Manchester United’s rich goalscoring form unparalleled but they need a prolific striker to win Premier League
- Solskjaer’s side have been scoring in ways the Mourinho, Van Gaal and Moyes eras did not see as everyone shares in the goals
- A striker like Dortmund’s Haaland can take them to the next level as transformative Fernandes continues to excel
Manchester United’s 9-0 win against Southampton on Tuesday was the eighth time that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have scored five or more goals. The first was in his first match at Cardiff in December 2018, the second over a year later at Tranmere in an FA Cup game. Since then, United have scored more than five against Bruge, LASK, Bournemouth, Leipzig, Leeds and Southampton.
Critics are right to point out that United have struggled with goals against the best teams this season, but in the 301 games between Alex Ferguson retiring and Solskjaer taking the job, United only scored five or more goals twice – against Leverkusen in 2013 and Midtjylland in 2016. Jose Mourinho’s side didn’t hit five once, Louis van Gaal’s side only once and David Moyes’ too. Often their players became frustrated at the caution demanded by managers who preferred defending what they had rather than pressing for more.
United are also currently the top scorers in the Premier League, with Tuesday’s bagful pushing them past Liverpool. United’s 47 league goals so far compare favourably against 66 in the whole of last season, 1.7 goals per game last term to 2.1 this season. United are also the top scorers from open play. It’s more progress, as is actively being in a title race. In 2018-19, United were the league’s fifth top scorers and even in 2017-18 when they reached an impressive 81 points and finished second, the team only scored 68 goals – 1.78 per game.
What’s more surprising is that United don’t have a striker in the league’s top 10 scorers. Marcus Rashford, with eight, is 11th and there are no others in the top 30. Anthony Martial has just four league goals – two of them on Tuesday – Mason Greenwood only one.
The anomaly is in part because United’s top scorer isn’t a striker but Bruno Fernandes. Only Mohammad Salah, from fourth-placed Liverpool, has scored more than the Portuguese’s 12 goals. Half of Fernandes’ have been penalties as United’s detractors point out – but none of the penalty decisions have been as bad as the two which went against United in last week’s defeat to Sheffield United.
Fernandes’ overall stats are similar to most other top strikers. Jamie Vardy has also scored six penalties and only Harry Kane has made more assists than Fernandes. The Portuguese’s shot accuracy is 65 per cent, higher than both Salah and Kane.
The best Manchester United sides have always had great centre forwards. George Best scored 32 goals in the season when United won the 1968 European Cup, Dwight Yorke 29 in the treble season and Cristiano Ronaldo 42 when United won a third European Cup. When United last won the Premier League, Robin van Persie scored 30 goals across the season. No United player has hit so many since.
All those sides had numerous goalscorers like the current United one does – Tuesday’s nine goals were scored by eight different players – all had a clear top-scoring forward, too. There are two points to note here. That United are scoring goals and aren’t reliant on one striker is a strength, but at least one of United’s forwards needs to be more prolific. That or United should sign a more prolific centre forward. Solskjaer has long fancied Erling Haaland, currently with Borussia Dortmund in Germany. Edinson Cavani might be that man in the short term.
Secondly, United’s football isn’t yet vintage. Fans complained about the dull fare offered up by Van Gaal and Mourinho. Bizarre stats emerged such as that fans wouldn’t see a goal at their end of Old Trafford for four months. At least they could go to games. Fans are limited to a screen when they have a team well worth watching in the flesh.
United’s support have fond memories of non-title winning sides in the 70s and 80s because of their attacking football in the same vein as what we see now, but there’s a price to pay – United concede more goals. I put this to Solskjaer last week, asking: “Your team are top scorers but have conceded 27 goals, more than anyone in the top 12. Does that number concern you?”
Solskjaer replied: “We’re not happy at conceding goals, of course not. Six of those goals were in one game [vs Spurs] and that’s a big reason behind this.
“You’re a Man United supporter, you’d rather win 3-2 than 1-0. Of course, we are getting goals at one end and sometimes you open up at the other end, but we have consistently been scoring more than we’ve been conceding. You’d rather win 3-0 than 3-2, but we’ve been working on the press high up, we defend as a team, we’ve got better over the years.”
Since then, United have kept two clean sheets. Entertainment is important but wins even more so, no matter what any fan says. United have managed both, more than anyone expected this season.
Yet within the club, there’s still continual scouting of top centre forwards and central defenders because they can have the transformative effect that Fernandes had when he came into the midfield, one which will take United closer to being title winners rather than contenders.
