Manchester United have suffered heavy defeats to Manchester City and Newcastle at Old Trafford in the past week; Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher has questioned what their style of play is, with stats showing their direct football is leaving them exposed at the other end
It shouldn’t be a difficult question to answer but it is something which has left many observers scratching their heads over the past week.
“None of us here can explain what Manchester United try to do in terms of how they play,” said Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher after watching Ten Hag’s side outclassed by Manchester City on Sunday.
The Carabao Cup exit to a much-changed Newcastle on Wednesday was another Old Trafford night to forget. Theater of Dreams? It is a theater of nightmares for United supporters right now.
Here, we take a look at a range of stats to try to establish what Ten Hag and United are trying to achieve – and where it is going wrong…
Certainly his is a team which likes to defend on the front foot. They lead the way for high turnovers, their starting distance – the point where they win the ball back – is higher up the pitch than last season and now the highest in the league. The average position of their players demonstrates their advance up the field, too.