It's still only early days in the Premier League, but with the weekend's 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage against a struggling Fulham side, Manchester United have still only won one of their opening five league matches of the season. They were also knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the third round by virtue of a 3-2 loss to a high-flying Brighton & Hove Albion side as pressure has begun to mount on Michael Carrick.
Wins against Ipswich Town and Sabah FK don't exactly do much to alleviate the frustrations from the rest of United's results, so they stretch of matches after the international break will be absolutely crucial for the Red Devils.
Their first three league matches after the break are against Tottenham Hotspur, Leeds United, and Bournemouth - all matches they should be winning on paper - with Champions League clashes against Atletico Madrid and Como in between.
Low Running Stats Vs. Fulham
With the form United have started the season with, it's easy to try to psychoanalyze every single statistic that points to anything remotely negative, but oddly enough, they share a rather alarming statistic with Real Madrid.
As per Sky Sports, Manchester United's running statistics in the 1-1 draw with Fulham this past weekend, Carrick's side were outrun by 6.5 kilometers by Alvaro Arbeloa's side, which is the second most any team has been outrun in the league so far this season. The only match where a side were outrun by more was Coventry City's 3-0 loss at Arsenal to open the season, when they were outrun by Mikel Arteta's side by 6.7 kilometers.
To add to that, in the match against Fulham, United were below to Premier League average for total distance covered, high speed distance covered, total sprint distance, percentage of distance sprinting, and percentage of total distance sprinting. These are all signs of a club lacking the right intensity, sense of urgency, and ability to open opposition sides up.
Low Running Stats Comparable to Real Madrid?
Oddly enough, United's negative running statistics against Fulham might not paint the full picture for a side that currently sits 12th in the Premier League table.
SofaScore statistics show that La Liga giants Real Madrid run the least of any club in the Spanish top flight so far this season, averaging a whopping total of 83.46 kilometers per match. The league's current average for the 2026/27 season is 93.37 kilometers per match. Elche lead the league with an average of 105.61 kilometers per match, but they sit in 18th place, 14 spots behind José Mourinho's Real Madrid.
It seems to suggest that total distance covered might not be Manchester United's biggest problem, though they certainly aren't as well off as Madrid are at the moment. Mourinho's side have managed 18 goals from 7 league matches thus far, while United have only scored 8 from 5 matches. The likes of Matheus Cunha, Marcuss Rashford, and Bryan Mbeumo leading the line is perhaps far too different than Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham, Vinícius Júnior, and Arda Güler.
Wasteful In The Final Third
A statistic from OptaAnalyst sheds some light on just what might be one of the biggest problems for United so far this season with their wastefulness in the final third.
They've had more touches in their opposition's final third than any other team in the Premier League so far this season and have conceded the least amount of touches in their own penalty area at the other end of the pitch.
This paints more of a picture for United's shortcomings so far this season. They're clearly getting into the right areas, but just don't have enough final product to show for it.
As we head into the international break, United lead the league with total shots taken (113), are 6th in the league for big chances created (15), and are second in the league for expected goals with an xG of 10.4, yet they find themselves in 12th place. They also have the joint most shots in the box with 63, a tally shared by Brighton and Hove Albion.
Clearly, Carrick will have to see that his side need to do far better and be far more clinical with the chances they're creating when he goes back to the proverbial drawing board. Benjamin Šeško's recent shin flare up doesn't exactly leave him spoiled for choice in the striker's department, but something's got to give.
