempting fewer and succeeding a lot less. 0.83 successful take-ons/90 is half his previous career-worst. He's carrying the ball a similar amount as previously, but over shorter distances - his total progressive distance is 2/3 this year what it was in 19-20 (this passes smell test for me, as I recall Ole's United that year relying heavy on bursting counterattacks from deep in which Rashford frequently played the role of running-back).
Rashford in the past produced chances for himself by bringing the ball into dangerous areas, and he is simply not doing that anymore. Is it tactical? I think partly, Garnacho and (more recently) Amad have been taking on more of the ball-carrying work. But I think drive is a major component of it. He's not running at players, and isn't doing it with the same level of tenacity. He's receiving the ball basically just as much, but isn't b-lining for the penalty area like he used to.
Rashford has 4 goals from 15 matches (only 10.9 90s, so we'll be gentler). 0.37 g/90, which is lower than his two peak years (0.58 and 0.53) but middleground for his career. Better than the two famously dour Rashford seasons of 21-22 and 23-24 (0.29 and 0.28, respectively). When you remove penalties, his /90 goals are actually level with 2019-20, which I would say was comfortably his best season. So seems to not be going too poorly!
Except for the fact that his /90 xG is 0.16. He has 4 goals off 1.7 xG. His non-penalty xG/90 is a third what it was in 22-23, and barely over a third of what it was in 19-20. His xG/shot is lower, and he's shooting quite a bit less. What's going on there?
He's receiving progressive passes in slightly lower quantities than in past years. But not an insanely lower amount. So it's not that he's being starved of the ball in dangerous areas. His touchmap in most areas of the pitch looks pretty similar. The exception? The penalty area. Prior to this season, Rashford had never had fewer than 5 touches in the opposing box per 90. This season he has 3.12.
Rashford made chances by carrying into the penalty area and pulling the trigger. His shot-creating action stats tell a huge story here, I think. He's creating basically the same amount of shots from progressive passes to teammates, and a similar amount of shots that produce a rebound. But his shots-created from take-ons is 0.18/90, compared to a career average of 0.46 and a previous career low of 0.31. Given that his goal-creating actions have totally collapsed (0.09/90, compared to a career average of 0.47 and a career high of 0.65), I think we can safely assume that an enormous chunk of his shot-creating actions that actually turned into goals were take-ons.
His take-on success rate this season is 23%, which is a career low by 16%. He's attempting fewer and succeeding a lot less. 0.83 successful take-ons/90 is half his previous career-worst. He's carrying the ball a similar amount as previously, but over shorter distances - his total progressive distance is 2/3 this year what it was in 19-20 (this passes smell test for me, as I recall Ole's United that year relying heavy on bursting counterattacks from deep in which Rashford frequently played the role of running-back).
Rashford in the past produced chances for himself by bringing the ball into dangerous areas, and he is simply not doing that anymore. Is it tactical? I think partly, Garnacho and (more recently) Amad have been taking on more of the ball-carrying work. But I think drive is a major component of it. He's not running at players, and isn't doing it with the same level of tenacity. He's receiving the ball basically just as much, but isn't b-lining for the penalty area like he used to.
spintheblackcircle
incoming!!!
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Wee Baby Seamus
Yo, Goober, where's the meat?
Thanks for the in depth post, but I feel that Man United is the football version of the Buffalo Sabres. What I mean is that they have good players, but because of the entire structure of the club and amount of constant problems/uncertainty within the team, players always underachieve. That doesn't mean they are bad, but once they GTFO out of Manchester, they always perform better and hit their stride. I suggest that Rashford will be another one once he gets out of that organisation and goes somewhere proper.
Jussi
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Jussi
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Rashford was apparently sent home after a medical at Carrington because he had a slight fever/was feverish, so he seems very uncertain to be in the squad tomorrow in the Carabao Cup.
Wee Baby Seamus
Yo, Goober, where's the meat?
i broadly agree, but part of the thing with Rashford is that we've seen him not underachieve at United! he has shown what he's capable of in a United shirt!
I do think, though, that a lot of the stuff I discuss in my post can be attributed to bad vibes at the club.
silly post
lingard was never good at United, and the only time in his career where he was good was for 4 months away from United. he was also consistently better for England than he was for United.
pogba played 12 games after leaving United (the second time) because he destroyed his knee. there is no performance to even assess, LOL. what we can assess is the fact that pogba was never as good at United as he was at Juventus, and when he was at United he was consistently far better for france.
hatterson
Registered User
As someone who has watched probably 85% of the games he's played in his career, I think a lot of it is confidence and drive. Even when he does make the runs now, he's not trying to do anything much. Previously he's usually try some sort of skill to get past the defender. Nothing too insane but just some quick cutbacks, dummies, stepovers, etc. to try to put the defender off and then get past him. Now it feels like he's just sprinting straight at the defender with *maybe* a half delay to try to slow him down before going outside. That gets stopped far more frequently and then he doesn't seem to try it near as much because the success rate is low. So he'll take a few steps, see that he (unsurprisingly) doesn't break a defenders ankle with a straight and predictable run, and then stop and cycle it back up the side of the pitch.
hatterson
Registered User
On the note of working well away from United. Who has really left and performed well? The Sabres comparison doesn't really hold up to me because the Sabres had multiple players leave and perform extremely well (and even win cups)
Sancho performed well in Dortmund, but it's not like the Chelsea version of him is much better than the United one.
Lukuku was better for Inter than he was for United, but not dramatically so given the average level of competition.
Elanga has done well but I don't see much difference now than when he was a youngster at United that isn't explained by being a couple years older.
Dean Henderson has done well, but he played well at United and just was stuck behind DDG because United wasn't going to move on from him.
Sancho performed well in Dortmund, but it's not like the Chelsea version of him is much better than the United one.
Lukuku was better for Inter than he was for United, but not dramatically so given the average level of competition.
Elanga has done well but I don't see much difference now than when he was a youngster at United that isn't explained by being a couple years older.
Dean Henderson has done well, but he played well at United and just was stuck behind DDG because United wasn't going to move on from him.
