Lowest Average Distance Covered per Game

[Turnip]

Did you think Sunderland simply couldn't be arsed this season and they were running enough? If so, then what were we playing at? According to this BBC article United ran less on average per game than anyone else in the league.

I really find that pretty astonishing. I never expected high octane football under Jose, but I didn't really expect that either.

What do people here think?
Is this due to us not having many quick players? Jose's instructions? Overall tactics? Players being lazy and not caring?

 

[Steven Seagull]

Are there any stats for how much our players move when we have the ball? If I try to imagine one of our matches with our players running around I find it very difficult.

 

[Z_Wolf]

No surprise here. We defend deep with minimal to no pressing. Majority of modern continental managers like their teams to press high and recover possession quickly. Jose's a bit old school in this regard.

 

[andycolegangstainnit]

It would be interesting to compare it to previous seasons. I'd imagine Liverpool were top with their geggenpressing but it doesn't always produce results.

 

[JeffBoomTetris]

Our numbers should be expected to rise next season when we bring in better players to play direct football. Right now, it doesn't mean good, it doesn't mean bad. It just means Mourinho expects the team to defend deep with covering the zones well with efficient movement

 

[Ixion]

The fact Chelsea, City, Spurs and Liverpool aren't in the bottom 10 with us and its filled with struggling teams should be enough to prove it's not a good thing. It is no wonder we struggle to break sides down, we're static and devoid of ideas.

 

[horsechoker]

You could also take into account fixture congestion, players simply can't overexert themselves if they are playing 3 games a week.

 

[youngrell]

Kind of rubbishes the constant moaning about us being tired, doesn't it?

It's also what you get when you park the bus a lot.

 

[frank lee madeer..]

Im sure ive seen it somewhere that chelsea were bottom in their last campaign under jose.

No doubt somebody will be along shortly to reassure us thats its all good & that we just need to spend another shit ton of cash , afterall it is our players that are crap, & surely we cant expect the manager to run for them.

 

[roonster09]

Will be interesting to see what was the table like in 2014-15 when Chelsea won the league, also last season.

 

[AgentP]

This is definitely a concern. This doesn't mean that the players are lazy though. I think it's the system we employ. We defend deep and never really press our opposition. Our LB never makes runs. Zlatan who must have played the most minutes in our team doesn't run much. Even when we attack, it is more direct so doesn't involve too many intricate passes and such which usually needs a lot of movement.

 

[Ixion]

Thinking back to last season didn't we have a run at OT where we didn't score in the first half for like 10 games? Our struggles and lethargic play isn't all down to Mourinho.

 

[Manny]

Not sure how anyone can be surprised.

I'd say it's because of Zlatan, a lack of rotation and we've had 11 league games being played on Sunday after playing EL on Thursday.

 

[Varun]

We stay deep while defending and our off the ball movement is incredibly shite. No surprise we are where we are really.

 

[Pexbo]

Considering how different the league positions of all those clubs are, I'd say it means pretty much feck all.

 

[Nanotron]

Id like to see the stats for summer to jan compared with jan to summer for this season

 

[EyeInTheSky]

This is a prime example of how stats can mean whatever you want them to.

14 Teams with more distance covered are still below us. An argument can be made that some teams are more efficient with their yards covered or are better passers and don't turn over the ball as much with teams needing to recover it due to loosing it more often or having less possession a combination of both would explain the need to cover more yards.

Averages are very deceptive when trying to get to an actual answer. Correlation is definitely not causation here.

 

[cyberman]

Teams sat deep against us, its no surprise.
We cant score to bring them out, im certain if this were divided into home and away we would see the difference

 

[ivaldo]

Kind of rubbishes the constant moaning about us being tired, doesn't it?

It's also what you get when you park the bus a lot.

Or is actually prove of it? Add to that the ridiculous fixture congestion and the huge amount of travel we've done and it's perfectly understandable.

 

[AlwaysRed66]

You could also take into account fixture congestion, players simply can't overexert themselves if they are playing 3 games a week.

Not this ridiculous argument again. We have the biggest squad in the division, & Mourinho knew exactly how many games would be played when the season started. Whose fault was it we allowed two experienced midfielders leave in January.

 

[Abdou0230]

Aside from our defending deep argument, we also are very stationary in opposition half. Starting form the midfield line onwards, players just stand there pointing to there teammates to pass it back or sideways, when they decide to move, it's to come deep rater than run behind. This is obviously on Mourinho and the fact that we lack any kind of tactics going forward.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Suddenly, all the draws and all the crappy performances make sense.

 

[Pexbo]

This is a prime example of how stats can mean whatever you want them to.

14 Teams with more distance covered are still below us. An argument can be made that some teams are more efficient with their yards covered or are better passers and don't turn over the ball as much with teams needing to recover it due to loosing it more often or having less possession a combination of both would explain the need to cover more yards.

Averages are very deceptive when trying to get to an actual answer. Correlation is definitely not causation here.

Exactly my point above. There is zero correlation.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

Exactly my point above. There is zero correlation.

I don't agree I think its a direct correlation that Jose is upsetting the players so much that they are not running for him #zlataninjuryblessing

 

[the hea]

Zlatan, Rooney, Mata, Carrick, Mhiki... With players like this in the squad it's not surprising.

