What is wrong with our attacking players?

[Ayoba]

9 league games so far this season and our attacking players, a list that includes the following:

Bruno
Rashford
Holjund
Martial
Garnacho
Antony
Mount

Have scored a grand total of THREE goals and TWO assists. That's beyond shocking.

 

[Solius]

Lack of confidence and ability.

 

[Dec9003]

Poor tactics and team selections don’t help them.

 

[horsechoker]

Confidence and chance creation. We're too ponderous at times and then when we do create we waste it.

Højlund has 3 Champions League goals though

 

[el3mel]

Lack of attacking organization and tactical plan.

 

[OldSchoolManc]

From that list, Bruno and Rashford should be most embarrassed.
Martial FC is an old joke and the others have settling in issues

 

[James35]

As said above with confidence and ability but the coaching and tactics haven’t helped. Just a big mix of shite.

 

[Abraxas]

Well, there's not a lot of natural goalscorers in there. That's one issue I see. Maybe Hojlund can develop into it but he's young. They all tend to snatch at chances. Never really convincing.

The creation is also poor at the moment so it's not as if there are tons of opportunities for guys like Rashford and Hojlund that you would want to be getting on the end of stuff.

 

[Vidyoyo]

I'm concerned at the lack of chances our wingers are creating. They seem to get stretched out wide, usually latching onto through balls, and don't look up when they get into a crossing opportunity. Hojlund often ends up isolated in the box.

We could do with our full backs overlapping better, or failing that Bruno/Mount when we're relying on Lindelof at LB.

 

[pcaming]

Coaching staff.

 

[Red Royal]

Everything is too sllllloooooowwww

 

[Ekeke]

Poor finishing and sometimes poor final balls

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

I'd like to add that Antony is shite.

 

[fallengt]

Poor tactics and team selections don’t help them.

poor tactics that makes them not scoring 1:1?

 

[bstb3]

Lack of attacking organization and tactical plan.

It's this. We just aren't creating enough chances, and when we do we seem surprised and not able to capitalise. We know most of the players can do it, so it's got to be a coaching / tactics thing. Out of all the issues people throw at ETH this is actually the one that I think sticks - we just build so slowly and without a plan it feels, and this is an area of the pitch which hasn't had the injury issues so much.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Too individualistic. Wingers only want to score. I'd like to see a right footer on the right so we at least have one winger who will be looking to go wide and put in crosses

 

[Vidyoyo]

Too individualistic. Wingers only want to score. I'd like to see a right footer on the right so we at least have one winger who will be looking to go wide and put in crosses

Some truth to this. Garnacho had a cracking opportunity to fake a shot and cross the ball into Martial/Rashford around minute 80 with the two of them unmarked but went for the shot and missed.

 

[Baxquux]

Hojlund's making the runs and been unlucky with at least one razor-thin VAR decision, been 6 inches away from converting a couple etc. If we were a properly coached attacking side and didn't rely on Rashford's decision-making to offset the gaps in pattern play or on Bruno's scattershot passing/Antony's wild swings, and had a normal 10 and 11 playing for us, he'd probably have at least 3 already...

 

[Leftback99]

Zero plan of what to do when they have the ball.

Would love to know what they train on all week. Rashford and Antony just do their own individual thing. Bruno just treats the ball like it's on fire.

 

[Irwin99]

Who would have thought after our previous two seasons that goal scoring would still be an issue with pretty much these same players plus a 20 year old who we need to be patient with.

Without Rashford we would have failed miserably last season but it's not being overcritical to say that he has these dips in form and i don't think he's ever going to hit 30 goals year in, year out. Antony and Sancho never scored enough goals, Garnacho is still learning, Martial is Martial etc.

We'll be lucky to hit 60 goals in the league i think. Very predictable, anyone could have seen it coming.

 

[Gazautd18]

Literally just asked the same question.
On another day Hojlund could've had 2 or 3.
We're just not clinical enough.
I feel it will come together when we least expect it but it better come soon.

 

[Van Piorsing]

First half showed it. Hoofing it to Hojlund in hope something great happens, when even rapid player like him can't chase such imprecise passing support.

 

[Tyrion]

They're not very good.

 

[Malone_Post]

Bruno & Rashford - Two players who have always been incredibly patchy and are currently horrendously out of form

Holjund & Garnacho - Kids still learning their trade

Martial, Antony & Mount - Absolute shite

Our whole attack is a complete mess and has been for years. The closest thing we’ve had to an effective attack was the Rashford/Martial/Greenwood trio under Ole and that didn’t exactly last long.

 

[FrankDrebin]

I find Rashford, Garnacho and Antony too individualistic.
Hojlund and Martial are good team players, though would help in the latter kept on his feet at times and remained fit.

 

[mu4c_20le]

First two do not have eredivisie experience

 

[Lay]

Majority are shite

 

[alexthelion]

Lack of football IQ, especially Rashford and Bruno.

