What're the chances we'll score 5 goals in one game from open play this season?

[MZX7]

I see these amazing scorelines teams like City, Arsenal and even Spurs have had in recent times and I wonder if we will see such a thing under the current "philosophy"?

One thing is certain, our defense is a fortress and LvG has certainly improved us massively in this area. The shape of our team when off the ball is incredible (that Arsenal 15 minutes were a mere blip).

Scholes says that coaching the attacking mentality is a tougher thing to do.

Keeping Rooney aside and not involving him in this discussion (as it will only resort to name calling), do we have enough quality to have a scoreline of 5-0 or something like the 8-2 against Arsenal few years back?

Can Martial, Memphis, Mata, Herrera score big? Also, I cannot wait for Schweiny's debut goal for us. Will that happen this season?

Our game could be so exciting. We have a brilliant mix of youth and experience. One of the most balanced sides in terms of player ages. When can we expect us to thrash teams regardless of whether they park the bus or not?

Is it necessary to sign another attacking talent in January given that Memphis isn't coping well enough? Which right winger would suit our gameplay?

 

[RedDevil@84]

5 goals.

We ll not be able to score them. The other team would need to put 2 into their nets to make it happen

 

[Sunny Jim]

Its early morning here, i havent got my coffee yet...so i misread the tittle.

I thought you were suggesting that we have scored 5 open game goals all season which to be frank is more plasuable then scoring 5 in one season


PS i meant i one game

 

[World Game]

We can but there's no need/no point when you're already up by 2 or 3 goals in a game. Better to just control the game and conserve energy/fitness.

 

[pacifictheme]

We can but there's no need/no point when you're already up by 2 or 3 goals in a game. Better to just control the game and conserve energy/fitness.

Yep. Latter years Fergie teams were fantastic at "doing enough" and shutting a game down at 2 0 or 2 1 to save energy. Arsenal will beat a team 5 0 then go and lose to West Brom the week after.

Not saying i don't find our style of play boring and frustrating though.

 

[Samid]

We can but there's no need/no point when you're already up by 2 or 3 goals in a game. Better to just control the game and conserve energy/fitness.

Good thing there is no such thing as goal difference and that it never will prove to be pivotal at the end of the season!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

One thing is certain, our defense is a fortress and LvG has certainly improved us massively in this area. The shape of our team when off the ball is incredible (that Arsenal 15 minutes were a mere blip

I wish I shared your confidence. What about Swansea, Southampton and every CL fixture we've played this season? We didn't look very fortress like in any of these games.

 

[Lewis.no.9]

We can but there's no need/no point when you're already up by 2 or 3 goals in a game. Better to just control the game and conserve energy/fitness.

tell that to City. You must of liked losing the title to them on goal difference before then?

 

[Welsh Wonder]

We beat Everton 3-0 at Goodison Park. It's not 5 but it's a good scoreline at a difficult ground and all from open play iirc.

 

[Lewis.no.9]

I wish I shared your confidence. What about Swansea, Southampton and every CL fixture we've played this season? We didn't look very fortress like in any of these games.

well said. People are really overrating our team and more importantly the work Van gaal has done, especially when as you pointed out, there is still an abundance of results as evidence to the contrary.

 

[ADJUDICATOR]

We might score 5 if we faced opposition worse than Sunderland/Ipswich/Brugge, which is of course unlikely to happen in a premier league season. We've put 3 past Liverpool and Everton so it isn't entirely implausible that a bad day from worse teams would see us scoring 5. It'd be a rare event.

 

[Invictus]

Good thing there is no such thing as goal difference and that it never will prove to be pivotal at the end of the season!

Yep, the conserving energy argument isn't very well founded for league fixtures with cumulative tables. If you have the chance to slaughter the opposition, you go for it. Especially considering how we agonizingly lost the 2011/2012 Premier League Championship on goal difference. Which is followed by goals scored, win record, and then head to head record.

 

[Samid]

Yep, the conserving energy argument isn't very well founded for league fixtures with cumulative tables. If you have the chance to slaughter the opposition, you go for it. Especially considering how we agonizingly lost the 2011/2012 Premier League Championship on goal difference. Which is followed by goals scored, win record, and then head to head record.

Just looking at our goal scoring/difference records over the past few seasons. We rarely seem to slaughter the opposition anymore. Usually our goal difference isn't the best and on the few occasions it has been best it was more down to our rivals being poor than us being anything spectacular.

08/09:
Liverpool: 77-27 (+50). United: 68-24 (+44). Chelsea: 68-24 (+44).

09/10:
Chelsea: 103-32 (+71). United: 86-28 (+56).

10/11:
United: 78-37 (+41). Chelsea: 69-33 (+36).

