In a season of transformation, Manchester United are facing a decline in form, especially in front of goal. This comes after a goalless draw against Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final, losing 1-0 to Brighton in the Premier League and another defeat a few days later against West Ham with the same result. In the last two games, United had 35-shot attempts, with only nine of them on target, resulting in zero goals.
When Luke Shaw was interviewed after the Brighton loss in the Premier League, and was asked about the lack of goals, the English left-back said that ‘’I know the problem. We know the problem. The problem is we don’t score. In the first half, we had three or four big chances that we should be scoring’’ When asked why, Shaw was a little lost, ‘’Maybe we are just not clinical enough, I don’t really know what else to say.’’
WHAT COULD BE WRONG?
The blame has to be shared throughout the whole team, including the manager. Is he conducting sessions to provoke sufficient chances during games and, in turn, selecting the right players in the best positions? The key issue, which is easy to point out, is the lack of quality in their frontmen, Wout Weghort and Anthony Martial. The Dutchman is yet to register a goal in the Premier League whilst Anthony Martial scored seven in 25 games which is a poor return for a player that had a Ballon D’or clause in his contract when he moved to England from Monaco.
Weghorst is certainly not a bad striker in any capacity; during his time in Germany with Wolfsburg in 2020/21, he scored a total of 25 goals and nine assists in a total of 41 games. The tall striker has not made his presence known in the box, barely connecting with any crosses whipped in by the winger or wing-backs. An aspect of his game that can be praised is his work-rate off the ball, which might be the reason why his finishing is sub-par, he might be too tired to finish off a chance because he worked so hard to get it in the first place.
Marcus Rashford has been the prime goal scorer for Manchester United, and it seems like when he fails to score, there are few players that step up and produce the goods.
Over the course of the season, United have an xG of 56.02 in the Premier League, which translates to a good sixth position, meaning they are underperforming expectations by 7.02. Seven goals that could have proved pitbull in tight contests against Newcastle and other tightly contested games. Only Everton, Chelsea and West Ham have a bigger negative disparity in goals scored compared to the quality of chances created. Despite the negative stats behind their goal-scoring woes, United’s xG is nearly 13 off Arsenal’s figure, Ten Hag’s team has created more big chances than Mikel Arteta’s this season. United created 72 big chances, missing 61 of them at a conversion rate of 34%, the fifth-lowest in the Premier League.
That is a dire situation that a team fighting for Champions League football needs to sort out as soon as possible.
SOLUTIONS
Splashing the cash has been the go to plan for Manchester United when they are under performing, but this time around that might not be possible. With a pending takeover, finances are strict at Old Trafford, for what seems to be the first time in a long time. This comes after, signing Antony for £100M, Jadon Sancho for around £80M, Lisandro Martinez for £60M and Casemiro for £75M.
The options are very expensive, with the likes of Harry Kane and Victor Osimhen being linked heavily with a move to Old Trafford. Harry Kane would be the ideal fit, he has a proven track record in the Premier League and would fit in nicely with many of his England teammates at United. It will be a question of money and the willingness of England’s captain to jump ship in his final push to get his hands on some silverware.
Osimhen on the other hand can be as expensive as the England international. He has lit up the Serie A ever since he moved to Napoli but reports claim that Aurelio De Laurentiis wants to keep the core of the Serie-A winning team together, ruling out a potential summer move for the Nigerian striker.
For the last few games of the season, it will be interesting to see what methods are employed by Ten Hag to go around this problem. Would the introduction of Garnacho boost the energy levels up again? Would more minutes to youngster Facudo Pellistri help make United’s wing play more unpredictable? We will see how they get on next weekend when they face Wolves at home.