da doce： It was revealed this week the Manchester United were, surprisingly, bottom of the Premier League stats table for distance covered across the season so far. The Red Devils found themselves below even West Ham United, who this week sacked Slaven Bilic, whose training methods have come under severe scrutiny in the last few weeks.
da betobet： It would hardly come as a surprise to see the Hammers at the bottom of the pile given their start to the season and the fact that plenty of their players seemed disinterested in playing for the club, but Manchester United are second in the Premier League, are the number one challengers to league leaders Manchester City in the title race and should be attempting to win trophies, not amble around the pitch.
Perhaps it’s a case of work smart and not hard for Jose Mourinho’s side this season, but after consecutive away defeats in the Premier League at Huddersfield and Chelsea came around the same time as an underwhelming performance against Liverpool and a narrow victory over Tottenham Hotspur, there are now some serious question marks hanging over the Old Trafford club going into the latest international break.
Indeed, how they come out of the break will be of potentially vital importance: United will have a packed schedule from here into the festive period, and with Manchester City and Arsenal games on the horizon, they’ll need to be at their best. Perhaps it’s a blessing that they’ve run less than any other club so far – maybe they’ll be fresher? But that’s unlikely to be the case.
For a start, it doesn’t seem like a particularly obvious ploy from Mourinho. When he first arrived in the Premier League, the former Chelsea coach was famed for his innovative ideas. Among the more obvious ones, like his ability to organise a defence and his use of Claude Makelele in a defensive anchor role in front of the defence, was the idea of having his players rest physically when they were in control of the ball. The point is that defending usually tires players out more than attacking, as the attacking team can go forward with only a few players, who can slow down runs if they’re tired, whereas the defensive team’s players all have to defend and chase down the player in possession.
This season, United have done their fair share of defending, certainly in the biggest games of the campaign so far. But despite the headline figure that United find themselves in last place, there is one more very interesting stat, and although it seems like something of an outlier, it could be significant: even though United as a team have covered less distance than any other side, summer signing Nemanja Matic has covered more ground than all but three other Premier league players so far this season. Up until this third international break, the Serbian has run 128km over the first 11 games of the campaign.
Matic has played every minute so far. As have David de Gea, Antonio Valencia and Romelu Lukaku. But it’s Matic’s role in the transition of the team from attack to defence – especially in the absence of Paul Pogba – which means he’s run more than any other United player, and more than almost any other player in the league.
And so, despite the fact that United as a group have run less than any other side, that they’ve been missing a key player like Pogba and leaned so heavily on a player like Matic who hasn’t had much of a rest so far feels like it could be important over the festive period, when the games come thick and fast and the weather gets harsher. Especially as the Serbian midfielder, according to the stats, appears to be doing the job of two players in this United side.
Every season, it seems like Jose Mourinho has something to say about fixture congestion and tired players. When it comes to the pile-up over the next few months, it could be Matic who turns out to be the main casualty in the United side.