Where Manchester United need to improve

Manchester United were dismantled by Manchester City at the weekend and they now have a fight on their hands for the top four.

United have dropped points in four of their last six matches and the pressure is building up as we head into the tail end of the season.  

We’ve taken a look into their underlying stats so far this season to highlight where they need to improve and what their chances are of making the top four. 

 

The current state of play 

Manchester United currently sit 5th in the Premier League table, having played three games more than Arsenal who are currently in fourth.  

Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Manchester United were averaging just 1.41 points per game. If that was averaged over an entire season United would have picked up just 54 points, which would have placed them 12th last season.  

Since Ralf Rangnick’s arrival the improvement in this regard has been obvious to see. Under the German manager United have averaged 1.86 points per game, which if averaged over an entire season would see them finish on 70 points, which would have placed them 3rd last season.  

Context does need to be taken into consideration though when we factor in Man United’s recent run of results under Rangnick. Of the 14 games that Rangnick has been in charge of, nine of those matches have come against sides who are currently in the bottom half and so somewhat of an uptrend in form was to be expected. 

Six of Man United's last 10 Premier League fixtures are against sides in the top half and this is where they will be properly tested. 

 

Leaky defence 

Harry Magurie has found himself at the brunt of a lot of jokes this year, but the scrutiny was always going to be on United’s back line when they have conceded as many goals as they have.  

They have conceded 1.36 goals per game and when you factor in David De Gea overperforming his xG against by 10.7 goals it highlights just how poor United have been this season. 

Only Leeds United’s Illan Meslier has faced more shots than De Gea this season with 137 attempts against him.  

If Man United continue to concede goals at the current rate of 1.36 they will have conceded 52 goals by the end of the season, which will be eight more than they did last season.  

 

Inconsistent in front of goal 

In four of United’s last six matches, they have failed to score more than one goal, despite creating enough chances to have hit the back of the net more often. 

Bruno Fernandes is second in the Premier League for shot-creating actions with 116 and United rank third for the most shots taken this season with 397 attempts.  

Despite United taking so many shots, it’s also worth taking into consideration that a lot of these have come from long-range and low probability positions. 

The average distance of a Man United shot this season is 17.1 yards, which ranks them 14th in the Premier League in this regard.  

Man United have taken 145 shots from outside the box, with only Man City, Liverpool and Leeds taking more. However, they have only managed to take 24 shots from inside the six-yard box, which ranks them 13th in the Premier League for this statistic.  

13 Man United players have also underperformed their xG this season, with the biggest xG underperformance coming from Cristiano Ronaldo who has scored nine goals from an xG of 12.3.  

The biggest xG overperformers in the United squad have been Fred and Bruno Fernandes, but Bruno himself is averaging 0.7 fewer shots per 90 than he was last season.