Having escaped a 3-3 draw in Porto with an injury-time equaliser, coach Erik ten Hag is being labelled “on the gallows” when Manchester United return to the Premier League at the weekend. The stakes are even higher when the “Red Devils” travel to Villa Park, where Aston Villa beat Bayern Munich 1-0 in the Champions League in midweek.
Rumors have been swirling with the main focus being that “Ten Hag will be sacked if Man United have another unconvincing performance”. The question is, what is unconvincing?
In terms of results, the defeat was unconvincing. If so, a 0-0 draw was not so bad.
But in terms of performance, the 1 point won was just a cover for a fear hidden inside the "Red Devils". With that fear, they tried to become rougher, more thorny.
And when you focus too much on that, the effectiveness of the task of attacking and scoring to bring victory is significantly reduced.
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 aggressive style of play that the "Red Devils" showed was understood to be to disrupt the opponent's play, not to be aggressive to put pressure, win the ball and attack.
Not a typical game? Check out some stats. Ten Hag’s men have made 156 tackles in the Premier League so far this season – the most of any of the 20 clubs, and 10 more than the next-best Leicester City (146).
Man United's squad received 24 yellow cards - second only to Chelsea (27), with Kobbie Mainoo among the most penalised players (4 yellow cards).
Man United are one of six teams to receive red cards in the Premier League. Even though Bruno's card was later cleared, the Portuguese midfielder received two consecutive yellow cards in the match against Porto...
In addition to Mainoo, Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez each received 3 yellow cards, Christian Eriksen and Mason Mount were both cautioned twice, although the playing time was not too much.
In total, Man United have committed 48 fouls in seven Premier League games, receiving 24 yellow cards. It may not be the highest rate - Chelsea have committed 42 fouls and received 27 yellow cards - but the evidence of how their rough style of play affects their attacking play is evident in other stats.
Man United had 89 shots (outside the Top 10), but only scored 5 goals - only more than Southampton (4) and equal to Crystal Palace.
Among the bottom teams, Wolves had 79 shots, scoring 9 goals; Ipswich Town had 62 shots, scoring 6 goals; Everton had 76 shots, scoring 7 goals; and Leicester City had 58 shots, scoring 9 goals.
Man United are dealing with their fears with the spikes that have been erected, but it seems that it is not enough to cover everything in the hearts of the "Red Devils".
