One clean sheet in 21 matches. Let that sink in. Despite David de Gea arguably being United's player of the season thus far and Raphael Varane visibly enhancing the defence since his summer arrival, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side have been statistically very poor defensively.
United have already conceded 15 goals in the Premier League this season, ranking them as the 14th worst team in this department. Having both conceded 10 times, only Newcastle and Watford have suffered more goals scored against them on home turf than United's nine conceded at Old Trafford so far in the league this term.
United's single clean sheet (against Wolves) sees them rank 18th in the competition for such metric, and even then it was only due to brilliance from De Gea having been dominated and severely pressured the defensive front. Many matches have followed such pattern, with the reds facing 117 shots so far this season - putting them 10th in the league for shots faced. Furthermore, United's 13.7 Premier League 'expected goals against' so far this season puts them 14th.
These are standards of relegation threatened teams, and it gets worse...
Solskjaer's team rank as the worst side for both tackles and errors leading to shots. They have made a league-low 104 tackles, emphasising the porosity stemming through from the midfield to the back line. You can't forget, this lapse in defensive discipline does stem from frailties within the middle of the park. In terms of the seven errors made to allow opposition shots, that shows an inability to even execute the basics.
One issue which needs outlining is the fact that United have been outrun by a total of 25km over their nine Premier League matches so far this season. That's a bad look, because it emphasises a real lapse in work rate as a unit (mostly on the defensive front). They have been outrun by every opponent other than Wolves and Newcastle, with these occasions the slimmest margins between United and their opponent's distance run - both of these matches saw United take three points. Points have been dropped in every match that they have been outrun in; the five occasions where points have been dropped so far during the current campaign show the largest disparities between United and their opposition's running distance.
Running Distance Comparisons (km) W 5-1 vs Leeds: -1.48 D 1-1 vs Southampton: -4.02 W 1-0 vs Wolves: +0.08 W 4-1 vs Newcastle: +0.81 W 2-1 vs West Ham: -1.88 L 1-0 vs Aston Villa: -2.71 D 1-1 vs Everton: -6.64 L 4-2 vs Leicester: -5.07 L 5-0 vs Liverpool: -3.65
Moving on... The goals conceded against Liverpool outlined flaws in Solskjaer's defensive system that can't be conveyed by statistics, with some form of defensive fault contributing to each of the five goals scored on Sunday evening.
1) The passage which resulted in the opening goal came from a ridiculously uncoordinated press by United. Both Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Mason Greenwood opted to press Andy Robertson in the Liverpool half, with the pair leaving masses of space for their opposition to play into (which Scott McTominay failed to cover) having doubled up on the Scottish left back. The press from the pair was hardly efficient, with Robertson allowed to get a pass away to Diogo Jota on the left hand side. Victor Lindelof was consequently pulled out of his right centre back position to apply pressure on Jota - who really should've been Wan-Bissaka's man if the system had been fully functional. This particular press failed, and the Portuguese was allowed to shift the ball onwards with a first time pass. Again, there was masses of space vacated for Liverpool to exploit. The effect of Wan-Bissaka pressing too high only continued, with Harry Maguire forced to cover for Lindelof covering the right back; neither Maguire or Scott McTominay were alert enough to effectively close down Roberto Firmino (the next recipient of the ball) and he was allowed to play to Mo Salah. By this time, Luke Shaw was isolated having been overloaded with both Salah and Naby Keita to his right. Fred really should have taken charge of the latter but let him roam free throughout the move - instead Shaw was forced to split the pair rather than pushing tight onto Salah. When the Egyptian was eventually closed by the United left back, it was routine for the winger to locate the goalscorer Keita to his right. To his left, Robertson had somehow been allowed to continue his run from deep and break free of Lindelof if Salah was to try and find him; Wan-Bissaka put up a mere jog in attempt to prevent him, with Lindelof completely unaware and allowing the Scot free. Keita scored, but there were two options essentially clean through due to United's failed press.
