“Manchester United lost again.”

It’s recurrent this message.

And, for some, may be harder with the weeks passing by, to believe this is the way ahead.

With this Style of Play.

With this Coach.

Definitely, with these players.

I would agree, until some extent – which is the players.

Definitely, not with these players.

Some, at least.

Watching the starting XI, we could already feel that it would be hard in some areas, but Tottenham is not going through their best moments, as well.

However, the performance on the 1st half was specially hard.

I’ve been stating this long time now, almost since the first Games under Ruben, but these team really lacks offensive quality.

And I don’t mean only the attacking players.

The Game is not fluid.

The team can’t score, specially on the right timing.

The ball seems to burn their feet, at times.

Everything is done with effort, not quality. 

The 1st half ended with 34% Ball Possession (I believe the lowest since Ruben joined), only 167 passes done (Tottenham made almost double), but they could still create chances to score, with a total of 8 shots (against 5 from Tottenham).

Yes, that’s another thing – any shot taken seems that can be a goal.

The 2nd half, was somehow better, even with the decrease levels of physicality associated with having only U21 players on the bench and, therefore, not many viable options for the moment the teams is going through.

The team had more possession (56%), some clear chances to score and even more chances to create a chance (which bring us back to the quality factor), but also allowed more shots from Tottenham.

So, here, it’s good to take a look at some extra data.

Ruben made, versus Tottenham, his 21st Game at United.

In the first 11 Games, the team conceded 21 Goals (!):
. Vs Ipswich – 1

. Vs Bodo/Glimt – 2
. Vs Everton – 0

. Vs Arsenal – 2

. Vs Nottingham Forest – 3

. Vs Plzen – 1

. Vs Manchester City – 1

. Vs Tottenham – 4

. Vs Bournemouth – 3

. Vs Wolves – 2

. Vs Newcastle – 2

In the last 10, they conceded 11, as:

. Vs Liverpool – 2

. Vs Arsenal – 1

. Vs Southampton – 1

. Vs Brighton – 3

. Vs Rangers – 1

. Vs Fulham – 0

. Vs Steaua – 0

. Vs Crystal Palace – 2

. Vs Leicester – 1

. Vs Tottenham – 1

This, gives us a clear idea that things, defensively are being taken care of.

From an average of Goals conceded of almost 2 goals per Game to 1, it’s remarkable.

Even if not close to perfect, it clearly shows the work done!

Since the matches against Arsenal and Liverpool, where the team needed to suffer a little more and spend more time defending than anything else, was a kind of click moment of change, I believe.

Offensively, though, even with more chances being created, things are not quite the same.
From the same first 11 matches, we have a total of 17 goals scored (average of 1.5 per Game), as:
. Vs Ipswich – 1

. Vs Bodo/Glimt – 3
. Vs Everton – 4

. Vs Arsenal – 0

. Vs Nottingham Forest – 2

. Vs Plzen – 2

. Vs Manchester City – 2

. Vs Tottenham – 3

. Vs Bournemouth – 0

. Vs Wolves – 0

. Vs Newcastle – 0

In the last 10, they scored 14 (average of 1.4 per Game), as:

. Vs Liverpool – 2

. Vs Arsenal – 1

. Vs Southampton – 3

. Vs Brighton – 1

. Vs Rangers – 2

. Vs Fulham – 1

. Vs Steaua – 2

. Vs Crystal Palace – 0

. Vs Leicester – 2

. Vs Tottenham – 0

So, clearly and data based, we can understand the struggles United is going through.

And this also shows the tendencies I’ve spoke before about the way Ruben acts, taking in consideration the similarities with the past experiences at Sporting CP when he arrived, where he gave first the Defensive stability to the team and then (in the last 2 Seasons), he improved significantly the Offensive Model.

Although, I don’t think it will take the same amount of time at United, it will clearly take time, money (to get better players) and patience.

That is a reality I’m speaking for months now.

Another data based comment would be that, at this match, Garnacho dribble success rate was 0 (out of 1 attempt to dribble…), got 72 % of pass accuracy, and won 3 out 6 duels; Højlund won 1 out of 9 duels, 3 shots (2 on goal) and finished with 64% of pass accuracy; Zirkzee got 0 shots on target, 3 out of 13 duels won, 2 out of 4 dribbles were successful and 81% of pass accuracy.

On the sides, Dalot won 3 out of 6 duels, made 5 unsuccessful attempts to cross, and finished with 86% pass accuracy, whereas Dorgu won 9 out of 10 duels, made 5 attempts to cross with 2 successful and 81% pass accuracy.

That’s another good news – Dorgu.

Really liked his performance.

Was a shame that Garnacho wasn’t able to make more combinations with him.

So, finally, we are back to the same – time, patience and money.

I heard this morning that the Club could save more than 90 Million on salaries alone, only with:
. Casemiro
. Rashford

. Erkisen

. Lindelöf

. Malacia

. Mount

. Luke Shaw

. Sancho

. Antony

That could be a good start, and some are even finishing their contract with the Club in June, but much more needed.

However, as we seen in this Winter Transfer Market, although different, the Summer Transfer Window will not be a miracle at Manchester.

We need to wait and see.

Survival mode is ON for the remaining of the Season, trying a glimpse of triumph at the Cups but still far from what this Club stands for.

The data presented here is taken from sofascore.com