Manchester United’s defence is one of the best in Europe, so why does it not feel like it?

United’s rearguard was the third-best in the Premier League and 10th-best in Europe’s major five leagues this season but still comes in for criticism

It’s strange but true: Manchester United have one of the best defences in the country and on the continent.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side conceded 36 goals in the Premier League this season, only three fewer than the top flight’s best defence at Liverpool. If not for a strange frailty on set-pieces – which cost them 11 goals alone – they may have even bettered the champions.

Meanwhile, out of the 98 clubs competing in Europe’s top five leagues, United’s defensive record was the 10th-best – better than Juventus and Barcelona as well as Champions League semi-finalists Leipzig and Lyon.

Compare and contrast these numbers with those last season. United conceded 54 league goals in 2018-19. According to FBref, their expected goals against (xGA) was 47.9, only the eighth-best in the Premier League – compared to 37.2 this season, enough for the fourth-best.

That is the type of improvement you can expect when you spend a combined £125m on a centre-half and a right-back.

Harry Maguire is already club captain after playing almost every minute of the campaign, while Aaron Wan-Bissaka was nearly as ever-present. Both are significant upgrades and can expect to be mainstays of United’s rearguard for years to come.

Why, then, does it feel like Maguire and Wan-Bissaka have only been qualified successes? Why do another centre-half and potentially a new left-back seem like necessary additions? And why do the numbers not appear to match the reality?

The discrepancy lies in how we judge a team’s defensive ability. Traditionally, if a side concedes either a lot of goals or very few, we tend to attribute that to the performances of their goalkeeper, the defenders and perhaps a defensive midfielder.

Yet what the team as a whole does both in and out of possession can have just as great an influence.

United have dominated possession in the majority of their games this season, with less of the ball than their opponents in only 15 of their 61 matches. You cannot concede a goal if you have the ball – most of the time, at least – and teams who control possession control the ebb and flow of a game.

Solskjaer’s side are not possession-heavy in the same way as Manchester City or Liverpool are but had an average of 56 per cent in the league this season – the fifth-highest of all Premier League clubs. When this is combined with a relatively low-lying defensive line, their long spells of possession become a defensive tactic as much as an attacking one.

There is more at work here, of course, and it follows that when United do not see much of the ball, Solskjaer has to rely on his defenders to sweep up danger. Their lowest share of possession came at home to City before lockdown in March – with just 28 per cent – yet they won and kept a clean sheet with all four of the backline impressing.

In fact, there is a sense that Maguire, Wan-Bissaka, Victor Lindelof and others may be at their most comfortable when they sit deep, allow the opposition to have the ball and frustrate their attempts to break through. In the seven games which United had their lowest share of possession this season, they conceded just three goals.

Both heavy possession and anti-possession, therefore, help United keep opponents out.

The problems arrive in more even contests which swing back and forth, pulling Solskjaer’s players out of their shape and opening gaps for opponents to exploit. For examples, look to all three semi-finals they have lost this season.

City’s EFL Cup first leg victory at Old Trafford in January was the only one of the four Manchester derbies that Pep Guardiola’s side won. It was also the only one where United never truly established their usual strategy against City of ceding possession and counter-attacking at speed. They lost 3-1, with 43 per cent of the ball.

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United via Getty Images)

The FA Cup defeat against Chelsea will be remembered for David de Gea’s errors more than anything else, but Frank Lampard’s players pressed and harried United brilliantly, cutting off passing lanes and turning over possession high up the pitch, forcing imprecise passes and a sloppy shape. United lost 3-1 again, with 51 per cent of the ball.

And then there was Sunday night against Sevilla in Cologne, which was a classic example of two teams trading blows, taking turns to enjoy spells of dominance, with no real reason or order behind who was on top at any one time. United did not take their chances. Sevilla had two and scored both. United lost 2-1, with 47 per cent possession.

United’s defence are quite comfortable when they spend most of the 90 minutes either sitting deep and soaking up pressure or when playing further up the pitch and recycling the ball between them. It is when they are forced into a scrap and pulled out of position that they concede goals like those scored by Suso and Luuk de Jong on Sunday.

Are more signings the answer? Maybe, but Lindelof’s limitations have hardly been exposed any more than Maguire’s. A left-footed left-back to deputise for Luke Shaw would be useful, despite right-footed Brandon Williams’ emergence. Yet Jadon Sancho is the priority and in the current financial climate, changes may need to come on the training ground rather than from the transfer market.

Solskjaer has built his United from the back and huge changes are not needed. As we have seen, this is statistically one of the best defences around. Watch them closely, though, and you see there is certainly room for improvement.