Somebody please explain...

Pogue Mahone

So last summer we sold Ronaldo (the best player in the world and our top-scorer for the last two seasons) let Tevez go (a scorer of important goals) and replaced them with Antonio Valencia (previous best return was 3 goals in a season) and Michael Owen (short, scouse, free). Valencia's had decent season but has got his share of flack for being one dimensional and predictable. Cristiano Ronaldo, he ain't. Owen has barely featured.

Despite this we've scored more goals than any other team in the Premier League. 17 goals more than Liverpool's Gerrard-Torres combo (who've been injured no more this season than last) more than the might of Drogba, Anelka and Lampard et al at Chelsea and more than Wenger's "best attacking football in the league TM" array of attacking talent at Arsenal.

This could just about be explained away by Rooney playing the best football of his career. The thing is, he's had long spells of not playing all that great (especially round the time of becoming a dad) and only really hit his straps at the beginning of the season and in the last few games. As for his strike partners, they've got all sorts of criticism on here so surely don't deserve much credit. On the wings, I've already mentioned Valencia but left wing has been a major problem all season, with Nani only just coming to the boil and seemingly better suited to the right. Giggs has been class but gets rested frequently and in central midfield we've got Scholes sitting deep and Carrick/Fletcher neither of whom are rated as attacking midfielders. Anderson finally broke his duck but hasn't torn up any trees. In fact, according to many on here we're in dire need of another attacking midfielder.

So how come we're scoring so many goals?

The other end is even more of a mystery. Chelsea have matched us in terms of keeping goals out and Villa have conceded two fewer, with the meanest defence in the league. The rest have conceded at least 5 more goals, Arsenal (who have had their first choice central defensive pairing available in every league game and Vermaelen being touted as one of the signings of the season) have conceded 10 more goals than us. We did this with rookie keepers playing like rookies and with a defensive injury crisis so bad we ended up travelling to European away with one defender in the entire squad and central midfielders regularly starting in our back four. Rio's been out almost the whole season, Vidic hasn't featured once this year, O'Shea's out for the rest of the season, Neville and Brown have both had more than their fair share of niggles, Evans had a nasty ankle/nerve problem, Rafabio's made of glass etc. etc.

Did we have a world class defensive midfielder helping them out? Nope. Our only specialist defensive midfielder has yet to kick a ball.

So how come we're conceding so few goals?

I'm actually genuinely confused here. We've loads of reason to be struggling at both ends of the pitch but we're scoring more goals and conceding fewer than all rivals, none of whom have had our defensive injury woes and all of whom have held onto their most prolific attacking footballers from last season.

Why is this happening?

jdmufc

a change in luck, which in turn builds confidence

Chadwick's Acne

Last couple of years we've had a consistent back four and goalkeeper to choose from, and had that Ronaldo lad, so we knew that as long as we kept a clean sheet we'd probably win games. If we scored early, we'd rarely go and really batter teams if we're being perfectly honest.

Now we're going back to the United of '94 and '99 who were relentless in attack. We never seem to want to stop going forward.

soapythecat

I think you forget that the whole staff at the FA and every referee in the league, are also united fans.

WireRed

I think we've played more as a team recently. I'd say up until the end of December, we were toothless and created very little but since the New Year we seem to have kicked on. The return to form of Carrick, Nani and Scholes has helped our attacking possibilites no end.

Sometimes having a player who dominates games like Ronaldo did, means you tend to play through him too much. I think we were guilty of that last season especially, but I think players are starting to play freely again.

The contribution of Own Goal is also helping us. He's been in scorching form recently

Pogue Mahone

We've definitely hit form since the CC semi-final but that takes in a grand total of three league games. Out of 25.

We've scored more and conceded fewer than anyone else taking the season as a whole. Which is remarkable really, all things considered.

R_Nick

I agree with WireRed, we have been working more as a team unit rather than always looking to one player. Other players are benefiting from Ronaldo's departure and we are playing some very nice football.

RonaldoVII

Because the whole league is.

dev1l

my impression is that this season we are less predictable. In the last few years the team 'played' for ronaldo. opponents could predict our tactics more easily.
This season we re being less predictable playing either with one or two strikers up front.
I also think that fergie did not want more strikers because he was planning to play a number of games with rooney up front on his own - roma style

redtilded121

SAF,teamwork and experience a powerful combination ,form is temporary class is permanent

Brwned

I think Pogue's asking the question of why we've been so good on the whole, despite losing a fair bit from last season in an attacking sense through Ronaldo and Tevez and in a defensive sense through all the injuries, rather than a repeat in the thread about our upturn in form...

I'm surprised we've coped so well defensively overall, but we did have the best defence in the league with some quality back-ups and Ancelotti's clearly been turning Chelsea into a more attacking side, plus Terry, Cech and Carvalho have been getting gradually worse I think.

In an attacking sense I always had a feeling we'd improve from last season because it was blatantly clear something wasn't right there, and losing Ronaldo was going to make our play more fluid, and our centre mids have had to do more in an attacking sense because of that as well. But again, I never thought we'd do this well going forward.

Basically it's all because Sir Alex is a genius, that's usually the answer. Otherwise I've not a clue really.

Northstand

Some great points in the OP. The bottom line is that we have in Fergie a master at work. The old saying that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts is epitomised by United.

