Manchester United fans can be divided into two camps at this stage of the season, those that think their side have improved their general play, but are just squandering chances, and the others, who believe Ten Hag’s men still lack a cohesive identity and style of play.
With the exception of a 7-0 thrashing of League 1 Barnsley and a rather flattering 3-0 scoreline against Southampton, goals have definitely been hard to come by for the Red Devils, who have scored just four goals in six games outside of those two (including the Community Shield).
Manager Erik ten Hag has repeatedly suggested the lack of finishing is the problem, saying at his most recent press conference that “now it’s about being more efficient and scoring more goals because that will win you games.”
The Times has made an interesting observation about this lack of goals. The outlet contends that it is not the inability to hit the target that is the problem, but the lack of goal attempts made by United’s strikers in the first place.
First up is new signing Joshua Zirkzee. “Ideally, goalscoring strikers should be averaging between 3.0 to 4.5 shots per 90 minutes,” reporter Hamzah Khalique-Loonat says.
“The top five goalscorers in Europe’s top five leagues last season took a minimum of 3.59. By comparison Erling Haaland averaged 3.99, Darwin Núñez 4.7 and Harry Kane 4.47. However, last season Zirkzee averaged 2.74 shots per 90.”
The reporter then notes that Rasmus Hojlund’s rate is much lower still, at 1.59 shots per game last season.
Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes are the only two forward players to average more than three shots per game this season. Marcus Rashford also falls below that level, having only taken four shots all season in the Premier League, both against Southampton.
Rashford has averaged 0.8 shots per game and Amad 1.2, according to sofascore.com.
As the legendary Johann Cruyff once said, if you don’t shoot, you don’t score.
There are so many reasons why this goal shyness could be the case at Old Trafford. Rashford, for example, only made 1.9 attempts per game last season (scoring 7) compared to 3.1 in 2022/23 (scoring 17), 0.9 in 2021/22 (scoring 4), 2.1 in 2020/21 (scoring 11) and 3.1 in 2019/20 (scoring 17).
These wildly fluctuating stats demonstrate that it is not simply the player’s style. It can be about tactics, confidence, chemistry with teammates, fitness levels, or a combination of many factors.
What makes the wingers’ shot rate even more perplexing under Ten Hag is that often the manager likes to employ right footers like Rashford to play on the left and lefties like Antony or, at times, Garnacho, to play on the right. This should favour cutting inside and shooting on the stronger foot, sometimes at the expense of more crosses. It should mean there are more attempts, not fewer.
Anyone who has played a football management game will know that team instructions in regard to goal attempts can range from “shoot on sight” to “work the ball into the box”. Perhaps Ten Hag has instructed his players not to shoot on sight. If so, this would be fixed with a simple tactical tweak.
But it could also be that United’s attacks are too predictable, so wingers get double marked and goal advances are snuffed out even before the men in red can get a shot away. This would be indicative of a deeper problem that supports the view that United simply still do not have a coherent way of playing.
Whatever the case, it is something that needs to be fixed very soon if Ten Hag is to bring his side up to the next level. Without more goal attempts, there will not be many more goals, even if the players are clinical in their finishing.
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