Gary Neville shocked at three Manchester United statistics he says Rúben Amorim MUST change

Gary Neville has highlighted three Manchester United statistics that shocked him and feels Rúben Amorim must change once he joins the club.

Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Premier League debut as Manchester United’s interim manager ended in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday evening.

Both teams started cautiously, creating few clear chances in the first half but each hitting the post once.

Read More: Roy Keane takes sarcastic dig at Ruud van Nistelrooy following Manchester United draw

The second half saw the game come alive. Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring with a penalty after Rasmus Højlund was fouled in the box following a superb delivery from Casemiro.

Chelsea’s reply was swift, as Moisés Caicedo equalized with a stunning strike from the edge of the area. Despite a late push from both sides for a winner, the match concluded with the score locked at 1-1.

Neville’s shocking statistics

Following the result, former United captain Gary Neville took to the mic to analyse some statistics surrounding Manchester United relating to their average start distance; possession won in the final third, and their number of turnovers.

Neville explained that United rank alarmingly low across these three statistics and highlighted that these are the three metrics incoming head coach Rúben Amorim must target.

“It was sober reading about how high Manchester United play up the pitch,” Neville admitted on his Sky Sports podcast.

“When I looked at the average start distance of the teams up the pitch, Manchester City are first, Arsenal second, Liverpool third, Tottenham fourth and Brighton are fifth. Manchester United are down in 10th.

“If you want to push your defence up the pitch, which is what I think every team looks to do nowadays, Amorim has got to start with that because Manchester United quite often have to travel 70, 80 yards to score a goal because they’re so deep and they play like the underdog in games.

“The other metric was possession won in the final third. So possession won high up the pitch: first was Manchester City, second was Tottenham, third was Arsenal and fourth was Liverpool. Manchester United are ninth.

“The final one I asked for was the highest turnovers. City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal made up the top four, while Manchester United were ninth. These three things are critical to performance levels.

“Man United played like a team that is sat behind the ball. ‘Let’s try and get them on the counter or score from a set piece’. That’s got to change.

“You’ve got to be a team of dominance. And I mean dominance. I mean dominating the ball in the final third, dominating your forwards and staying high up the pitch.”

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