Before and after the World Cup, Manchester United is the highlight of the season, especially after the World Cup, Rashford once used a wonderful performance to make Manchester United fans believe that their forward line is enough to compete with the top teams, but since April, Manchester United has encountered all kinds of "misfortunes", the Europa League was eliminated by Sevilla, and the Premier League has only won 4 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats in 7 games, fortunately, there are not many games left, and Manchester United still has room to protect itself in the face of Liverpool's catch-up.
What went wrong with Ten Hag's team?
It can be said that compared with the performance of previous months, in the past month, Manchester United has not shown the level of a championship team, on the one hand, the team's goal count has dropped sharply, on the other hand, the defensive effect has also declined, in yesterday's game with Brighton, Manchester United undoubtedly wasted a considerable number of scoring opportunities, and was finally killed by the opponent's penalty, which is a replica of Manchester United's problems.
Chat Qiujun summarized all the matches of Manchester United after the World Cup, and found that Manchester United before April and Manchester United after April are almost two faces!
In the 27 games since the World Cup and before April, Manchester United have scored a total of 54 goals, averaging two goals per game, which is undoubtedly the top attacking figure! Meanwhile, in these 27 games, Manchester United have won 19 games, drawn four and lost two, with a win rate of more than 70%, a time period in which Manchester United was once considered a team that can compete for the Premier League championship.
Marcus Rashford was excellent
During this time, Marcus Rashford became the team's leading goalscorer, averaging more than 0.5 goals per game, quickly improving his own stats and influencing the team's results.
But after April, Manchester United ran into trouble, in the last 10 games, Manchester United only scored 10 goals and conceded 10 goals, the average goal efficiency and goal conceding efficiency are one goal, you must know that before April, Manchester United had a painful defeat to Liverpool 0-7 away, and only conceded 22 goals in 27 games, an average of less than one goal per game!
At the same time, Manchester United have only won 4 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats in the last 10 games (with Brighton FA Cup, counting the results of the two teams in 90 minutes), and its win rate has fallen from 70% before April to 40% today!
Manchester United did have problems
In the previous 27 games, Manchester United have only lost to Arsenal and Liverpool, and have also won against Manchester City and Barcelona, two leading teams in the Premier League and La Liga! But in the last 10 games, Manchester United have only won two goal difference against two relegated teams, Everton and Nottingham Forest! Against Newcastle, Brighton and Tottenham, the three top teams in the table, United failed to win.
Manchester United's combat effectiveness decline is an indisputable fact, just yesterday, Chat Ball Jun also believes that Liverpool's pursuit of Manchester United is not much threat, because the remaining rounds of the Premier League are too few, Manchester United has a high tolerance rate, but Manchester United's recent state will indeed make Chat Ball Jun sweat for it! Today we will talk about the two reasons for the decline in Manchester United's combat effectiveness.
1. Causes of injury and illness
Since the beginning of April, there has been a sudden increase in injuries and suspensions, starting with the suspension of Eriksen and Casemiro, with the absence of both the main backs, and United's loss to Newcastle. Then, in the first leg against Sevilla, United narrowly drew at home in Marcus Rashford's absence, but Varane and Lisandro Martinez suffered serious injuries one after another, with Lima reimbursed early for the season.
Manchester United's double main centre-back is absent
Lisandro Martinez and Varane are United's main centre-back combination this season, with Varane making 30 appearances before his injury and Lisandro Martinez making 45 appearances, close to full attendance!
What's more, both centre-backs are good at stable passing at Manchester United's backfield, of which Varane has made 942 passes in the Premier League and has a pass success rate of 86%, the third highest player in the team! Lisandro Martinez has accumulated 1,498 passes and has a pass success rate of 87%, the second highest player in the team, while Varane has a wealth of experience in counter-pressing, and Lisandro Martinez's height also determines that he has a good counter-pressing ability.
After the absence of these two at the same time, Manchester United's counter-pressing ability was much weaker, and there were often difficulties in playing the ball at the back, and players were pressed by the opponent high and lost the ball in a hurry.
The match against Brighton is a good example
Against Brighton, Casemiro is the player with the most passes in the Manchester United team, with a total of 51 passes, but his pass success rate is only 68%, the lowest pass success rate since he joined Manchester United! De Gea, on the other hand, has 40 passes, the fourth most passed player in United, but his pass success rate is less than 50%, which equates to at least one goal for every two passes.
In the case that Manchester United cannot find a reliable passing point, Brighton can intercept Manchester United's forward pass again and again, constantly attacking Manchester United, and the final penalty, do you know if Manchester United is the "inevitable" result after the whole game?
In general, Manchester United seems to have a large squad of up to 29 people, but in fact there are 6 (including two goalkeepers) such as Phil Jones, Zidane Iqbal, Pellistri and Brandon Williams, players who have not played this season or have not played, Manchester United's core players such as Eriksen, Marcus Rashford, Lisandro Martinez, etc., have been suspended and injured, making Manchester United's combat effectiveness decline significantly, Manchester United need to continue to reform the squad next year.
2. The game is too intensive, and the fatigue of Manchester United players is doubled
As of the match against Brighton, Manchester United have played 56 games this season! Especially after the World Cup, Manchester United has to play double games almost every week, and there are only 6 matches in March, but the main team still plays for the national team, so Manchester United only has intensive injuries in April, which is already not an easy situation!
Bruno Fernandes, played 65 games this season
The player who has made the most appearances in the Manchester United squad is Bruno Fernandes, who is an absolute workhorse in both Manchester United and Portugal, making his 65 games this season almost real! He has played a total of 5,569 minutes so far, and Bruno Fernandez has played a full 61.9 games based on 90 minutes per game! He can only have a small injury, which is really talented.
In addition, Manchester United has 5 players who have played more than 45 games for the team! In the case of current Premier League leaders Manchester City, they have only four players who have played more than 45 games, and none of them have played more than 50 games, while Manchester United have as many as three. With Arsenal not yet having a player in more than 45 games, you can imagine how tired United's absolute core is.
In short, for Ten Hag, as long as the main player in his eyes is not injured, he will inevitably arrange these players to play, on the one hand, there is a tacit understanding between Manchester United's main team and the substitutes, on the other hand, there are indeed obvious problems in strength, in such a situation, Manchester United's physical fitness must be difficult to withstand the test.
Maguire has gradually gained opportunities this season
Of course, Ten Hag has also made changes, such as Varane's frequent injuries, he will use Maguire to revert to Varane before, but even so, it cannot stop Varane's injury. In general, Ten Hag's Manchester United is a seemingly large squad, but in fact a scarce backbone, and the absence of any key player may have a qualitative impact on the team.
Manchester United need to strengthen the squad and clean up the redundancies, but whether Ten Hag can keep the team as firmly in control as this season will require him to show his true skills.
Conclusion: Manchester United must lock in the top four!
After Manchester United lost to Brighton, it still maintained a 4-point + one-round advantage over Liverpool, and the FA Cup match was relatively non-conflicting, coupled with Manchester United's last 5 rounds of home games and opponents mostly in the second half of the team, Ten Hag has no reason to lose such a big advantage even if he lacks a major general.
Last summer, Manchester United had already spent more than 200 million euros with difficulty, and now the team is being bought, if it cannot be sold, Manchester United does not qualify for the Champions League, and Chatter does not think Manchester United will have much money to attract next summer.
For the sake of Manchester United, for his own coaching future, Ten Hag must lead Manchester United back to the Champions League, only by accumulating more capital can we truly lead Manchester United to usher in a real revival, and this season's performance of Manchester United has only let people see the flame of revival! And the flame is easy to prosper, and it is easy to extinguish!