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Fiery Zac

The Champions

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Interesting stuff in the PinkUn shows. Mainly just loving reliving the season and hearing people talk about all those iconic moments and other moments I’d completely forgotten about. Is keeping me going for now waiting for the DVD to come out.

Particularly like the stats, a lot I hadn’t heard before and some I never would’ve believed.

 

(Mayor) McLean is a lot more influential as a DM than I thought. The stats show his interceptions and ability in the air as being a major reason he kept his place (along with the obvious of scoring and making goals). I always watched him and thought he’d be better further up the pitch and whilst stats aren’t everything, Farke has clearly seen the benefit of him in the role alongside Trybull and the results we got certainly back that up.

 

I still don’t understand the criticism of Krul and those suggesting we need a new first choice keeper for next season. The comparison to Gunn and Ruddy was interesting, better with his passing and save % than both and conceded less than Gunn in 46 games. 3 more ‘errors leading to goals’ than Gunn but the change in our way of playing put more emphasis on Krul to pass the ball around and get our play going. The problem he had, which was alluded to was the mistake he made in the first home game (however it was pointed out he had barely any preseason and after having played very little football for years so was always going to be rusty) and producing his best performances away from home, so the majority of city fans not seeing the best of him. Again stats not everything, just an interesting amount of information which, if nothing else shows he has been a solid keeper and a match winner, pivotal to our success.

 

Not enough is made of the fact we only lost 2 games away all season. Unbelievable.

We scored in 43 of the 46 games.

One 0-0 all season (I was there, horrible night).

Aarons is annoyingly young....and brilliant.

Stiepermann is underrated and an unsung hero of the season. Best combination with Pukki for goals I think was said?

 

...and that’s only as far as new year. Plenty of good stuff to come, the binners, the run in, Leeds away, some Buendía analysis etc etc. Good stuff.

 

 

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Scoring in 43 out of 46 and only losing two away all season are excellent stats.

McLean is one of those I think does go a bit unnoticed. He seems to go under the radar a little bit but is tidy enough. Stiepermann did get quite a bit of credit on here throughout the season - I think when he’s having an off day though it can be very off, and he sometimes looks a bit lazy with possession, which is why he attracted some criticism at times.

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It’s the away form that was so outstanding for me - I don’t recall a season when we’ve lost that few; just 2 defeats in 23 games.

Krul is certainly underrated by many, but we do need someone to come in and at least challenge ‘properly’ for the keepers slot.  It was particularly hard coming in after the love-in for Gunn who was good but IMO overrated.  All keepers make mistakes, they tend to lead to goals - that’s their lot.  The shame for Tim was the howler v WBA as from then on some were primed to notice every mistake.

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It's a good series, but please don't upset the Krul bashers, they'll be back pointing out that we are Champions despite his best efforts. 

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For me its the goal difference stat that is most important rather than just to single out goals scored or conceded. Fact is we turned around a -11 GD the previous season into a +36..thats a whopping +47 difference. To, that away record of losing only 2 in 23 is a remarkable stat and was no doubt of great importance to cement the huge united love in for our club during the season. The amazing away support our club always  gets is truly awesome and those travelling fans have been thru  many years of angst away from the Carra, so to lose only 2 games on the road made it one of those very special years indeed.

Above all, to nutshell the season, we went with Prudence with Ambition and it brought us Success with Entertainment. Who the heck could'ave asked for more.

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Interesting stats about McClean. To my eye he seemed to be the weakest midfielder in defending against a run. He was brushed off a number of times by attackers as I recall. Still Farke knows best. 

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I think McLean is going to be one of those players that it's often tough to really see exactly what they are bringing half the time, yet when you analyse the underlying data, it shows a very different player than mere observation alone allows.

I'm probably one of the only people who never rated Roy Keane, thought he was an overrated, bad tempered, frequently dirty player, who wasn't a patch on people like Vieira in a similar role, but you can't argue with Man Utd's trophies or SAF's belief in the guy.

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