Thread by @utdarena

MINI THREAD:

1. A Quality of Ander Herrera's that went Under the Radar
2. A Small Discussion on United's Squad

Firstly:

xGBuild is a metric which refers to the value shared out between each player who was involved in a shot yet did not shoot or directly create it. It gives value to defenders and midfielders who will not rank highly on “chances created” metrics but still shows importance.

Ander Herrera's xGBuild90 Since 2014 for Man Utd:

2014-15: 0.42 (1st)
2015-16: 0.24 (5th)
2016-17: 0.39 (1st)
2017-18: 0.23 (9th)
2018-19: 0.54 (1st)

In 2018-19, Herrera had significantly higher team value (0.346) than the leader in xGBuild, David Silva, who had a TV of 0.293!

Ander Herrera was more valuable to United's build up in 2018-19 than David Silva was to Manchester City's despite the fact that David Silva led the league in overall xGBuild. Yet, fans did not recognise this because they never truly focused on it.

Pertaining to Herrera it is important for fans to recognise the quality he brought on the ball. Due to his off-ball energy and, at times, antics his on-ball impact was underrated by fans to the extent that they believed him to just be a “passion merchant”.

Rather, Herrera was an excellent player for us and in his last season did more than enough to warrant a contract extension especially considering the others who were given extensions that contributed far less than him.

Yet, the saying was utilised that “there are many Ander Herreras” however how many are there actually? How many centre midfielders could lock down Eden Hazard – a future all-time great player of this era – whilst at the same time contribute so much in our build up?

The answer is that there are few who could do so. Yet, people believed the notion that multiple Herrera-like players existed. Even if it be the case, for argument's sake, how many could we buy? How many did we buy? We had one of them and let him go.

It was the wrong decision.

Now, United are currently left with Nemanja Matić, Fred and Andreas Pereira are their centre midfield options due to injuries picked up by Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay. We had Maroune Fellaini and Ander Herrera but both departed without being replaced.

We are in a new decade with a squad that houses problems at GK (minor), CB (major), LB (major), CM (major), AM (major), RW (major) and ST (minor).

Yet, the club and [many] fans have continuously made excuses for this by praising many current players.

Shaw cannot withstand the required intensity from a physical standpoint, Young is too old, Rojo, Jones and Bailly are injury prone, Dalot could be following them, Matic and Pogba want to leave whilst Mata, Pereira and Lingard are all underwhelming.

There are huge issues here.

Manchester United need to sign many players in order to win the Premier League and when they sign players so, too, will Liverpool and Manchester City. We need to close the gap and not merely maintain it. At this moment in time we are letting the gap widen.

End of Thread.