When you hear Manchester United, you think about attractive eye-pleasing football, prolific forwards, and goals galore. So many big names revolve around your mind, such as Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud Van Nistelroy, Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, and so many more. That is a combined 710+ Premier League goals together if you roughly add up the numbers of the above forwards. The English giants are known for being deadly in front of goal for generations. However, that hasn’t been the case lately…
Manchester United’s Struggle for Goals Resume
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Despite winning the FA Cup last season, the 23/24 Premier League campaign was one to forget. Manchester United finished 8th in the league, their lowest Premier League finish ever under any manager. The Red Devils struggled to find any sort of consistency and mostly looked like they didn’t know what they were doing. With a strong 23/24 season where they won the Carabao Cup and finished third in the league.
They followed up worse not just in the league but got knocked out in the UEFA Champions League group stage in a group where they were expected to qualify, but didn’t. Erik Ten Hag faced many factors in these disappointing results, but Manchester United’s abysmal conversion in front of the goal was the main pillar behind it.
The 20-time Premier League champions not only finished a shocking eighth position last season but also managed to have a minus one goal difference. Only Crystal Palace had a goal difference as bad as them in the top 10 last season. This is the lowest goal difference Manchester United has ever had in the Premier League era, scoring 57 and conceding an astonishing 58 goals. With those 57 goals, they sat joint lowest goal scorers in the top half of the Premier League table last season with Crystal Palace again.
That is abysmal for a club that is supposed to be fighting for league titles along with the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal. Erling Haaland alone scored almost 40 goals in all competitions, almost close to what Manchester United scored. This tells you the level of standards separating the two English giants at the moment and also gives a visual of how insufficient the Red side of Manchester have been in front of goal. With the new season already underway, it doesn’t look like Erik Ten Hag has addressed that yet.
Tale & Figures Behind United’s Faltering Frontline
Manchester United’s top scorer last season in all competitions was Rasmus Hojlund with 16 goals in all competitions. He scored 10 goals in the Premier League and was United’s joint top scorer, tied with Bruno Fernandes. Marcus Rashford scored 17 Premier League goals in the 22/23 season, where he single-handedly carried the Manchester United attack with 30 goals overall. He scored just ten goals last season, with only seven in the league.
That is utterly disappointing and not what Manchester United’s standard has been over the generations. Strikers can’t only be blamed for this since there can be a variety of factors like Erik Ten Hag’s style of play, where they have to heavily rely on transitions to score rather than keep the ball and create, which does not look sustainable for a team wanting to challenge titles.
Despite having one of the best attacking midfielders in their ranks, Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes, creating chances and producing a good final ball has been a concern for the former league winners and has punished them severely. This frustrated the strikers, especially when the team was criticized for not providing service to the United’s top scorer, Rasmus Hojlund.
Injuries can play a role in this, and Rasmus Hojlund, the top goal scorer, struggled vastly with injuries. Overly reliant on their number 10 Rashford to bail them out of tough situations is a big worry as the Englishman struggles for form. With the chances he misses in front of goal, Manchester United supporters are growing increasingly irritated with him due to his lack of form. Although to be fair, there was a bright spark.
Alejandro Garnacho, as a 19-year-old academy promoter, has filled in the gaps and produced clutch moments with a handful of goals and assists. However, relying on a youngster to bail them out is not only sustainable for the club but might also hinder the Argentine’s progress as a player who is too burdened. Manchester United missed 59 big chances last season, placing them among the teams with the most missed. Having created 90 big chances, their conversion rate was awful, resulting in the below-average league position last season, and it seems like things haven’t changed.
New Season, Same Old Story
With INEOS making their statement this summer, United managed to add more depth to their attack with the arrival of Joshua Zirkzee. The Dutchman from Bologna FC operates as a striker and made an instant impact, scoring the opening goal on his debut off the bench vs Fulham. Erik Ten Hag’s men showed signs of improvement, with now looking way better off the ball and a definitive style of play, their struggle to score goals continues.
With an xG of 3.9 in these two games, Manchester City is just behind with 4.1. They have scored just two goals while City scored 6. Brighton punished them with a last-minute winner scored by Joao Pedro and snatched the three points. Manchester United have no one to blame but themselves for this loss, as they should be converting the chances made into goals and putting the game to bed. Amad Diallo, despite scoring the goal, missed the sitter at the start, and so did Marcus Rashford.
This is a sight the Red Devils fans are accustomed to seeing, and then they also see their side eventually drop points. Even against Fulham, despite winning, United should have scored three goals in the first 25 minutes with Bruno missing two clear-cut chances and ware off any scare of conceding and losing later on, but they got lucky with the Dutchman saving the day right at the end. But that luck won’t be there for them every single time, and we have seen that last season.
Eric Ten Hag and now with Ruud Van Nistelroy helping him with his expertise, they have to help their forwards start converting chances, or they could see a carbon copy of last season this year, too, and miss out on finishing not only in the top 4 but qualify for any European competition.
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