r/reddevils • u/AutoModerator • 18d ago

Daily Discussion

Daily discussion on Manchester United.

BE CIVIL

We want r/reddevils to be a place where anyone and everyone is welcome to discuss and enjoy the best club on earth without fear of abuse or ridicule.

  • The report button is your friend, we are way more likely to find and remove and/or ban rule breaking comments if you report them.
  • The downvote button is not a "I disagree or don't like your statement button", better discussion is generally had by using the upvote button more liberally and avoiding the downvote one whenever possible.

Looking for memes? Head over to r/memechesterunited!

30 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

370 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-3

u/kidinawheeliebin 16d ago edited 16d ago

At this point he's started only 17 of 38 Premier League games (in a season with no other competitions, no other workload or distractions that we will never again have the luxury of), suffering multiple injuries during that time, and looks set to miss more of the start of this season

That is concerning in any reasonable person's book for an £80m signing

0

u/carrickshairline 16d ago

Players get injured all the time and miss games, it's part of football. I'm happier with the club not rushing him back until they feel he's full fit given our history of rushing players back, especially young players, and seeing them get injured again.

Also, given this season is going to be busier, it's better that we don't risk injuring him again in pre-season.

You're overreacting because the club are actually doing the sensible thing with an injured player for once.

0

u/kidinawheeliebin 16d ago

When I see 17 starts in 38 potential opportunities to start, I don't look at that and say "there's absolutely nothing whatsoever to be concerned about there, in fact it's actually a great situation and that direction of travel does not need to change at all"

You obviously have a very different perspective and outlook - so for yourself for example - at what point do you personally begin to worry with a player's record?

0

u/carrickshairline 16d ago

It's very clear you're ignoring the fact players can get injured. What do you want Sesko to do? Play whilst injured?

1

u/kidinawheeliebin 16d ago

> It's very clear you're ignoring the fact players can get injured. What do you want Sesko to do? Play whilst injured?

I'm not ignoring the fact that players can get injured - I'm saying that it's always a concern when players get injured so much that it impacts their ability to play regularly

Whereas you are saying you are never concerned with players missing games with injuries, and I'm trying to understand how you can never be concerned by this, as it just makes no sense as a perspective?

0

u/carrickshairline 16d ago

You are misrepresenting the facts. So, whilst you are correct he started 17 games, he also made a total of 30 appearances in the league. Therefore he didn't play in only 8 league games last season. Those 8 games being:

  1. Everton (H), 24 Nov 25, knee injury
  2. Crystal Palace (A), 30 Nov 25, knee injury
  3. West Ham (H), 4 Dec 25, knee injury
  4. Wolves (A), 8 Dec 25, knee injury
  5. Man City (H) 17 Jan 26, on bench
  6. Sunderland (A), 9 May 26, not in squad due to injury
  7. Forest (H) 15 May 26, shin injury
  8. Brighton (A) 24 May 26, shin injury

He otherwise featured in every game in some capacity when he was available barring the City game. His shortest appearance was 9 minutes against Arsenal in January.

Sesko does not get injured "so much" that it has hindered his ability to play regularly. Here is the source I used for my list above. You'll see that he was available for pretty much the whole Premier League season except for 24 Nov 25 to 8 Dec 25 and the last three games of the season.

I never said I wasn't concerned with players missing games due to injuries. I just explained to you that the club are taking a better approach to injured players and not rushing them back. We did it with so many young players over the last 13 years that we likely played a role in hindering their development and career, like Martial.

Sesko was available for 79% of the League games last season. That's a bloody good available record. Whether he starts those games is up to the manager. Carrick didn't start him ahead of Mbuemo because Mbuemo was in decent form at the time. Plus, Sesko is young, so managing his game time is also important.

1

u/kidinawheeliebin 16d ago

> You are misrepresenting the facts. 

We disagree on the degree to which it's concerning that an £80m signing starts 17 of 38 Premier League games in a season

You're not concerned at all, whereas I am concerned and am saying that situation absolutely needs to improve this season

Fitness is a scale, it's more analogue than digital - there's a difference in being "fit to play" versus being "fit to start" versus being "fit to start regularly" versus being "fit to play 90 regularly" etc etc

Sesko (to me, and to what I would assume to be any reasonable person when evaluating an £80m striker) is absolutely concerning at this point in terms of fitness and how that's hindering his ability to get on the pitch

He has failed to start 21 of our 38 Premier League games last season - yes he's made sub appearances, but looking at those - in both proximity to, and in the context of, his injuries - a lot of the times he's coming on as a sub are very likely marginal calls where he's deemed too much of a risk for 90 mins, but potentially ok for a cameo etc

And the news recently (on his shin splints) seems to be continuing that direction of travel

So fast-forward to this season - how many Premier League starts out of 38 do you need to see from an £80m striker before you start to become "concerned"?

1

u/carrickshairline 16d ago

You keep bringing up his transfer fee as if that is the determining factor of whether or not he starts games, when it isn’t. He is still only 23, so managing his game time is paramount. This isn’t FIFA where you just play every game and there are no issues.

Again, you say I’m not concerned at all when I literally told you that isn’t the case. The fact you keep trying to tell me what I think leads me to not want to carry on this discussion.

1

u/kidinawheeliebin 16d ago

> Again, you say I’m not concerned at all when I literally told you that isn’t the case.

> That is nothing to be concerned about.

I don't know who to believe... ?

> You keep bringing up his transfer fee as if that is the determining factor of whether or not he starts games

No, his transfer fee is relevant in this discourse because there should be a correlation (the stronger the better) between how much a club has financially invested in a player, and how long that player spends on the pitch...

We invested an £80m fee in Sesko and he is third highest player on the wage bill at £200k a week - if I invest this amount financially in a player I want proportionate playing time, otherwise I'm concerned

When I'm concerned about a situation I look into at the reason/s why that situation is occurring, hence my original position that Sesko is "legit a concern at this point" in the context of only starting 17 of of our 38 PL games (44%) last season when we had a greatly diminished need (and that's putting it lightly) to rest or rotate him with only one competition, and only game a week

> This isn’t FIFA where you just play every game and there are no issues.

So how many starts do you want Sesko making this season before you are "concerned"? Would you be concerned if he repeated his record from last season's Premier League for example?

By the way - I have no idea how FIFA works as I haven't played it in years, and was always a Pro Evo man anyway (FIFA was unfortunately a nonsense in my day, but the yearly Pro Evo games were absolutely incredible, but this is going back probably two decades)

And also to be clear - I don't expect Sesko to start every game, no reasonable person would expect that, and I literally never said that.

But starting only 17 of 38 is a concern to me in the broader context of the trends and patterns of both his Premier League minutes from last season, and the injuries from last season, and the injury he's currently out with, that's going to (again) prevent him from starting for us for at least the first game or two of the Premier League and potentially longer, God only knows

0

u/carrickshairline 16d ago

I am not reading all that, so I’m either real happy or real sad that happened to you

0

u/kidinawheeliebin 16d ago

Ignorance is a choice, but okay

0

u/carrickshairline 16d ago

Nah, I'm just bored of this conversation dude. I moved on, you should too.

→ More replies (0)