Taking a risk in Porto with a 3-3 equalizer in injury time, coach Erik ten Hag is considered to be "under the hanging price" when Manchester United returns to the Premier League at the weekend. The seriousness increased when the "Red Devils" visited Villa Park, where Aston Villa beat Bayern Munich 1-0 in the Champions League in midweek.
Rumors have appeared in full, with the main highlight being Ten Hag will be sacked if Man United have another unconvincing match. The question is, what is unconvincing?
In terms of results, failure is unconvincing. If so, a 0-0 draw is not too bad.
But in terms of performance, 1 point won is just a cover for a hidden fear inside the "Red Devils". With that fear, they try to become rouder, more thorny.
And when we focus too much on that, the effectiveness of the task of attacking and scoring to bring victory decreases significantly.
For example, in the match against Aston Villa on the evening of October 6, Bruno Fernandes and his teammates committed 11 fouls, 5 of which were yellow cards. The fierce style of play that the "Red Devils" show is understood to break the opponent's playing style, not to be fierce to put pressure, win the ball and attack.
A not-so-specific match? Let's look at some statistics. Ten Hag's men have made a total of 156 Premier League appearances to date - the most of any of the 20 clubs, 10 times more than Leicester City (146).
The Man United squad received 24 yellow cards - second only to Chelsea (27), in which, Kobbie Mainoo was among the players with the most penalties (4 yellow cards).
Man United is one of six teams with red cards in the Premier League. Even though Bruno's card was later cleared, the Portuguese midfielder received 2 consecutive yellow cards in the match against Porto...
In addition to Mainoo, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez also received 3 yellow cards, Christian Eriksen, Mason Mount were also warned twice, although the playing time was not too much.
In total, Man United committed 48 fouls in 7 Premier League matches, receiving 24 yellow cards. It may not be the highest rate - Chelsea committed 42 fouls and received 27 yellow cards, but the proof that playing in a rough style affects the attack is shown in other indicators.
Man United have finished 89 times (outside the Top 10), but have only scored 5 goals - only more than Southampton (4) and equal to Crystal Palace.
Among the teams at the bottom of the rankings, Wolves have scored 79 goals, scoring 9 goals; Ipswich Town have scored 62 times, scoring 6 goals; Everton have scored 76 times, scoring 7 goals; or Leicester City have scored 58 times, scoring 9 goals.
Man United are solving their fears with the thorns they have built, but it seems like it is not enough to cover up everything in the "Red Devils".
