Who s the problem of scoring goals? Seventh in the Premier League in the Premier League. What type of center does Manchester United need?

Recently, there have been many discussions about Manchester United's lineup configuration. One of the questions is what type of center Manchester United needs, whether they are good at scoring goals, or are good at making goals, or are good at organizing. Usually, what type of center teams need is configured according to the tactical structure.

When Amorin coached Portugal Sports, center forward Zhelai scored the best goals, and even ranked the top in the entire European League. The problem is that when many teams need to make up for center this year, no one chooses Zhelai, which may have some problems. Although Amorin focuses on the transition from 3 central defenders to 4 defenders at Manchester United, it is obviously a bit different from Portuguese Sports. The data does not lie. Let’s take a look at the game data from last season and see what role Manchester United’s center plays. Of course, it is only based on the data from last season as an inference.

Premier team configuration: Distribution of shooting rights

A team's shooting times in a single game are allocated, and it is impossible for any player to have unlimited fire rights. The design of the tactic is that who is responsible for assisting, who is responsible for engaging in positions, and wherever possible to complete the shot. This is called the centralized utilization of resources, rather than equal distribution. If you arrange for the winger to pull the edge and cross, then the winger will naturally have fewer shots. If you arrange for the winger to cut in and shoot in, then the winger will naturally have more shots.

Look at Premier League champion Liverpool (pictured above). Salah has completed 121 shots in the Premier League this season, half of the 71 shots that Dias, who is second most, have been half the 71 shots. Obviously, Liverpool is not a team that shoots in the center. They are Salah's team, and they have completed tactical customization around Salah. Other players are responsible for engaging and running to create shooting opportunities for Salah. Salah is also powerful enough, winning the Premier League Golden Boot with 39 goals.

Let's take a look at Manchester City, the team that scored the second most goals in the Premier League. Haaland scored 104 Premier League shots, twice as many as the second-place De Bruyne. It is obvious that Manchester City is the team that Haaland shot. All the players' personal breakthroughs, passing and running positions are used to create goals for Haaland, so many Manchester City passes the far post to score for Haaland.

Did you see it? These teams with many goals in the Premier League all have a core role in shooting. There are also midfielders and front midfielders who are responsible for scoring goals, that is Chelsea. Palmer has 121 shots and 15 goals, with a 9% shooting conversion rate. In fact, the shooting conversion rate is not high. If Chelsea has higher shooting efficiency, Chelsea has the ability to compete in the top three in the Premier League.

Did you find it? Any team that competes for the fourth or even the championship in the Premier League, you always have a backbone of the shooting. Everyone will transform around the core player who shot, even Bayern and Barcelona. What will happen if the goal permissions are allocated unevenly? Real Madrid's performance this season is like this. Arsenal is weak in the championship and is empty in all four major players, and he has no absolute shooting authority. Arsenal's defense this season is very good, but 14 draws are the core reason why Arsenal is unable to compete for the championship, and the core reason for 14 draws is the weak offense.

Manchester United's shooting authority allocation: pain in the transition period

Manchester United has been weak in offense in the last two seasons. What is the core problem? Since Rashford scored 30 goals in the season, Manchester United's lineup configuration is actually to end the game with a left winger, or to insert a long shot from the front and midfielder behind. This is verified by data. You can first look at Manchester United's shots this season, with 524 shots, ranking seventh in the Premier League, 2 times away from Brighton, sixth place, and 20 times away from Arsenal, which is the difference in the number of shots in a game (picture below).

That is, Manchester United's shots are actually the level of the middle and upper levels of the Premier League. The problem is that Manchester United's shooting conversion rate is really bad, and they are the team with the worst shooting efficiency in the Premier League. So, how is Manchester United's shooting authority allocated? Look at the data, the following figure is. B Fei scored 8 goals in 104 shots, with the same number of shots as Haaland, but the conversion rate was too low; the second place was left winger Garnacho, and the third place was Amade Diallo.

If calculated based on the average number of games, the players with the most shots in Manchester United are still B Fei and Garnacho. Obviously, Manchester United is the team that shoots with wingers + midfielders. Among the top 20 players in the Premier League this season, Manchester United accounted for 2, with B Fei ranked 8th and Garnacho ranked 12th. This is only the limit of Garnacho’s shots at the end of the season. If Garnacho’s shots are not restricted, Garnacho and B Fei’s shots are the top 10 in the Premier League.

A team that counts the last goal in the Premier League, the two players' shots are among the top 10 in the Premier League. Tell me what type of team Manchester United is, that is, the team that Garnacho + B-fee shots. Other positions are all based on the shooting of two players.

From Manchester United's signings, looking at Manchester United's shooting authority allocation

Manchester United has won Cunya, which is a positioning of a left midfielder. Cunya's shots rank fourth in the Premier League this season, with 105 shots scoring 15 goals. Right winger Mbeumo is currently talking about 79 shots and 20 goals. They have all proved their goal-scoring ability in the Premier League. If you are Manchester United's head coach, how do you allocate the shooting authority after you win these two players?

The shooting authority I mentioned is not the question of Manchester United getting 20 shots in one game, how many forwards shots, and how many wingers shots, but how to design your tactical configuration. Do you want the center forward to suppress the central defender and make room for Cunya and Mbeumo to shoot, or do you want to open up the space in the frontcourt and attract the central defender and Haaland to go to the distance and score?

Or, like Chelsea, you let Palmer get the ball and then shoot, then cut inside, or shoot a long shot outside the penalty area (actually B's shooting method). You always need a tactical design, so what type of center do you think Manchester United needs to solve the problem of shooting in the penalty area?

This is a chain reaction problem. Since Rashford firmly took up the main role, Manchester United has been the team for wingers to score goals. With the winger's goal efficiency sufficient, it attracts the opponent's defense line, so as to create space for the center and the center can also score. One by one, you need to open one to solve the subsequent links, so do you want the center to become an efficient player, or the winger to become an efficient player?

At least from Manchester United's current signing configuration, Manchester United is not a center-forward shooting team, and Amorin does not intend to shoot center-forward shooting, but two front midfielders finish the game. If the gap is opened at both ends, the center-forward's goal will be natural. At least in terms of data, I don’t think that Manchester United’s few goals are the problem of centers, because the two Manchester United players are in the top 15 shots. You should know that there are 20 teams in the Premier League, and even Manchester City, which scores more goals, cannot do it.

Of course, it's not that Hoylen has no problem. He didn't hold on when he had a shooting opportunity in the second half of the league and got tactical tilts. He didn't show the aura of last season. It's okay to change to a center, but we need to know what type of center Manchester United needs.