Not enough team players (mainly same two, plus Antony and Garnacho).

 

[Leftback99]

Rashford's purple patch is long over. What's left when you look at the list is very little proven goal threat for the PL.

Rashford scored 10 goals in 10 games last season. Outside of that it's 7 in 34 PL appearances. Then there's Antony 4 goals in 31 appearances. Hojlund zero PL goals. Hardly a surprise were struggling.

 

[CallyRed]

We don't have a style of play, identity. Watching United these days reminds me of watching England in the 00s. Won games without ever looking convincing

 

[Sandman]

Lots of issues.

Coaching and training
Tactics
Man management
The way the club is being run and no is being held accountable
No hunger to win games
Lack of motivation
Injuries

The list can go on...

 

[Red in STL]

Bruno is trying to hard, he plays as if the weight of the team is on his shoulders, but we kinow he can do it because he's done it before, needs to be left out for a game or two

Rashford doesn't have a football brain, unless he's running on to the ball in space he doesn't know what to do half the time, shimmies he hips and loses all momentum, but he did put a few good crosses in today

Hojlund will be fine, he had 3 chances today, one half assed shot, a great save from the keeper and a big toe away from putting it in the net

Garnacho, lacks the experience to know when to pass and when to shoot or take his man on, he'll learn, he's a great sub to bring on as teams are terrified of him

Antony, despie everything we still look a better team overall with him in it, he probably played the pass of the match which lead to Hojland almost scoring, he was also chopped down quite a few times trying to beat his man that earned to SU players yellow cards, still needs to to do better though

Mount was on the pitch today for just a few mins when we were trying to likk the game, nothing much he could do in mthatm situation, he's only played in a few games

Martial is the only forward sub we have really, he tried to make a nuisnace of himself today but he needs to be gone

 

[Scarlett Dracarys]

They have no leadership

 

[Borys]

Rashford being comoletely out of form is the only difference compared to last season. Not much has changed other than that. Hojlund is a close to Weghorst level (at least plays similar way in EPL), Antony always performs the same, Bruno is Bruno.

The problem is that we just keep doing the same and expect... not sure what to happen actually.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

I see we are back to bashing hojlund again. Figured it wouldn't be long before people turned on him again. Hilarious caf

 

[garelo]

manager's insistence to play with out of form players played biggest part of this fiasco. Bruno, Rashford, and Antony should be benched especially when you consider we have other players who can play in their positions.

 

[Bert_]

Rashford lacking confidence is a major cause right now. He carried us in attack last year. He looks unsure what to do once he gets into the final third this season. Similar to when Ronaldo was here.

Maybe he feels under pressure to provide assists for Hojlund rather than take on the responsibility himself, like he was with Ronnie in the team.

It's why I think it was a no brainier getting Kane, even if it meant sacrificing other signings this year. He contributes even if he's not scoring. He'd feed Rashford and vice versa.

I Like Hojlund and think he's got all the tools to become a top striker, but he can't do what Kane does yet. He's going to struggle to contribute anything other than goal scoring at this stage of his career. He's going to rely on the other attackers creating opportunities for him. Which ain't happening. The pressure to do that could be having a detrimental effect on the other attackers.

Doesn't seem to affect Garnacho though. He's still raw but plays with the confidence of a world beater. He doesn't second guess himself and just goes for it. Probably helps when you're a young player and not expected to carry a team.

Hopefully over the next few months, Rashford and Hojlund start to strike up an understanding of each others game and can share the goalscoring load.

 

[cyril C]

Hoijund is not a predator. How can anyone missed 3 golden chances at 6y? He is just a hard working player, but not a predator inside the box.

Rashford just have a new contract, as usual, any player rewarded with a new contract, nose dive....

 

[Bert_]

Hoijund is not a predator. How can anyone missed 3 golden chances at 6y? He is just a hard working player, but not a predator inside the box.

Rashford just have a new contract, as usual, any player rewarded with a new contract, nose dive....

What golden chances?

He took that shot too early when their keeper fecked up and Rashford set him up. Still got it on target. Probably should have took his time and placed it better.

Apart from that what other chances was he expected to score? The one where it was fired into him out of nowhere via a deflection, which he still managed to control and get a shot away despite being in the keepers face? And the one were Rashford fired a hopeful ball across the goal line where Hojlund beat two defenders to have a lunge at it?

If you expect someone to score whenever they get a sniff of a chance then you'll always be disappointed.

 

[Lentwood]

One thing I notice is that we take lots of low percentage actions in attacking areas, like trying impossible passes, throwing in aimless crosses or shooting from distance.

When you watch good teams, they sustain attacks by recycling the ball, moving it from side to side, probing for openings and attempting to create overloads/isolate opponents.

I don't know why this is really, it's been a theme for a while now. Its like we make four or five passes and then panic. I don't think it helps that we have players like Rashford who are incredibly one dimensional and the likes of Antony and Bruno who literally want to shoot on sight.