Where will the goals come from?

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A more experienced striker may have been a better option (if available for the price we‘d pay) but I think the issue is we’re not creating much and not playing to Hojlunds strengths.

His pace and movement … we should be playing through balls behind the back line or early crosses. We’ve got selfish and one footed wide players.

As much as I don’t rate Antony, I’d be interested to see him play left (if Garnacho not available).
A tap in but movement good. Excellent build up!
 

Irwin99

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70 goals is really not happening :( 50 is a stretch at this rate.

Hoping for 5 goals in the second half!
 

Overhaul FC

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Rashford isn't in a rut. He's just not that good or consistent. He might have spells of scoring but that's the best we'll ever get from him. He seems mentally weak and football IQ wise immature for his age.
 

Irwin99

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From defenders mainly
and our top scorer is still Casemiro with 4 :lol:

It really does remind me of LVG's second season where he went with Depay, Rooney and Martial as his only strikers (Rashford broke into the team around February IIRC). It's so frustrating to have another season of this.
 

Redstain

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We keep looking for goals from individuals but it has to come tactically. I have yet to see United create an overload successfully in the midfield this season. Gundogan for example didn't score double digits goals running through packed defences on his own, the wide players sucked defenders out wide and the off ball movement allowed City to continually overrun and that's why they scored countless cutbacks.

In part the poor goal tally is on the players but there's responsibility of the manager revolved around this issue additionally. This was the biggest issue last season bigger than Maguire, Eriksen replacement or the fullbacks. The summer has done absolutely nothing to address it.
 

tomaldinho1

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McT - 3
Bruno - 3
Hannibal - 1
Varane - 1
Case - 1
Eriksen - 1
Dalot - 1
Rashford - 1
 

tomaldinho1

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That makes me want to weep
It’s amazing we are where we are in the league when you look at goals for column. We’re only 5 points off the greatest team the world has ever seen in Ange’s Spurs.
 

Superunknown

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We have scored half the goals that Aston Villa have this season, and we have played one game more. Everton also have more goals than we do.
 

cyberman

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feck me we are grinding this out. Have won all the games we should have bar Palace with no Cnut scoring for us.
It’s admirable in a way. The chances we miss are criminal
 

Son

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We keep looking for goals from individuals but it has to come tactically. I have yet to see United create an overload successfully in the midfield this season. Gundogan for example didn't score double digits goals running through packed defences on his own, the wide players sucked defenders out wide and the off ball movement allowed City to continually overrun and that's why they scored countless cutbacks.

In part the poor goal tally is on the players but there's responsibility of the manager revolved around this issue additionally. This was the biggest issue last season bigger than Maguire, Eriksen replacement or the fullbacks. The summer has done absolutely nothing to address it.
If Bruno for example played for City he’d score an outrageous amount of goals and assists. He’s about the only player we have who would do a world class role for them.

He’s definitely got just as much to his game as Gundogan has if not more but again it’s the team you play for dictates form a lot of the time. None of our players pass well apart from Amrabat for example so Bruno is gonna launch hopefully balls forward. Our team setup demands it.
 

NewGlory

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Hojlund is Champions League top scorer and has yet to score a single goal in EPL...

All in the same season, for the same team. Oh yeah, and twice in UCL we played with 10 men...

Explain that
 

kouroux

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If Bruno for example played for City he’d score an outrageous amount of goals and assists. He’s about the only player we have who would do a world class role for them.

He’s definitely got just as much to his game as Gundogan has if not more but again it’s the team you play for dictates form a lot of the time. None of our players pass well apart from Amrabat for example so Bruno is gonna launch hopefully balls forward. Our team setup demands it.
The way he wastes the ball, there is no way he'd play for them.
 

justboy68

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Hojlund is Champions League top scorer and has yet to score a single goal in EPL...

All in the same season, for the same team. Oh yeah, and twice in UCL we played with 10 men...

Explain that
Champions League is just a glorified farmers league.
 

tomaldinho1

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Hojlund is Champions League top scorer and has yet to score a single goal in EPL...

All in the same season, for the same team. Oh yeah, and twice in UCL we played with 10 men...

Explain that
Quality in the CL has been low for a few years now.
 

Kellyiom

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That makes me want to weep
same here, that's desperate. We need to shift some of the training sessions out to a nearby farm and find a barn with its doors closed, then work up from that. I really want Hojlund to score in the PL and soon, before it becomes a 'thing'. It also shows the flaw in this Mason M transfer. He's been a decent scorer in the past and given the cost, I really don't understand what's gone on there at all and it doesn't seem like there's any plan imminent. It just seems to be fighting fires every week, like now there's the Varane/EtH issue.
 

