Manchester United’s 2020/21 Season — A Statistical Analysis
A roller-coaster of a season has finally ended in heartbreak for the Manchester United faithful. United sought to end a 4-year trophy drought with a Europa League win against Villarreal but crashed out on penalties. From the lows of losing 6–1 to Tottenham Hotspur at home to the highs of crushing Roma in the Europa League semis, let’s take a look at Man United’s season.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side started the season just a month after losing to Sevilla in the semi-finals of the Europa League. They lost 2 of their first 3 Premier League games, conceding 11 goals and scoring just 5. It was going to be a long season ahead as they went into the international break.
United used a midfield pivot of Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic in 2 of those games and a pivot of Pogba and Scott McTominay in the third. The idea was for McTominay or Matic to sit deep while Pogba links up with the forwards.
The midfield pivots just did not work with respect to positional play. Manchester United got badly overrun in midfield and it was clear that some changes were needed. After the international break, Solskjaer implemented a highly defensive midfield pivot.
Fred was introduced into the side with McTominay and the duo started 3 of the next 4 games. This run saw a 4–1 win over Newcastle, a 2–1 win over Paris Saint-Germain and a 5–0 thrashing of RB Leipzig. United slowly steadied the ship and managed to win more games.
Naturally, they were helped by other factors as well like Edinson Cavani’s signing. The Uruguayan helped secure important wins like the 3–2 thriller against Southampton and the 2–0 Carabao Cup win against Everton. Bruno Fernandes, too, continued his form from last season. He also finished the season as the highest chance creator across Europe’s top 5 leagues, Champions League and Europa League. He has been an integral part of the side and all attacks seem to go through him.
However, no matter what United did, they were always left wanting. They sat atop the Premier League table in January but shortly after, went on run winning just 2 of their next 8 games. They lost to Sheffield United (who finished last), drew 1–1 to West Brom (who finished second last) and 0–0 to Crystal Palace (who finished 14th) in that run. Manchester City saw this as an opportunity and increased their lead on top of the table.
This left only the FA Cup and the Europa League to save the Red Devils’ season. A crushing 3–1 defeat to Leicester City in the FA Cup saw Solskjaer lose his 4th consecutive semi-final as manager. He broke that record in the Europa League only to lose 10–11 on penalties to Villarreal in the finals.
United have now gone 4 years without a trophy which is a cause for major concern. A bigger concern, however, is their inconsistency. Manchester United consistently outperformed their Expected Goals (xG) but that is not enough. At the start of the season and towards the end, the side failed to create a lot of xG. They lost only as many games (6) as league champions, Manchester City, but the failure to convert their draws to wins cost them a lot of points.
Manchester United accumulated expected goals against (xGA) of 44.53, conceding 44 times. In comparison, Man City conceded an xGA of 32.82, conceding 32 times — the least in the league.
These irregular fluctuations are not good enough to compete with the elite clubs in Europe. Harry Maguire has done very well to steady the defence but they are not exempt from conceding completely avoidable goals. Furthermore, United have been very poor aerially which has been a major source of frustrations. Another position they need to focus on is defensive midfield to screen the backline.
The board and Solskjaer have already begun shortlisting centre-backs and defensive midfielders for this summer. Names like Raphael Varane and Declan Rice are doing the rounds which is a step in the right direction.
“At United, we strive for perfection. If we fail we might have to settle for excellence” is a quote by Sir Matt Busby that echoes through the halls of Old Trafford. While progress was evident this season, trophies will ultimately measure this side’s success.