Vanrouge

I've been thinking about Own Goal a lot, and I've come to the amazing conclusion that he has been so prolific because we basically panic defences into activating him. Without our attacking style, or if we sat and just idly probed like we often did last season, opposition defenders wouldn't be tempted to shank or head the ball into their own net. The weird thing is: why are they more panicked by a front three of, say, Park, Rooney and Valencia than, say, by Giggs, Rooney and Ronaldo? I think we have to entertain the possibility that Berbatov/Park/Valencia etc (insert largely underrated attacking player of your choice) is/are better than we and the media have been giving them credit for. I'd probably throw in Carrick there, too. Nani has suddenly been getting universal and deserved accolades.

Chadwick's Acne

pretty shit really?

Pogue Mahone

That's pretty much the same conclusion I came to.

In this age of footy simulations, a lot of people insist on going through our squad man by man and declaring it weaker than some of our rivals and not a patch on previous United teams.

That ignores the fact that it's possible to build a team that is greater than the sum of it's parts. Which is what SAF has done here IMO.

golden_blunder

Team work

The unit is more important than individual players

We're playing more as a team now than we have for the last couple of seasons

RonaldoVII

Basically. Plus there was no summer tournament.

Scholesy

Teams attack us more this season.

dev1l

something else - it seems that fergie has solved one of united's biggest enigmas ie finding the ideal partner for rooney......by playing him as a lone striker

championo

It will be hard to say much without downplaying what our players have been able to achieve. Perhaps it will be best to compare our goals scored with that of previous seasons by our team because, Drogba has been away, Torres and Gerrard have been injured for greater part of the year, Arsenal had offensive injury crisis, Manchester City still don't know how to use their strikers properly, Spurs also had some serious attacking players injured.
In saying all of these, I am the least surprised as I am among those who thinks our squad is good enough for the next three years without any addition but blooding with yoof.
Without Ronaldo, we are more compact and hard to break down even with all the defensive injuries we had.

Redfighter

It's because of all the positive vibes from Redcafe

Pogue Mahone

Then why have we conceded so few goals, despite a makeshift defence?

Raoul

I think it comes down to Rooney having a monster year to the point where he and Valencia will end up with more goals than he and Ronaldo combined for last year (46).

Ekeke

They havent done it very well? It is a mystery I admit.

johnmufc

Carrick and Fletcher.

dev1l

But that s no coincidence - this season rooney is more focused on offensive play than tracking ronaldo's fullback

WireRed

We have conceded significantly more than last season, so I don't think we've conceded "so few".

Their perception of us being vulnerable has played into our hands more than it has hindered us IMO. We've had more space to work with this season than at any point last season. Teams just dug in because of their fear of Ronaldo.

Maybe we needed to wound ourselves to lure the prey into taking the bait, so to speak.

RK

Maybe we've just paid the refs more this season?

Unlikely, seeing as we've probably had more decisions go against us than normal. Add that to the list Pogue.

iPete

Weak Prem maybe? Our "backup players" really are underrated aren't they?

But hadn't thought of it before now tbh.

Tumbling-Dice

Re Villa's excellent defensive record, 2 excellent signings in Friedel and Dunne, and to an extent Warnock aswell.

Am I trying to jinx them ? You bet I am.

Ekeke

Its obviously a mixture of all the things mentioned already. I think one other part of it is that recently we've come into real form, getting a lot out of the players we have. I dont think Chelsea have quite done that at any point this season. And if they had managed that or do manage that in the near future, our stats wont look quite as good in comparison.

Northstand

Pogue was comparing our defensive record with that of the other sides this season. And as he said only Villa, a fairly dour and defensive side it must be said, have conceded fewer. With all United's problems in defence this season, our defensive record has been remarkable.

McCool

Can any of the statters on here tell me what was our position at this stage of the season over the last few years as compared to now?

We've lost a few more games this year, but so have our rivals.

dev1l

The thing is that sometime its a problem considering who is a first team regular and who is a backup.

OK Gibson for example can be considered a backup and VDS, Evra, Rooney, Rio, Vidic and Fletcher and recently Carrick as 1st team players.

But if we look at wingers for example - Giggs is supposed to be the best of them, but even in the big games (eg vs Arsenal) he was not in first 11. Between Nani, Valencia, Giggs and Park - its hard to pick the one guaranteed the first team place.

The same goes for the right back spot

samabachan

Personally I reckon the whole league is of a lower standard than last season, for a huge variety of reasons.

WireRed

Yeah it is a surprising stat. I thought at least Chelsea and Brum would have been ahead of us. Just think if we had the luxury of playing the same defence week-in, week-out ala Arsenal

dev1l

Disagreed. I think the sides out of the top 4 positions are actually better than last year- that's why the top teams have been dropping more points imo

Brwned

It was already on the decline from last season, I'd say.

surf

How often does a team score over 90 in the league? Rarely. All of the top 3 are on course to do it this season. Perhaps they have realised that there are a lot of crap defences out there and are following a more attacking policy to take full advantage. If Ronaldo was still here we would be scoring even more, probably breaking 100.

Brwned

Given that Ronaldo was a big part of a team that wasn't very impressive in the build-up last year, and you can see facets in his game as to why, you really can't say that with any certainty.