FANS were shocked to discover that Gary Neville hands out Man of the Match awards based on player stats.
Harry Maguire picked up the prize for his performance against Aston Villa on Sunday in Manchester United’s 2-1 win.
That left some fans baffled with Roy Keane also sceptical of Neville’s selection.
But it has come to light that the pundit uses key match stats to pick his Man of the Match, and Maguire came out on top in several key areas.
No United player made more passes or won more duels – the centre-back also won the most aerial duels and assisted Rasmus Hojlund’s opener using his head.
Maguire, 30, ranked second in tackles made and even made the most entries into the final third of any Red Devil.
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It was an accomplished display on his return to the starting line-up following injury, but some fans were still a little puzzled to see him named Man of the Match.
One fan reacted to Neville’s selection strategy saying: “Neville admitting on TV that he asked the stats guys to give him info on the best player by stats to name best player of the game… turned out it was Maguire… he wasn’t convinced lol,
Another added: “Gary Neville has said he chose it off the stats 😂”
A third wrote: “Lost a bit of respect for Neville’s opinion with his admission that he asks for somebody’s input for MOTM instead of using his eyes like the rest of us. Poor.”
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Keane claimed that Maguire got the nod from Neville because he is a fellow defender.
He said: “I thought he did alright today, obviously some lads give defenders Man of the Match because they’ve been defenders themselves – that type of scenario. It was definitely going to be a defender.”
Neville then asked who Keane would have given it to instead, leading to him to add: “No big deal about that but we’ve praised the defenders considered the amount of chances Villa had.
“Winning Man of the Match the bottom line is it’s no big deal, what’s important for Maguire is he’s getting games under his belt and he’s getting back up to speed.
“He’s a good, solid, experienced defender. The problems are still there for Man United, they got away with it today because the attacking players are scoring goals.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
