Manchester United did not manage to get a hold of this matchup after the first game – the Red Devils managed to get a 1-1 draw at their Old Trafford against AC Milan. The first leg of the Europa League’s round of 16 did not go according to plan for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team as they will now have to go to Italy to get a positive result at San Siro. Amad Diallo’s first European goal was enough to get United a lead that last until just before the last whistle, when Simon Kjaer managed to get the equaliser.
It was the first goal United conceded in a Europa League match this year. Things will be more complicated next Thursday because of that, but let’s see what we have learned from this game after a closer look into the numbers.
Expected Goals On United’s Side
After the game we spoke of the four things we learned and one of the storylines was that United were lucky to concede only one goal. But looking at the expected goals, United were clearly the better team. Why is that? Man United ended the game with 1.7 expected goals to their tally and Milan with just 0.8 xG. That would mean United were clearly better, but there are two important factors here. First is the fact that Harry Maguire’s inexplicable miss from close range was worth 0.91 xG alone, which is more than the entire 90 minutes of Milan’s chances.
But the other factor is the fact that xG is not perfect. For anyone who watched the game, it was obvious Dean Henderson was really lucky to be beaten twice, but that one of those situations came after an offside and the other after a marginal handball. Therefore, none of those two situations counted in the xG model and therefore, from the outside, it is as if those chances never existed. That is why looking solely at the xG for this game is not enough. More context is necessary.
Man United Press More And Higher
Man United’s pressing game is not the most sophisticated of them all, not even close, but it was interesting to see the Devils be more interested in pressing and doing so further up the pitch than their opponent. Man Untied made some 50 pressures more than Milan in the entire game, although were less successful (27.5 per cent of their pressures were successful, compared to Milan’s 34 per cent). Why is this important? Well, United tried to do more when they were without the ball, showing they were more proactive. Diallo, for example, made 24 pressures in just 45 minutes on the pitch, making seven of them successful. Mason Greenwood was also proactive, while Anthony Martial barely did anything in his pressing game while on the pitch. Milan were a bit more stand-off(ish), inclining more towards a middle and lower block.
McTominay’s Progressive Passing
Scott McTominay’s game on the ball last night was quite good. He made 61 tocuhes of the ball and completed 90.4 per cent of his passes. That might be a bit lower than the mid-90s people like to see from central midfielders, but here is the thing – McTominay was doing and trying plenty of things. For example, the Scotland international made nine passes into the final third of the pitch – therefore bringing the ball closer to opposition’s goal and risking more in order to create more.
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