11/12:
City: 93-29 (+64). United: 89-33 (+56).

12/13:
United: 86-43 (+43). Chelsea: 75-39 (+36).

13/14:
City: 102-37 (+65). Liverpool: 101-50 (+51). Chelsea: 71-27 (+44). Arsenal: 68-41 (+27). Everton: 61-39 (+22). United: 64-43 (+21).

14/15:
City: 83-38 (+45). Chelsea: 73-32 (+41). Arsenal: 71-36 (+35). United: 62-37 (+25).

15/16:
City: 24-8 (+16). Arsenal: 18-8 (+10). West Ham: 22-13 (+9). Tottenham: 16-8 (+8). United: 15-8 (+7).

08/09: 4-0 WBA, 5-0 Stoke, 5-0 WBA, 5-2 Tottenham
09/10: 5-0 Wigan, 4-1 Portsmouth, 4-0 West Ham, 5-0 Wigan, 5-0 Portsmouth, 4-0 Bolton, 4-0 Stoke
10/11: 7-1 Blackburn, 5-0 Birmingham, 4-0 Wigan
11/12: 8-2 Arsenal, 5-0 Bolton, 4-1 Wolves, 5-0 Fulham, 5-0 Wigan, 5-0 Wolves, 4-0 Wigan
12/13: 4-0 Wigan, 4-0 Wigan, 4-0 Norwich
13/14: 4-1 Swansea, 4-1 Villa, 4-0 Newcastle, 4-0 Norwich
14/15: 4-0 QPR
15/16: Nothing as of yet

Counting only league games where we at least scored 4 goals and the winning margin was at least 3 goals.

 

[soapythecat]

When was the last time we had 5 shots on target in a game?
Our style of play is not set up to win games by such a margin as its too defensive.

 

[stevoc]

I would say it's unlikely considering we would have to be playing really well on one of the rare occasions where a team we are playing against doesn't have 10 men behind the ball.

The majority of teams we play against this season seem to want to just camp out in their box and play on the counter.

 

[Santoryo]

Yep. Latter years Fergie teams were fantastic at "doing enough" and shutting a game down at 2 0 or 2 1 to save energy. Arsenal will beat a team 5 0 then go and lose to West Brom the week after.

Not saying i don't find our style of play boring and frustrating though.

Wrong. After that season which we lost to City by goal difference, Fergie bought Van Persie and was eyeing plenty of goals scored. He even went ahead and talk about how important it was for us to start scoring plenty more goals.

We're the last one to be talking about not caring about goal difference, it cost us a title.

And Fergie teams never shy away from scoring if it could be done. One can accuse Fergie later years for playing some boring football to some but one thing that stuck around with Fergie were goals, He loves them which is why he was usually obsessed with buying strikers while neglecting our midfield for years.

 

[Dion]

tell that to City. You must of liked losing the title to them on goal difference before then?

The issue there was losing 6-1, that's a 10 goal swing. You do that and let it go to GD and you're fecked.

 

[stevoc]

Wrong. After that season which we lost to City by goal difference, Fergie bought Van Persie and was eyeing plenty of goals scored. He even went ahead and talk about how important it was for us to start scoring plenty more goals.

We're the last one to be talking about not caring about goal difference, it cost us a title.

And Fergie teams never shy away from scoring if it could be done. One can accuse Fergie later years for playing some boring football to some but one thing that stuck around with Fergie were goals, He loves them which is why he was usually obsessed with buying strikers while neglecting our midfield for years.

We actually scored less goals the year we won the league with RVP compared to the year before when we lost the league on goal difference though. We did try to score more goals no doubt but it ended up in us actually conceding more goals and our goal difference being 13 goals worse off. So it was maybe counter productive.

 

[Samid]

The issue there was losing 6-1, that's a 10 goal swing. You do that and let it go to GD and you're fecked.

Had we only lost that game 1-2 then both teams would've ended with 89 points and 89-29 goal difference resulting in a play-off at a neutral venue for the championship. That would have been epic.

 

[Rado_N]

When do we play Bournemouth?

 

[JPRouve]

I'm not sure if you can "force" goals, if you are good enough offensively you will score 5 goals in a game, it won't be a regular occurrence but it will happen. Our team lacks the quality to try it without risking to actually lose the game, we are not balanced, cohesive, powerful and creative enough to do that.

 

[GimmeAKitKat]

Early goals are usually required for big scorelines. Get early goals to force the opposition to attack to try and get back into the game, then exploit that for more goals.

We currently dont look to score at all in the first half, we play safe possession first half, try to tire the opposition out abit and take a chance if its handed to us on a plate. Then second half we press more hoping the tired opposition will make mistakes and if not they'll be less effective on the counter.

