Manchester United have come through a tricky week unbeaten, facing Newcastle, Tottenham and Chelsea.
It hasn’t all been rosy, United collected five points from a possible nine, but there were enough positives to regard this as a successful stretch.
One problem continues to plague Erik ten Hag’s side – the team are not scoring enough goals.
United are creating chances. The team simply are not being ruthless.
Let’s look at the Newcastle game, United had 15 shots at goal. Against Tottenham the team had 28 shots, and against Chelsea the team had 13.
Unfortunately despite a combined 56 shots in three games, United scored only three goals.
The positives are that United are at least creating the chances. The team are dominating games, enjoying more possession and attempting more shots in all of these matches. But this superiority is not being capitalised on enough.
Add in the 1-0 win over Omonia in which United had 34 shots, and it is four goals from 90 shots in the last four games.
United’s midfielders step up
The goalscorers across the past four games tells it’s own story. Scott McTominay, Fred, Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro were the three players to hit the back of the net.
This is welcome to see, United need midfielders who can chip in with goals to take the pressure off the forwards, rather than relying on one or two regular goalscorers.
But this past week also served to spotlight the under-performances of the team’s strikers. Cristiano Ronaldo could not deliver against Newcastle across the first 72 minutes and was subsequently benched.
Ronaldo drew a blank in the win against Omonia in which he played 90 minutes at Old Trafford.
He then threw a strop which cost him a spot in the Chelsea game and is only likely to accelerate his exit from the club.
Marcus Rashford had a poor week. He missed a late chance against Newcastle, several against Tottenham, and lacked composure when through on goal against Chelsea.
Rashford has five goals this season, but if he fails to make the England squad for the World Cup, he might look back on this past week as a missed opportunity.
Neither Antony or Jadon Sancho could find the net either, with the Brazilian missing a simple chance against Chelsea.
Anthony Martial’s eventual return from injury may help, but it’s hard to rely on a player who has just one league start this season, in which he went off injured after 26 minutes.
A new striker is needed in January. It’s great to see the midfield stepping up to bail the team out, but this United side won’t maximise it’s potential until a ruthless centre-forward is added into the mix.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
