Man Utd DNA - 'Defence Not Appropriate'

There's been talk about how Manchester United need to recapture the club's DNA and be more attacking than they were under Ruben Amorim, which is strange because they're already one of the best attacking sides in the Premier League and they've conceded the most goals they ever have at this stage of a Premier League season.

So surely the defence has to be Michael Carrick's focus?

After all, there's more to the DNA talk than just attacking - trusting youth, for example - but it seems to be a large part of it.

Some data points to their attacking improvements:

• 36 goals is the most goals United have scored after 21 games for five seasons - since scoring 37 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2020-21 (not a particularly high bar, but still).
• United have already improved a lot attacking-wise this season - scoring 10 more goals than at this stage last season (26) and 50% more goals than in 2023-24 (24).
• They have taken the most shots in the Premier League this season (351) - 38 more than any other side.
• United have the second-highest expected goals (xG) in the Premier League this season (38.6) - only arch-rivals and this weekend's opponents Manchester City can better that (40.6).
• They are averaging 16.7 shots per game in the Premier League this season - the most per game in a season since Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge in 2011-12 (17.0).

Instead of the attack, it would arguably make more sense for Carrick to say he wants to instil the defensive resilience that is part of the club's DNA - to make United hard to score against again.

• 32 goals is the joint-most United have ever conceded after 21 games of a Premier League season (also 32 in 2018-19).
• They have conceded 25 goals or more at this stage in the past eight Premier League seasons - they had only conceded so many goals after 21 games in four of the first 26 Premier League seasons.
• The average number of goals United have conceded after 21 Premier League games is 21 - 11 fewer than they have this season.