Goals have been hard to come by for Manchester United this season as chances have not been created enough or wasted completely.
The striker they signed, Joshua Zirkzee, started off with a bang before reality set in, while the striker they had, Rasmus Hojlund, has been MIA.
In such doom and gloom, the Netherlands national side has just provided Erik ten Hag a template on how to use Zirkzee.
In a 5-2 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Manchester United striker dropped a history-making performance, creating four chances in just 74 minutes, ending with a goal and an assist.
Joshua Zirkzee makes history
Zirkzee has been in and around the Netherlands setup for a while now but this was the first game he was given a starting berth for.
He responded to the faith in statement style, becoming just the fourth Dutch player to score and assist on his first Netherlands start.
He ended with one goal and one assist and arguably could have gotten a few more of either, such was the display of his ability.
Zirkzee’s goal was a piece of pure instinctive finishing, as he headed backward, facing in the opposite direction from the goal in a moment of pure inspiration.
Apart from that, he did his usual schtick of dropping deep, bringing others into play, and bamboozling defenders with his movement.
With eight touches in the penalty box, he was a huge nuisance for the Bosnian defenders as he kept popping up in dangerous positions.
Netherlands show Man Utd the way
Ten Hag can’t do much about Hojlund being injured but it was worth noting that the Netherlands turned up in the same 4-2-3-1 formation which Ten Hag employs at Old Trafford.
In fact, the profile of the three players behind Zirkzee was quite similar too, with Xavi Simons, Cody Gakpo, and Tijjani Reijnders being score-first players like Garnacho/Rashford/Fernandes.
However, a key difference was that Zirkzee was up top to stitch the play together and link it with all his teammates, especially the three behind him.
At Manchester United, it is already clear from the first three games that there is borderline annoyance with his tendency to drop deep.
He is expected to be a clinical striker who finishes chances in the box when that just isn’t the player he is.
It points to a deep-rooted problem in the tactical system which is making a player’s flaws exaggerated while managing to hide their biggest strengths.
Granted, Bosnia and Herzegovina are hardly the standard bearer of quality, especially compared to Premier League teams, but the systemic problems means the team will continue to struggle with Zirkzee until his game is simplified and played to his strengths.
The Netherlands have already shown what happens when that is brought to fruition.
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