2) For the second goal, it was very at the start of the move; Greenwood and Wan-Bissaka both pressed Robertson but were too cautious, allowing him to release the ball again. His delivery from extremely deep looked routine for Shaw to knock back to David de Gea, but Maguire had other ideas. Rather than spotting that his left back intended to nod the ball back to the goalkeeper, the captain decided he would also go for the ball. It seemed there was some extreme lapse in communication, and the left-sided duo ultimately collided. Keita was pressurising the pair and managed to pick up the ball, with Trent Alexander-Arnold wide open on the right. If the pressing approach deployed by United's management was well-planned, then Marcus Rashford would surely be keeping a watchful eye on the Liverpool right back. Alexander-Arnold was Shaw's duty now, but the left back was slow to react after the previous calamity and failed to close the cross. In the middle, Lindelof was never tight to Jota - nor was McTominay to James Milner slightly deeper. Both of the aforementioned United men got the wrong side of their respective attacking players, essentially gifting a tap-in from Alexander-Arnold's low cross from the right. It was Jota who managed to finish off the move, but there's no doubt that Milner would also have been able to convert if the goalscorer had missed the ball on the slide.
3) The third goal all commenced from more distinct pressing incoordination. McTominay, Fred and Shaw all pushed onto Firmino wide in Liverpool's attacking third and failed to prevent his progression. Shaw left Maguire to deal with Salah, and the Liverpool man was allowed to execute an intricate backheel to return the ball to Firmino - which should never have happened. The Brazilian shouldn't have been allowed to break clear of McTominay to pick the ball up again, with the Scot's insufficient press allowing the Liverpool number nine to shift into a huge gap present consequent of the congestion caused by the initial unorganised press from United. Neither Lindelof or Wan-Bissaka were tight enough to Jota in the next phase, as he was allowed to receive the ball from Firmino. Salah was clever off the ball, dragging Shaw inside to accentuate the already narrow lineup of the United defence. Again, therefore, the right hand side was wide open. Similar to the first goal, Keita drifted over to that side under no pressure from any United midfield counterpart (Fred was the nearest to the flank). The ball was originally played into Salah, who's effort was blocked and ultimately ricocheted fortunately into Keita's open path. Once more, United's left side of defence was slow in their response; Shaw neither closed down Keita nor tracked Salah's run into the depths of the box. Maguire (and McTominay to an extent) also failed to deny the Egyptian's dart or cut out Keita's square ball to prevent the goal.
4) By the fourth goal, it was pure laziness from Greenwood in his pressing pursuit of Robertson; Jota was similarly allowed breathing space to receive and shift the ball by Wan-Bissaka down that side. In subsequence, Jota had two clear options to play to - neither the run of Robertson inside or Firmino further afield were tracked by Greenwood or Maguire respectively. Curtis Jones had pulled Lindelof out of his regular position as the United defence was easily deceived again, with Maguire (plus the midfield pivot) all leaving Firmino free in the space - under no pressure - to receive Jota's eventual pass. The control wasn't ideal, but the tackling display from Maguire and Fred was extremely poor having closed on Firmino. Robertson had somehow been allowed to glide forward again and pick up the scraps having bypassed McTominay, with Jota nimbly evading Lindelof's weak pressing grasp after a pass was allowed to reach him through the slimmest of gaps. Yes, Jota - he also wasn't picked up by the right side of United's back line having also made a run from deep. There was no cohesion or defensive structure whatsoever; on the far side of the box, Shaw was in no man's land with a massive gap between him and the eventual goalscorer Salah. Rather than getting tighter to his man, the left back decided to double up with Lindelof on Jota. Was he drilled to do that or was it just an error of judgement? It was possibly it was a combination of the two. One thing can be said - the system that Solskjaer deployed was a calamtity. Ultimately, congestion on the right side of United's defence left Liverpool enticed to attack with force down their own right hand side. Having pressed Jota so intensely for this fourth goal, it was impossible for Shaw to recover and deny Salah's goalbound effort. To make things worse from a United standpoint when analysing this goal, Liverpool were actually a man down in midfield as Keita was off the pitch receiving treatment.
5) The fifth goal is likely the most simplistic in terms of breaking down, but that's because even the basics of defending weren't executed. It all stemmed from Pogba losing the ball in the middle - not a defensive mishap, but Liverpool's dispossession of the Frenchman outlined the characteristics of the perfect press. Jordan Henderson was the man to come away with the ball, with McTominay not exerting anywhere near enough pressure to nullify his surging drive. On the far side, Wan-Bissaka had allowed Jota to break free of his control; however, Henderson opted to spread the ball to his right. It should have been simple for Maguire to cut the passing lane, and for Shaw to restrict Salah. No. The United left back was always the wrong side of and beaten by the running Egyptian, whilst Maguire and Lindelof left far too much of a gap for the ball to be played into. Just like that, it was five.
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