Was there a change in how United played last night - Stats match eye test?

[Carlton Blade]

I think it's universally accepted that last night was a better performance. But it's easy to get caught up in the moment. I'd been extremely critical of how United were trying to play previously so (as much as small sample sizes lie as easily as floppy haired ex-PM's), here's a look at what, if anything was different.

Last night, we had our 2nd least touches of the ball of the whole season (City at home 325, Liverpool 339) and our least amount of attempted and completed passes (102, 224. Least completed passes previously was 148 v City).

However, we did more with those touches than in any other game this season.

Highest % attempted dribbles, 2nd highest successful dribbles
Highest % of progressive carries per touch. Highest % of carries per touch into the final 3rd/penalty area
Highest % progressive receptions (Completed passes that move the ball towards the opponent's goal line at least 10 yards , or any completed pass into the penalty area. Excludes passes from the defending 40% of the pitch)

But "how" did we get the ball there?

Highest % of short passes v total passes completed
Shortest distance per completed pass
3rd lowest long passes attempted (with a hilariously bad 14% completion rate indicating it was mostly just clearances)
Highest % of passes into the final third
Highest % of passes into the penalty area
3rd Highest % of "Key passes" (passes that lead directly to a shot)
Highest % of progressive passes (by a large %)

Defensively

We have averaged 33 shot creating actions conceded per 90 (the 2 actions that lead to a shot), last night was 26 which is 5th lowest. For comparison, City was 58, Spurs 54
Last night was only the 4th time this season (Forest, Wolves, Brighton) we've won more tackles than we lost
It was our best performance of the season at stopping the opposition carrying the ball towards our goal, with only 3.7% of Liverpool's carries being 'progressive'. For reference, it was almost 9% against Burnley and 7% v Bournemouth
We conceded only 6 carries into our penalty area, it was 12 v Burnley

My summary, for what it's worth

I think the clear emphasis in the short time Wilder has been back is "be braver in possession and don't let the opposition run into spaces with the ball when they have it. I think a big, big factor is how well, even with our least amount of possession of the season we managed to get the ball forward without Norwood being involved. The common refrain has been "we can't drop Norwood, if he's not there we can't get the ball forward". He's been a great servant but I think the team have become over reliant on him doing everything (as shown by him having a higher % of his teams touches than anyone but Rodri).

A really positive start. I'm looking forward to Saturday and the players hopefully continuing to believe in their own ability

 

[Slim Man]

We looked like we gave a fuck for a pleasant change

The upturn in Bogle and Souza was particularly telling. Archer too despite his annoying reluctance to shoot.
Trusty also looked brilliant locking down Salah which is no mean feat.

Green shoots.

 

[Rudders]

I think it's universally accepted that last night was a better performance. But it's easy to get caught up in the moment. I'd been extremely critical of how United were trying to play previously so (as much as small sample sizes lie as easily as floppy haired ex-PM's), here's a look at what, if anything was different.

Last night, we had our 2nd least touches of the ball of the whole season (City at home 325, Liverpool 339) and our least amount of attempted and completed passes (102, 224. Least completed passes previously was 148 v City).

However, we did more with those touches than in any other game this season.

Highest % attempted dribbles, 2nd highest successful dribbles
Highest % of progressive carries per touch. Highest % of carries per touch into the final 3rd/penalty area
Highest % progressive receptions (Completed passes that move the ball towards the opponent's goal line at least 10 yards , or any completed pass into the penalty area. Excludes passes from the defending 40% of the pitch)

But "how" did we get the ball there?

Highest % of short passes v total passes completed
Shortest distance per completed pass
3rd lowest long passes attempted (with a hilariously bad 14% completion rate indicating it was mostly just clearances)
Highest % of passes into the final third
Highest % of passes into the penalty area
3rd Highest % of "Key passes" (passes that lead directly to a shot)
Highest % of progressive passes (by a large %)

Defensively

We have averaged 33 shot creating actions conceded per 90 (the 2 actions that lead to a shot), last night was 26 which is 5th lowest. For comparison, City was 58, Spurs 54
Last night was only the 4th time this season (Forest, Wolves, Brighton) we've won more tackles than we lost
It was our best performance of the season at stopping the opposition carrying the ball towards our goal, with only 3.7% of Liverpool's carries being 'progressive'. For reference, it was almost 9% against Burnley and 7% v Bournemouth
We conceded only 6 carries into our penalty area, it was 12 v Burnley

My summary, for what it's worth

I think the clear emphasis in the short time Wilder has been back is "be braver in possession and don't let the opposition run into spaces with the ball when they have it. I think a big, big factor is how well, even with our least amount of possession of the season we managed to get the ball forward without Norwood being involved. The common refrain has been "we can't drop Norwood, if he's not there we can't get the ball forward". He's been a great servant but I think the team have become over reliant on him doing everything (as shown by him having a higher % of his teams touches than anyone but Rodri).

A really positive start. I'm looking forward to Saturday and the players hopefully continuing to believe in their own ability

Having Brooks over Norwood in midfield made a huge difference with the eye test defensively - tracked a lot of runners back in the channel cutting out the cross potential and offensively maybe less impressive but once or twice managed to win the ball and then run forward or forward ish. Just need MOAR now

 

[Nedski]

I don't know about anyone else but it certainly didn't feel like a 20/80 possession split. They clearly had more of the ball but we didn't appear to be chasing shadows for 90mins

 

[FredZeppelin]

Definitely more application and fight but last night's match was a bit of a 'free hit' in some ways.
Saturday's match against Brentford represents a game where we really need to get something given our league position and what we can realistically expect at home.
I'm fearful that we'll get our arses handed to us by a significantly stronger, fitter, and more positive team and that could further knock the confidence.
I hope I'm completely wrong.
utb

 

[MojoMuffin]

I don't know about anyone else but it certainly didn't feel like a 20/80 possession split. They clearly had more of the ball but we didn't appear to be chasing shadows for 90mins

The possession split was probably correct but not a reflection on the game. We had Liverpool tapping it around amongst their back 4 and keeper for a number of times in the game because of a good shape and good press. Some step up that to leaving Liverpool with nowhere to go for a lot of the game.