Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United Breaking Unwanted Records

Are Mourinho’s Manchester United simply too dull to watch?

Following their defeat to Manchester City at the weekend, Jose Mourinho’s side are now closer to Cardiff City than they are to table topping Manchester City and the Red Devils have acquired some unwanted records this season.

Man United sit in eight place in the Premier League table.

Mourinho claims that people who don’t understand football turn to statistics.

Manchester City predicted to finish 20 points ahead of their rivals.

More cracks are starting to appear as Matic’s inclusion gets questioned.

 

Following the Manchester derby defeat at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, Jose Mourinho claimed that stats are for people who don’t understand football, saying: ‘The way people who don’t understand football analyse it with stats. I don’t go for stats. I go for what I felt in the game and it was there until minute 80-something. I consider the performance of my team one with mistakes. It is different from a bad performance.’

 

The Stats that Mourinho should take note of

After beating Juventus in Turin in last week’s Champions League match, United fans could have been forgiven for thinking their side had turned a corner this season, but after the derby defeat to Man City, some ugly stats reared their head surrounding Manchester United’s first 12 Premier League matches.

 

ONE – Clean sheet in the Premier League

So far this season, United have kept just one clean sheet in the Premier League. That was in a 2-0 victory over struggling Burnley in early September. Since then they have shipped goals against Watford, Wolves, Newcastle, Everton, Tottenham, West Ham, Chelsea, Bournemouth and Man City. Only Fulham have kept less clean sheets and they are down at the bottom of the table.

The worries that Mourinho had about his backline before the season started are certainly justified with Smalling, Lindelof and Bally all responsible for mistakes thus far.

At this stage last season, United had eight clean sheets to their name (image via BBC).

Man United clean sheets

 

FOUR – Losses in their first 12 Premier League fixtures

This is the first time since the 1990-1991 season that Manchester United have tasted defeat four times in their opening 12 top flight matches. Losses to Brighton (3-2), Tottenham (0-3), West Ham (3-1) and Manchester City (3-1) mean their worst record for 28 years and the amount of goals conceded in those games are mostly to blame.

Gone are the days of Manchester United keeping clean sheets and winning matches to nil. Now they need to outscroe their opponents knowing they’ll probably get on the scoresheet themselves.

Last season it took them 25 matches to lose four games, when they were beaten by Tottenham in January.

 

FIVE – United made just 5 successful passes before Man City took the lead

In the Manchester Derby on Sunday, David Silva game Manchester City the lead after 12 minutes, and in those opening minutes Man United completed just FIVE passes of their 11 they attempted. This illustrates perfectly how dominant City were with the ball.

Nemanja Matic is the latest player to come in for criticism, but a midfield of Fellaini and himself are not exactly pass masters!

 

TWENTY-ONE – Goals conceded in their opening 12 Premier League matches

With just one clean sheet all season, it is no surprise to see Man United’s goals against column into double figures. But they have conceded a massive 21 goals so far this season, that is an average of 1.75 goals per game.

Manchester City and Liverpool have the best defensive record so far with just five goals conceded. Only four teams have conceded more goals that Jose Mourinho’s side this season, Fulham (31), Huddersfield (22), Cardiff (25) and Burnley (25).

Last season Man United had conceded just six goals at this stage of the season and Mourinho’s regular back four of Shaw, Smalling, Lindelof and Young is clearly not stopping the rot.

 

FIFTY – It took Sanchez and Lukaku 50 minutes to complete four passes COMBINED

Both Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku have been left out of the starting line-up in recent weeks, and this was true again on Sunday. Despite Lukaku earning the penalty after being on the pitch for just 30 seconds, neither of them could get into the match and in the 50 minutes they were on the pitch, they completed just FOUR passes between them.

Man City brought on England youngstar Phil Foden after 89 minutes and he managed to complete seven passes in that time.

Sergio Aguero completed 26 passes in the 75 minutes he was on the pitch, Raheem Sterling 40 and David Silva 74.

Alexis Sanchez

 

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