- The Red Devils have only scored five goals in their five Premier League games
- Hojlund back in top form as Zirkzee settles into club
- LISTEN NOW: It’s all starting! available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.
Erik ten Hag, whatever you think of his management, is not an idiot. He can see the problem. “We are not scoring enough goals,” he said this week. That is the key area.” You’re right, of course.
Manchester United have scored five league goals this season. Five. Before this weekend, only three Premier League teams had scored less.
That’s why they’re in the bottom half and that’s what happens when you don’t have a top striker.
Rasmus Hojlund’s injury meant Bruno Fernandes started the season at the helm. He is not a center forward.
Joshua Zirkzee continues to engage from the beginning. He and Hojlund need time, says Ten Hag. Ten Hag won’t be blessed with loads of that given he has spent more than £600m. He needs the tide to turn. United are creating chances, but they don’t have anyone to finish them.
Erik ten Hag knows that his team has difficulties in front of goal in the first weeks of the season
Rasmus Hojlund’s preparations for the campaign were abruptly interrupted by an injury in pre-season
Shots are not the problem for United
Only four teams had more shots on goal than United in the first five games… yet only four had a worse shot conversion rate than Ten Hag’s team.
Only Man City (11.5) and Liverpool obtained a 5.8. In higher expected goals (xG) in the first five games (9.6) than United, but only scoring five times, only the Saints underperformed their xG by more.
Only four teams had more shots on goal than Manchester United in the first five games.
United stars among the league’s worst converters
Three of the six players who have converted their chances the worst this season are United forwards.
Bruno Fernandes, Joshua Zirkzee and Alejandro Garnacho are among the league’s worst drunk converters
Bruno Fernandes has taken 17 shots so far this season without scoring, the most of any player in the division
Compare that to Erling Haaland, the PL’s top scorer and the best striker in the world. who has already scored 10 goals this season with an xG of 5.8. In his first PL campaign, he scored 36 with an xG of 28.6. That’s what great forwards do and what United’s forwards don’t do.
Bruno Fernandes has attempted 17 shots so far this season without scoring, the most of any player in the division. Well, it will help if Fernandes can start finding the target with his shotgun blasts.
United have kept a clean sheet in four of their last six PL games, more than in their previous 24 matches combined. The defense is there, they just need someone who is relentless in front of goal.