Manchester United Blog | The Stretty Rant » Statistics

Wayne Rooney becomes United’s 4th top goalscorer

Stretford-end — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 21:02:47 +0000

Wayne Rooney is now 4th in the all time Manchester United goalscoring charts following his brace against Everton in the 4-4 draw today. He is now behind Jack Rowley, Denis Law and Sir Bobby Charlton respectfully. He overtook United legends George Best and Dennis Viollett. Rooney still has way to go to match the 249 goals notched up by Sir Bobby, however he could well catch Jack Rowley next season – who has 211 goals.

Below is a list of United’s top ten all time top goalscorers:

1. Bobby Charlton – 249
2. Denis Law – 237
3. Jack Rowley – 211
4. Wayne Rooney – 180
5. George Best – 179
6. Dennis Viollett – 179
7. Joe Spence – 168
8. Ryan Giggs – 163
9. Mark Hughes – 163
10. Paul Scholes – 153

United’s numbers – make your own conclusions!

nameonthetrophy — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 12:15:04 +0000

As a self-confessed lover of numbers and stats, I thought I’d share a few now we’ve reached the halfway point of the league season. I offer no commentary on what each stat shows, draw your own conclusions!

Most minutes played (total):
1. Evra (1654)
2. Nani (1566)
3. Rooney (1479)

Most minutes started:
1. Evra (1654)
2. Nani (1500)
3. Rooney (1426)

Most minutes played as a sub:
1. Giggs (167)
2. Valencia (155)
3. Hernandez (148)

Most minutes per goal conceded:
1. Vidic (275)
2. Giggs (199)
3. Evans (177)

Fewest minutes per goal conceded:
1. Young (71)
2. Welbeck (76)
3. Fletcher (77)

Most clean sheets:
1. Hernandez/Rooney/Nani (11)
2. Jones/Evra (10)
3. Giggs/Welbeck (9)

Highest percentage of appearances where a clean sheet is kept:
1. Giggs (75%)
2. Carrick/Valencia (73%)
3. Park (70%)

Lowest percentage of appearances where a clean sheet is kept:
1. Anderson (33%)
2. De Gea (36%)
3. Young (46%)

Most yellow cards:
1. Young/Evans/Ferdinand/Evra (3)
2. Welbeck/Anderson (2)
3. Jones/Smalling/Valencia/Nani/Giggs/Fabio/Carrick/Fletcher (1)

Most goals scored:
1. Rooney (13)
2. Berbatov/Hernandez/Nani (6)
3. Welbeck (4)

Fewest minutes per goal scored when on the pitch:
1. Evans (29)
2. Smalling (31)
3. Anderson (32.5)

Most minutes per goal scored when on the pitch:
1. Vidic (92)
2. Fletcher (69)
3. Ferdinand (51)

Fewest minutes per goal scored:
1. Rooney (114)
2. Hernandez (149)
3. Welbeck (228)

Most assists:
1. Nani/Valencia (7)
2. Young (6)
3. Giggs (5)

Fewest minutes per assist:
1. Valencia (117)
2. Giggs (119)
3. Young (154)

Fewest minutes per contribution (goals and assists):
1. Rooney (92)
2. Giggs (100)
3. Valencia (103)

Most shots:
1. Rooney (78)
2. Nani (49)
3. Welbeck (29)

Highest percentage of shots on target:
1. Anderson (60% – 6 shots)
2. Vidic (50% – 2 shots)/Park (50% – 6 shots)
3. Hernandez (46% – 12 shots)

Most passes attempted:
1. Evra (881)
2. Nani (875)
3. Rooney (859)

Highest percentage of successful passes:
1. Evans (90.21%)
2. Carrick (90.19%)
3. Fletcher (89.52%)

Lowest percentage of successful passes:
1. De Gea (60.2%)
2. Nani (70.17%)
3. Young (73.01%)

Highest number of passes attempted per game:
1. Fletcher (60)
2. Anderson (57)
3. Carrick (52)

Lowest number of passes attempted per game:
1. Hernandez (16)
2. Welbeck (23)
3. De Gea/Evans (36)

Most tackles attempted:
1. Evra (132)
2. Nani (107)
3. Jones (97)

Highest percentage of tackles won:
1. De Gea (100% – 2 tackles won)
2. Ferdinand (79.3% – 23 tackles won)
3. Vidic (77.4% – 23 tackles won)

Lowest percentage of tackles won:
1. Fletcher (42.1% – 8 tackles won)
2. Young (47.5% – 19 tackles won)
3. Hernandez (50% – 10 tackles won)

Most frequent tackler:
1. Evra (every 12.5 minutes)
2. Jones (every 13.5 minutes)
3. Valencia (every 13.7 minutes)

Most interceptions:
1. Jones (35)
2. Carrick (34)
3. Ferdinand (31)

Most frequent interceptor:
1. Carrick (every 25.9 minutes)
2. Ferdinand (every 33.1 minutes)
3. Jones (every 37.3 minutes)

Most clearances:
1. Evans (108)
2. Ferdinand (102)
3. Evra (92)

Most frequent clearer:
1. Vidic (every 7.1 minutes)
2. Evans (every 9.8 minutes)
3. Ferdinand (every 10.1 minutes)

Most blocks:
1. Evans (17)
2. Jones (9)
3. Ferdinand (8)

Most regular blocker:
1. Evans (every 62.5 minutes)
2. Ferdinand (every 128.4 minutes)
3. Anderson (every 143.2 minutes)

All stats are self-compiled using the BBC and Guardian. Minutes include injury time at the end of the first and second half and are rounded to the nearest minute. Stats relate to league games only. Only players who’ve played at least 30% of the total minutes (547.8 minutes) are included, this therefore excludes: Lindegaard (481), Rafael (88), Fabio (234), Fryers (73), Cleverley (357), Gibson (94), Berbatov (377), Owen (87), Macheda (55) and William Keane (9).

Man United Premier League season 2010/11 review by numbers

nameonthetrophy — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:10:32 +0000

Author: Doron

Follow Doron on Twitter

Please note: this is an old post that has been updated so the tables at the bottom are now visible following the website redesign

Come May, the only number that mattered was 19. A record breaking Scouse-busting 19. However, in order to climb to the highest perch it’s taken a monumental team effort. To what extent is this represented by individual performance statistics though? Who, according to the numbers has been the stand out performer and who away from home has been a bad luck charm when included?!

If you wish to simply view the statistic tables then scroll down to the bottom of the page rather than reading the analysis of them!

Goalkeepers:

At home:

Edwin started 17 games whilst Kuszczak played in the other 2. Between them, only one goal was conceded in the first half of any game – that was in the last home game against Blackpool. Tomasz averaged conceding a goal every 180 minutes which is a better rate than Edwin, who conceded every 139.1 minutes – although with Edwin playing considerably more and Tomasz generally picked in ‘easier’ games this is not really surprising. Ten clean sheets were kept overall – nice of them belonged to Edwin. In the remaining nine games, twelve goals were conceded, none in the opening ten minutes of games and just the one coming in the last ten minutes – scored by Chris Samba in the 7-1 thumping of Blackburn.

How much influence a goalkeeper can directly have on an attack is debatable, but given that Edwin in particular is often included as an 11th outfield player in open play – with players passing the ball back to him and he ably passing it out to someone else, he’s certainly involved. In fact, Edwin even has an assist to his name, it came in the win over Aston Villa this year as his long pass found Rooney who scored. With Edwin on the pitch, a goal was scored every 35 minutes, whereas with Tomasz, a goal was scored every 45 minutes.

As hinted, an important part of Edwin’s game is his ability with the ball at his feet. He completed more passes than Park and Gibson and had a success rate of 66.8%. Considering there are various long punts and goal-kicks amongst his 548 attempted passes, that’s very good. By comparison, Kuszczak had a success rate of only 50%. Despite only playing two games, this is unsurprising. Both goalkeepers averaged around 33 passes a game (Tomasz exactly, Edwin 32.3), however, most of Tomasz’s were long punts, as seen in the Fulham home game, defenders are reluctant to pass the ball back to him and involve him in general play meaning that his passing success rate is likely to be lower than Edwin’s, whose passing regularly includes plenty of short passes. Passing aside, neither goalkeeper was involved in much else, although Edwin did make and win one tackle.

Away from home:

Both goalkeepers found it much tougher away from home this year. Tomasz got one more game than he did at home with three completed appearances, Edwin played and completed 16 games. A total of 25 goals were conceded and only five clean sheets were kept, all by Edwin. All four goals conceded by Kuszczak came in the first half of games and were on average conceded every 67.5 minutes. The majority of Edwin’s goals were conceded in the second half (13 out of 21) with six conceded in the last ten minutes of games – United have dropped plenty of points they shouldn’t have over the course of the season due to late goals. Two were conceded inside the opening ten minutes and overall Edwin conceded a goal every 68.6 minutes. He also picked up the only yellow card given out to a United goalkeeper this season in the league.

Whether it’s a coincidence or not, United scored more goals away from home when Kuszczak was in goal rather than Edwin. With Tomasz, a goal was scored by United once every 38.6 minutes whereas with Edwin in goal, United scored once every 65.5 minutes. On five occasions when Edwin was in goal, United failed to score – Sunderland, Man City, Tottenham, Newcastle and Arsenal.

At home, the passing stats favoured Edwin, however away from home they’re reversed. Despite playing one less game away from home, Edwin actually attempted more passes (624), probably because United have been less dominant away and the game has been played closer to the United goal. Edwin had a pass success rate of 61.9% compared to Kuszczak’s which away from home was 68.8% (53 out of 77). Edwin again attempted and completed one tackle.

Summary:

A mixed year for goalkeepers. Edwin has retired off the back of being one of the club’s stand-out performers whereas Kuszczak is likely to leave after a string of errors and unconvincing displays. A total of 37 goals were conceded with over double the amount conceded at home, conceded away from home. Tomasz conceded a goal every 90 minutes, Edwin just over every 92 minutes. In just under 40% of games a clean sheet was kept, with Edwin keeping 14 clean sheets in total. Whoever comes in to replace Edwin will have high standards to match up to at home and arguably will be under some pressure to help improve reduce of goals conceded away from home.

