Mkhitaryan’s dry spell shows he can’t be United’s playmaker

Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s struggle in the game-changer role shows he isn’t reliable to be United’s primary playmaker.

After a difficult first season in England, the Armenian comes back determined.

He couldn’t respond to critics any better way, registering five assists out of the first three matches. Things haven’t gone so well for the Armenian recently, for he only found the net once and failed to register an assist for the past seven-league matches.

Mkhitaryan’s ability to deliver the final product, whether it’s a goal or an assist, is his biggest strength. 15 goals and 23 assists in all competitions in his final season at Dortmund convinced United to spend $40 million in summer 2016. Despite spending much of the past season on the bench, the Armenian was United’s top goalscorer in the Europa League thanks to his astute offensive awareness.

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Under Mircea Lucescu, former coach of Shakhtar Donetsk where Mkhitaryan spent three seasons, and Thomas Tuchel’s system, the Armenian played on the right of the front three. His playmaking ability allowed him to drift inside to initiate counter-attacks. Mkhitaryan’s biggest weapon is his ability to discover and exploit space in the final third, which leads to his impressive statistics for a winger.

Spaces are deprived in Mkhitaryan’s stint in England. United’s opponents are happy to sit deep and defend in numbers, which in turn negates the Armenian’s arsenal. The midfielder struggled on the flank as a result.

The addition of Nemanja Matic to United’s roster not only sparkled Paul Pogba’s performance but also worked in Mkhitaryan’s favor. The combination of Matic and Pogba in the midfield opened the spaces for the Armenian to exploit. Mkhitaryan’s impressive performance in the first three matches demonstrated his quality as a player who can dominate the final third.

No surprise as Mkhitaryan struggles in Pogba’s absence:

It isn’t a coincidence that Mkhitaryan’s form suffered after Pogba went down with a hamstring injury. Without a ball outlet from deep, head coach Jose Mourinho opted for a more direct style. Mkhitaryan was entrusted in the No. 10 position as the creative outlet in the counter-attacking chances, using his passing and movement abilities to lead United’s attack.

The problem arises as Mkhitaryan has never been a pure attacking midfielder, nor processes the abilities to excel in that position. He has a better passing skill than most of the wingers, which is his natural position, but it isn’t enough compared to other attacking midfielders.

For example, Mkhitaryan’s career 79 percent pass completion out of 38.3 completed passes per game is modest to Mesut Ozil’s 85.9 completion percent out of 51.3 passes per game. To make the matter worse, he isn’t too impressive in beating the defenders, completing only 1.2 dribbles per game.

In Pogba’s absence, United recorded 4-0 victories against Everton and Crystal Palace, but the performances wasn’t as convincing as the victories, with the same score line against West Ham and Swansea, earlier this season. It was only the matter of time before United’s lack of creativity got exposed. Two goals in the past four matches, albeit three against Big Six teams, was the equalizer.

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Good fortune continues to miss United and Jose:

The injury of Marouane Fellaini doesn’t do any favors, for United and Mkhitaryan missed the Belgium’s aerial threat to knock down long passes. Romelu Lukaku has scored and assisted goals, but he hasn’t been convincing in the air, posing a modest 44.1 percent aerial battle.

Mkhitaryan doesn’t get too many touches because he hasn’t got served enough. He has 28 touches against Chelsea, 49 touches against Spurs and 44 touches against Liverpool, all only more than Lukaku who relies on the Armenian’s service. He is a player who needs to be fed to feed other players, which is nowhere near the requirement of a pure playmaker.

United’s dry spell coincided with the Armenian struggle to make an impact on the game. Mourinho can be blamed for the digested fixture and the lack of star players for the team’s lackluster attacking performance, but entrusting Mkhitaryan doesn’t help him, too. Impact player couldn’t make any impact, United’s struggle is easy to be seen.

However, Mourinho doesn’t help any other choice at his disposal, considering Juan Mata is an inferior option and Andreas Pereira was shipped to Valencia. The only thing he and United fans can do is wait for Pogba and Fellaini to return from their injuries, and stay healthy for the rest of the season.

All statistical data are taken from WhoScored.com