Why are Manchester United struggling to control games when they are ahead?

After Manchester United’s 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace last month, Ruben Amorim pointed out an aspect of the game that pleased him but in which he acknowledged there was still work to be done.

Controlling matches after taking the lead has been one of United’s failings this season. Since the beginning of 2025-26, United have been going ahead in games, only to lose control and concede afterwards.

“When we score the goal, we forget about maintaining the way we should play,” Amorim said after the 1-1 draw with Fulham in August. “We were just thinking about maintaining the result. We want to win so badly that we forget about maintaining the possession, trying to push the opponent (deeper). We just gave a little bit (of) the game to Fulham.”

The surrendering of the lead hit the team again in the 2-2 draws against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur in November. “We lost control of the game for five minutes and we paid the price,” said United’s head coach in his post-match press conference at the City Ground.

The trend continued in the 1-1 draw against West Ham United at Old Trafford, when Soungoutou Magassa equalised in the 83rd minute to cancel out Diogo Dalot’s winner. Even if United didn’t lose control of the game against West Ham, they weren’t creating enough to score the second and kill the match.

Fast forward to Monday night’s 4-4 draw against Bournemouth, United’s problems in winning game states were on full show — missing chances to increase their lead in the first half, losing control at the beginning of the second half, and failing to see out a 4-3 victory towards the end of the match.

“If you look at the game, you can think that we lost the two points in the second half,” Amorim told reporters after the match. “I think we lost the two points in the first half. We should have more goals — it should be a different result in the half-time.”

United’s inability to score in winning game states is reflected in their expected goals (xG) numbers. This season, Amorim’s side have underperformed their non-penalty xG by 3.2 when ahead — the largest deficit in the Premier League in winning game states.

By not extending their lead, United keep the opponents in the match and threaten the effort made to be in that position in the first place. This season, United have been able to score the first goal in 11 of their 16 Premier League games, spending 40 per cent of their minutes in a winning game state — the third-highest share in the division after Arsenal (42 per cent) and Manchester City (55 per cent).

However, United’s performances in winning game states have frequently lacked the control necessary to maintain the scoreline. Amorim’s side invariably keeps playing at the same tempo when they should be slowing down the game, controlling possession and waiting for the right moment to strike.

“We started really well, we did a very good first half — the result should be completely different,” Amorim told Sky Sports after the draw with Bournemouth. “Again, I think six minutes of the second half was similar to Nottingham (Forest). We lost the concentration.

“We manage to get back into the game, and then we have to finish the game. Just a throw-in in our possession, we need to think about not going again, but to be calm and close the game.”

Simply put, United don’t pass enough when they are in the lead. Looking at the number of open-play sequences with 10 or more passes, United’s rate of 4.4 per 90 when ahead is the ninth-lowest in the Premier League this season.

The absence of long possession sequences means that United are prone to losing the ball and, accordingly, conceding transitions. In addition, shorter passing sequences affect the team’s rest-defence structure — when the ball moves quickly up the pitch before the centre-backs and midfielders are in position to defend the transition, United are vulnerable once they lose possession.

This is visible in the number of direct attacks United are conceding when ahead. These are defined as possessions that start in a team’s own half and result in either a shot or a touch inside the opposition penalty area within 15 seconds — in other words, a counter-attack.

In winning game states, United have conceded 2.8 direct attacks per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season — the third-worst rate in England’s top flight.

A team’s playing style when leading dictates the number of direct attacks they concede — if you are always defending in a low block after taking the lead, you will rarely concede a counter-attack, but on the other hand, you surrender possession and give the opposition the chance to pile on pressure.

There’s a balance to be struck between continuing to attack when ahead and maintaining control of the match.

“It’s understanding of the game, and how to play the game in different moments,” said Amorim in his press conference post-Bournemouth. “Sometimes, closing the games is so important to give a different juice to everything that we did really well.”