Beyond The Score with Devavrat Bhotica

N emanja Matić has been a top defensive midfielder shielding the defence and building up play over the past decade. He has served Manchester United well during his tenure at the club, but they will soon need to find a suitable successor for him as he is now 32 years old and past his best years. Even Chelsea had got in Kanté and Jorginho to replace Matic a year prior and after his departure to United. He has performed admirably for them over the past three seasons as a defensive midfielder shielding the back four of their defence . However, United have a lack of players like Matic who can perform his role effectively. Also, United only have two other first-team players who are defensive midfielders in Fred & McTominay, neither of whom are exceptional nor of a similar mould to Matic. Given that Matic has recently renewed his contract with Manchester United for three years till June 2023, I have assumed that they will keep him around for that time period. During this period, United ...

Recently, there's been a lot of talk and interest around young left-footed centre backs. They seem to be precious, and top clubs like Manchester United have been strongly linked with them. 🔗🔁 So, I analysed all left-footed centre backs aged 27 or under, primarily using Wyscout, FBref/StatsBomb and watching a few videos. 🔢🎥 Gabriel (of Lille) and Benoit Badiashile (of AS Monaco), both who are unsurprisingly linked with United and Arsenal, stood out to me. I've compared them using a radar chart, taking relevant metrics with data obtained from Wyscout and FBref/StatsBomb. 📊 All the metrics other than PAdj Interceptions, which is adjusted per 30 minutes of opposition possession, are per 90 minutes. Also, all numbers are of successful attempts. For the minimum and max limits on the radar data visualisation, I took the numbers near the 5th and 95th percentile of the Big 5 European League Centre Backs. Signing either Gabriel or Badiashile would make sense for Man United as it se...

I've compiled and analysed Daniel James' Premier League stats up to Gameweek 25. 🔢 I've compared his numbers to the median numbers of all wingers in the Big 5 leagues 📊 He's been below average on most parameters/metrics & will really need to improve a lot to be truly successful at a huge club like Manchester United! ⏫ P. S. Check out my football clothing and merch business at  midfieldmerchandise.com

With Manchester United much expected to sign a new Centre Back and the latest transfer talk about De Ligt, I decided to compare the defensive statistics of a few defenders in the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League to get some insight. 🔢📊 The players I've compared are De Ligt, Lindelof, Koulibaly and Toby Alderweireld. The 1st table below compares the defensive stats of all matches of the 2018-19 Champions League. The 2nd compares the defensive stats of only the Group Stage matches of the 2018-19 Champions League. ⚽ I made 2 different and separate tables as there's a considerable difference between the number of matches played in the knockout stages of the 2018-19 Champions League by the chosen players and the knockout stages matches tend to be a lot more important and tougher than the group stage matches.