Yahoo Sports Four charts that damn Manchester United’s woeful attack
To give you an idea of the extent of the attacking crisis at Manchester United, the last forward to score a goal at Old Trafford in the Premier League was Jadon Sancho, a player who has been exiled by Erik ten Hag for the past three-and-a-half months.
That goal came all the way back on the final day of last season, an equaliser in the 2-1 victory against Fulham on May 28, since when two defenders and five midfielders have found the net at home in the league but none of the six attackers on whom that burden mainly falls.
It is not as if Rasmus Hojlund, Marcus Rashford, Antony, Alejandro Garnacho, Anthony Martial or, until his banishment, Sancho have been much better on their travels either. Garnacho, Martial and Rashford, from the penalty spot after Bruno Fernandes handed over duties in recognition of his team-mate’s desperate need for a goal, all scored in the 3-0 win at Everton last month.
Otherwise, the only goal scored on the road in the league by a United forward this season was Rashford’s strike back in the 3-1 defeat at Arsenal on Sept 3, the same game for which Sancho was omitted and has not been seen since for disciplinary reasons.
With Premier League leaders Liverpool, who have the joint-meanest defence and second-best attack in the competition, to face at Anfield on Sunday, where they were trounced 7-0 last season and have not won in eight visits, these are worrying statistics.
United, by contrast, are the only team with a negative goal difference in the top eight and the 18 goals mustered in 16 league games is the fewest in the competition bar the bottom three and Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest, who are 15th and 16th respectively. In other words, relegation-battling numbers.
Hojlund, the 20-year-old Denmark striker signed for £72 million from Atalanta in August, has yet to score a league goal and the dismal form of last season’s top scorer, Rashford, finally saw him dropped for the 2-1 win over Chelsea.
Antony, the second-costliest player in United’s history at £85.5 million, has no goals and one assist in 26 appearances since scoring against Forest on April 16.
Indeed, it seemed telling on Tuesday, with United trailing Bayern Munich 1-0 and needing to win to stand any chance of staying in the Champions League, that the Brazil winger was withdrawn in the 75th minute and replaced by a youngster in Facundo Pellistri who, to that point, had 323 minutes of action to his name this term.
Garnacho is super-gifted, as his stunning bicycle kick at Everton and fine showing against Chelsea underlined, but he is 19 and it is ludicrous to think the burden should fall on shoulders so young, even if he has been the best of the attackers.
As for Martial, it is five-and-a-half years since Jose Mourinho demanded United sell the France striker and he is at a stage where his substitutions are cheered these days.
United have managed the sixth-most shots in the league this season but are comfortably bottom for chance conversion (see chart below) and, despite delivering the third-most crosses, including corners, they have managed just two goals from them – which explains why they have the second-lowest success rate on crosses after Burnley. Arsenal, on the other hand, have scored a league-high nine goals from crosses despite having made 13 fewer than United.
United have also produced the third-most crosses from open play but have the fourth-lowest success rate from them (see chart below). None of which may come as much of a surprise to Hojlund, whose frustration at the poor quality of the final ball – or lack of it – was writ large on Saturday when he was screaming for Diogo Dalot to square a pass only for the United right-back to shoot into the side-netting from an impossibly tight angle. A few minutes later, Bournemouth would score their second in a 3-0 win.
Hojlund has received fewer passes than any other main centre-forward in the league this season, with Martial second-bottom in that category. United’s decision to stake all their chips on the talented but raw and unproven Dane, and invest £60 million of their budget on Mason Mount when those funds could have been redirected towards the recruitment of a second, more experienced striker, was as negligent as it was naive.
But given the isolation of and lack of quality service to the centre-forward in this United team, which must have felt more pronounced than ever for Hojlund against Bayern, it is not certain another No 9 would be banging them in freely.
Hojlund should have broken his Premier League duck against Sheffield United or Luton Town when, despite excellent saves from Wes Foderingham and Thomas Kaminski respectively, he was presented with two golden chances. Indeed, in the league alone, Hojlund is underperforming his expected goals (xG) by 2.6, more than all but five other top-flight players.
But the sight of team-mates not spotting his runs or passing into Hojlund when the opportunity demands has become a frequent frustration for United fans, who may also recognise that lack of connection between the team’s most creative midfielder and first-choice striker.
Fernandes will be missing against Liverpool through suspension but, even though no other United player has passed to Hojlund more than the captain, the striker is only the 12th-most frequent recipient of his passes.
For a direct team who want to play on the transition, United are simply not making the most of Hojlund either through the middle or out wide. And life may not be about to get any easier this weekend.
