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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Joe Bray

Manchester United squad running statistics revealed after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer criticism

Manchester United's first team squad have been ranked according to their running distances this season in the wake of criticism from manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United drew with Chelsea at the weekend to leave them with a mountain to climb in their final two fixtures if they want to secure Champions League qualification next season.

After the game, Solskjaer admitted his squad were tired, saying: "We were tired towards the end, that's for sure. We've addressed that issue before, we're just going to take one step at a time... We depend on everyone being sharp and fit."

The comments came after the recent 4-0 defeat to Everton, which saw the Toffees run 8km more than United across the 90 minutes.

"We know our fitness is nowhere near good enough," Solskjaer said at Goodison Park.

"And we all know to win games of football: Basics and fitness. That's nothing to do with talent. It's not a surprise that you hear the stats Everton have ran more than us.

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"It's not just about running, it's about decisions, sticking your head in where it hurts, defend a long throw-in, defend a corner, block that shot, tackle middle of the pitch, put your body on the line. It hurts to win football games."

Now, Sky Sports have calculated the individual running statistics for United players with seven or more Premier League appearances.

Juan Mata tops the list for average kilometres run, with 11.28 per game, followed by Jesse Lingard (11.08km), Fred (11.03lm) and Ander Herrera (10.89km).

After goalkeeper David de Gea, who is understandably at the bottom of the list with 3.55km per match, Eric Bailly has the lowest average running distance with 7.79km.

Manchester United's running stats (Sky Sports)

Then follows Anthony Martial (8.45km), Phil Jones (8.5km), Victor Lindelof (8.65km) and Romelu Lukaku (8.67km).

Midfielder Marouane Fellaini, who left in January, is eighth on the list with an average distance of 10.63km ahead of Paul Pogba (9.86km) and Marcus Rashford (9.35km).

In terms of average sprints per game, Rashford leads the way with 20.88, followed by Alexis Sanchez 15.53, Jesse Lingard (14.01 and Andreas Pereira (12.8).

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