Defenders:

At home:

One of the most impressive stats regarding our defence is for me their discipline. Only two yellow cards were picked up at home (O’Shea and Evra), whilst the red card Jonny Evans received was the other blotch on a good campaign at home for the Red defenders. No defender was on the pitch for all 12 of the goals conceded but both Evra and Vidic were for 11 of them. Incredibly, every single defender kept a clean sheet in at least 50% of their games played – Fabio tops the list with 80% but only played 5 home games or 282 minutes. Of the players that played rather more at home, Evans, Rafael and Evra are next best (Smalling was just better than them but only played 423 minutes compared to Evans’s 670, Rafael’s 652 and Evra’s 1515 minutes). Surprisingly, the worst clean sheet to games ratio was Ferdinand’s who came in bang on at 50%.

Much like the clean sheet to games ratio, the minutes per goals figures have similar results. Fabio again tops the list with a goal conceded every 282 minutes whilst next up and the best of the rest is O’Shea with a goal conceded every 161.2 minutes. The worst record belong to Evans (worst is harsh as it’s still a very good figure), he conceded every 111.67 minutes. Only Evra and Vidic played more than 1000 minutes and they were also the only two played to have conceded more than 10 goals. Chris Smalling is certainly worthy of praise, a fantastic first season is reflected by his stats – a goal conceded every 141 minutes. Despite having the worst clean sheets to games ratio, Rio Ferdinand’s class does shine through, he conceded a goal every 150 minutes in his 900 minutes played (Vidic conceded every 136.18 minutes).

Arguably, contributions from the defence to the attacking play could have been better this year. At home, United’s fullbacks are able to get high up the pitch, getting crosses in and even scoring; whilst with the number of corners and free kicks we get, opportunities for strong centre backs to score headers are plenty even if the delivery is often poor. Four goals were scored by defenders – three by Vidic and a rare goal from Evra. Assists are also numbered four – three by O’Shea and one by Rafael. I found it surprising to see that Evra hadn’t directly created a goal, maybe a sign that his season had been a bit below-par?

When Smalling played, a goal was scored every 23.5 minutes, the fastest rate of the defenders. The slowest was when Evans lined up, a goal every 55.8 minutes. Evra played the most minutes of the defenders at home – when he played, a goal was scored every 33.67 minutes, a great marker for how free-scoring United have been this season in front of their own fans.

An important part of being a Man United defender is the ability to be comfortable with the ball at your feet. This is reflected in the pass completion stats. No defender was as low as 77% whilst Rio, Vidic and Evra were all in the mid 80%s. The defenders averaged attempting 42 passes a game, a high amount for a team who play generally in the opposition half when at home. Only Rafael, O’Shea, Evra and Vidic registered a shot on target with Vidic getting over 50% of his efforts on target. Evans and Smalling were the other defenders to have efforts on goal but theirs failed to test the goalkeeper. Evra had the most shots from the defence with 8.

Rafael, Vidic and Evra were the only defenders to make more than 50 tackles with only the latter two winning more than 50. Ferdinand won 79% of the tackles he made, the highest amount (Vidic won 69%). Rafael was the only other player to get above 70%. O’Shea won the fewest amount of tackles he made – 56%. Rafael was also the most regular tackler, making more than 7 a game. Ferdinand is often praised for how well he reads the game and therefore doesn’t have to commit to too many challenges – this is reflected in that he attempted the fewest number of tackles per game (4.3). However, O’Shea went the longest period of time between tackles, with one made every 35 minutes (Smalling was the most regular tackler with one every 9.5 minutes).

Vidic leads the way with blocks, interceptions and clearances – he made 135 clearances, at least more than double any other defender. His 11 blocks show his commitment and importance to the side, this was also more than double the number any other defender made.

Away from home:

At home, United’s discipline was excellent, however away from home United appeared to be more aggressive. An average of one yellow card per game was picked up by the defence with Rafael collecting four and Vidic leading the way with eight. Those two also received red cards, both second yellow cards – Rafael at Spurs and Vidic at Chelsea. A total of 25 goals were conceded and only Vidic and Evra conceded double figures – Vidic played 18 games and conceded 22, Evra 17 and also conceded 22 goals. No other defender made ten or more appearances away from home. Clean sheets were much harder to come by – only O’Shea and Vidic played in all five of the clean sheet games; Evra and Smalling played in four of them. Jonny Evans was the only defender not to keep a clean sheet. Smalling and O’Shea were the only defenders to keep a clean sheet in 50% or more games.

With United conceding more than one goal per game, the minutes per goals figures for the players are worse than the home stats. Rio Ferdinand was the only defender to not concede once a game – he averaged conceding every 115.7 minutes. Wes Brown had the worst goals per minute record, conceding every 44.3 minutes but he did only play in four games overall (266 minutes). Vidic played the most games and minutes, conceding every 73.6 minutes – a good representative of the team away from home overall. Fabio was the only defender to never concede in the opening ten minutes of the game or the last ten minutes. Gary Neville played the fewest minutes of any defender, completing just over two games worth (206 minutes).

Contributions from the defenders on the score sheet were rather limited away from home. Vidic with two goals and Fabio with one goal away at Wigan were the only scorers – all three goals coming in the second half of games. There were five games where United failed to score and Vidic was the only player to appear in all of them. Meanwhile, Gary Neville and Jonny Evans were the only defenders to not play in games when United didn’t score. When Ferdinand and Rafael played away from home, United averaged scoring a goal every 100 minutes or longer – all the other defenders have an average less than 90 minutes with Evans the lowest (a goal scored every 37.2 minutes).

Every defender except Gary Neville experienced more goals scored in the second half of games, than in the first half – Fabio and Brown were never on the pitch when a first half goal was scored. Vidic was on the pitch for the most goals (28), with one scored every 57.85 minutes.

As expected, the passing completion percentages are generally lower away from home than at home, but even so, no defender fell below 75%. Leading the way was Gary Neville with 82.1% but he only played in three games. The next best were Smalling with 82% and Ferdinand with 80.2%. Interestingly, the defenders were playing more passes per game away from home than at home. At home it was 42 passes a game, away from home it’s 46 attempted. It just goes to emphasise how important ball control, passing and vision are as attributes for a Man United defender. Jonny Evans attempted the most passes per game – 62, that’s nine more than any other defender.

Oddly, more shots were attempted by defenders away from home than at home, with only Gary Neville failing to have an attempt on goal. Rafael, Evans, Smalling, Fabio Evra and Vidic registered a shot on target with Fabio, Evans and Rafael getting over 50% of their efforts on target. Rio, O’Shea and Brown all failed to get any of their shots on target. With 11 shots, Vidic had the most of any of the defenders.

O’Shea, Vidic and Evra were the only defenders to make more than 50 tackles with Vidic winning more than 50. Gary Neville won 80% of the tackles he made, the highest amount (Vidic won 73.6%). Vidic and Neville were joined by O’Shea and Smalling as being the four players to win at least 70% of their tackles made. Evans won the fewest amount of tackles he made, a lowly 39%. Evans was the most regular tackler, making more than 8 a game. Ferdinand made the fewest a game at home and likewise made the fewest away from home with 4.5 per game – Gary Neville actually made fewer but played considerably less. Ferdinand also went the longest period of time between tackles, with one made every 19.5 minutes (Fabio was the most regular tackler with one every 9.8 minutes).

Vidic again leads the way with blocks, interceptions and clearances – he made 202 clearances, nearly treble the number made by any other defender. His 18 blocks was treble the number anyone else made. He made 47 interceptions which emphasises how good a reader of the game he is, maybe something he doesn’t get enough credit for.

Summary:

At home it was a good season for the defence as Old Trafford became a fortress. However, away from home, late goals were conceded on too many occasions – conceding better than a goal a game is certainly something that United can do better at. Arguably the defenders should have scored more goals too, but it’s fair that they could blame poor deliveries from set pieces on this. Nemanja Vidic was the stand out performer and has indeed collected various individual awards for his form this season. Chris Smalling had an excellent debut season whilst both Da Silva twins had spells of impressive form. Gary Neville made only three appearances, all away from home, and he has now retired. There is clearly no need for first choice reinforcements in the defence but with Neville’s retirement and Brown linked with a move away from the club there may well be one versatile defender brought in.

Midfielders:

At home:

United’s midfield is the largest part of the squad – 12 midfielders appeared at home including two who only made one league appearance at Old Trafford, Owen Hargreaves (played 10 minutes) and Bebe (played 64 minutes). Rotation has always been an important part of how United keep players fresh as well as providing opportunities to all members of the squad. This is reflected in the fact that only four of the midfield played over 800 of the 1710 minutes of Premier League football at home this season (Anderson played 799!). Nani played and started the most; never used as a sub, he started 16 of the games, carrying the burden of injuries to Valencia, Park and Giggs at various stages of the season, and racking up 1389 minutes of football.

Being the most combative area of the pitch, it’s no surprise to see that the midfielders picked up 9 yellow cards – more than the goalkeepers, defenders and forwards combined. Fletcher and Giggs both picked up two bookings whilst Scholes was unsurprisingly the worst offender with three bookings in ten appearances. Nani was the only midfielder on the pitch for ten or more goals conceded whilst he and Giggs both were involved in 9 clean sheets. However, Carrick was the only midfielder to play in all ten of the home clean sheets in the league, joining Evra and one forward in doing so. Excluding Bebe and Hargreaves, every defender kept a clean sheet in at least half of the games they played. Valencia had the best record with a clean sheet in 80% of his games whilst Carrick and Gibson lead the rest of the pack with a clean sheet in 71.4% of the games they featured in.

There are similarities between clean sheets kept and the minutes per goal ratio figures. Valencia again tops the list with a goal conceded every 433 minutes, however his injury meant he only featured in five games with a total of 433 minutes. Unsurprisingly (or surprisingly to some), Carrick has the best ratio of the rest with a goal conceded every 166.2 minutes or just shy of every two games. Giggs wasn’t far off at a goal every 152 minutes. Excluding Bebe, Hargreaves and Obertan (the latter featured in four games but only a total of 201 minutes), the worst record belongs to Anderson who conceded every 114.1 minutes. Putting that into context though, that’s still a very fine record – better than every game. Somewhat surprisingly, of the wingers, Park had the worst minutes per goal conceded figure (137.8). Park is often considered a defensive winger although his selection predominantly in the big games at home may be the reason he props up the wingers in this category.

Whilst some midfields are set out to be functional, and some players, like Carrick, will generally play deep, over the course of the season one would expect a contribution (a goal or an assist) from pretty much every midfielder who regularly plays. Six midfielders failed to score and five failed to lay on an assist. From the frequently selected players, Gibson and Carrick fall into both categories whilst Scholes provided two assists but no goals. Nani, Park and Giggs offered the best contributions, with Nani leading the way with 7 goals and 11 assists in 16 games. It means Nani directly influenced a United goal at home every 77.2 minutes. It’s an outstanding contribution given how much football he played and shows how well he did to keep his consistency levels up. However, one player does better it; Park influenced a goal every 68.9 minutes with 3 assists and 5 goals in his 7 appearances (551 minutes). It’s worth also pointing out that goals in the last ten minutes of games were scored by Nani, Park and Giggs – always a crucial time to score.

