Bar raised on ‘title-winning’ Prem defence
UNITED shipped 36 goals in 38 Premier League games last season and a gauge of their improvement is the 36th league goal that went past David de Gea in 2018-19 was in their 28th game.
United sieved 18 fewer goals than last term, had the third-best defence in the league and De Gea recorded nearly twice as many clean sheets than the previous season – numbers that reflect the £130m of investment in the defence through Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire.
Wan-Bissaka is nigh-on impregnable when it comes to full-backs and Maguire the fastest to be made United captain after signing since Maurice Setters in 1963.
Yet something still nags about a defence that conceded five in their last three at home and three to a Chelsea side that had managed one goal in their previous three against United.
Against Chelsea at Wembley, the ‘manager cam’ homed in on the United dugout after Victor Lindelof’s glacial reaction to Olivier Giroud’s near post run. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Kieran McKenna, and Mike Phelan studied a replay on a monitor and Phelan threw his hand in the air while mouthing some choice words and turning away in disgust.
Lindelof found himself the wrong side of his marker twice that week and Maguire turned into his own net for Chelsea’s third.
Maguire was given Saturday off when almost every other United player reported back at Carrington and needed an additional breather.
He was the only squad member to have played every minute in all 11 matches since the restart, clocking in 1,138 minutes, and he is the first United player to start every league game since Gary Pallister in 1994-95.
Lindelof has regressed over the last 12 months and was one of four players who lined up in every league game post-lockdown. He has been nursing a back injury that cannot account for some of his dawdling that directly led to goals, though Solskjaer never dropped him.
United’s domestic season was bookended by stout defensive performances – Maguire was the man of the match on his debut against Chelsea and Lindelof saved his best until last to neuter Jamie Vardy. Lindelof has a knack for catching the eye against the more potent marksmen and in the Champions League last season thwarted Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, and Lionel Messi.
Maguire and Lindelof is a Premier League and Champions League-standard axis but uncertainty mounts as to whether ‘winning’ could follow the hyphen. The bar has been raised for what constitutes a title-winning defence in the Premier League and, for Liverpool, Alisson was just as pivotal an addition as Virgil van Dijk.
City have a worldclass goalkeeper and goal-saver in Ederson and Aymeric Laporte. Their intention is to pair Laporte with the Napoli enforcer Kalidou Koulibaly, shortlisted by Jose Mourinho two years ago and regarded among the elite centre halves by Solskjaer, along with Maguire, Van Dijk, and Matthijs de Ligt. City also admire Milan
Something nags about a defence that conceded five goals in their last three home games Samuel Luckhurst
Skriniar of Inter Milan.
Laporte-Koulibaly would be formidable whereas LaporteAke appears getable.
Still, City’s charitable defending is nearing an end now Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones are surplus, although there is a chink in their armour at left-back with the accident-prone Benjamin Mendy.
United’s own left-back issues are no longer as acute, even though Luke Shaw is in danger of missing a fifth final with the club should they last the course in the Europa League.
United clarified in late November the emergence of Brandon Williams had convinced them to abandon interest in a left-back, having tracked Ben Chilwell, and that was during Shaw’s 96-day lay-off with a hamstring strain.
United have been poorer without Shaw and Williams is their only trustworthy reserve fullback, with Timothy Fosu-Mensah erratic on his home return against West Ham and Diogo Dalot out in the cold.
Solskjaer has already warned promotion to the Champions League means United cannot rest regulars as much in midweek fixtures.
It is of little consolation Phil Jones and Marcos Rojo are lingering. United can at least release Rojo, enjoying spa trips in Argentina while his teammates slogged to secure Champions League football, in 11 months and Jones has had fewer league minutes this season than Fosu-Mensah. Chris Smalling is a better defender than Lindelof but enjoying la dolce vita in Rome, where he has been christened ‘Smaldini,’ and there is a willingness on both sides to make his stay permanent.
Eric Bailly and Axel Tuanzebe are too familiar with the Canon medical facilities at Carrington.
United need to invest at least as much in their attack as they did in the defence last year, so a speedier partner for Maguire is not imminent with forwards the focus of Mick Court’s recruitment department.
Once United have cut away the fat of their bloated defensive department then it can be fleshed out again.