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Think everyone's mood on here has changed in the last 24 hours, not least mine, so thought I'd share these Opta stats I've just seen:

It's been 61 matches since we lost two PL games in a row, the longest run in the division currently

It's been 39 games since we lost a league game by more than one goal, the best run in the division.

We've had 338 shots on target this season, the most in the division.

One odd one, since he rotates so much and potentially a bit less positive:

We've only used 24 players in the PL this season. Only Stoke and Wigan have used less.

Does that mean that the squad isn't as deep as it looks? In which case, what the heck has the money gone on?

Blue Since 76 wrote:One odd one, since he rotates so much and potentially a bit less positive:

We've only used 24 players in the PL this season. Only Stoke and Wigan have used less.

Does that mean that the squad isn't as deep as it looks? In which case, what the heck has the money gone on?

It means we haven't used our youth players as much as other teams. Not really a great stat to entice prospective youngsters...

Blue Since 76 wrote:Think everyone's mood on here has changed in the last 24 hours, not least mine, so thought I'd share these Opta stats I've just seen:

It's been 61 matches since we lost two PL games in a row, the longest run in the division currently

It's been 39 games since we lost a league game by more than one goal, the best run in the division.

We've had 338 shots on target this season, the most in the division.

One odd one, since he rotates so much and potentially a bit less positive:

We've only used 24 players in the PL this season. Only Stoke and Wigan have used less.

Does that mean that the squad isn't as deep as it looks? In which case, what the heck has the money gone on?

Dead wood that is out on loan!

When you are acquiring some of the best players in the world, money doesn't go very far. I think we've all looked at it and seen that we've not actually got the depth of squad that we first thought. Also, looking at those figures it also takes into account players that we no longer have, such as Ned, Bridge et al who went in the Jan window meaning we had even less to choose from.

I wonder what the stats are for United, was there any for them?

They've used 31 players in the league.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80 ... statistics

Leave out Owen, Gibson & some kids with the odd sub appearance & they've practically worked with a 24 man squad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80 ... statistics

Ned, Hargreaves & Razak were all subbed on once, so that's basically a 21 man squad right there.

You could argue that there was no need to play Pants in the league, whereas they had some problems in that department, so pretty much a difference of 2 players. Might not sound much, but stretched over a season & figuring in the other 3 competitions, ACON, injuries, suspensions...

1950 wrote:They've used 31 players in the league.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80 ... statistics

Leave out Owen, Gibson & some kids with the odd sub appearance & they've practically worked with a 24 man squad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80 ... statistics

Ned, Hargreaves & Razak were all subbed on once, so that's basically a 21 man squad right there.

You could argue that there was no need to play Pants in the league, whereas they had some problems in that department, so pretty much a difference of 2 players. Might not sound much, but stretched over a season & figuring in the other 3 competitions, ACON, injuries, suspensions...

Cheers mate, I'm just looking as Soccerbase to compare. A lot have said that we have got a stronger squad but that doesn't ring true to me as I think we've the better first team but past that United take over, so I thought I'd have a quick look. These are basically the, what I'd call, first teamer's that have been used on a regular basis (game or sub):

City (22 players - 2 x Gk, 8 x Df, 8 x Mf, 4 x Att):

25 Joe Hart (G)
30 Costel Pantilimon (G)

2 Micah Richards (D)
4 Vincent Kompany (D)
5 Pablo Zabaleta (D)
6 Joleon Lescott (D)
13 Aleksandar Kolarov (D)
15 Stefan Savic (D)
22 Gael Clichy (D)
28 Kolo Toure (D)

7 James Milner (M)
8 David Pizarro (M)
11 Adam Johnson (M)
18 Gareth Barry (M)
19 Samir Nasri (M)
21 David Silva (M)
34 Nigel de Jong (M)
42 Yaya Toure (M)

10 Edin Dzeko (F)
16 Sergio Aguero (F)
32 Carlos Tevez (F)
45 Mario Balotelli (F)

United (23 players - 2 x Gk, 8 x Df, 9 x Mf, 4 x Att):

1 David de Gea (G)
34 Anders Lindegaard (G)

3 Patrice Evra (D)
4 Phil Jones (D)
5 Rio Ferdinand (D)
6 Jonny Evans (D)
12 Chris Smalling (D)
15 Nemanja Vidic (D)
20 Fabio Da Silva (D)
21 Rafael Da Silva (D)

8 Anderson (M)
11 Ryan Giggs (M)
13 Ji-Sung Park (M)
16 Michael Carrick (M)
17 Nani (M)
18 Ashley Young (M)
22 Paul Scholes (M)
23 Tom Cleverley (M)
25 Luis Antonio Valencia (M)

9 Dimitar Berbatov (F)
10 Wayne Rooney (F)
14 Javier Hernandez (F)
19 Danny Welbeck (F)

Make your own minds up.

Beefymcfc wrote:Make your own minds up.

I look at those 2 squads and I'd much rather have ours.

Grob wrote:

Beefymcfc wrote:Make your own minds up.

I look at those 2 squads and I'd much rather have ours.

Oh yes. One thing of note is that United don't have one player who had to go to the ACN whereas the likes of Us, Arsenal and Chelsea did.

Beefymcfc wrote:

Grob wrote:

Beefymcfc wrote:Make your own minds up.

I look at those 2 squads and I'd much rather have ours.

Oh yes. One thing of note is that United don't have one player who had to go to the ACN whereas the likes of Us, Arsenal and Chelsea did.

Yeah would be nice if we didn't have that problem next time around. Yaya has talked about retiring from international football.

They have a lot more wide players, a lot more career goalscorers & several more Prem Lg tested centre backs ( I'm not including Savic). All jobs we have struggled at during various periods this season.

We have the edge on centre midfield creativity & overall player quality but they have much more options in other key positions, probably why they've used them more.

I also think one area where they have an advantage ... is that they have always looked to bring up/buy talent that is similar to the talent they already have. I think it helps with keeping a consistent system. And even though I feel like their squad is not as good as ours, and not overly deep ... they are able to bring on players of a similar quality and mindset when they are forced to make a sub.

It's something we have yet to establish because we haven't really formed that identity as a club. We have started to this season, and when it is given time to develop, you will see us become more consistent and have players who are more capable of stepping into a given situation and keep the flow of the team the same, while still given a boost to performance and changing the look enough to influence things, without killing the flow.

I dunno ... might not make sense, but that's a feeling i have.

Ted Hughes wrote:They have a lot more wide players, a lot more career goalscorers & several more Prem Lg tested centre backs ( I'm not including Savic). All jobs we have struggled at during various periods this season.

We have the edge on centre midfield creativity & overall player quality but they have much more options in other key positions, probably why they've used them more.

That's my take also.