Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images
Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images
The start to the season has been full of bad luck, missed chances and missed opportunities for Manchester United.
Manchester United’s latest blow came in the form of a 3-2 defeat to Brighton in the Carabao Cup, and Michael Carrick took responsibility for the poor performance at Old Trafford.
But the truth is that United took a 2-0 lead and wasted other chances to find the back of the net. That includes a late chance for Marcus Rashford where his one-on-one effort was saved.
It is the latest example of United’s poor finishing, and one player in particular stands out as being wasteful in front of goal.
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Man United’s most wasteful forward
Before the match, I predicted United vs Brighton would be a goalfest because both sides have dominated the Premier League charts when it comes to creating high-quality chances.
But United are underperforming their expected goals (xG), and in particular Bryan Mbeumo is wasting too many chances.
As per FotMob, no player in the Premier League has missed more big chances than Mbeumo in 2026/27.
Mbeumo has already missed four big chances in four matches this season. He has a conversion rate of 14%.
In those four matches, Mbeumo has already scored twice for United, but the statistics suggest he should have already scored much, much more.
Bryan Mbeumo is underperforming his xG
The expected goals (xG) statistic in football has become a good way of judging how well players are performing in front of goal.
It calculates the likelihood that a player should be scoring that chance.
Unfortunately for Mbeumo, the Premier League statistics show that he already has an xG value of 2.79 generated this season, the fourth-highest in the whole division.
READ MORE: Bryan Mbeumo is living up to the Mohamed Salah comparisons in the best and worst way
Before joining United, Mbeumo was outperforming his xG considerably, which means that he was finishing at an exceptional level.
Now, though, Mbeumo is scoring less frequently than he should be given the chances he has had this season.