Manchester United have been woeful in front of goal this season, letting countless chances go amiss.
With five games gone in the league, Manchester United find themselves on seven points, a tally which is simply not good enough if Champions League football is the aspiration this season.
The latest result for United was a 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace, and the trend of missing big chances continued here – with five going amiss for Erik ten Hag’s side in the game.
Alejandro Garnacho was the dangerman for United, as Dean Henderson admitted – although he himself missed two big chances.
Now, it has become clear that United are leading the league in an unwanted department – but there are positives and negatives to take from this.
Manchester United are embarrassing the rest of the Premier League
For all the struggles Manchester United have had this season so far, creating chances has not been one of them.
However, quite crucially scoring the chances has been a major problem with only five goals in five games.
United have 17 big chances missed (BCM) this season already, according to the official Premier League website – this is a chart-topping amount by quite some distance.
| Team | BCM | |
| 1 | Manchester United | 17 |
| 2 | Aston Villa | 12 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 12 |
| 4 | Southampton | 11 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 11 |
This proves that United must be doing something right this season, with both the defence and the offensive working really well – only putting the ball in the net remains an issue.
So despite this being a positive stat as it shows United are creating the chances, it will leave Ten Hag frustrated by his forward’s inability to finish off the chances,
Erik ten Hag is one fix away from a winning formula
For Ten Hag, the signs are all there that he is finally getting things right at Manchester United after a third consecutive clean sheet.
Andre Onana was immense in goal, while the entire defence and midfield did their jobs perfectly which set United up for three points.
The entire team played well enough for victory, but ultimately sometimes it does come down to luck whether the ball goes in or not – but as disappointing as the draw is, it is a real positive.
This is because United are so close to finally putting in excellent performances regularly with only the finishing needing to be fixed.
If Ruud van Nistelrooy can work magic on the forwards, we could very quickly find United in right back in the Champions League hunt.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
