Manchester United’s defensive woes were once again on full display on Saturday during a 3-0 thrashing by Bournemouth, but the attack was also dreadful.
Bournemouth made Manchester United‘s defence look so poor on Saturday afternoon as they put three past Andre Onana and left Erik ten Hag looking helpless on the sideline.
The win was their first away from home against United in any competition ever which further showcases just how bad the defeat is.
The game was the final straw for many, as Old Trafford echoed boos throughout at both the halftime and full-time whistle.
Pundits including Danny Murphy, have even begun to urge United chiefs to cut their losses with Ten Hag before it’s too late.
Now, in the wake of the defeat, a concerning statistic has emerged which could explain a lot in terms of the offensive issues at United right now.
Manchester United’s attacking problems explained
For all the defensive issues United have endured this season, arguably the attacking side is worse. Too often United are winning games by single-goal margins and sometimes are failing to score at all which is reflected in the top scorer charts.
READ: Manchester United top scorers and assist leaders for 2023/24
When looking at the club’s stats on FBRef a clear pattern emerges and that is that United are very poor in and around the penalty area.
United have the worst goals minus expected goals record in the entire league at -7.5. This is a whole -1 more than the second-worst side in the league.
Comparatively, Manchester City have a positive goal differential at +6 which shows that Ten Hag’s side is at the wrong end of this table.
The poor stats don’t end there however as United are the second-worst in the league when it comes to goals per shot at 0.07. Only Sheffield United have a worse record.
The Red Devils have taken 240 shots (Only Brighton, Liverpool and Spurs have taken more) however, have only managed to find the net a woeful 18 times.
Worrying for Erik ten Hag, United need to improve
This issue was clear as the day following the 2-1 win over Chelsea midweek. United should’ve scored a bagful however missed several big chances to scrape a win.
This isn’t a sustainable model, given how inconsistent United have been, but the fact that the chances have seemingly been there for United, surely it’s a matter of time until things improve?
Ten Hag need to now be giving his forward players extra finishing training during training as this is a terrible group of figures which must improve, or it could prove fatal.
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