Manchester United have lost just once at home this season, but have lost eight away games and conceded 27 goals. Especially against the top 9 teams in the Premier League, the away record is 8 games, 1 draw and 7 defeats.
West Ham United, seventh in the Premier League last season, have seen their record slip this season due to distractions from European competition, but the team's hard power remains. Manchester United's 0-1 defeat once again exposed the team's "away bug" problem.
01. Defeat away from home! Against the Premier League, he conceded an average of 3.5 goals in the first 9 games
a. Away from home, you will lose! Manchester United's success this season has relied on running
Ten Hag's Manchester United won the Carabao Cup and reached the FA Cup final, earning them a lot of praise. However, stopping in the last eight of the Europa League and having an up-and-down record in the league will still bring some different voices.
Especially looking closely at Manchester United's Premier League away record, against the top 9 teams in the league, except for a 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur (2-0 lead ended the first half, almost reversed in the second half), the other seven defeats, a total of 28 goals conceded, four clean sheets by opponents.
In particular, the 7-0 loss away to Liverpool made Manchester United lose face and add a nickname of "Red Seven".
It has to be said that Ten Hag was able to lead Manchester United to the top four in the Premier League, while being able to go all the way in the cup competition, which also made the team's fiasco less noticeable.
It should be noted that the foundation of Manchester United's success this season is the amazing running output of the team. They have the fewest runs in the five games, with a record of 2 draws and 3 defeats.
Perhaps this is why Cristiano Ronaldo is completely unable to establish himself under Ten Hag, a Manchester United team that will become unrecognizable if its running volume is slightly reduced.
b. Manchester United's many victories: it was "survived"
From the statistics of the defensive density of the five major league teams in their own box this season, Manchester United ranked sixth in the number of defenders in the box when they were shot in sports battles.
Before them, the teams were: Bournemouth, Getafe, Lorient, Brentford and Everton. It can be seen that the proportion of tactical content in Manchester United's defensive progress is not so high, and the team's unity and execution are the key.
In the case of the sports battle against West Ham United, for example, Westhorst even came to the parallel line of the penalty spot.
It is precisely because of his depth of defense that Eriksen can partner with Casemiro at the back and also allows the team to guarantee a certain ability to resist the attack.
A very impressive shot of winning the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle was when Westhorst returned to his own penalty area to break the ball against Guimarães.
Whether or not he remains at United next season, Ten Hag's use of Verhorst can still understand a lot. It's not a clever tactic, but it represents a philosophy of the team.
02. Ten Hag pays a lot of attention to offensive and defensive conversion: the essence is still too dependent on individual sharpness
a. Manchester United's counter-attack has improved in quality: but it is still far from what Ten Hag expected
From the impact of high pressure on the opponent's back-of-the-field passing success rate by Premier League teams last season and this season, as well as the expected goal data obtained by the counter-attack, Manchester United has improved significantly in terms of destruction, and its own expected goals can only be regarded as a steady improvement.
From this point of view, it also shows that Manchester United's overall investment in high-level pressing is much higher, but there is no essential change in the details of the attack.
Ten Hag likes to put Marcus Rashford in front of the attack, in order to seize the flexibility of turning when counterattacking.
However, Manchester United still rely heavily on Marcus Rashford's dribbling and key passes from B Fei when switching between attack and defence, and even more extensive than the details of Ten Hag's passing in the Ajax era.
Rashford turned very fast this time, and in the end he played a wave of counter-attacks with Erikson, but unfortunately the last shot went high.
Ten Hag's previous wave of league points gains was also related to Rashford's full firepower. When the striker's shot felt slightly down, United's attacking efficiency was still greatly affected.
Looking at this wave of offensive and defensive conversions, you can understand a lot of things in Ten Hag. The first was to play central defender with Luke Shaw, which was to play his fast-moving and rescue-saving characteristics, and finally blocked Bowen's shot.
Then the goalkeeper directly found B Fei to counterattack, asking for a Portuguese star to directly break the defense with a wonderful pass, but unfortunately this time he could not hold the ball and was directly destroyed by the opponent.