Direct influences aside, goals were scored most frequently when Anderson was on the pitch – one every 29.6 minutes. The slowest rate of goals scored (again excluding Bebe and Obertan) belonged to both Darron Gibson and Antonio Valencia, with a goal scored every 48.1 minutes when either of them were playing. Unsurprisingly 61% of the goals were created by a midfielder (27 out of 44 assists) with 20 of them coming from wingers.

A United midfielder is likely to see a lot of the ball and therefore has to be able and accurate when in possession. It’s understandable and expected that central players will be more accurate that wingers and corner takers – this is very much reflected in the passing stats for the midfielders. With the exception of Hargreaves and Bebe almost all the midfielders had a passing success rate of 75%. The anomalies were the two main corner takes – Nani (69.5%) and Giggs (68%). The most accurate passer not just in the midfield but in the entire squad at home was the recently retired Scholes with a deadly rate of 89.1%. Gibson, Fletcher, Park and Carrick were all accurate to the tune of at least 80% with Carrick the best of the rest at 87.3%. Fletcher attempted the most passes per game (65.5) with Nani attempting the most overall (815).

With the exception of Hargreaves, every midfielder had not only a shot on goal but a shot on target, including both Bebe and Obertan. With 82 shots on goal, Nani had the most attempts out of any midfielder and player in the squad. He also had the most shots off target (35) and the most shots blocked (21). Nani was the top scorer though amongst the midfield with 7 goals scored. Park wasn’t far off with 5. Park, Bebe and Fletcher all had 50% of their shots on target whilst the least accurate player was Scholes with 10% of his shots hitting the target.

Incredibly, Nani attempted more tackles than any other player in the squad let alone the midfield. Giggs and Anderson also attempted more than 50 tackles but only Nani won more than 50. The most successful tackler in the midfield (and the team) was Darron Gibson, winning 83.3% of his tackles. Bebe, Obertan, Nani and Valencia all won under half of the tackles they attempted. Surprisingly, Scholes was the second best tackling midfielder, winning 72.2% of his tackles – not bad for a ‘dirty’ player. Nani and Valencia were the most regular tacklers attempting over 9 and 8 tackles per game respectively. Despite being the cleanest tackler, Gibson was also the most infrequent, making less than two tackles a game. Gibson in turn attempted a tackle every 32.1 minutes played (Fletcher was every 34.6 minutes). By comparison, Nani attempted one every 9.6 minutes. All four main wingers attempted a tackle less than every 13 and a half minutes.

One midfielder stands out as the leading the way with blocks, interceptions and clearances – Michael Carrick. He made 31 interceptions, 3 blocks and 12 clearances. Anderson and Park were the only other two players to make over 20 interceptions whilst Giggs, Anderson and Scholes were the only other midfielders to make any interceptions. No other midfielder made more than 8 clearances. In a season when Darren Fletcher has been injured and sometimes a bit below par; and without a natural defensive midfielder, Michael Carrick’s defensive contribution should not be overlooked.

Away from home:

Away from home, 11 midfielders were used. Owen Hargreaves didn’t play and Bebe only played 10 minutes in one game. Obertan started one game and was used as a sub twice – he only played 80 minutes in total. As well as Bebe and Obertan, Valencia and Gibson were the only two midfielders to play less than 7 games and 400 minutes. Nani, Carrick, Fletcher and Scholes played more than 800 minutes with Carrick and Nani playing and starting over 1000 minutes. Every single midfielder was at some point used as a substitute whilst only Bebe failed to start a game. Nani played and started the most games, featuring in 17 out of the 19 and starting 15 of them – yet another reflection of how important he was to the side this past year. No midfielder played more than the 2666 minutes of football that Nani completed overall (home and away) this season.

United’s midfield were sometimes accused of not getting ‘stuck-in’ enough in games. This is somewhat reflected in the fact that only 14 yellow cards were picked up. That is commendable but are United maybe too soft? Scholes picked up five bookings and only Bebe and Obertan didn’t get booked. Five midfielders conceded more than ten goals whilst Anderson only conceded one goal – keeping six clean sheets (NB coming on as a sub when the side have already scored but not conceding when on the pitch has been classed as an individual clean sheet). Every single midfielder kept at least one clean sheet with Nani, Scholes, Fletcher and Anderson keeping at least five. Only Anderson and Bebe kept a clean sheet in more than half the games they played. Park had the worst clean sheet to games record, only keeping a clean sheet in 14.3% of the games he played away from home.

There are similarities between clean sheets kept and the minutes per goal ratio figures. With just one goal conceded in his 7 away appearances, Anderson only conceded once every 407 minutes. Nani had the next best record, conceding a goal once every 67.2 minutes. Most midfielders conceded roughly once an hour apart from Park and Gibson – every 49.2 minutes and 53.6 minutes respectively. It is once again surprising to see, like at home, that Park conceded most frequently. Selection in big games predominantly is one good possible explanation for this result. Six goals were conceded in the last 10 minutes of games and Fletcher was the only midfielder on the pitch for them all. Two goals were conceded in the opening ten minutes of games (Bolton and Wolves); Nani, Giggs and Fletcher were on the pitch for both of those.

If the midfield contribution to goals scored was disappointing at home, away from home it was abysmal. Only 4 of the 29 goals scored were by midfielders – 13.8%. By comparison, the year before, 38% of away league goals had come from the midfield. Nani scored two whilst Fletcher and Scholes both got goals early on in the season at Everton and Fulham respectively. This means that from the 26th September until the end of the season, Nani was the only midfielder to score away from home and it saw the club go through two four month spells where no midfielder at all scored. There were better contributions in terms of assists though. Only five midfielders failed to lay on an assist and that includes Bebe and Obertan. Meanwhile, Nani created 7 goals, with Fletcher creating 4 and Giggs creating 3. It means that 64% of assists were laid on by midfielders. By some distance, Nani made the biggest direct contribution to any goals scored, influencing 9 goals – or scoring/assisting once every 141.9 minutes. Fletcher was next best, offering a contribution directly to a goal every 239 minutes or every two and a half games! No midfielder scored in the closing ten minutes of a game but there was one own goal scored then. Nani scored away at Wolves inside the opening ten minutes though.

Direct influences aside, goals were scored most frequently when Gibson was on the pitch – one every 33.5 minutes. Although, Gibson only played 268 minutes overall – the next best rate of goals scored was when Giggs played, with a goal scored every 47.8 minutes. The slowest rate of goals was when Park played – one every 110.8 minutes. Park and Anderson were the only players who averaged worse than one goal scored a game.

As at home, United’s midfielders passing stats are very good and follow a similar pattern. With the exception of Obertan and Bebe almost all the midfielders had a passing success rate of 72%. The anomalies were the two main corner takes – Nani (67.1%) and Giggs (69.5%). The most accurate passer not just in the midfield but in the entire squad away from home (excluding players who rarely featured) was the recently retired Scholes with a rate of 89.9%. Gibson, Fletcher and Carrick were all accurate at a rate of at least 80% with Carrick the best of the rest at 84.8%. Carrick attempted the most passes per game (59.7) and also he attempted the most overall (836).

With the exception of Bebe, every midfielder had a shot on goal. Only Valencia failed to register a shot on target. With 53 shots on goal, Nani had the most attempts out of any midfielder and player in the squad. He also had the most shots off target (27) and the most shots blocked (14). Only Anderson hit 50% of his shots on target with many of the players struggling to get over 35%. Carrick had the worst shooting accuracy with only 7.1% of his efforts testing the opposition goalkeeper.

Like at home, Nani attempted more tackles (120) than any other midfielder – well over double the next most (Fletcher, 52). Nani was therefore the only player who won more than 50 tackles, a surprising statistic given that he can be perceived to play for himself rather than the team. The most successful tackler in the midfield was Obertan, winning 87.5% of his tackles, but he only attempted 8 altogether. The next best tackler was Anderson who won 66.7% of his tackles made. It’s very encouraging that all bar two midfielders won over half of the tackles they attempted, those two were Nani and Park. Nani was the most regular tackler attempting over 7 tackles per game. In fact the four most regular tacklers amongst the midfielders were all wingers. Gibson was the most infrequent tackler, attempting one every 53.6 minutes. Obertan was the most regular tackler per minute played, attempting one every 10 minutes, whilst Nani attempted one every 10.6 minutes. All four main wingers attempted a tackle less than every 17 minutes.

Scholes is credited for being someone who reads the game so well, but he didn’t make the most interceptions. Michael Carrick maybe doesn’t get the praise he should for that part of his game – he made 31 interceptions, 7 more than Scholes – who was the only other player to make more than 20. Fletcher made the most blocks – 8 in total, emphasising how much he was missed in the defeat away to Arsenal. Carrick made the second most blocks – 5. Fletcher also made the most clearances (21), with Nani making the second most (20) and Carrick third (19). Every midfielder bar Bebe made at least one interception and clearance.

Summary:

It’s been a tough season for the midfield with criticism aimed at them from all angles. The lack of goals both home and away is a concern but arguably United’s midfield has changed. It’s definitely more functional with the central players winning the ball and looking to shift it out wide to the wide players as soon as possible. Injuries to Valencia, Park and Giggs meant a huge burden was on Nani’s shoulders and he responded by become an important player who scored and created goals. Nani was arguably the stand-out performer and his commitment in making the most tackles is a very pleasant surprise even if his rate of winning them wasn’t great. Michael Carrick went somewhat under the radar when it comes to praise but his passing accuracy and tackling accuracy, as well as interceptions and blocks show how well he did in the absence of any natural defensive midfielder. Scholes has retired off the back of the club’s most accurate passer – he’s had an amazing career and will be sorely missed. Arguably a central player or two will be needed whilst it seems one more winger will be joining. Bebe looks like leaving to go on loan whilst Gibson is strongly linked with a move to Sunderland or Bolton.

Forwards:

At home:

United have been heavily reliant on strikers going through periods of form this past season. Chicharito, Rooney and Berbatov have been the main men with Owen used sparingly and Macheda bagging a few appearances before going on loan in January. All five strikers were used as a substitute at some point at home whilst Owen was the only one of them not to start a game. Rooney made the most appearances, 15, one more than Berbatov whilst Chicharito played in ten games. Rooney played 1112 minutes overall, nearly double the minutes Chicharito played, 631. Owen only played 134 minutes of league football at Old Trafford, averaging only 22 minutes per appearance.

