How Manchester United created cascade of chances before invading Stoke citadel

Javier Hernandez

Man United 3-2 Stoke

Manchester United showed resilience to complete a superb comeback in a 3-2 victory over Stoke.

After falling behind to an early Peter Crouch strike, Robin Van Persie equalised proceedings with two minutes of the first-half remaining.

United were left stunned before half-time as the Potters responded instantly as Marko Arnautovic whipped the ball past David De Gea, into the top corner.

The Red Devils were facing a second home defeat of the season but with 12 minutes left Rooney nodded home a corner and moments later Hernandez grabbed the winner.

Key Stats:

It’s clear to see just how much Manchester United dominated this match, with a 61% share of possession Moyes’ men had a held a huge monopoly over their Midlands opponents.

The Red Devils enjoyed a greater number of chances on goal and their passing and tackling statistics further emphasize their superiority.

Stoke were successful in just 53% of their attempted challenges, and they committed 18 fouls in the process. The score line suggests this game was a close affair, in reality the two sides were far from equal.

Man of the Match:

Robin Van Persie was awarded the Man of the Match award in this fixture, with a Performance Score of 67 points.

The Dutch striker scored United’s first-half equaliser, before setting-up Wayne Rooney for his second half header.

As always Van Persie posed a huge threat to the opposition defence and with two of his four strikes being blocked.

Performance Score:

The Performance Score below suggests Stoke outperformed United for the majority of the match. Following Peter Crouch’s opener, the Manchester club found themselves on the back foot as the Potters enjoyed their lead.

This level of performance continued until Rooney’s pivotal strike late in the match. From this point onwards United stole the show, with Javier Hernandez popping up late-on to secure a vital three points.

Key Observations:

Interestingly, Manchester United are still unbeaten when Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa have started together. Today the trio completed five key passes between them, whilst scoring twice courtesy of Rooney and Van Persie.

Importantly for Moyes, the inclusion of Kagawa finally seems to be paying off. Against Stoke the Japanese attacker completed 65 passes with an accuracy of 93%. His contribution in midfield assisted United in assailing almost twice the number of passes compared to the efforts of their opponents. Stoke completed just 230 passes in comparison with the 526 of the defending Premier League champions.

Furthermore, Man United created 14 chances and if we look at where the chances are being created, United are creating chances in a number of areas. This made life difficult for Stoke, as it meant Man United were a threat from a number of areas, thus making it hard to shut United down.