Manchester United’s 1-2 defeat against Aston Villa on matchday 17 of the Premier League confirmed that the red devilscoached by Ruben Amorim and with Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot, will arrive at Christmas with a curious statistic: they are, at this stage, 13 points less than Arsenal, leader of the Premier League, and 13 more than West Ham, 18th placed and the first club in the relegation zone.
The first round of the English championship is about to end and the balance that can be made at Manchester United is, above all, full of highs, at the top, and very deep lows. Inconsistency has been one of the main factors of concern for Amorim, who has spoken on several occasions about the team’s need to maintain focus throughout the 90 minutes. This has led to results of the most different types: from the 0-1 defeat against Everton, who played with one less since the 13th minute, to the 1-1 draw with West Ham, second to last in the Premier League, to the 1-3 defeat at Brentford’s home, there were many results that made Manchester United fans stand on end. On the other hand, the team has also gone on a run of five consecutive games without losing in the Premier League, which included a series of 2-1 victories against Liverpool, 4-2 against Brighton and 2-0 against Sunderland, all of which were widely praised performances.
The disparity between goals scored and conceded is one of the reasons for Manchester United’s position in the table. You red devils They invested more than 220 million euros in Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Sesko this season and, in offensive terms, things are improving. Man United has the second best attack in the Premier League, with 31 goals scored, the same as Arsenal, and is only behind Manchester City, who have scored on 41 occasions (19 of them came from Haaland). The issue of effectiveness seems to be being resolved, at least according to the expected goals statistics, which stands at 32, for the team that, with 281 shots, had the most shots on goal in the Premier League — the second is Liverpool, who shot 258 times.
If the offensive numbers are not a cause for concern, the defensive numbers… raise alarm bells. The second best attack in the Premier League is also the sixth worst defense, with 28 goals conceded. Bournemouth, which is in 15th place, conceded 26, and Nottingham Forest, which occupies 17th place, conceded 25. Manchester United conceded 4.78 more goals than indicated by the expected goals against (xGA) statistic, 23.22, in other words, they conceded more than expected.
The transformation of Ruben Amorim’s team continues and if, on the one hand, in offensive terms the red devils continue to respond successfully, it is more difficult to say the same when it comes to the moment without the ball. Reinforcements have already arrived for the attack, but, despite the growth in Casemiro’s performance, the 33-year-old is already making itself felt, especially in the later moments of the matches. Ugarte, in turn, is going through a record of seven consecutive games to lose when starting in the Premier League and also appears to be insufficient for the aspirations of Manchester United, which has figures such as Elliott Anderson, Carlos Baleba or Adam Wharton referenced to reinforce the core.
The improvements continue, with upward and downward moments, which leave, for now, the English giant as far away, in specific terms, from the champion’s place as from the Championship.
