Under the guidance of Erik Ten Haag Manchester United will attempt to start re-building this summer. Manchester United will achieve their worst ever performance in the Premier League this season, after their humiliating 4-0 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion last Saturday they will now have their lowest ever points total in Premier League history. The job Erik Ten Haag faces is a steep one, with issues all over the pitch and issues off the pitch that need to be corrected.
One area that Ten Haag will be looking to improve is defensively, both in terms of team defence but also personal. So far this season Manchester United have conceded 56 goals which makes them the 13th ranked defence in the league. Recent reports have Villareal’s Pau Torres as the Centre-back to come in and help solidify the Manchester United defence but is he the right man to do this.
This scout report and tactical analysis will analyse Pau Torres and assess whether he is the right man for Manchester United while looking at his strengths and weaknesses.
Data analysis
The first place to start this analysis is to look at Pau Torres’s performance in some data metrics, both in and out of possession. In the modern game defender’s contribution in possession is now critical, with defenders being responsible for starting the attack and looking to progress the ball up the field. In addition to in possession metrics, we will look at a couple of defensive metrics however these must be looked at with context, which will be addressed later. The following graphs will show Pau Torres amongst Centre-backs across Europe’s top five leagues who have accumulated over 2000 minutes for their club this season.
The first graph we will take a look at is ball progression in both the form of progressive passes per 90 and progressive runs per 90. Now ball progression is an essential element for a modern Centre-back with the majority of the attacking phases starting from the back, the ability to move the ball up the field and closer to the opposition goal is imperative. As you can see below, Torres is an excellent ball progressor and can help explain why Manchester United is so keen on the Spanish defender.
Torres manages 10.2 progressive passes per 90 and 2.5 progressive runs per 90 both of which are some of the best metrics in the sample. Torres’s greatest strength is his passing and on-ball quality, which can again be reinforced by looking at how Torres performs in passes to the final third per 90 and accurate passes to the final third %.
