Manchester United: How have they performed?

In May 2012, Manchester United were on the wrong side of a late heartbreak at the hands of their fiercest cross town rivals. Aguero’s 96^th minute strike meant that City had snatched the Premier League title from the hands of Manchester United. United were hurt, deeply hurt.

But as it is said, one must fear the wounded animal more. During the summers of 2012, Sir Alex added more firepower to his already star studded squad to ensure that they did not suffer the pain again this year with the addition of quality players in Shinji Kagawa, Nick Powell, Alexander Buttner and the deadly striker Robin Van Persie. In this series of articles we will analyze how the various departments of Manchester United have fared until now. In the first article, we analyze the team’s performance on the whole and the performance of goalkeepers.

United’s performance as a team

We are already halfway through the season, which has been pleasing, if not spectacular for the Red Devils. The Red Devils are now at the top of the table, 7 points ahead of Manchester City. The team has accomplished such feats which it did not achieve over the past few seasons. They defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Manchester City at the Etihad stadium (City lost at the Etihad after 18 months), Liverpool at Anfield and were comprehensively at the top before Christmas, which is not exactly United-esque stuff.

A United fan cannot stop praising RVP now. The strike force, with Rooney and Hernandez, has been scoring with all guns blazing. RVP has already scored a spectacular 17 goals in only 25 matches and is the joint Premier League’s top scorer with Swansea’s Michu. United, as expected, have been ruthless in their attacks, having scored the maximum number of goals (50). The goal difference due to which United lost the title last season is not an issue this time round. They have made some stunning comebacks against teams like Aston Villa, Southampton, Fulham, Liverpool, CFR Cluj to name a few. They have played crazy matches like the ones against Newcastle, Reading etc which were full of entertainment, free flowing football and sloppy defending. The season has had its downs too. With the defence leaking sloppy goals and not performing, the club has suffered a bit, although the attacking prowess of the squad makes up for it. The team has kept only 5 clean sheets this season and have conceded a whooping 28 goals so early in the campaign which suggests that the defence has been the key concern for Sir Alex. The team has outscored their opponents and now stands at the top of the table, something which Sir Alex will be pleased with.

Goalkeepers

United has had the luxury of having one of the most talented shot-stoppers of the world as their No.1 goalkeeper in David de Gea and an equally capable backup in Anders Lindegaard (along with the young Sam Johnstone). Though United has not been able to keep a number of clean sheets, the goalkeepers have not been at fault for it. They have performed well but luck has not been on their side. The gaffer rotated the goalkeepers a lot earlier in the season, giving both De Gea and Lindegaard an equal chance to vouch for the coveted No.1 spot. de Gea has done much better in dealing with the high balls and the crosses, which means that De Gea is somewhat the preferred choice. He is more of a big match player for United. He is now commanding the box during set pieces, coordinating well with the defence and his shot-stopping skills remain spectacular. The future looks bright for United if he continues like this. Sir Alex will be content with how the things are going on presently in this department.