Manchester United's Midfield Analysis - Pointless Possession

I'm certainly no one to doubt or think I have better football knowledge than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who is vastly more experienced than me. But like many I'm scratching my head. The other thing to also consider is that we all don't know what goes on in the camp. Is a player struggling physically or mentally? there will be many things we don't know and managers sometimes take that flack to protect players. That aside, I'm still scratching my head. Some of the selections seem strange and he sticks with a negative midfield and system which for me is the biggest issue. Whether they play a game with high tempo with many transitions, or games like Everton where they dominate possession. It still looks vulnerable & desperate. I think when you watch the midfield and see its lack of creativity and involvement in attacking scenarios I think this doesn't look like Man Utd. Then I've heard that the selection of Fred is also due to his off the ball work and pitch coverage. "Breaking up play" is what I heard. Well i am massive on off the ball work. You haven't got the ball for over 95% of a game so of course its massive. 

So, Having professionally analysed and scouted many football matches I felt compelled to try and look at Manchester United's midfield more analytically. I was thinking that Ole must be obtaining data from his huge staff & technology resource to support these player selections, so for a more rounded and objective view I did some crude analysis of my own v Everton. Using pen and paper I might add So if im slightly out, please don't hold that against me.

There are some conclusions to draw from the data I took here but the thing i also take from observation as well as the data is aspects like detail. The detail in Freds passing is sometimes poor in my opinion, in terms of weight and direction. Passing the ball wrong side, passing it off the pitch, punching the ball players when it could be lent, lofted passes that could be on the deck. Also, its important to understand that possession lost is weighed against passing and distribution risk. When you select harder to hit passes like match winners, or switching play, the risk is higher. But what I observed is that when Pogba lost possession, it was in trying to force something, taking risk. Freds was more basic and arguably less risk passing. 

To be fair to Fred, he's on the ball a lot and he does play the ball forward a lot. But when you see possession of over 70% a centre midfielder is going to have a lot of touches. What baffles me is that if you are in an old school 4-4-2 or a modern 4-2-3-1 surely at some point you are going to have more involvement in attacks? As a two you also know you have cover if you venture forward and break lines. But if both sit and play sideways then your not going to be much of a threat. Added to that, not many teams play with two advanced midfielders so even if you play with much less possession, who are both players marking? 

I used to challenge midfielders to arrive in the box in open play at least twice a half. In fairness to Mctominay he did it 5 times in this game. But for a midfielder in a team that have 72% to not be in the box ever in 70 mins? surely this needs to happen from a team that is wanting to win?

If you listen to reports of the reasons then these selections are about the defensive qualities. I have not got GPS on the players for pitch coverage but I have picked clear objective events that can be assessed watching on TV. Quite frankly for a central midfielder these stats are even more alarming. From what i seen Fred made just two tackles. Arguably he was disappointing in 1v1 that led to the Everton goal. Overall the input from all midfielders defensively was poor. Even considering that they need to worry only a third of the time. 

I'm a huge fan of defensive midfielders. They do a lot of the unseen thankless work that is so priceless and essential to winning football matches. But when you go back through these teams and look at the ones that were in teams that won trophy's, they were players that did much more than just break up play on a regular basis. 

I believe Man Utd need more from there centre midfielders, or select the ones that have more creativity. In my opinion, at least three players on the bench are much more 'man utd'. Especially at home. I seen Lingard play live a couple of weeks ago and I don't know what else he is supposed to do? He was terrific. I'm not sure why they bought van de beek as he also isn't getting a real chance but was excellent in the game I seen at Old Trafford. Finally the biggest thing of all, is resting players. Man United fans cannot complain about not being backed with the money they have but to leave the worlds best player on the bench alongside another £90m player is just baffling. 

Tony McCool

@antmccool7