Opta stats ruining football?

It's nothing to do with stats though. It largely to do with foreign managers who have made the more structured style trendy, especially Pep. It's been fairly common in Europe especially Spain and Italy long before the level of stats we have now was a thing. At some point the trend will change and everyone will end up playing more free

 

They use the stats to find a player that fits the profile of the way the manager wants to play though. The stats don't dictate who is signed. If you had a team managed by Pep and another by Jose they scouts aren't using the same stats to identify players for them both. For Jose they will looking for attackers and midfielders who are quick and transition play quickly while Pep they will be looking at completed passes and ball retention.

Stats are just a tool for Scouts to narrow down target lists for which to then use the same methods to scout this shortlist as they always have

 

There was a point, certainly in upper leagues where 4-4-2 was basically extinct but it certainly has had a bit of a revival in the last few season. Not sure we will ever get back to 4-4-2 being the norm and certainly not the traditional fairy static style of 4-4-2 (Those setting up in a 4-4-2 these days play it a bit more dynamically where that base shape evolves depending on where the ball is) but I've watched a decent number of matches this weekend where one of the teams setup in a core 4-4-2 structure

Certainly seeing players in person is vital which is why clubs still have extensive scouting teams because while stats can certainly help you narrow lists down they can lack nuance even as they get more and more specialised. For example you will often see players with good progressive pass stats in foreign leagues who then struggle to do this in the Premier League and that's because they aren't a progressive passer in the mould of someone like Scholes who knows what he wants to do before he even gets the ball, they need time on the ball to evaluate their options and they don't get that time on the ball. You would only see that in person and are can also only form an opinion if that's because of the league or simply the player doesn't have the vision to see the play before they even have the ball

 

West Ham like Man Utd were playing a bit more of a hybrid system. Bruno for Man Utd and Pablo for West Ham both were at times close to the main striker acting more like the traditional second striker in a 4-4-2 but they were also dropping into a midfield 3 (or going out wide allowing another player to move into a midfield 3.

Sunderland were actually playing what was more like a traditional 4-4-2. Certainly at the top level the way Man Utd and West Ham do it is where things are going where you have multifunctional players and the formation will adjust all the time. So Man Utd had a base that was like a 4-4-2, but at times were in a 4-3-3 and even at times you had one of the CB's stepping up, the FB's tucking in and Dorgu and Amad dropping into a WB role to make a back 5 all triggered by what area the ball is in. It's most likely why Dorgu and Mbeumo have been starting while Cunhu and Sesko are on the bench as them along with Amad are more multifunctional