Manchester United's Europa League Group Stage Was Dominated by New Signings

Manchester United's Europa League campaign has, frankly, been all over the shop.

Thursday evening's win over Zorya Luhansk in Ukraine, however, was enough to ensure they finished the group stage on 12 points, having racked up four wins in six games. That total would have been enough to top six of the 12 groups involved at this point in the competition but meant the Red Devils finished second behind Fenerbahce in Group A.

The Turkish side's only loss came at Old Trafford—a 4-1 hammering that did little to flatter the hosts, who were in complete control for most of the game.

United cost themselves the chance to finish top of their group thanks to defeats in the Netherlands and Turkey. Those defeats were part of a long stretch of away losses in Europe. The end of that run made what should have been a routine win in Ukraine on Thursday a little sweeter.

Generally speaking, manager Jose Mourinho has given reasonable priority to this competition. There has been some squad rotation. Sergio Romero started three out of the six games—twice against Zorya and at home to Feyenoord.

But the biggest positive impact on United's safe passage came from the big names, who have been heavily involved. The upgrade in quality that arrived during last summer's transfer window may not have propelled the Red Devils up the Premier League table, but in Europe, they have been the key difference-makers.

United's Twitter account runs a man-of-the-match poll after each win. One of their new signings has won the award in each relevant Europa League game.

After the 1-0 home win over Zorya in September, it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic. After the 4-1 win over Fenerbahce, in October it was Paul Pogba. Henrikh Mkhitaryan's win on Thursday night was his second in succession—he was also man of the match in the 4-0 win over Feyenoord in November.

Some of this can be put down to new-signing bias among those voting. With so much time put into arguing about the merits of the players your team has bought with fans of other clubs, there may well be a tendency to seize upon any chance to help build the reputations of newcomers.

Given Pogba also has a couple in the league and Eric Bailly won two in a row as the season began, there is some anecdotal evidence for this theory.

However, in the Europa League, the stats back up fans' selections. WhoScored.com, for example, agreed with the voters for both Ibrahimovic and Pogba's wins. And though its algorithm did not agree on Mkhitaryan, it instead plumped for Pogba on both occasions on which the fans voted for the Armenian.

In the four wins in this competition, United's newcomers have scored five of United's 11 goals and provided two assists. That does not include the Brad Jones own goal against Feyenoord, which was made by Ibrahimovic.

The redemption narrative might have influenced those voting for Mkhitaryan in droves in this two starts, but in truth, while he may have missed out on statistical perfection, his performances against both Feyenoord and Zorya were thrilling in the way that only subjective analysis can appreciate.

Objectively, the three key passes and two dribbles he made against Feyenoord were great, but subjectively? Subjectively, they were breathtaking. Subjectively, his whole performance offered the promise of something much richer and better for United's medium-term future.

The fact he had been involved so little up to this recent run seemed either bizarre or a stroke of genius, depending on whether these performances could have been happening all along or whether he truly needed the adaptation time Mourinho was so insistent on.

And more than anything else, it was just tremendous fun to watch him do his thing. His goal on Thursday was a thing of simple beauty—a perfectly executed dribble, somehow explosive and subtle at the same time—followed by a finish designed not to impress but to get the ball into the net as effectively as possible.

Ibrahimovic has been crucial. He is far from perfect. There have been plenty of wayward passes, but his goal threat is consistent and varied. He scored against Zorya in the 1-0 home win, a goal that proved crucial as the group developed. He assisted United's first at home against Feyenoord, helping to open the floodgates.

And he sealed the win on Thursday. It was late in the game, but given how often United have let winning positions slip in recent weeks, it was no less important.

In the final reckoning, a draw or a win in Ukraine would have had the same effect on the table, but first if Feyenoord had beaten Fenerbahce, United would have had a shot at top spot, and second the Red Devils really need to drop the drawing habit for the sake of their season as a whole.

So two out of the three attack-minded signings of the summer have clearly had a significant impact on United's progression here.

And the third has been crucial. Pogba will always be judged by the yardstick of his £89.3 million transfer fee, and there is no doubt results across the whole of the season have not been as good as anyone associated with the club would want, but Pogba has often been quietly—and sometimes loudly—brilliant.

As previously mentioned, WhoScored.com rated him as man of the match in three of United's four Europa League wins. That was straightforwardly obvious in the home win over Fenebahce, a game in which he scored a penalty and a screamer.

It might have been less obvious against Feyenoord at home considering he neither scored nor assisted any of United's four goals. He did, however, win five aerial duels, beat a man three times with the ball at his feet, make two interceptions and a tackle, all the while having 111 touches of the ball, more than anyone else on the pitch.

It was Pogba's world. Everyone else was just living in it.

Against Zorya on Thursday, he had 10 per cent of the game's total possession. United's dominance meant a lot of players saw a lot of the ball, but only Ander Herrera had more than the Frenchman's 130 touches.

His shooting was wayward, with none of his five shots finding the target, but he completed 85.3 per cent of his 109 passes, of which three were key. His through ball for Ibrahimovic's goal was a thing of beauty. He also won three aerial duels and completed five dribbles. Imagine trying to play against a player with that skill set when he is on form.

Both United's fans and the data back up the notion that it has been the new signings who have made the telling difference, then. They were not brought to the club to ensure progression through the Europa League group stage, and much loftier ambitions remain unfulfilled, but there is some evidence that it is all coming together.

And was there much more quality in the opposition faced in the Champions League group stage that Louis van Gaal failed to navigate last season? PSV Eindhoven, CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg represent a slightly tougher overall challenge than Feyenoord, Fenerbahce and Zorya, but there is not all that much in it.

The Europa League group stage has had some dire moments but also some of the Red Devils' best of the season so far. Where it has been the latter, it has generally been the new signings who have made the most telling difference.

Advanced data per WhoScored.com.