How bad is Manchester United’s attacking under Louis van Gaal? Fewer chances, shrinking shots and less goals – the numbers don’t look good for the Old Trafford boss
Commands of “Attack! Attack! Attack!” have become noticeable in their regularity and forcefulness in recent Manchester United games.
Manager Louis van Gaal has been criticised for appearing to force functionality into United’s cavalier DNA, as attacking moves become more synonymous with sideways passing than ferocious forays into the final third.
But is the suggestion United are less effective when going forward under the Dutchman borne out by relevant statistics? Judging by every metric City PM examined, it does not look good for Van Gaal.
Read more: Van Gaal keen to dispel myths of United's attacking pas
United’s number of goals, shots, and chances created per game have all steadily declined since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 and have even fallen from David Moyes’s single season in charge.
If fans’ frustrations are founded on a lack of goals then it is easy to see why they have been growing. United averaged more than 2.2 goals per game in Ferguson’s final season but that has steadily dropped since and this season is currently at 1.4 per game.
And it is not as if they have simply been unlucky. This season United are average fewer shots – 10 – and fewer shots on target per game – 3.8 – than in any of the previous three seasons.
In contrast, United averaged 14.7 shots and 5.6 shots on target per game in Ferguson’s final season and 13.8 shots and 4.8 shots on target per game in Moyes’s season in charge.
Only Sunderland, Stoke, Newcastle and West Brom are currently averaging fewer shots per game this season than United.
A drop in chances created per game from 11.5 in Ferguson’s final campaign to a current average 7.5 suggests the problem extends further than shot-shy strikers.
United’s struggle to penetrate is reflected in the fact that they now take a higher percentage of their shots from outside the box (49 per cent) than in any of the previous three seasons, and a lower percentage (four per cent) from inside the six yard box.
Shots on goal from the middle of the pitch – offering a greater likelihood of scoring – are also languishing at their lowest levels in the period, as demonstrated in the interactive below. Shots from central positions have dropped from 65 per cent to 32 per cent from Ferguson's final season to the current campaign.
In Van Gaal’s defence is Van Gaal’s defence: despite such blunt attacking numbers United’s sold rearguard means they lie fourth in the Premier League and just two points off top spot.
United have conceded just eight goals so far this season, the lowest figure in the top flight, and have not been breached in six games – or more than 540 minutes.
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