It is early February and it is an odd situation for Manchester United and their fans. The Premier League weekend will be played on Saturday and Sunday, but the Red Devils will be on a winter break. The new changes to the campaign are set to kick in, as only four matches will be played this week and the remaining six from the same round of matches will be played the following weekend.
So, whilst we are getting used to a new type of a break from Man United matches (since this is not an international break), let’s take a look into what we have seen from United this year in terms of numbers. Already 25 rounds have been played and there is a lot be learned.
Only Nine Wins
We will be talking about Premier League only and there is an important fact to say straight away. Man United are far from winning an adequate number of matches this season. With 25 matches gone, the Devils have just nine wins to their name, as many as 13th-placed Southampton.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side is again having issues scoring goals and only one win in 2020 is a story on its own…
Not Great At Expected Goals
One of the reasons for such poor results are not simply performances, but also Man United’s underperforming. The thing is that United are not creating incredibly well, but the fact that they are underperforming their expected goals. The model used by Understat claims they would be expected to score around 42 goals so far this season, but United have just 35.
Also, the situation is similar at the other end, where United were expected to concede around 26 goals, but they have shipped in 29. That means United’s expected goals difference is +16, but in reality it is just +6. Those ten goals could have brought *a lot* of points…
Set-Pieces Still A Problem
It has been the case many times this season that we have identified set-pieces as a problem for Man United, not only one they should solve, but also one that shows everyone the lack of work the players are putting into these drills. The fact is that United have scored five goals from set-piece situations this season, but then again, they conceded 11!
This shows a clear lack of good work on set-pieces by Solskjaer and has teams and other clubs are taking the advantage of that…
No Real Winning Streaks
Man United’s nine wins in 25 matches are bad enough, but the fact that Man United have not really made any real winning streak in the Premier League shows just how inconsistent this team has been under the Norwegian manager. The Devils have never made it happen for them to win three matches in a row in the league this season, as their best tally was two consecutive wins since the start of the campaign.
In fact, that only happened twice this year, with the first occasion being against Spurs and Man City. But that is the thing – the Devils managed to get two such wins, but then drew against Everton and lost to Watford…
There is still a lot of work to be done and it should be done fast.
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