Five yellow cards were picked up by the strikers with Rooney collecting two and Owen, Berbatov and Chicharito all getting one each. No striker was on the pitch to concede more than 9 goals (Berbatov). Both Owen and Macheda didn’t concede a single goal meaning they kept 10 clean sheets between them. Rooney joins Evra and Carrick as being the third member of the squad to play in all ten clean sheet games – Berbatov kept eight and Chicharito kept six. Rooney kept a clean sheet in 66.7% of the games he played whilst Berbatov had the worst record of the strikers with a clean sheet in 57.1% of games. Berbatov was the only striker to be on the pitch when a first half goal was conceded.

The clean sheet percentages are directly reflected in the minutes per goal ratio figures. Rooney conceded a goal better than every two games – every 185.3 minutes. Chicharito conceded every 126.2 minutes and the worst rate of the forwards was Berbatov who conceded a goal every 121.8 minutes. Of course who much a striker can influence goals conceded is debatable. Someone like Rooney likes to drop deep and help the midfield out so arguably his record is a reflection of the amount of defensive work he puts in.

The main function of a forward is to score goals. They are of course reliant to some extent on midfielders, defenders and fellow forwards to provide the chances to convert. One forward stood out at home – Berbatov. He scored 17 goals, contributing to 43.6% of the goals scored when he was on the pitch. Chicharito scored 5 goals, 38.5% of the goals when he played; and Rooney scored 4 goals, only 12.1% of the goals when he played. Berbatov also got various key goals. He scored three in the opening ten minutes of games and two in the last ten minutes. However, 60% of Chicharito’s goals were scored in that crucial period in games – two in the opening ten minutes and one in the closing ten. Macheda failed to score in his 107 minutes whilst Owen got one goal.

Berbatov was so prolific at home, scoring one goal every 64.5 minutes. Chicharito in his debut season scored every 126.2 minutes; Rooney could only manage a goal every 278 minutes. Whilst Rooney wasn’t scoring, he was laying on assists (8); Berbatov set up two goals and Chicharito one. This means Berbatov directly influenced 19 of the 49 goals scored at home; Rooney 12 and Chicharito 6. The strikers therefore played their part by scoring or assisting 75.5% of the goals scored at home. By combining goals scored and assists, Berbatov influenced a goal every 57.7 minutes and Rooney every 92.7 minutes.

Direct influences aside, goals were scored most frequently when Berbatov was on the pitch – one every 28.1 minutes. The slowest rate of goals scored was surprisingly when Chicharito played , with one every 48.5 minutes. Overall, 55% of the goals scored at home came from the strikers. Berbatov was the only striker who can boast that a goal was scored every time he played. Despite United scoring a goal in every game, all the other strikers had appearances when they were either brought on as a sub or taken off early when a goal wasn’t scored

Link-up play is very important for a striker, particularly one like Berbatov who’ll drop deep. It’s therefore pleasing to see that all five strikers had a passing accuracy of at least 75%. Berbatov topped the strikers with an accuracy of 80.8%. Chicharito’s accuracy was 77% whilst Rooney was the least accurate of the strikers with 75.6%. No forward was able to complete over 500 passes, not surprising given their apparent lack of involvement in games – Chicharito averaged attempting only 17.8 passes per game with Owen and Macheda attempting only 10. Rooney attempted the most, 43.7 with Berbatov attempting 32.7.

Macheda was the only striker not to have a single shot on goal in any of his appearances. Berbatov had 73 shots on goal, more than any other striker. He also had more shots on target (38) and off target (22) than the other strikers. Berbatov as already mentioned was the top scoring player in the squad with 17 goals. Chicharito got lots of praise for accurate shooting but Berbatov had the most accurate at home with 52.1% of his shots hitting the target. The remaining strikers had 43.5% (Chicharito), 36% (Rooney) and 33.3% (Owen) of their shots on target.

Rooney is credited with being a good team player and this is reflected by the number of tackles he attempted – 72. It’s the fourth highest total in the entire squad. Berbatov made the 6th highest number of tackles with 68. In terms of successful tackles though Rooney is low down the list in the squad, winning only 34.7% of his tackles. Even worse was Chicharito though, winning only 20% of his tackles (5). Berbatov, Owen and Macheda all won at least 50% of their tackles. Rooney attempted 4.8 tackles per game with Berbatov just edging him with 4.9. Chicharito tended to play on the last man and therefore wasn’t as involved as other strikers; this is represented by the fact he made 2.5 tackles per game. Rooney was the most regular tackler per minutes played though, making one every 15.4 minutes. The slowest, as already mentioned was Chicharito, making a tackle every 25.2 minutes.

Being on the fringes of the bid to win back possession, none of the strikers made a huge amount of interceptions, blocks or clearances. Berbatov made the most interceptions (6) and clearances (7); whilst both he and Rooney made one block. There’s little doubt that at home, Berbatov was the key man out of the strikers. Since the season has ended, one of Berbatov’s home goals has been changed by the Dubious Goals Committee and is now an own goal – the stats were all compiled before this decision and the change has not been made.

Away from home:

Away from home United used the same five strikers who appeared at home. Berbatov played in all but one of the away games; Chicharito played in 16 but only started half of them; Rooney played and started in 13 games; Owen and Macheda played in 8 games between them but only racked up just over 200 minutes. All five strikers started at least one game and only Rooney was never used as a substitute. Berbatov played 1115 minutes, just one minute more than Rooney. Owen averaged only 22 minutes per appearance at home but away from home he played only 18.8 minutes on average per appearance.

There were six yellow cards dished out to strikers – four to Chicharito and two to Rooney. Only Rooney (16) and Berbatov (19) conceded more than ten goals. All of the strikers conceded at least once with Chicharito somehow impressively only conceding seven in his 16 appearances. Chicharito kept the most away clean sheets in the league – 10 – this was by virtue of coming on as a substitute in games where no further goals were conceded. Rooney only managed to keep three clean sheets whilst Berbatov kept double that amount. Impressively it means that Chicharito kept a clean sheet in 62.5% of his away appearances whilst Rooney only managed to in 23.1% of his. Owen had the best record, keeping a clean sheet in 80% of his games but he only featured in five games or for 94 minutes. Neither Owen nor Macheda conceded a first half goal.

The clean sheet percentages aren’t quite reflected in the minutes per goal ratio figures. Looking only at Rooney, Berbatov and Chicharito, the latter has the best record, conceding a goal every 122.6 minutes away from home. However Berbatov rather than Rooney had the worst record, he conceded every 58.7 minutes whereas Rooney conceded every 69.9 minutes. One theory may be that Chicharito was only used in the ‘easier’ games for the majority of the season thereby reducing the chances of goals being conceded when he was on the pitch. By comparison, Berbatov and Rooney for the most-part were always selected to start away from home where experience, concentration and know-how can count for a lot.

Away from home United managed to score 29 goals, not a particularly large amount. None of the strikers managed to get into double figures, the top scorer was the new boy, Chicharito with 8 goals. Top scorer at home, Berbatov, could only manage four goals despite playing more than any other striker. Rooney scored one less than Chicharito with seven goals. Chicharito scored 50% of all the goals when he was on the pitch, Rooney scored 43.8% of goals scored when he was playing but Berbatov only scored 18.2% of the goals when he played. Rooney was the only striker to score a goal in the first ten minutes of a game. Chicharito scored three goals in the last ten minutes of games and Berbatov, Macheda and Rooney all got one in that time period. The team scored 72.4% of their goals in the second half when away from home – this is reflected by the strikers who scored 76.2% of their goals in the second half of games.

No striker scored a goal a game away from home. Owen came closest, scoring a goal every 94 minutes, although he only scored the one goal. Looking at the three main strikers, Chicharito was the most prolific, scoring a goal every 107.3 minutes. Having scored one goal almost hourly at home, Berbatov scored a goal only every 278.8 minutes away from home – the slowest rate of any striker either home or away. Like Chicharito, Rooney was also more prolific away from home, scoring a goal every 159.1 minutes. Once again Rooney set up more goals than any other striker (3), Berbatov set up 2 with Chicharito assisting just one. It means that Chicharito influenced a goal every 95.3 minutes whilst Rooney influenced a goal every 111.4 minutes.

Direct influences aside, goals were scored most frequently when Macheda was on the pitch – one every 36.7 minutes. However when looking at only the three main strikers, a goal was scored every 50.7 minutes when Berbatov played. The slowest rate of goals scored was when Rooney played, with one every 69.9 minutes. Overall, 72.4% of the goals scored away from home came from the strikers. Either other areas of the team didn’t contribute like they should have done or the strikers were particularly lethal. I think it’s more likely that the team didn’t score enough overall and other areas of the team failed to contribute. All of the strikers played in at least one game when United failed to score. Chicharito was the only player to play in all five of those games.

Once again, United’s strikers were accurate in possession away from home. Macheda was successful in 92.7% of his passes but only attempted 41 overall. Chicharito was more successful than both Rooney and Berbatov, successfully completing 88.2% of his passes compared to their 72.9% and 75.7% respectively. Owen was the least accurate striker, only completing 69.7% of his 33 attempted passes. Only Rooney attempted more than 500 passes and only he completed over 350. Rooney attempted the most passes per game – 45.7 whilst Owen only attempted 6.6.

All five strikers scored at least one goal and therefore they all had a shot on target. Rooney had more shots than any other striker with 47. He had the most efforts on target (20), the most off target (17) and the most blocked (10). Both Macheda and Owen had 100% of their shots on target; both had only one effort on goal which was scored – Owen away at Bolton and Macheda away at Aston Villa. Of the other three strikers, Chicharito was the most accurate, with 46.7% of his shots troubling the opposition goalkeeper or going in the goal; Berbatov was the least accurate with 39.4%.

Surprisingly it’s Berbatov who attempted more tackles than any other striker – 90. In the entire squad, only Nani and Vidic attempted more than him. Quite impressively, Berbatov won 50% of all his tackles, as did Owen. Rooney won more away from home than at home, winning 41.8% compared to 34.7%. Chicharito too improved away from home, winning 38.1%. Rooney attempted 6.1 tackles per game, more than the other strikers. Berbatov attempted on average 5 tackles per game. As at home, Chicharito attempted considerably less (2.6) as he tended to hold positions away from the main action of the game. Berbatov was also the most regular tackler, he attempted one every 12.4 minutes showing how hard he worked (and had to work) to close down opposition defenders.

