Did Alan Smith succeed or fail, or is the jury still out?

Alan Smith’s departure to Old Trafford last summer was a tough pill to swallow for Leeds United fans, who faced the prospect of playing outside the Premiership for the first time since its formation.

Since his league debut at Anfield, Smith has made 172 Premiership appearances for the Elland Road club, scoring 38 goals in the process.

The England international’s spell at Manchester United started well as he scored twice in United’s first three league matches. Injuries to Wayne Rooney and Ruud van Nistelrooy left Smith as United’s main attacking threat in their opening encounter and the £7m striker appeared to be settling comfortably into his new surroundings.

However, circumstances worked against Smith as United were unable to name an established team and did not select the same starting eleven in successive league matches until December. By the end of the 38-game schedule, Sir Alex Ferguson had made the most changes to the starting line-up in the league, averaging more than three changes per game.

With such a high personnel turnover, Smith became one of the few regulars in the United team. The 24-year-old featured in each of the Red Devils’ first 22 Premiership matches until the start of January, becoming the only United player to do so.

Smith’s low point in the red jersey came when he was sent off for two yellow cards in the Manchester derby. Despite this, Smith has committed far fewer fouls since his move; At Manchester he was fouled on average every 40 minutes, while under his previous employers he committed a foul every 32 minutes.

The biggest improvement in United’s number 14’s play was his passing. Over the last two seasons, Smith has generally averaged the same pass completions as his team, showing that the rise to the upper echelons of the Premiership has come down to the fiery striker.

But ultimately Smith will be judged on the goals he scores and he has scored just six goals in the league this season. But while that may seem like a poor return for a striker in the Premier League, only two United players scored more often in the league last season (Rooney with 11 and Scholes with nine). Indeed, Smith was on par with United’s Dutch goal machine Van Nistelrooy, who also struggled with a rotation of partners.

With sweeping changes taking place behind the scenes at Manchester United, their loyal following will be hoping the players can pull together to produce performances worthy of the multi-million pound deals struck this summer.

Season	2003/04	2004/05
Set	Leeds United	Manchester United
Views	35	31
Minutes on the Pitch	3,141	2,037
Target Trials
Goals	9	6
Shots on Target	34	25
Shots Off Target	41	33
Shooting Accuracy	45%	43%
Luck Transformation	12%	10%
Last
Goal Assists	3	4
Total Passes	1,214	797
Migration Completion Percentage	69%	82%
Transition
Total Means	43	34
Cross Completion Percentage	23%	26%
Dribbling
Dribblings and Runs	155	67
Dribbling Completion Percentage	47%	51%
Defense
Struggles Made	85	73
Percentage of Fights Won	71%	75%
blocks	11	4
openings	36	10
Interventions	7	6
Discipline
Fouls	96	50
Offside	30	15
Yellow Cards	6	2
Red Cards	0	1

What are you thinking? Did Smith succeed, fail, or is the jury still out? Send us your feedback and we will publish a selection on the site in Opta Jury.