 

[The United Irishman]

I see these amazing scorelines teams like City, Arsenal and even Spurs have had in recent times and I wonder if we will see such a thing under the current "philosophy"?

One thing is certain, our defense is a fortress and LvG has certainly improved us massively in this area. The shape of our team when off the ball is incredible (that Arsenal 15 minutes were a mere blip).

Scholes says that coaching the attacking mentality is a tougher thing to do.

Keeping Rooney aside and not involving him in this discussion (as it will only resort to name calling), do we have enough quality to have a scoreline of 5-0 or something like the 8-2 against Arsenal few years back?

Can Martial, Memphis, Mata, Herrera score big? Also, I cannot wait for Schweiny's debut goal for us. Will that happen this season?

Our game could be so exciting. We have a brilliant mix of youth and experience. One of the most balanced sides in terms of player ages. When can we expect us to thrash teams regardless of whether they park the bus or not?

Is it necessary to sign another attacking talent in January given that Memphis isn't coping well enough? Which right winger would suit our gameplay?

With each passing game I grow more disillusioned with our style of play, by now I thought everything would click, and we could score for fun, but in reality we are regularly going through 30-40 minute periods without creating any chances. I can't see a 5-0...Not under LVG.

 

[quackattack]

Yes, lets just win 1-0, because barca, bayern and rm dont know what they are doing!

 

[facund]

We would need to already be ahead and have the opposition go down to 10 men to even stand a chance of this. Still incredibly unlikely as we just don't seem to have the appetite for it these days. Brugge was probably our best chance to do so this season as their defending was beyond ropey.

 

[dead joe]

The only way i can see that happening is if Martial scores 3 or 4.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

When was the last time we had 5 shots on target in a game?
Our style of play is not set up to win games by such a margin as its too defensive.

Nail on the head. Baby steps.

Lets start by testing opposition goal keepers, first.

 

[ghagua]

5 goals in 1 game..

 

[marlowe78]

We scored 4 against City last year and have a better squad now so I don't feel it's as implausible as people think. But you have to play with the intent to score that many. We don't do that.

 

[SammyUnited_83]

About the same as 'What are the chances of us coming from 1 down to win 2-1 with 10 minutes to go'.

Chances - 0.

 

[EASTSIDE777]

If Newcastle can score 6 anything is possible.

 

[Sylar]

Right now, Id be happy with 1-0 wins

 

[MZX7]

Right now, Id be happy with 1-0 wins

Mourinho would love you as a fan

 

[golden_blunder]

I would say it's unlikely considering we would have to be playing really well on one of the rare occasions where a team we are playing against doesn't have 10 men behind the ball.

The majority of teams we play against this season seem to want to just camp out in their box and play on the counter.

And why not? We will predictably play everything in front of them.

 

[golden_blunder]

Creating 5 good chances would be a good start

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Tbh i would prefer five 1-0 wins in the upcoming five fixtures with a relatively increased percentage in the clear cut chances created pg statistics. It would be a much better sign that we're heading towards the right direction than winning a single game by five goals. It would not be pleasing to the eye for many United fans but it would be a proof that that team is slowly starting to have an identity on the pitch and that we've found a formula to win our matches.

Yes we beat Arsenal 8-2 in 2012, so what? We were a team in form and Arsenal were missing a lot of players due to injuries. As far as i recall, our tactics in that season - the let's try to imitate Barca's high lines and pressing but with not having the right personnel attitude - lead us to conceding six from City, caused an early CL exit and led to a rather unsuccessful season.

Of course we can score 5 goals in a game. We could have scored 5 or 6 against Tottenham and City last season. We're at the stage where, if the opposition offers us spaces, we can outscore them. When the spaces aren't there and we have to create them for ourselves, that's when the problems emerge. And until then we'll have to depend on good defensive displays to win matches, whether we like it or not.

 

[Cassidy]

We've scored 3 goals in league games 4 times this season out of 10 games.
5 goals isn't that far fetch.

 

[Sylar]

Mourinho would love you as a fan

Wins, not losses

 

[Sigma]

I hope the response to the thread has jinxed tomorrow. We'll score 5.







5-6

 

[2 man midfield]

My main issue isn't really with our finishing, Like Van Gaal keeps saying. We don't create enough clear cut chances. After every match that we haven't managed to win, he says something along the lines of "We need to finish our chances" or "the luck with our finishing wasn't there, but we created enough" but i find myself disagreeing.

When we find ourselves with clear openings, we usually put them away. The problem is the amount we create. Unless you're Ruud Van Nistelrooy, you're always going to miss the odd chance, so 1 or 2 per game isn't enough. To routinely have games where you don't register a shot on target until 50, 60, 70 minutes is usually going to see you struggling for goals.