With two points from a possible nine, Manchester United’s season clearly has not started well. One of the major reasons for this has been their struggles in possession. These struggles in possession have caused defensive problems as well as problems going forward.

Playing out from the back

As part of Louis Van Gaal’s philosophy, United have been playing the ball out from the back more often. The best illustration of this is David de Gea’s distribution. The average length of his passes has decreased from 44m last season to 37m this according to Squawka. His distribution success has increased from 62% last season to 70% this.

These numbers don’t mean much alone, but when looked at alongside his pattern of distribution, it is clear De Gea has been instructed to play shorter passes into his wide centre backs. Below is his distribution against Sunderland in May under Moyes and his distribution against Sunderland under Van Gaal in August.

Under Moyes:

Under Van Gaal:

This illustrates United are trying to build attacks from deep. The obvious danger with this approach is it puts a lot of pressure on defender’s passing ability, and if they concede possession it is in a very dangerous area.

This has happened consistently in United’s first three games, with defenders sloppy passing pounced on, giving the opposition good chances. As Van Gaal said “I think we have no problems when opponent has the ball as we defend very good. Our problem is when we have the ball…. I don’t think our defence is weak but our build up is not good enough”

This was most notable at the start of games, especially away against Burnley and Sunderland. The opposition are the home side and start with high tempo, energetic pressing, leading to United errors.

As Gary Neville says when analyzing Barcelona’s playing out from the back, it takes bravery and confidence. Confidence in one word not associated with United’s defenders at the moment, coming off a season where they finished seventh, they are now all playing in new positions in a system they are not accustomed to. Van Gaal said “I could see … that the players were very nervous to play the ball”.

This confidence will come with time and it is important United persist with this approach. Playing out from the back may seem risky at the moment, but as the season goes on and United play out with more confidence, it will help them retain the ball better. As established by Spain’s ‘tiki-taka’, keeping possession isn’t simply an opportunity to attack more, it is an excellent defensive tactic. It may seem risky to pass the ball around in dangerous areas, but in the long term United will keep the ball better and concede less goals.

This poor building of play from deep also affects United going forward. Playing with three centre backs means teams drop deep, happy to allow the centre backs to have the ball but blocking off passing channels. As there are three centre backs, normally against only one striker, it is vital one of them is brave with their positioning, steping into midfield and being ambitious with their passing.

As noted in the Swansea analysis, too often Smalling was unambitious with his distribution, meaning United’s passing was almost completely in non-threatening areas.

This is clearly something Van Gaal picked up on and changed, as against Sunderland Smalling often stepped into midfield with the ball and was a lot more ambitious with his passing.

Van Gaal will need his centre backs to do this more often, and a natural left footer in Rojo (and occasionally Blind) will help in improving the build up from deep.

Sterile possession

In all three games United’s possession stats sound excellent. According to WhoScored, they average 59.5% possession, the 4th highest in the league, and 85.3% pass completion, the 5th best in the league. However in these three matches United have managed only 17 shots in the area (13th in league, compared to Chelsea’s 28).

According to Squawka United have created 22 chances, 14th compared with other teams, just over half of Chelsea’s 41.

All this backs up Van Gaal’s statement after the Sunderland game saying “We were dominating without creating chances”. There are several possible reasons for this.

Keeping the ball in non-threatening areas

As alluded to above, against Swansea United passed too often between the centre backs, similar to the Burnley game. Against Swansea and Burnley, the top three passing combinations involved United centre backs.

vs Burnley

vs Swansea

According to Squawka, Tyler Blackett has played 178 passes, more than any other Premier league defender, with Phil Jones ninth on 148.

Against Sunderland it wasn’t kept as much between the centre backs but between the central midfielders Fletcher and Cleverley. While a slight improvement, United still aren’t getting their creative players on the ball. Ball retention is important, but too much in the wrong areas of the pitch blunts the teams creativity.

Passing tempo

United’s passing tempo has been alarmingly slow at times, as Van Gaal said after the Sunderland game “the play was either too slow or too hasty” This slow tempo allows the opposition to get organised defensively, which is then difficult to break down.

In this sites tactical preview, Andre Villas Boas outlined how “Louis Van Gaal’s idea is one of continuous circulation, one side to the other, until the moment that, when you change direction, and space opens up inside and you go through it”. United have certainly circulated the ball, but often in non-threatening areas, and too slowly. What space United have created, they have not “gone through it”-that requires creative passing.

Lack of creative passes

As Van Gaal says “The second phase (attacking transition) is to replace the ball, so you can see the disorganization of the opponent, and then you need creativity to give the pass – to see that moment”. United have lacked the creativity to give that pass, with Van Gaal noting “We lack creative passes in the final third”.

United’s attacking transitions have been slow. They have also lacked verticality, something Van Gaal values, saying he believes in “bypassing the nearest stations and finding the goal more directly”.

United may have already signed a player to address a lot of these issues- Angel Di Maria. He showed in his debut against Burnley many creative passes, especially long balls from deep. He often shuttled forward quickly, speeding up United’s attacking transitions and playing plenty of vertical passes to link up with the United forwards.

Conclusion

In terms of playing out the back, United must persevere and we will see improvements. In terms of increasing their penetration in possession, that depends on many factors outside those listed above such as cohesive attacking movement. However with Di Maria already improving things, United’s possession play should only get better as the side gels in Van Gaal’s mould, meaning conceding less goals and creating more chances.