This philosophy, which essentially unleashes the individual talents of B Fei and Marcus Rashford, works better against weaker opponents, but it is not easy to win when it comes to hard stubble.
b. Manchester United's midfield: It's still dangerous to press high
Another problem for Manchester United to press high is how to balance efficiency and risk. The elimination by Sevilla FC is actually that both teams want to use high pressing to make each other's mistakes.
However, it is clear that Manchester United are not as efficient as their opponents. Manchester United's backfield was pressed by the opposing side, giving Sevilla 10 shots on goal, XG a whopping 1.27, bringing two goals conceded. The team had 5 shots on goal and the XG was only 0.24.
Taking this wave of defense as an example, Luke Shaw stepped forward to defend West Ham United center Anthony, while B Fei participated in the defense.
As a result, he was turned around by the opponent, resulting in the near collapse of Manchester United's defensive line.
Fortunately, Anthony did not notice the position of his teammates, just blindly dribbled the ball, and was eventually brought down by the chasing Wan-Bissaka with a foul and a yellow card.
Special attention can be paid to the flanking Eriksson's pursuit. When he saw that Bowen might form a catch, he directly pulled his opponent to the ground, which the referee did not notice.
Manchester United struggled to complete a comeback when they were trailing away from home, and this also had to do with their aggressive tactics. Weak opponents may not be able to carry it, but strong teams always have a few star players to break the face.
If Anthony had handled it a little better, both Bowen and Ben Lahema would have been golden opportunities. Manchester United often lose by big away from home, is it an accident?
03. Is the injury of the centre-back accidental or inevitable? The future of the fourth is still very bright
a. Central defender injuries are not necessarily accidental: defensive logic is difficult to sustain for an entire year
Because Manchester United's centre-backs need to go forward, cross and make quick stops, it is unlikely that Harry Maguire will return to the starting line-up.
To have Luke Shaw replace Lisandro Martinez is all about his speed of movement. However, using Malasia on the left, the effect of advancing and forward attacks has declined greatly.
Manchester United's full-backs are still more involved in the attacking role in the game, and Malaysia is not on both ends.
Luke Shaw's proportion of going to the wing is high (and the range of the front top is also large), but he is not a central defender after all, and he lacks awareness of the protective space of secondary movements.
In this way, Lindelof had to be transverse to make up for it. Manchester United require such high-intensity, wide coverage and protection from central defenders, and injuries are inevitable. The injuries to Varane and Lisandro Martinez are probably not a surprise.
Malaysia's defensive performance is really not good and can play a small role. Lindelof's traverse speed was not enough, and the opponent actually completed the shot in the box, which was fortunately saved by the goalkeeper.
In the second attack, Ben Rahma's cross hit Lindelof's hand, this time did not blow the handball, Manchester United was lucky (although there was a desire to close the hand, but the moment of play, the hand was actually bent, did not have time to stick to the body).
Including the goal conceded by Manchester United, although it was said that De Gea made a mistake in the save, but during the opponent's advance, Luke Shaw had to go to the defense after Antonio and inserted Ben Lahema.
The centre-back is too heavy a task and is a big problem for Manchester United. After all, Casemiro is also too old to maintain an entire season at his peak.
b. The outlook for the four is still bright: there are three home games in the remaining four games
Despite losing streaks, Manchester United are still one point ahead of Liverpool with one game less, and there is room for error at least one loss.
In addition, if Brighton win all, they are within one win of Manchester United, but their next opponents are Arsenal, Manchester City and Newcastle, and the possibility of winning all is very small.
What's more, three of United's last four Premier League games have been home to Manchester United, and all four of their opponents are desperate mid-table teams.
Can't win Frank Lampard's Chelsea at home? Such a scene should not happen.
Conclusion:
As long as he can hold the top four in the Premier League, Ten Hag's first season is a success. However, looking at the changes in Manchester United in the past year, the reform may be more at the level of "chicken blood".
To truly "cleanse the bones" for Manchester United conceptually, I am afraid there is still a long way to go. Even under the current lineup, wanting to further refine the tactical details may not be something that Ten Hag can do well.