Again it’s maybe surprising to learn that Berbatov was the most prolific striker in helping out with the defensive side of the game. He made the most interceptions (10), blocks (2) and clearances (15). This is potentially due to the fact that Berbatov naturally likes to come deeper to get on the ball. Even so, for someone who is often perceived to be ‘lazy’ it is somewhat surprising.

Summary:

It was a successful season for the strikers as they scored 61.5% of the team’s league goals. Each striker went through spells of goal scoring form, first Berbatov then Chicharito. Rooney contributed with goals mainly in the second half of the season but regularly laid on assists. Macheda and Owen also played their part scoring a couple of key away goals. Berbatov scored 21 goals overall with an impressive 17 at home in what was his best season for the club. He did later have a home goal removed and credited as an own goal though. All of the strikers provide a different option because of their varying styles of play. Going into next season, question marks still remain over Berbatov’s future especially seeing as Michael Owen has signed on for another year and Danny Welbeck will return from his loan. Mame Diouf will also be back at the club but it’s unclear whether he’ll stay. Kiko Macheda went out on loan in January to Sampdoria who got relegated. His loan started well but when the club changed their manager he saw his game time significantly reduced and rarely featured in the final couple of months of the season. Whilst Berbatov was the top scorer and for the first half of the season was the key striker; Chicharito was arguably the star in his debut season. He started less than the other main strikers but made a big impact scoring some crucial goals.

Tables:

Click on tables to enlarge them

Man United discipline:

Man United appearances:

Man United goals conceded:

Man United clean sheets:

Man United goals scored:

Man United goals scored by individual players:

Man United other goalscoring stats:

Man United passing:

Man United shots:

Man United tackles:

Man United other stats:

Appearance stats compiled using data from the BBC; all other stats compiled using data from the Guardian.

Stats compiled before Berbatov had a home goal removed and changed to an own goal. One home and one away own goal were also scored during the season.

The Man United Premier League season review by numbers

nameonthetrophy — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 11:39:47 +0000

Author: Doron

Follow Doron on Twitter

If you wish to simply view the statistic tables then scroll down to the bottom of the page rather than reading the analysis of them!

Goalkeepers:

At home:

Away from home:

Summary:

Defenders:

At home:

Away from home:

Summary:

Midfielders:

At home:

Away from home:

Summary:

Forwards:

At home:

Away from home:

Summary:

Tables:

Click on tables to enlarge them

Man United discipline:

Man United appearances:

Man United goals conceded:

Man United clean sheets:

Man United goals scored:

Man United goals scored by individual players:

Man United other goalscoring stats:

Man United passing:

Man United shots:

Man United tackles:

Man United other stats:

Appearance stats compiled using data from the BBC; all other stats compiled using data from the Guardian.

Stats compiled before Berbatov had a home goal removed and changed to an own goal. One home and one away own goal were also scored during the season.

Barcelona vs. Manchester United: Do Barca have a weakness?

Stretford-end — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:55:39 +0000

AUTHOR: – Stretford End

Ok, I’m not going to make out I am an expert in Spanish football, nor am I going to nod approvingly at a goal scored by Bojan in the 62nd minute in the 8 nil victory over Almeria earlier in the season – because I never saw it. I do try and tune into Revista La Liga and obviously watch as much football on a Sunday evening (that is when the missus hasn’t got ‘The only way is Essex’ on), but I didn’t want to give the impressive that I am a seasoned connoisseur in all things Spanish. However, I have always admired the magnificent football of Barcelona and the DNA that has been instilled in the club from the Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels days.

This blog aims to look at the goals Barcelona have scored and conceded in the Champions League this season, whilst comparing that with Manchester United.

So who has scored for Barcelona in Europe this season? The pie chart below shows a breakdown:

Massive surprise that Lionel Messi has scored more than a third of all Barcelona’s goals in Europe this season. To drill down, he has scored 38% of Barcelona’s goals compared to Pedro, who has notched up 15% of Barca’s goals. We will drill down on individual players later on in the blog, however for now I wanted to formulate the stats prior to any analysis. Below is a table highlight the goals scored against Barcelona in this seasons competition:

One thing that is clear is that out of the eight goals scored against Barcelona this season, only one team has victorious – Arsenal in the first leg of their last 16 tie. All goals scored against Barcelona are quite different as well. We have a long punt down the field, which is then flicked on for Sidney Govou to open the scoring in the first group game involving Barcelona. This was the only game in which Barcelona scored second and went onto win the game, quite convincingly might I add.

Some of the goals scored against Barcelona don’t always reflect the balance of play. For example, in the 1-1 away draw with Rubin Kazan – the Spanish Champions had seventeen shots on goal compared to the hosts eight. Wayward shooting was to blame, with Barcelona only hitting the target four times out of the seventeen, however the player positions below highlight the dominance of the visitors in the match:

It is clear to see the 3-4-3 formation that Barcelona adopt once attacking, with the holding midfielder Javier Mascherano dropping in between Puyol and Pique. This is a classic trait of total football, which has been adopted by Barcelona since the days of Cruyff, interchanging of position and flexibility in moving forward. High pressing is also another trait, which is key to Barcelona winning the ball back high up the pitch -

Do United stick or twist?

I am still adamant that United were far too gung-ho against Barcelona in Rome, although I understand as to why Sir Alex setup the side to attack from the start and score the first goal of the game. However, once Samuel Eto’o scored, the tie was unfortunately over – with United running out of ideas as the match elapsed. Although that may seem incredibly defeatist, considering there were another eighty odd minutes left to play, United were left shell shocked and left far too much space between the midfield and defence – which inevitably saw Carrick overrun and Xavi setting up Messi for a second goal.

Lets take a look at the opening goal and the United setup. Iniesta picks the ball up on the half way line and then faces the United goal:

He then proceeds to drive forward, ignoring the pass to his left for Lionel Messi. Both Carrick and Anderson are in between the Spaniard and the space in front of the defence:

Iniesta passes both Anderson and Michael Carrick like they’re not there. His effortless gliding across the turf and through United’s two deeper midfielders made a mockery of Ferguson’s initial game plan:

Iniesta’s burst and acceleration passed the pedestrianised Anderson and Carrick, meant that Ferdinand had to close him down – which ultimately led to the key pass to Eto’o, who found himself one on one with Vidic:

Now, the key issue with this is shape. Mourinho opted to keep the shape of his Inter side in April 2010 and won tie, whilst deploying the same strategy at home with Madrid in this season’s tournament, which backfired spectacularly. Mourinho will no doubt point at the dismissal of Pepe, which gave Lionel Messi the space he needed to win the tie for his side, as the reason why Barcelona were victorious. However, it must be noted that Mourinho doesn’t line up like this against every side, so despite the theatrical nature to his actions and pre/post match conference – his setup is no doubt a monumental hat tip to the Catalan side. The arrogance that emulates from the nine times European Cup winners may well be stronger than ever – which no doubt also coincides with how they want to play their football, sorry, attacking football. Ferguson will no setup his United side in the same manner than Mourinho did, however surely the starting lineup will be a little more cautious than the gung ho swashbuckling nature of 09?

The lineups

What is great about football, and blogs in particular, is that everyone can select a different eleven. We can argue until the early hours as to whether or not Rafael or Fabio would be better to marshal David Villa, or whether or not Ferguson should risk Darren Fletcher – a midfielder who looks set to miss out on a third European Cup final. I’ve picked my side below, along with Barcelona’s side, and I welcome you to challenge the selection and setup. Doron will no doubt go into more detail and select his side prior to the match on Saturday.

Excuse the use of the black shirts, there wasn’t a ‘white shirt’ option. Barcelona’s team – excluding the left back – is self explanatory:

United will essentially line up 4-4-1-1, with Rooney be called upon more so from a defensive viewpoint than usual. Barcelona will of course adopt a 4-3-3 formation. So what do you reckon? Do you feel this will be the line up for United and Barcelona?

Key Battles

Park vs. Alves: Ji Sung Park put in one mighty performance against Chelsea in the 2-1 victory earlier in the month, which in my opinion booked his place in the starting line up – not that there had ever been any doubt. He will be up against Alves, who was roundly criticised for his playacting in the first leg against Real Madrid, but there is no doubting his ability as a modern day full back. He has the athleticism to provide width for Barcelona, when they move from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3:

This is a pretty obvious movement, whilst natural to Alves and his Brazilian heritage. He will no doubt have the attacking runs of Evra to deal with, whilst not forgetting the energetic hustling and harrying of Ji Sung Park, who will be under instructions to force the Brazilian back:

Again, on paper – this all looks pretty standard. Fabio tucks inside, whilst Giggs and Carrick sit in front of the backline occupying the space that Messi, Iniesta, Xavi or Pedro usually operate in. Park’s role will no doubt be to counter act Alves surging runs, whilst Ferguson may also see the space left by Alves on the right hand side as an opportunity for Hernadez or Rooney to exploit. Park’s main role will be on this left hand side, whilst I believe he will also be asked to close down in the centre of the midfield if the opportunity arises (as he did in the Chelsea game). Park was one of the player who didn’t perform in Rome, he will have a fantastic chance to put that right on Saturday.

Hernandez vs. Puyol/Pique: Javier Hernandez is the signing of the decade. Those are the words I uttered to Doron the other day, he responded with a counter argument that Vidic was his choice – either way, we can all agree that Hernandez is without doubt a bargain. He offers a different dimension to our attack, which I feel compliments the visionary attribute of Rooney, more so than when he is up top alongside the ridiculously gifted Dimitar Berbatov. Hernandez pace will scare the life out of Puyol and Pique, there is no question of that – however, he needs the service to be able to occupy the space in behind. I’ve touched on United being more cautious than in Rome, which means that United will have to rely on the counter attack and superb ball retention when Barca lose the ball.

Take a look at the following images, highlighting a goal Barcelona conceded last season on the counter attack. For the record, it was scored by former United forward Diego Forlan:

Reyes sidesteps Iniesta brilliantly, similar to what Iniesta did against United in Rome, before bombing on towards the Barcelona backline:

Reyes does excellent to beat Busquets, who would have stepped out of the back three to close down the space that Reyes was to move into. His dribbling and skill to beat the Barca holding midfield is the key to then occupy a position that will allow him to find a through ball:

Reyes, who now has a free run, plays the pass through for Forlan to run onto. Puyol is already claiming offside, despite the fact that Forlan is clearly onside,

Barca’s pressing game leaves them vulnerable to this type of chance as Forlan is now bearing down on goal to score the only goal of the game:

The key to this is a fast counter attack, confident play in dribbling passed players and good movement from the frontman. Valencia, Giggs or Rooney can do what Reyes did – whilst Hernandez is quite clearly the best man to make the run, in between defenders, that Forlan made. He plays on the shoulder and is a nightmare to pick up. The key thing is getting the ball to him. United need to be brave, patient and controlled.

