Team Focus: What is Attack and are United Failing at it?

“What is attack?” Louis van Gaal asked abruptly after a journalist had challenged how his Netherlands side played in beating Chile at the World Cup last season. It’s the sort of fundamental with which he enjoys punctuating press conferences. After his United side had been held to a 0-0 draw by Newcastle, it was tempting to respond with one: “what is process?”

The “process”, Van Gaal insisted, was good, even if his side had failed to find a breakthrough. “I am satisfied with the performance and not with the result and that is different,” he said. “We created a lot of chances and we only gave two chances away so then you have to win the game but you don’t (we didn’t) reward ourselves and that is a big pity.”

Perhaps he’s right. Perhaps on a “normal” day, United would have won the game comfortably. They did, after all, have 66.1% possession and create 20 chances to Newcastle’s seven – 8 of them on target to none. But on the other hand, United have scored only two goals this season, one an own goal and one a deflection. There were signs of fluency in the Champions League victory over Club Brugge, but all that suggests is that the Belgian runners-up are a level below the Premier League’s
middle class – and even then, for all the talk of process, the performance was fired by two goals of individual brilliance from Memphis Depay.

Perhaps, though, with Wayne Rooney looking sluggish and limited back-up options, Van Gaal might look to bring in another striker? “No, because we were three times the best team,” he said. “My worry is that we have to dominate the opponent. We did it today, we did it against Aston Villa and against Tottenham. Against Tottenham was less but against Villa, Brugge and today we dominated. In USA we dominated against Barcelona, Club America and San Jose, only against PSG we don’t (didn’t).”

Even that claim, though, doesn’t necessarily stand up to scrutiny. Its true that against Villa, United had 54.8% possession and managed nine chances to five (two to one on target), but against Spurs, United had only 46.7% possession, it was nine chances to nine, with Spurs winning the on-target count four to one.

And besides, dominating possession isn’t a guarantee of anything. In the Netherlands, Van Gaal has always been criticised by those who feel he has taken Total Football and made it very mannered, overly structured, lacking in inspiration and imagination. That United have managed just 11.3 key passes per game (the eleventh highest figure in the Premier League) when they’ve had 33% of the play in their opponent’s final third - the second highest figure in the Premier League, tells its own story.

In terms of individuals, only Juan Mata, with 2.7 per game is in the top 20 in the Premier League so far. Wayne Rooney with 2.0 is 37th, with Memphis Depay 94th (behind Luke Shaw and Matteo Darmian) and Adnan Januzaj even lower on 0.5. It hasn’t helped that Depay, for all his brilliance against Brugge, has been dispossessed 4.3 times per game, more than anybody else in the league.

Rooney’s form has been indifferent. A record of 1.7 shots per game isn’t bad, but only 0.7 of those have been on target. Perhaps worse, he’s only completed 0.3 successful dribbles per game. That is, in fairness, a 100% success rate, but the fact that so few have been attempted suggests both how Van Gaal’s system discourages risk-taking and also how out of step Depay is in that regard.



There is a ponderousness about United, a lack of zip and zest. Perhaps Van Gaal is right and fluency and goals will come eventually if the ball is dominated sufficiently. But at the moment, his “process” seems a stifling phenomenon, one that is inhibiting natural attacking flair.

Are United as effective as Van Gaal claims? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below