Owen aids Reds' scoring threat
United could score more goals with Owen Hargreaves in the team, thatÂ’s the claim of an independent football statistician.
Hargreaves, who arrived at Old Trafford earlier this month after a year-long chase to sign the midfielder from Bayern Munich, is seen as a defensive midfielder.
But the 26-year-oldÂ’s tireless box-to-box work, breaking up play and releasing the ball to UnitedÂ’s attacking players, could glean more goals in a side that struck a staggering 123 goals in all competitions last season.
“Hargreaves will be deployed as a deep-lying player with energy to get up and down and provide protection for the defence,” Steve McCormack, of statbunker.com, told the Manchester Evening News.
“But the other benefits will be for the likes of Scholes and Carrick. It could help to push Scholes further forward in a role he used to be so effective in.
“Without Keane, Scholes’ goal touch has diminished. He had time out with the eye injury but his goal figures for the last two seasons were the worst back-to-back campaigns he’s had in terms of goals since he first broke into the team. In the last two campaigns his ratio has been a goal every 6.25 games compared to his previous average of a goal every 3.68 games.
"Hargreaves playing deep and protecting the defence could allow Scholes more freedom and see that average rise again. The same with Carrick whose strike rate is a goal every 17.17 matches.
"Owen isn’t a prolific goalscorer but he does free up other players. Take Michael Ballack. When he was at Bayern Munich, he scored 43 times in the four seasons he played with the England midfielder.”