Rooney vs. Busquets: Busquets is not the flavour of the month at the moment, considering his alleged racist rant towards Marcelo, and is quite lucky to be involved in the final at all. His father played in goal vs. United in the 1991 Cup Winners Cup final, where Mark Hughes scored twice – and he is no doubt vital in the way Barcelona operate and start moves. Wesley Sneijder, who had a fine World Cup and Champions League season last year, was kept quiet in the final last July, which no doubt was down to the marking of Busquets.

Rooney’s best position, for me, is in the hole behind the front man. He can play wide and do a job, whilst he can operate as a lone frontman and do a job. However, his best position is as a number ten. He is also best when he has limited defensive responsibilities, although it should be noted he never shirks the responsibility of galloping fifty yards to win the ball back. On Saturday, I believe he will need to operate a little deeper for two reasons, 1) to press Busquets and intercept any loose balls 2) counter attack high up the pitch.

Many have suggested that Rooney should play as a centre midfielder, and although I have no doubt he could again do a job there – we need him as the link between the midfield and front line. His natural game is to drop deep and try and influence play, much like Cantona did – however, Rooney is athletically superior to Eric and can break at pace covering ground that draws players out of position. His relationship with Valencia on the pitch has been noticeable, whilst his partnership with Hernandez is now one of the most impressive in the Premier League.

Counter attack – breaking at pace

Counter attacking football used to be reserved for the minnows, the side that should keep it tight, not concede anything and hopefully snatch a goal on the break after the other side has charged forward in search of the goal they so desperately deserve. However, the counter attack should be used as one attacking option and of course there are different methods of counter attacking side, whether it be to defend deep and get the ball forward as quickly as possible (classic counter attack) or to win the ball high up the pitch and counter (by pressing) or to counter the counter attack (which requires shape and organisation).

United have the ability to break and lightening pace, even when the momentum is with the opposing side. Ronaldo’s strike against Arsenal in the Champions League Semi-Final back in May 2009 was exceptional. We’re not going to drill down on it as we’re well aware of the quality of the whole move, which started with a Vidic header from an Arsenal corner. The goal was exquisite and highlighted that counter attacking football is not necessarily ugly and defensive, but to catch your opponent off guard – to disorientate them. United have the ability to do this against Barcelona on Saturday, especially with the pace of Rooney, Park and Valencia to burst forward. The Reyes example highlights the vulnerability of Barcelona at the back, when face with a striker with pace that can exploit the space in behind. Puyol and Pique don’t want to be running back towards their goal, they want the attacker to be facing their own goal – whilst they close down the space – along with the rest of their team mates.

The following analysis actually involves the victims of that Ronaldo counter attack goal – Arsenal – and how they conjured up their very own counter attack to inflict the only defeat of Barcelona’s Champions League campaign:

Substitute Nicklas Bendtner works back to win the ball before looking to his left to lay a pass to Jack Wilshere:

Wilshere then lays a superb first time ball off to captain Cesc Fabregas who has found space behind the midfield. Notice in between the trio of Arsenal players that there are four Barcelona players, who inevitably were pressing high up the pitch to try and win the ball back. At 82 minutes, fatigue could well be playing a part in their inability to ‘counter the counter’:

Fabregas now has the chance to pick a pass down either flank, but chooses the correct option in finding Nasri down the right, who is already on his way – with yards of space in front of him:

Nasri’s pace is now key in getting to the box and then hopefully being supported by late runners from midfield:

Nasri does excellently to get into the box and pick out a pass to the onrushing substitute Andrei Arshavin. The Russian slots home the winner in the game:

Don’t get me wrong, Arsenal were very lucky to still be in the game at this point. Lionel Messi missed a host of chances, whilst Guardiola felt the need to substitute scorer David Villa for Keita, which is when I believe the dynamics of the game changed. Arsenal did extremely well to hold on and then pounce when they needed to, however United are a better defensive unit that the North London side and I don’t expect there to be as many chances as there was at the Emirates that night.

Lionel Messi

Some get wound up with the praise that he receives from fans, pundits and people in the game alike – however, I do honest believe that Lionel Messi is a genius. La Masia has produced some fabulous players over the years, but surely Messi is the best of a wonderful bunch? The little Argentinean started out as a wide man, cutting inside to cause havoc – either with a nimble dribble, delicate pass or shot blistering into the back of the net. He has notched up 52 goals this season in 54 appearances – that is a stunning return. His second goal in the Bernabeu was sent from the heavens. Many fans in the pubs, bars and coffee shops all over the world are now debating on whether Messi is the greatest of all time. Personally, I believe you need to wait until the end of a player’s career before making some a claim. Maradona, for me, is still the greatest player to ever play the game – however, even the great man even acknowledged that ‘at the end of history, people will then decide who was better: Maradona or Messi’.

So lets take a look at the goals scored by Lionel Messi over the course of the season:

Interesting to see that over 80% of his goals are with his left foot, although that remarkable second in the Bernabeu was with his right foot following a superb solo run – beating four Real Madrid players in his wake. Barcelona don’t generally shoot from outside the box, so it is no surprise that only seven of his 52 goals have been from outside the area – with only one in the Champions League (out of the eleven). Are these stats here to help me explain how United can stop Lionel Messi? Good god no! I could do that I wouldn’t be sitting here at 1am blogging about the final. One thing I would say is that I would not dedicate a marker to him, as some have suggested. His deployment as a False 9 will no doubt aim to bring Ferdinand and Vidic out of position, but I believe they will remained disciplined enough to allow him to wander into the midfield space, where ultimately Giggs and Carrick will have the task of closing him down.

Messi’s transformation from a wide player to a centre forward is not a surprise. If you’re playing a direct brand of football, then Didier Drogba is a perfect lone front man, as he has the ability to tower above the majority of centre halves in order to win the ball and bring it under control. Messi’s role in the main figure head is more of a 4-6-0, which means that for long periods of time – the centre halves won’t be marking anyone only space. The idea is to obviously draw out the defenders to create space in behind, which is then exploited by the wingers or indeed Messi himself. Frank Rijkaard noted that Messi would eventually become a central player, however back in 2008 -you would have thought he would be better as a second striker – which is clearly not a possibility at Barcelona, although more likely for the national side.

Samuel Eto’o, a fine striker in his own right, was deemed surplus to requirements due to Messi’s transformation, whilst the integration of the exceptionally talented yet equally infuriating Ibrahimovic was shipped out after only one season in the Nou Camp. Villa’s addition is much better suited for the way in which the Catalans operate, although many old school English may be pulling their hair out at the thought of not having a player over 5″7 in the front line.

Conclusion

If you’ve stayed with me from the start of this blog to the end, the bravo to you – we’ve covered a vast amount of points, discussions and statistics. You will of course have you own ideas as to how United should line up and approach the game, which I welcome you to share in our comments section. My observation that United should play a more controlled, cautious game to that of the Rome match may not sit well with some Reds who want United to go out and attack at all costs. I respect and understand that, but from hearing Ferguson say that United will ‘learn’ from the mistakes of Rome, it will be fascinating to see whether or not Fergie sets his team up to attack as they did or to target Barcelona on the counter attack, as highlighted in the two examples in this post.

No team is unbeatable. All teams have their weaknesses, however we must give credit where it is due – Barcelona is a football institution and this side is one of the best sides that has ever graced this earth. Yes, there is petulance amongst the ranks. Yes, there is even bully tactics at play. However, despite these faults, it would be difficult to find a football fan that isn’t in admiration of how they play. United have a rich history in producing young players, giving them a chance and throwing them into the first Xi. Barcelona also has history of producing top class players, one of which was at United (Pique) and has gone onto become one of the top centre halves in Europe.

United will line up 4-4-1-1, with Wayne Rooney just off Javier Hernandez. If Darren Fletcher had been fit, Ferguson would have had more of a dilemma – however, that isn’t even up for discussion. Two months ago I would have put Rafael in, but I think the nod will go to his brother – who is starting to find his feet at Old Trafford, despite still some concerns about his ability to take knocks. Giggs and Carrick looked so assured against Chelsea, both home and away, they are certain starters in the middle of the park – whilst Park and Valencia have kept Nani out of the side, with some top class performances in the business end of the season. Barcelona will not change the way they operate and will line up 4-3-3 as normal. The only question mark is over the left back and whether or not Abidal will play or adopt Puyol there. If that is the case – Valencia will have a field day and it is vital that United get him in one on one situations.

The adoption of a counter attacking setup is in no way meant to be a negative approach. Some of the best goals of all time are results of a counter attack, most noticeably the Carlos Alberto strike in the 1970 World Cup finals – when Brazil beat Italy 4-1. Ronaldo, Rooney and Park have scored goals, all against Arsenal, in recent seasons that have been first class counter attacking moves. I do not expect United to sit back and defend all night, far from it, however I do not believe that a ‘attack them and see how they deal with it’ approach will work. Valencia and Park have superb athleticism and will no doubt be key from both an offensive and defensive perspective.

I think the game will be won in normal time and I am going for a 2-1 United win, with Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic scoring for United. Doron will no doubt follow up with his excellent preview, where you may see a completely different approach and line-up. This is why we love the game. We all have opinions that we wish to share and hopefully the Stretty Rant is one of those places.

Edit: I forgot to include a really interesting podcast discussing the game in detail on Saturday. Apologies about that and here you go, from RHRN:
http://righthererightnow21.blogspot.com/2011/05/champions-league-final.html

Many thanks to Zonal Marking for inspiration, Total Football Apps and This 11 for the screenshots.

Are You a Proper United fan?

Stretford-end — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:55:31 +0000

AUTHOR: – Mancunian Red

What right do I have to ask this or judge anyone which of course is a fair response. While I don’t think there is black and white answer to this question I do believe that people have the right to judge and there are certain criteria which defines a true fan from a glory hunter. I will try to explain my reasoning.

Many people believe the myth United became the biggest British club because of the Munich disaster. This is false United had become the best supported club after the war because of the great football we played. Prior to the war it could be argued we weren’t even the biggest club in Manchester. It was only after Busby and Murphy took over the club and put the emphasis on attack and style that United’s support started growing.

