Do goals and clean sheets actually matter?
After a season of recruiting players through performance metrics like goals and assists, how did we get on with Man Utd? Goals have always been important.
What we anticipated with the goals and clean sheets approach is to hopefully find great players based on performance metrics. We could not buy every player based on their goals or assists as that would not work. So I defined each position into goal keeper, defenders, midfield and forwards.
The forwards were the easy one, we are looking for goals, specifically goals per game. The midfield was an interesting one, we could have gone with goal contributions, but instead went with team goals scored. The defence was going to be clean sheets, instead I went with team goals conceded. The goal keeper is another easy one, clean sheets per game.
These are all very useful metrics. The defenders are meant to be a unit, so if we get together a team that concedes less, that would be great. The team goals scored for the midfield is looking at the midfield unit in terms of creativity. If we can take the best parts of other teams, it will create something special.
Man Utd results
So I’m not sure how to evaluate this one with Man Utd. We basically resumed our position from the season before, we didn’t add much value in the league, but cups on the other hand we did pretty well. Liverpool absolutely run away with it, I actually cannot believe how well they have done. We were within 4 points of second, which is similar to the season before.
Going forward we actually did an amazing job with Man Utd, and there has been an decent increase in goals. The thing that let us down was the number of goals that we conceded, it was more than any of the other teams in the top four. So in effect, we have solved one problem, but created another.
The next steps will be, to look at metrics we are using in the defence positions and also take a deep dive into the tactics, how do we improve them? I think we could be looking at the way we pass the ball out from the back and also instead of a deep lying playmaker. Potentially, a ballwinner would be the best option and to push the ball out wide to start attacks.
Man Utd performance
Before I am criticized, yes Harry Maguire was our best player this season. I think his average rating mainly comes from the amount of headers he scored from corners. It was pretty impressive for him, 1 goal in every three games on average.
Barring Maguire, as you can see, there is a distinct lack of top averages in the team from the defence. The forwards and midfielders dominate performances with in this team. This is another indicator that we need to look differently at our defensive reinforcements.
We need a new goal keeper, I think that is priority number one. Onana was outperformed by Juventus’ former back up goal keeper, as much as I like him in real life, he is a back up. Onana makes mistakes and costs us games.
Also because we play a fairly high line, anyone who is slow, will need to patched up and sent off to another team. So a few things worth thinking about, we will look at other solutions.
Man Utd transfer ideas
The recruitment process never finishes, I am a perfectionist and the art of being a perfectionist is that perfectionist will never be obtained, but you can push it to almost perfection.
We can always have more goals, as long there are players out there which out perform what we already have. Ivan Toney appears on this list as he has appeared on others, indicating that he is a good purchase.
Looking at the midfield, we have plenty of players that are scoring and assisting. I am not interested in changing this part of the team, until next year when Ocampos will be moving on. A defensive midfielder could be someone that is on our radar.
The defence is the main concern and I’m interested in a complete overhaul. I want a solid and structured unit, who do not make mistakes and can pass it out.
Conclusion
This wasn’t a particularly good season, we basically achieved the same as what we did last year. Nice to get a couple of domestic trophies, but that is all that is good about the season. There is definitely some potential here, we have the goals, so the solid base is something to work towards.
The main thing that let us down here, was the way in which I recruited. If I used a different metric then I could potentially could have changed our fate. Either way, it was a good effort and I look forward to the next season.
Please let me know, what you think of the series so far with a like or a comment, so we can build upon our progress.
