Man Utd Have The Second Best Defensive Record In Europe This Season

By Naveen Kelvin | February 25, 2020

REUTERS/Phil Noble

Man Utd certainly look to be on the upside after a string of positive victories in the Premier League. The winter acquisitions of Bruno Fernandes and Odion Ighalo certainly appear to be good choices, with Fernandes already proving to be more than worth his transfer fee.

As such, the summer arrivals of Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and Daniel James, who have already made the pitch their own, may not appear to have made that big of a difference given their overall woes elsewhere.

Numerically, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side hit decade-lows on several occasions this campaign and even though they are within the reach of the top-four, the Red Devils have been critiqued quite often this season.

Simply put, the numbers are not always on their side. Having said that, however, there is a specific statistic that is bound to surprise some of the club’s harsher critics.

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Manchester United have kept the second-highest number of cleansheets across all European clubs this campaign, tied with Liverpool on having secured 17 across all competitions.

https://twitter.com/TheManUtdWay/status/1232261439064330245?s=20

The top spot presently belongs to PSG with a thumping 22 cleansheets to their name.

This number is certainly an astonishing one given how United’s defensive issues still look prominent at times. However, the larger truth is that only 7 of those perfect games come in the Premier League, with the rest largely reliant on Sergio Romero’s impressive Europa League run and their appearances in the domestic cup games.

As such, the addition of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire weren’t really moot investments. The fact that United have not lost by a margin of more than 2 goals this campaign further cements the same. If anything, such numbers go on to further highlight that United’s issue this season has always been in creating and scoring chances and not so much in keeping them out.