Despite Erik ten Hag’s consistent dismissal of Manchester United’s problem with conceding a large number of shots, Diogo Dalot acknowledges the issue as a reality and offers a couple of explanations for it.
The Red Devils have struggled to limit the number of shots their opponents take at their goal. While it hasn’t always resulted in losses and has often made games highly entertaining, it remains a clear concern that places a significant workload on goalkeeper Andre Onana.
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Following last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool, Manchester United had allowed 308 shots in their last 14 matches. By that point, Manchester City had only conceded 250 shots all season.
This trend persisted on Saturday in the 2-2 draw against Bournemouth, where the Cherries managed 20 shots compared to United’s eight. Dalot doesn’t deny that it’s a pressing issue.
‘I think it’s a fact, something we are looking for,’ said the full-back after the draw at Bournemouth. ‘Maybe we are taking too many risks, sometimes the gap between the defence and midfield is a little bit too big
‘This is why we are sometimes getting the counter-attacks too many times and are conceding too many shots, but overall we are looking forward to taking this as a learning process and trying to do better.
‘I’m disappointed. We wanted to come here and get the three points. We were down twice, so we had the hunger to fight for the game. I think we lost control in situations we shouldn’t and that was the script of the match.
‘I mean, we lost a little bit of control, especially building up from the back in situations where we shouldn’t and we conceded two goals in the first half – we could have avoided that, but overall we have the attitude to fight for the result and that’s a positive to take away.’
Ten Hag has shown less willingness to accept the issue, even after the chaotic 4-3 defeat to Chelsea earlier this month; he responded sharply to criticism.
‘It is ridiculous,’ he said. ‘We showed we were fourth ranking before this game in goals conceded. Everyone is talking to each other after, we are good and we have good defending as a team, a good goalkeeper and a good back four so I cannot do anything with such stats.’
The Dutch coach also noted after a 1-1 draw with Brentford: ‘Our results have been quite consistent from January on, but we concede shots, but we don’t concede so many goals.’
After another poor result at Bournemouth Ten Hag focussed on the positives, telling Match of the Day: ‘We know we have to win. We want to battle, to compete for the top positions. You see the game, we struggled first half, [Harry] Maguire was struggling but he overcame because we needed him to.
‘The second half was much better, the good thing is we fought back twice from a losing position. The team spirit is good.
‘By the end it could’ve been more composed and calm and we could’ve played more chance out. The opponent was struggling because they gave so much energy in the first half and there were so many gaps but we didn’t benefit from it.’
