Manchester United 3-3 Everton
xG=1,5 xGA=1,1
- 62% possession. This number doesn't seem unusual, however that is because more often than not we had to chase the scoreline. In general we have little interest in keeping possession if we're winning so it's a nice change.
- Shots on target 5/14; Everton 3/6
Ignoring the depressive result, I think it was one of our best games this season. We looked really comforteable on the ball, created number of chances (Cavani goal, Shaw shot saved, Rashford shot saved the highest rated). Total xG is a bit low because Bruno and Scott goals were not highly rated for obvious reasons.
- looking at xG graph, Everton had nothing from the game until De Gea presented them with a chance which was converted by Doucouré. Just after that where it seemed we were still in shock, they scored another one.
- Cavani had a great game - scored 1, and created one for Rashford and Shaw. He was involved in all our best moves.
- once again, both Shaw and Wan Bissaka were directly involved in goals. Something we'd never have imagined before the season.
- I was surprised to see that still majority of action happened on the left side, it looked to me like we attacked more on the right:
- I like how effective we've been lately on the right side. Good crossing from Rashford to assist Cavani, but Greenwood is doing well there. Mason is becoming more and more involved as well (on the same level as Marcus in terms of touches and passes, he was way below usually). 85% passing accuracy (highest from front 4), 3/5 successful dribbles. He needs to keep his head up and look for better options though. Interestingly Greenwood had highest number of interceptions + tackles in the team (6), and second best % of successful pressures.
- We did really well to dominate Everton midfield. Keep in mind they played 4 players in central areas, while we had there only Fred and McTominay. Below is the image from BBC MOTD showing what is the real issue we have with the setup rather than personnel, which I've been banging about I don't know how many times:
And this is also the reason why Fred and McTominay have been so effective together, no other pairing can do that for us. Personally I thought there were signs during the game that we should drop one striker and seal the midfield, but we never seem to do that until last 5 minutes.
- McTominay had a very good game overall, 2 interceptions and 2 tackles (2nd highest), 1 clearance, 1 goal, 91% passing accuracy and heavily involved. Probably in form of his life?
- Fred was heavily involved as well, considering he was on 52' he would top all numbers. However, his defensive contribution was very insignificant- 1 tackle, 0 interceptions, 4 blocks and 8 recoveries. He's too weak and too short to play DM and I hope Ole realized that already. Also, I thought he was really good on the ball, very calm and aware of his surroundings. We had 3% more possession in the second half with him, so another improvement we kept the ball really well. In my opinion he improved a lot in this area of his game, and it kind of supports the point I made after Southampton game that he'd suit 4-3-3 with a single pivot behind him. His passing is fine (93% yesterday) as long as he keeps it on the ground.
De Gea probably deserves another paragraph:
To put it into numbers so that it's easier to read (all GKs who played 10+ games in EPL)- De Gea numbers:
- 15th in terms of Post-Shot Expected Goals - Expected Goals. He is on the negative side (-1,3) meaning we'd do better with random keeper (shot stopping only!). It also means it'd require MASSIVE improvement from him to achieve levels from previous 4 seasons. And I mean form-of-his-life massive.
- 20th in terms of % of crosses saved (out of 21).
- 20th in terms of % of shots stopped (out of 21).
We are in the middle of the table (10th) in terms of xGA/90' (fbref shows this as vs Manchester United xG per 90').
Summary:
Our midfield and defensive line did very well against Everton. The second goal was well worked by them and we probably should've done better, but the biggest worry is De Gea form and truth be told, I am afraid we will enter another bad patch of results simply because this defensive line is very shaky and with that goalkeeper in goal, I can see the confidence going down.