Europa Final shows United’s improvement

Finishing sixth in the Premier League seems to indicate a step back for Manchester United, but there is no doubt this season was actually a step forward for the Red Devils.

The Premier League was much better at the top this year than it was last year. In the 2015-16 season Leicester City won the league with just 81 points. This year Chelsea took it with 93 points while Tottenham finished second with 86. United finished fifth in 15-16 with 66 points, which would have been good for seventh this season.

So there is no doubt the competition was tougher this year. There were also many games where United clearly played better but bad luck prevented a win. This included games against Arsenal, Burnley, West Ham, etc.

However, the Europa final was an indication of the progress of the club this season. United completely stifled the Dutch side. Ajax played like a team Louie Van Gaal would have been proud of. They held the ball over two-thirds of the time (69% possession), but in LVG fashion they were unable to score. They were able to generate three shots on target.

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United did have some good fortune in their goals. In the first half Paul Pogba drilled a shot that went off the foot of an Ajax defender and into the net. Early in the second half, Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored on a set piece that bounced towards him in the six-year box to double United’s lead. Pogba has proven himself to be a dominant midfield force, with an 83% completion percentage and 21 tackles and interceptions. He also scored three times in Europa League play.

Sergio Romero started all throughout the competition, and showed his mettle. He allowed just six goals in 18 games, won 14 of them with no losses and had 12 clean sheets.

Chris Smalling, who many have said might leave the club this summer, was crucial in winning that set piece. He won 100% of the aerial duels in the final, which is a great way to go out if he does leave for West Ham or West Brom. Mkhitaryan shined brightest in the Europa League this season, scoring six goals in 11 matches in the competition. He struggled with consistency in the Premiere League but showed his moments of brilliance at times this season–mostly in the Europa League.

Improvements

Mourinho advanced to 12-2 in major finals with this win, and it was the last major trophy that United had not won. Winning this trophy demonstrates three ways that United improved this season: first they got great contributions from their defenders. Marcos Rojo was much maligned a season ago under Van Gaal, but this year Rojo looked like a new player as he showed his skill defending some of the best scorers in British football before his injury.

Second, they showed they were capable of generating scoring chances. They generated 447 scoring chances this season, way beyond their total of 312 a season ago. All that possession does you no good if you can’t do anything with it. Instead of just sitting on the ball like Van Gaal did, Mourinho had players at least trying to score, even though they only managed five more goals (dang goalposts!).

Lastly, they showed they could finish the job against teams they should beat. Last year in the Europa League United fell in the round of 16 to archrival Liverpool, who eventually made the final, but this year United got all the way and finished the job. People may argue the weak sides they played, but regardless of the opponent they did not play down to the competition and took care of business.

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This may have seemed like a disappointing year for United, but there is no question they got better this season. This time hope for bigger things next year seems more justified than this time last year.