Shinji Kagawa: Breaking Down His 2012-13 Stats for Manchester United

Shinji Kagawa had a productive 2012-13 English Premier League season in his first year at Manchester United.

The Japanese international made 20 appearances (17 starts) for the Red Devils during their title-winning campaign. He bagged six goals, which was the fourth highest total on the squad behind Robin van Persie (26), Wayne Rooney (12) and Javier Hernandez (10). No other player scored more than five goals during Manchester United’s English campaign. 

Three of Kagawa’s goals came in the same match against Norwich, a 4-0 United victory in which, according to Opta, Kagawa made football history. 

Kagawa was disciplined overall, committing only 9 fouls during the Premier League season (one of the lowest totals for Man. U) and only going into the referee’s book once, receiving one yellow card. 

In regards to Manchester United, Kagawa was near the mean in terms of shots per match, firing off 1.1 per 90 minutes. Robin van Persie shot the ball most often for, with one of the top totals in the Premier League—3.7 per match.

While Kagawa may not have shot too frequently, he was certainly accurate when doing so. Kagawa registered a 75 percent accuracy rate, not too shabby at all. 

Perhaps Kagawa’s most impressive statistic was his pass success rate. The former Dortmund man completed the third highest percentage of his passes on United during the 2012-13 season, connecting 89.7 percent of his 834 total pass attempts. 

Only the legend Paul Scholes (92.4 percent) and Tom Cleverley (90.2 percent) were more accurate than Kagawa during the 2012-13 English Premier League season. 

In terms of more dynamic passing statistics, Kagawa was closer to the mean for United in a few categories. First, chance creation: He averaged one key pass per match, which was the sixth highest total on the team. Ashley Young, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney were all tied with the most chances created per match for Manchester United with 1.8 each. 

With assists, too, Kagawa was near average for the Red Devils, dishing out three total assists, tied for seventh. Wayne Rooney was United’s most frequent assister, contributing ten during the season. Rooney was the only player to record a double-digit assist figure. Next was van Persie with eight. 

Sticking with more dynamic distribution, Kagawa’s crossing figures were somewhat uninspiring. It should be noted, though, that he is not a true winger for United. In any case, Kagawa attempted the ninth amount of crosses per match—0.3 (22 total attempted, five completed), well beyond United’s most prolific crosser, Valencia, who connected on 39 of his 163 total crosses. 

Kagawa was not the boldest of dribblers, completing a scant eight dribbles on the season. Antonio Valencia was United’s most audacious dribbler, getting past a defender in a one-on-one situation 42 times total.    

There's not too much to report in terms of defending when discussing Kagawa’s statistics. Most notable might well be that he averaged just under a tackle per 90 minutes, 0.9. 

As newly minted Manchester United manager David Moyes prepares for the upcoming season, it is clear what he will be getting from Shinji Kagawa, an impressively precise passer and shooter with an ability to score in bunches. 

It will be intriguing to see if Moyes looks to Kagawa more frequently than did former manager Sir Alex Ferguson in this upcoming English season. 

All data provided from Whoscored? and Squawka.