Manchester United's Best Statistical Performers so Far This Season
There has been a lot of talk about numbers around Manchester United of late. Unbeaten in 17 games but still sixth in the league. Just four points off fourth place but 14 off first. Twenty-five shots taken against Stoke City but just one goal scored.
And, of course, the big number, the number Jose Mourinho said should be talked about for just 24 hours, Wayne Rooney's record-breaking 250th goal for the club.
Rooney's record is remarkable, but in the spirit of moving on, who are the players setting the numerical pace this season? We decided to take a look at the numbers, to see who the players holding this season's Premier League records are.
We are sticking to the league and, for the most part, using average numbers per 90 minutes, rather than totals or per appearance numbers. This gives us a more useful and accurate point of comparison. Where you see a statistic reference, you can assume it is calculated as an average per 90 minutes of Premier League football unless otherwise stated.
Let's see who is putting up the numbers for the Red Devils as they strive to improve on sixth.
Shots on Target
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Unsurprisingly, United's Swedish hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the player getting the most shots on target in the average 90 minutes of United's league season.
He is firing a ball towards goal an average of 1.8 times per 90 minutes, ahead of Juan Mata's 1.4. Given United have suffered from issues of conversion—creating a lot of chances but not scoring that many goals—it is perhaps not a shock that Zlatan is also taking 1.4 shots per 90 minutes that do not hit the target.
Rooney, Anthony Martial and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are all tied for third place on 1.1, with Paul Pogba's one significantly lower than his 1.9 that head off target.
In general, the underlying numbers would suggest that more goals are likely to be a part of United's short-term future.
Most Key Passes
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Pogba is well ahead in the total number of key passes—a pass from which a chance is created—in the league this season with 41 to Ibrahimovic's 35. But it is Mkhitaryan who is producing them at the fastest rate with 2.8 per 90 minutes.
The Armenian's impact has been obvious, with much of the best attacking football United have produced happening with him on the field.
If he is playing so well because of Mourinho's handling then the manager deserves a lot of credit, but if he could have been producing at a similar rate for longer, then his delayed arrival into the first-team picture counts as a knock against the boss.
Perhaps a little surprisingly, Jesse Lingard sits in second place, with 2.7, followed by Rooney and Mata on 2.3 and 2.2, respectively. Pogba has played considerably more minutes than any of them, which is why he is down in fifth with 2 per 90.
One thing that is notable here is that chance creation is pretty evenly spread. United have a lot of creative players on their books, but Mkhitaryan can claim for now to be the most prolific creator of chances.
Most Tackles
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It is important to state here that "most tackles" does not mean "best defensive player." In truth, this is a statistic that tells you more about the style of a player than their quality.
Indeed, few would argue that Marouane Fellaini is United's best defensive player, but he does top the most tackles per 90 minutes charts once players who have played less than 300 minutes are ruled out for having too small a sample size.
Fellaini is averaging 3.3 tackles per 90, a good way ahead of Matteo Darmian on 2.9, Ander Herrera on 2.8, Antonio Valencia on 2.5 and Eric Bailly on 2.4.
Fellaini's game is obviously built on breaking up play with direct physical intervention, and to be fair to the much-maligned Belgian, he is pretty good at it. However, he also gives away the most fouls—2.3 per 90 minutes; more than Pogba on 2.1 or Ibrahimovic on 2. He is the only one of the top-three tacklers also on the top-three foul list.
Best Pass Completion Percentage
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Sometimes in life, looking at the detailed numbers behind things can surprise you. Sometimes the things you think you know turn out not to be true in the face of the evidence.
And then sometimes the numbers tell you exactly what you expected them to tell you. Michael Carrick is the United player with the highest pass-completion percentage this season. With 90.5 percent of his passes finding a team-mate, he narrowly pips the equally unsurprising second-placed player. Mata has found a colleague 90.2 percent of the time.
Just as "most tackles" does not mean "best defensive player," of course, so "highest-pass completion percentage" does not mean "best passer." Chris Smalling being third on the list with 89.4 percent tells us that. But Carrick and Mata are both incredibly reliable passers and have generally been productive with that passing so far this season.
Most Passes
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Most passes per 90 minutes is another category that tells us more about style then quality, but it is no less instructive for that.
Herrera has been the beating heart of United this season, the engine in midfield that has been at its best when his energy meets Carrick's precision and Pogba's overall quality.
The three of them dominate this category. Herrera is averaging just shy of 80 passes per 90 minutes—79.9, to be precise. Next comes Pogba on 72.5 and Carrick on 71.5. There is a substantial drop off to Fellaini at 61.8 and Mata on 57.9. It shows just how much United's midfield dominate the possession of the ball in Mourinho's system.
Under Louis van Gaal last season, Antonio Valencia was fourth, such was the importance placed on full-backs in possession. Things look very different now.
Most Successful Dribbles
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Like Carrick and Mata topping the pass-completion table, it is no surprise to find United's French contingent dominating here. Pogba is succeeding with 2.7 dribbles per 90 minutes, Martial with 2.2. Mkhitaryan and Valencia share third place with 1.7, and Marcus Rashford rounds out the top five with 1.5, a little more than half of Pogba's number.
Pogba is a remarkable dribbler of the ball, given the variety in his dribbling technique. He can knock the ball past a player and beat them for pace, but it is his ability to keep possession when doing so seems impossible that so impresses. His ability to use his body and his close control in perfect harmony has been a joy to watch.
Long may the dribbles continue.
Most Interceptions
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We have already seen that Herrera is heavily involved in United's possession game, but he has also been a key part of winning the ball back when it is lost. He is averaging 3.5 interception per 90 minutes, the most of any United player.
United have pressed pretty aggressively so far this season, and Herrera has taken full advantage. Behind him are Bailly on 3.2, Darmian on 3.1 and Carrick on 2.9. Mkhitaryan's role in rounding out the top five on 2.2 speaks to the power of that pressing.
Herrera's football intelligence is obvious, and this statistic represents a fine application of it.
Goals and Assists
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After this detailed breakdown of the behind-the-scenes numbers, it seemed worth touching on the numbers that really define a season.
Ibrahimovic is, of course, United's top scorer in the league this season, on 14 goals so far. The brilliant goalscorer has proved at the age of 35 that he is more than a match for the Premier League. The idea of him having arrived at United in his prime is a frightening thought considering how good he is now.
Perhaps a little more surprisingly, it is Rooney who sits in second place in the assist charts, with five to his name. Given he also managed three assists in the Europa League group stage—more than any other United player—it is clear he is still having an impact, in spite of his reduced importance to the team.
Quotations obtained firsthand.
All statistics per WhoScored.com.
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