81 Crosses: How Moyes’ tactics were a failure once again

Fulham snatched a last minute draw at Old Trafford in dramatic circumstances after Manchester United had looked to have completed a massive comeback victory in their race for fourth.

United fans were dreading yet another disappointing day on home soil with 15 minutes to go, as Fulham led through Steve Sidwell’s 19th minute strike, with the London club managing to soak up the pressure from the home side, but netted twice in two minutes through Robin Van Persie and Michael Carrick to look as though they would be taking all three points.

But Fulham battled back deep into stoppage time as Darren Bent headed home from close range to give the Cottagers a share of the spoils and a shot in the arm in their survival battle, while David Moyes’ United side are now nine points off a place in the top four as pressure mounts on the former Everton boss.

Key Stats:

The stats show exactly what you saw, as it was backs to the wall stuff from Fulham who got their reward for a dogged performance by netting with two out of three shots on target, with the other rebounding to Bent for the stunning equaliser.

United had nine shots on target in the end and 31 in total as they piled on the pressure on Fulham’s goal, with nine blocked shots displaying how well Fulham defended.

United had 65% of possession and completed 92% of their passes as Fulham backed off, but ten corners to Fulham’s one demonstrated United’s singular game plan, as 81 crosses were put in over the course of the game by the home team.

Man Of The Match:

Michael Carrick was the best player on the pitch according to the Squawka Performance Score calculator, and it looked as if he had netted the winner for his efforts as his 80th minute strike deflected past Maarten Stekelenburg.

Carrick completed 88 passes over the course of the game at a phenomenal success rate of 96%, and he had eight attempts on goal as he was allowed a more offensive role due to Fulham’s defensive shell, with a further two shots forcing a save from the Fulham ‘keeper.

He made two interceptions and even completed two take-ons as he was the driving force behind United’s comeback.

Performance Score:

Fulham’s defensive performance earned them a great Squawka performance score, more so than than their contribution to the other end of the pitch.

United only overtook Fulham in terms of performance points when they netted a quickfire double to finish with a higher score, but Fulham’s defensive performance suggests they were worthy of a share of the spoils.

Key Observations:

Manchester United need a new game plan as their current system of cross, cross, cross simply is not paying dividends.

As mentioned earlier (and seen all over social media) United put in 81 crosses over the course of the game, a record since Opta started compiling these statistics, but only connected with 18 of them and just ten resulting in a goal-scoring opportunity.

Manchester United Crosses

Every single starting outfield player other than Nemanja Vidic put in a cross at some point in the game and if Moyes is to implement this style of play, he needs to pick appropriate players for this.

Ashley Young was the chief culprit in terms of wastefulness from crosses, as he put in 15 personally and found a United player with just one, while Juan Mata completed just two of his 11 attempts as he was wasted in a wide position until the tactical reshuffle.

Ashley Young Crosses

That wasn’t the only record to tumble at Old Trafford however, as Fulham set a new record for clearances made as they dug their heels in and refused to budge to the pressure put on them.

The Cottagers made a massive 92 clearances, but that was made easy by the poor quality of of the crossing from Manchester United.

Burn Clearances

Dan Burn was the stand out man at the heart of the defence, as he personally made 22 of those clearances, but with United unable to devise a plan B, it was made easier for Fulham to anticipate and prevent their attacks from resulting in clearer chances.