Prior to Munich in the season 1956/7 United had become the best supported team in the country:

Top 5 1956/7 season

1	Manchester United	45.481
2	Tottenham Hotspur	43.280
3	Arsenal	41.093
4	Sunderland	36.145
5	Newcastle United	35.202

After Munich and with United rebuilding United were no longer the best supported club in England

Top 5 1960/61 season

1	Tottenham Hotspur	53.124
2	Everton	43.448
3	Manchester United	38.888
4	Arsenal	34.138
5	Aston Villa	33.599

Top 5 1961/62 season

1	Tottenham Hotspur	45.576
2	Everton	41.432
3	Arsenal	34.447
4	Manchester United	33.491
5	Aston Villa	32.056

Top 5 1962/63 season

1	Everton	51.603
2	Tottenham Hotspur	47.342
3	Liverpool	42.971
4	Manchester United	40.329
5	Arsenal	32.288

Top 5 1963/64 season

1	Everton	49.401
2	Liverpool	45.032
3	Manchester United	44.125
4	Tottenham Hotspur	43.800
5	Arsenal	34.793

Clearly had Munich been the major driving force for United’s fan base it wouldn’t have dropped off after Munich and been so prominent prior to the horrific event. Moreover a little thought in to the decision making process and we know people will make a decision which football club to support on the basis of their home club or another factor which will attract them to the club. I think first young kids fall in love with the game and then choose a club if it isn’t following the club their father or another import figure in their life supports there must be a reason for someone to relate to that club.

With United it has been the Busby Babes, Best, Charlton, and Law, attacking football and playing football the right way. Leeds and Liverpool dominated football but always felt unfairly treated by the media as they concentrated too much space to United. The reason they did this was because fans loved United’s football philosophy and were drawn to it. The hatred Leeds and Liverpool fans have towards United nowadays is due to the love and respect United achieved playing football the right way even when we weren’t winning trophies!

As a youngster history or sympathy aren’t as important as watching someone do something which you dream about doing and it takes your breath away, you love to feel excited. Why support football if it doesn’t excite you? By the late 1960s United have a London supporters club with over 10,000. With the rebuilding of United after Munich and the return of attacking stylish football, United returned to being the best supported club.

Top 5 1966/67 season

1	Manchester United	53.854
2	Liverpool	46.388
3	Arsenal	42.606
4	Tottenham Hotspur	41.988
5	Chelsea	35.591

Top 5 1967/68 season

1	Manchester United	57.552
2	Everton	46.983
3	Liverpool	46.755
4	Tottenham Hotspur	42.608
5	Newcastle United	37.239

Top 5 1968/69 season

1	Manchester United	51.169
2	Liverpool	47.348
3	Everton	45.958
4	Arsenal	38.423
5	Chelsea	37.613

Top 5 1974/75 season

1	Liverpool	45.966
2	Everton	40.021
3	Leeds United	34.822
4	Newcastle United	34.614
5	Manchester City	32.898

United were in the old 2nd division Average home attendance 48.388.

The essence of United is style and attacking football. And that is why we have become the best supported club in the world. I have no doubt we also have glory hunting fans that support United because the clubs success they associate with their success. But most fans support United because of the football we play and how we play the game.

I don’t think it matters a jot where you come from whether its Manchester, Birmingham, London or Africa I think what is important is that you understand the history and ethos of the club and desire it to continue.

I would hate the special one to become manager, I have no doubt he would win lots of trophies but at what expense? I think often his antics are unacceptable and his brand of football should be kept away from OT. I think the glory hunting United fans would love him but those of us who care and cherish our history would hate it. I also think the reason Arsenal’s fan base has grown so big is again the type of football they play over the last decade I think they have been the most attractive football team to watch in the prem and this hurts me to say. And is also a reason their youth team attendances put United’s to shame.

Football is the beautiful game United’s main objective should be to win trophies being the best exponent of attacking attractive football.

I mention this because I’m proud of United’s history the Busby era of course the fact we stuck by the Doc despite being relegated and watched a return of wingers and attacking football. The fact we got rid of Sexton because of the dour football despite the fact he took us to the highest place in the league for a decade a year before he was sacked.

And that we stuck by Fergie, many other club fans would have made sure he had been pushed way before we won trophies. Fans opinions matter I just hope it is the true fans and not the glory hunters who are heard loudest when Fergie decides to retire!

BTW as a side note this is the best evidence to prove Manchester is Red, not one season since the last war has City had a bigger season attendance than United even when both clubs shared Maine Road. And this was before social mobility, motorways or many people even having cars. How can City fans explain this……simple they cannot!!!

Would you be willing to see United win trophies at the expense of attractive football. If so why do you support United is it just because you like to wind other fans up and support a club which wins a lot?

Luis Nani: 2010/11 Statistics and indepth Analysis

Stretford-end — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:14:48 +0000

AUTHOR – Stretford-End

Nani, or to give him his full title of Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha, has become an intricate part of United’s attack over the past eighteen months and continues to go from strength to strength as we move towards the ‘squeaky bum’ period.

To date, Nani has scored nine goals in 23 Premier League appearances (goals per game ratio of 39%) and a single goal in six Champions League appearances (goals per game ratio of 17%). Although his goals have been of vital importance for United, its his creating of chances that has stood out this season. Nani can be unplayable at times, either going on the outside of the left back or cutting in from the right and striking with his left foot.

I want to start doing some in depth reviews and analysis of United players and I thought that I would start with our influential Portuguese starlet.

Luis Nani

Season stats 2010/11

Any regular readers of the blog will know that I grew frustrated at Nani’s progress since his impressive debut season in 2007/08. We were linked with Angel Di Maria, then at Benfica, and reports stated that Nani was to be used in a bid to land the Argentinian forward.

At the time, I thought it would have been a good piece of business, considering that an interview in late 2009 stated that Nani was critical of Ferguson’s management style (albeit lost in translation) – it looked like his time was up at Old Trafford.

Nani’s turnaround in 2010 was exceptional. January 2010 saw a run of two impressive home performances, against Burnley and Hull City, where he setup Wayne Rooney three times in a four goal rout:

Nani assists vs. Hull City last season

From then on in he never looked back, playing superbly on the right hand side to give Gael Clichy a torrid time in the 3-1 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates before playing a blinder in the 3-2 victory over Bayern Munich, which unfortunately wasn’t enough for United to qualify. Nani’s goals per game ratio is improving every season, which is highlighted in the table below:

Nani goals per game ratio over seasons

Nani’s goals 2010/11

So far this season, when Nani has scored United have won 35% of games where Nani has played (27% overall of United games). What is interesting is that Nani’s goals have come against ten different teams, with Dimitar Berbatov finding the net against eight different teams and Wayne Rooney six.

This highlights how he is spreading his goal tally across the course of the season against different teams. He is yet to score more than a single goal in a game, whilst Wayne Rooney scored two against Aston Villa and Dimitar Berbatov has notched hattricks against Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City – whilst scoring a brace against Blackpool and Sunderland. I’ve put together the following tables comparing Nani, Rooney and Berbatov so far this season.

The first column highlights the amount of games accumulated for either a win, draw, loss each time the player scored in a fixture this season (all competitions excluding charity shield). I’ve also included the amount of ‘winners’ the player has scored along with the different opponents (opp) the player has scored against. An example is that Manchester United have won seven games that Nani has scored in, which works out at a 35% goals per appearance ratio in the games United have won:

Nani goal statistics 10/11

Berbatov goal statistics 10/11

Rooney goal statistics 10/11

So based up on these stats, Nani is equally as important as Berbatov this season – as United have won 7 games when either player has scored. Wayne Rooney has a better goal per appearance percentage, however I wouldn’t consider that an indication of Rooney being more important to the team than Nani (or Berbatov for that matter) this season. Interesting to note that Berbatov has only scored one ‘winner’ – against Liverpool earlier in the season. Interesting to note that Hernandez has ‘six’ winners to his name (all competitions).

There was some debate as to what counts as a ‘winner’, so I’ve decided to state that it is when a player scores a goal to make the difference between the sides – although there has to be a notable hat tip for Berbatov’s brace against Sunderland at Old Trafford this season and of course he has been unplayable in some fixtures this season. Nani and Berbatov are more successful at converting chances at Old Trafford than away from home, with 80% of Nani’s strikes (and 79% of Berbatov’s) coming at home:

Nani, Berbatov & Rooney’s goals home and away breakdown

Nani’s Assists 2010/11

Nani has already surpassed his assists tally from last season (excluding Charity Shield again) as highlighted in the extract from out statistics below:

Nani assists 2010/11

What is interesting is to review the breakdown of these assists and where Nani is most dangerous from:

Nani assists breakdown 10/11

This table clearly highlights the strength of Nani on the right hand side of the pitch, with seven assists coming from right sided crosses. The only two assist that have come from the left hand side are crosses against Aston Villa (for Vidic to score) and on Saturday (for Hernandez to tuck away). He has setup Michael Owen against Bolton from a deep freekick and has also notched an assist from a corner against Fulham for United’s only own goal of the season. Nani’s delivery from freekicks and wide areas has improved greatly over the last few seasons.

Nani’s responsibility and discipline

My biggest problem with Nani in the early days was his decision making, which I thought slowed many a United attack down – despite the fact that he has blistering pace that would leave any fullback for dead. He would often slow right down before attempting to take on a defender, usually operating on the left hand side and checking back onto his right foot. His best performances for United have come on the right hand side, which have been more prominent this season due to Antonio Valencia’s injury against Rangers.

Now there are many variables tha you need to take into consideration when assessing the progress of a player throughout the seasons. If they are a deep lying playmaker, you may look at their pass completion rate compared to the season before or maybe you would assess a young goalkeepers distribution prior to a counter attack. The example below highlights how Nani has improved his discipline in the three and half seasons he has been at the club.

The first diagram highlights his pass completion rate against Tottenham Hotspur in 2007/08 (the day he scored his first goal for United – a screamer at the Stretford End) and the second highlights his more disciplined display against Spurs this season:

Nani passes vs. Spurs 2007/08

Nani passes vs. Spurs 2010/11

Of course you do not want to restrict a talent like Nani and operate with a rigid shape, however this example demonstrates that when he needs to be disciplined when facing an attacking outlet he can deliver (whilst notching up a goal and assist in the process). He is of course at his best when he is free to roam as an attacking threat – much like Ronaldo was. Of course there has always been unfair comparisons with Ronaldo, and although I do not think Nani is in the same class, nor ever will be, as his countryman – he is clearly one of our best players over the past year and statistics do not lie.