 

[Red4Life_#7]

No surprise here. We defend deep with minimal to no pressing. Majority of modern continental managers like their teams to press high and recover possession quickly. Jose's a bit old school in this regard.

Well this old school mentality kept us unbeaten for most of the season and within a chance of winning 3 pieces of silverware

I still see bits of LVG in our game... this will dilute next season especially with the addition of energetic players in the summer

 

[B20]

Teams sat deep against us, its no surprise.

I guess spurs, Liverpool and City did not have this problem and therefore ran more (?!?)

 

[ivaldo]

No surprise here. We defend deep with minimal to no pressing. Majority of modern continental managers like their teams to press high and recover possession quickly. Jose's a bit old school in this regard.

And the league Champions?

 

[Minimalist]

It's not the one key factor behind our failure in the league but I do find it interesting Liverpool are top (a team that has overachieved this season) and United are bottom (a team that has very much underachieved this season).

 

[donkeyfish]

It's not necessarily a problem. There are benefits of being able to achieve by exerting less effort than the opposition. However, we don't really know if that's the case or whether we simply have a less fit squad.

In addition, distance covered is not the sole measure of effort during a game. Exertion depends on speed and distance.

We were close to the bottom last year as well.

 

[youngrell]

Or is actually prove of it? Add to that the ridiculous fixture congestion and the huge amount of travel we've done and it's perfectly understandable.

That is possible. But I doubt the drop off in just the last month of the season would affect the whole season average to such an extent.

It's not news to us fans that the team is quite static, with or without the ball. It may be a surprise to find we are the most static in the whole league, though.

 

[youngrell]

Zlatan, Rooney, Mata, Carrick, Mhiki... With players like this in the squad it's not surprising.

Didn't Mata cover the most distance in the whole squad last year? He may not be very effective in his defensive responsibilities but Juan puts the yards in.

 

[Skills]

Antonio Valencia being the laziest full back in the league might actually be true.

 

[Murray3007]

Not sure how anyone can be surprised.

I'd say it's because of Zlatan, a lack of rotation and we've had 11 league games being played on Sunday after playing EL on Thursday.

How come we never here teams in the CL moan about playing on a wed and then the sat but for some reason as soon as the EL is mentioned is a hard job?

 

[FlawlessThaw]

How come we never here teams in the CL moan about playing on a wed and then the sat but for some reason as soon as the EL is mentioned is a hard job?

Most of them get knocked out too early for it to be of consequence.

 

[Manny]

How come we never here teams in the CL moan about playing on a wed and then the sat but for some reason as soon as the EL is mentioned is a hard job?

Because Europa is always Thursday-Sunday.

CL can still give you Tuesday-Sunday. Or even Tue-Sat.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Our attack has been incredibly static for most of the season.

I'd be very interested to see how much our midfielders have run compared to other mids, and also our defenders - I'd wager that they'd fare quite well.

Not sure if anyone has the stats, but it'd be very interesting to compare them, rather than just viewing the team as a whole.

Ander Herrera and Pogba will have covered a lot of ground, Rojo seems to run his socks off compared to most other CBs, Valencia runs non-stop, Bailley is very mobile.

It's that final 3rd where the movement stops, that's my guess anyway.

 

[RedChip]

This is a prime example of how stats can mean whatever you want them to.

14 Teams with more distance covered are still below us. An argument can be made that some teams are more efficient with their yards covered or are better passers and don't turn over the ball as much with teams needing to recover it due to loosing it more often or having less possession a combination of both would explain the need to cover more yards.

Averages are very deceptive when trying to get to an actual answer. Correlation is definitely not causation here.

I would go further and say, there isn't even a correlation. Our being bottom is dramatic and I guess worthy of discussion but ranking stats can be pretty misleading. If you plot those average distances against point totals, your scatter plot has no pattern. Ergo, those stats do not tell as anything about how average distance covered affects performance. I would say it's too crude to be useful.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Or is actually prove of it? Add to that the ridiculous fixture congestion and the huge amount of travel we've done and it's perfectly understandable.

We've been bottom of this particular table from very early on this season, long before we started travelling all over Europe in the EL. I think he makes a good point. It's fine if we set out to play tactics that involve a lot less running than other teams. More than one way to skin a cat. However, one of the upsides of this approach should be a squad of players who are less drained at the end of the season.

 

[roonster09]

How come we never here teams in the CL moan about playing on a wed and then the sat but for some reason as soon as the EL is mentioned is a hard job?

Like few said, Europa is always Thursday - Sunday (2 days gap), for CL it changes many times.

For example Spurs fixtures after CL games.
Sept 14th Vs Monaco then 18th vs Sunderland. 3 days gap
Sept 27th vs CSKA then Oct 2nd Vs City - 4 days gap
Oct 18th vs Leverkusen then Oct 22nd vs Bournemouth - 3 days gap
Nov 2nd vs Leverkusen, then Nov 6th vs Arsenal - 3 days gap
Nov 22nd vs Monaco, then Nov 26th Vs Chelsea - 3 days gap
Dec 7th vs CSKA, then Dec 11th vs ManUtd - 3 days gap.

They never had Wednesday - Saturday combination this season.

Similarly City had at least 3 days gap for 4 games and 2 days for 2 games in Group stages. Played once with 2 days gap in KOs.

Arsenal played only once with 2 days gap in Group stages and KOs.

So it's easy to see why Europa is more taxing than CL schedule.