Manchester United's backline has historically been criticized, how bad is it? A new statistic reveals the truth. Over the course of the past two seasons, the number of opposing shots caused by player errors was tallied, and surprisingly, Manchester United players took four of the top ten spots, with two of them tied for the top two spots. At the top of the list, as I'm sure you can guess, is none other than captain Harry Magooni!
This list covers data from the 2020 to 2021 seasons so far, showing the number of opposition shots on goal caused by mistakes by Premier League players. Magouni is undoubtedly the biggest weakness in United's defense, and the data in this list backs that up. In the last two seasons, Magouni has made 62 appearances, and his mistakes have led to seven opposing shots on goal, which tops the list!
In second place, also a United player, is midfielder Nemanja Mati. Despite his lack of appearances, totaling only 40 in the last two seasons, his mistakes have led to six shots on goal. Marty and Magouni held the middle of the park, but left United's back door wide open for the opposition to enter like nobody's business.
United players occupy four of the top ten spots on this turnover list, with the top two already revealed and the next two equally easy to guess - a pair of wing-backs - Lauki Searle and Yunbi Shaka. Searle is in ninth place with four misses in 52 games and Shaka is in tenth place with four misses in 54 games. Not only are United losing ground in the middle of the park, they have equally serious holes on both sides of the ball, so how can they expect good results with this kind of performance?