Both Sir Alex Ferguson and UEFA’s Andy Roxburgh have spoken about forwards that start out wide and cut inside at pace. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the obvious two standout that have this ability – whilst both can operate through the centre . Nani can also be placed into the same category of a forward player that is extremely dangerous when cutting inside from the right hand side and getting onto this left foot. He scored goals against Birmingham City, Bursaspor and Stoke City this season by doing this.

Nani’s player of the season?

We can sometimes go overboard on statistics, facts and numbers, which of course are a plenty in this post. However, not to sound pretentious – but football is an art that sometimes can’t be captured in a database of statistics. Nani is a modern day forward, who can operate on both flanks (we will see how much time he spends on the left when Valencia returns to the fold) and is at his most dangerous when cutting inside from the right hand side, which of course leaves vacant space for Rafael to gallop into. He has worked on his physique and there are even suggestions that we could see Nani as a more central player in the future (check the blog in a few weeks on this).

If I were to vote for the player of the season so far, I would opt for Nani – just ahead of Vidic and Berbatov. His turnaround is quite remarkable and should now be considered one of the most dangerous wide men in the league. He tops the Premier League’s assists chart and is United’s third top goalscorer with ten goals. His inclusion against Chelsea tonight and Liverpool on Sunday are crucial and it will be very interesting to see his match up with Ashley Cole, who was given a torrid time by Antonio Valencia last season. Valencia is lightening quick, but doesn’t have the trickery of Nani. Again, lets see if Mikel is quick to move across to help Cole out with Nani cutting in onto his left foot. There is a type of footballer that is ‘free moving’ and ‘artistic’ – which is commonly known as ‘A Creole footballer’. A term that could well be used to describe Nani.

Luis Nani – I thought he was goner in December 2009, i’m very, very glad that I couldn’t have been more wrong.

ord

Manchester United 2010 Goal Statistics

Stretford-end — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:17:46 +0000

I seem to recall a programme on ITV that was hilariously entitled “Andy Townsend’s Tactics Truck”. Now, I don’t know what is more funny – the inclusion of a big clunky machine associated with the intricate details of the beautiful game or indeed a big truck included within the title. You may or not be aware that we have statistics section on the website that aims to records all important stats from the current season. Now, i’m no brand expert but I doubt I can find anything as witty and innovative as the Tactics Truck – so lets just label it up Stretty Stats shall we?

United have faltered in front of goal in 2010 compared to the 2009 and 2008 figures. in 2008 United smashed in 131 goals (although were playing in the World Club Championship and gad a much better FA Cup run), in 2009 that figure dropped slightly to 127 but in 2010 United notched up 115 goals. Again, its not really surprising considering an early exit from the FA Cup combined with quarter final elimination at the hands of Bayern Munich limited the amount of games in which United had an opportunity to find the back of the net. Below is a graph showing the slump in 2010 compared to the previous two seasons:

No surprise that United scored the most goals in the Premier League, 80 in all, with the Champions League in second, 18 in all, and the League cup last with 14 goals:

United notched up 55 goals at Old Trafford and 25 away from home:

In the Champions League it was a little more equal with the eighteen goals split equally between home and away (nine and home and nine away). The old favourite that United are a second half team was most certainly backed up in 2010 with United scoring seven goals before half time in the Champions League and eleven post half time. The Premier League had a very similar feel to it with 31 goals scored before half time and 49 post half time (see graph for Premier League below):

Lastly, could we do a stat without taking a look at Fergie time? So goals scored in the last 5 minutes and beyond (injury time) for 2010 was 13! That works out at a measly 11%! So next you get some clown in the pub talking about all the late goals United score, push your glasses up your nose and scoff that only 11% of our goals come after 85 minutes, actually don’t – it might make you look worse.

Boxing Day is good for United

nameonthetrophy — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 11:20:57 +0000

The Boxing Day fixture was once the game where hungover footballers would lump around on a pitch when they’d much rather be wrapped up at home indulging in Christmas leftovers. Today it forms a central part of the all important “festive fixture period”. More often than not it is the first of two games within three days and is now traditionally a bit of a “fun” day for the fans. For United, Boxing Day, according to recent history, is a very good day indeed…

This won’t be a long blog at all. I woke up this morning and suddenly realised that I couldn’t remember many occasions on which Boxing Day had gone badly for United, so I did some research and came up with some facts and figures.

Before that, why is the Boxing Day game important?

I believe that the game is mentally a tough ask. It’s the day after Christmas, most people in the country aren’t working, and yet these sportsmen have to go out into the cold and play a game of football. Not a big ask, come 3pm on Boxing Day I too could do with a bit of a kick around. However, lose on Boxing Day and potentially things can go downhill fast.

The fixture schedule over Christmas and the New Year is busy, a game every 3 or 4 days for a couple of weeks takes it’s toll on the players. Lose on Boxing Day though and with the next game traditionally just 2 days later, it’s hard to pick oneself up. Win, and momentum, adrenaline and positivity can start a run of good results.

So Boxing Day for United…

In 18 years of Premier League football, United have won 15 games, drawn 2 and lost just once. Take away the first two years of the Premier League and it becomes played 16, won 15, lost 1. A very impressive statistic. That one defeat came in 2002 against Middlesbrough. Maybe the way the fixtures come out has often been kind to United but scoring 3 or more goals in 11 of the 18 Boxing Day fixtures is mightily impressive.

It was only two years ago in 2008/09 that the Boxing Day fixture was the start of a brilliant run of results for the club. The win over Stoke that day started a run of 11 straight league wins that ultimately propelled United towards a record equalling 18th title.

As I said, this is just a short blog with a few facts and stats. I end erring caution though. In three of the past five years, United have gone on to lose at least one game during the busy Christmas fixture schedule. United might be unbeaten this season but according to very recent history, that may end soon. Mind you, four times United have played Sunderland over the festive period and never have they lost – most recently, on Boxing Day in 2007 when United won 4-0 at the Stadium of Light.

Boxing Day is good for United.

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Start of season woes and Bolton round up

Stretford-end — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:23:57 +0000

The trauma of being three points off the leader in the race for the Premier League is just too much for some Reds, especially given the below par performance of the side away at Bolton today. United looked nervy at the back, with Elmander and Davies causing problems for both Nemanja Vidic and Jonny Evans – a far cry from the 4-0 drumming United handed out last season. Many people may point to Evans as the guilty party, however if Patrice Evra stays on the post – he clears it. The second was a quick counter attack from Bolton, a far cry from their usual direct outlet, and Fletcher was powerless to stop the ball deflecting off of him.

Although a 2-2 draw may seem a disappointing result considering our dominance last season there, previous Premier League starts compared to this term may surprise you.

Firstly, lets get onto this seasons start. It has been disappointing away from home – no doubt. We had a chance at Fulham to go 3-1 up, but missed a penalty before conceding an equalizer late on. The horrendous implosion against Everton will no doubt be a fixture we will look back on all season, considering how we could have extended the lead further and now the loss of two points when both Chelsea and Arsenal dropped points yesterday. There is no doubt that we should have accumulated more points by now, however looking back at successful seasons – we aren’t doing too bad.

After six games we have twelve points from a possible eighteen – all lost away from home. Below us a list of season starts over the years that you may find interesting:

95/96 - 15 points – 3 home games 3 away games (Premier League title and FA Cup)

97/98 – 16 points – 3 home games 3 away games (Nothing)

98/99 – 11 points – 3 home games 3 away games (European Cup, Premier League title and FA Cup)

01/02 – 11 points – 3 home games 3 away games (Nothing)

02/03 – 8 points – 3 home games 3 away games (Premier League title)

03/04 – 13 points – 3 home games 3 away games (FA Cup)

06/07 – 13 points – 3 home games 3 away games (Premier League title)

07/08 – 11 points – 3 home games 3 away games (European Cup and Premier League title)

09/10 – 15 points - 3 home games 3 away games (League Cup)

Now i’ve picked these seasons (where we’ve won something) at random, as I know someone will pick me up on the order of it and I welcome any discussion on this. We’ve got more points that in 98/99 and 07/08 where we won both the League title and the European Cup, whilst we have less points than we had in 97/98 and 03/04 where we won the FA Cup (in the latter season). The point of this exercise is to demonstrate that although it is disappointing as on a few occasions this season it appears that we have ‘thrown away’ some points to teams we should beat – however football has a funny way of working out. Beckham scoring a last minute freekick in our opening fixture in 1998 is a far cry from Ole sliding on his knees in the Nou Camp ten months later isn’t. Disappointing, but not all doom and gloom yet.

Bolton wanting it more

I don’t know if ‘wanting it more’ is the right title to use, however if you compare the ‘headers won’ from last season compared to today – it makes some interesting reading. Below is Edwin Van Der Sar’s distribution (mainly from goal kicks) last season (when we won 4-0):

by Guardian Chalkboards

If you compare the above passing stats to his stats today, you’ll see that United only won a single header from his goal kicks:

by Guardian Chalkboards

So why weren’t we as competitive as we were last season there? Gary Cahill was playing last season aswell, who you could argue is better in the air than Ricketts. United’s setup was more 4-2-3-1 last season, however should we have competed more for headers from Van Der Sar’s distribution? We won seven times more headers in 09/10 vs. Bolton than we did today. If we look at the inverse and see how we dealt with Bolton’s direct setup, it shows we struggled much more than we did last term. Below are Jussi Jaaskelainen’s passing stats:

by Guardian Chalkboards

The majority of his passes were won by Elmander or Davies, with Jonny Evans and Vidic losing out, although based upon the stats above, it would appear that Evans was being targeted more so than Vidic by Jaaskelainen’s long balls. In comparison to last season, where Vidic and Evans both played – you’ll see a much different picture:

by Guardian Chalkboards

Although Jaaskelainen did attempt more passes (all long balls) the ratio for successful to unsuccessful passes shifts dramatically. Bolton’s style means that they will, or should, win more headers from their direct approach than they lose. Elmander and Davies are big strong players, who do attempt to bully defenders around – with Davies being the main focus.

This isn’t a criticism of their style, it is just an observation of the two conflicting graphs above. It is perhaps ironic that both goals didn’t actually come as a result of this approach, however it could well demonstrate why United failed to convert all three points. There is no doubt United played the better football (outpassed 373:181 also) and were the better team, in the first half at least, but did Ferguson’s men compete enough and adapt to Bolton’s style? What are your thoughts on this theory?