Hoof the ball

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I'm concerned that we're predictable insofar as we rarely ever pass balls through lines into someone willing to half-turn and drive through the middle. It's always the same passing from side to side, which results in a 2 vs. 2, which usually ends up with a back pass and a subsequent series of passes to the other wing for the same thing.

- Why don't we create 3 vs 2 on wings?
- Why does no one ever run in-between opposition full-backs?
- Why are players so reticent to forward passes centrally?
- Why do wingers seldom drive inside and look for one-two's?

These aren't complex ideas. We see them all the team, in almost every game from Arsenal, City, even Tottenham as of late. We look static because we're not creating mis-matches, and we're not creating mis-matches because we keep playing from side to side and not seeing runners off the ball.
 

NewGlory

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Quality in the CL has been low for a few years now.
Maybe it is lower than what it used to be, but I don't believe you really think that teams / games we have played in UCL this year are lower quality than Luton, Fulham, Sheffield or any of the team we have played in EPL aside from maybe the current EPL top 6
 

el3mel

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Maybe it is lower than what it used to be, but I don't believe you really think that teams / games we have played in UCL this year are lower quality than Luton, Fulham, Sheffield or any of the team we have played in EPL aside from maybe the current EPL top 6
It's harder to score in PL. Teams usually defend in numbers and play low block, especially relegation fodders. We struggle to create many chances.

European teams usually don't play with such low block and some of them are even naive. There're more spaces in CL. Copenhagen were actually trying play football against us in both games even if their quality is low (and they succeeded in that in 2nd game).
 

Banana Republic

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One solitary goal from a forward player, in 12 league matches.

3 of our scrappy PL wins were courtesy of winning goals from defenders.
2 of those games were won 1-0

A third of the season effectively completed and our form so far puts us on just 40 goals for the whole season.

.
 

Bestietom

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If we don't have anyone from the Academy or under 21s that we can bring up that will score or help us with assists, then we can forget about even getting into top 6. Because these lot as sure as hell won't be scoring loads of goals anytime soon.
 

Leftback99

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My 50 estimate looks ambitious.

We're on for 41 if we continue at the current rate 1.08 per game.

We've also already played all of the bottom 6 once where you would expect most of our goals to come from. 22 out of 58 last season, 38%.
 

berbasloth4

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I think a lot is down to the service. Hojlund doesn’t know when to make runs because doesn’t know when the ball is coming.

with shaw injured we have no one except eriksen who can cross a ball.
With Antony being so one dimensional and one footed might be worth putting him left and see if one touch and crossing is more effective than him always tryna cut in and shoot
 

RuudTom83

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Have the forwards even won a game in the league yet?

Dalot, Lidelof and McTom have won 9 points of the 21 so far. Casemiro must have a few more points. Leaving Bruno as the only forward player that has put some points on the board.

*My memory is shite so don't quote me if I'm wrong.
 

antsmithmk

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We need to bring in a proven goal scorer. Rasmus is a prospect, nothing more at this stage. Tony Martial is finished. Need a loan in January like we got in Larrson that time. Or an Ibra style signing. Or a Cavani. Somebody to come in and spread the workload.
 

Bobski

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Given how little we create Prime RVN would struggle here
We just don't have the creative, well rounded wide forwards that the best teams have. Rashford is a top player when the goals are going in and his confidence is high but he has always been a well below par creator for others, meaning when out of goalscoring form he can look extremely one dimensional. Garnacho is raw, can hurt teams coming off the bench with direct running but is very head down and tunnel vision at the moment. Put those 2 with Hojlund, another one dimensional player at this stage, and it is no surprise there is little synergy in the attack.

Easy to blame it on the midfield and that area is certainly causing issues but the make up of the attack means transition attacks are the best bet. Antony and Sancho would ideally offer that mix of creativity and penetration but doesn't seem likely to come now.
 

Giggsy13

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Could be Hojlund if he got the service he needed from our wingers who seem incapable of putting in a decent pass or cross.
 

FerociousCorgis

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I mean easy to see the struggles of why we can't score. Our wingers are the ones who want to go for goal themselves. If it isn't going in they don't create consistent enough for others. Our midfield has had Mctominay as a mainstay, enough said there. Fullbacks don't create much whenever they randomly do go forward. All that is left is Bruno spraying passes everywhere hoping something comes off
 

antsmithmk

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Could be Hojlund if he got the service he needed from our wingers who seem incapable of putting in a decent pass or cross.
Big problem with Rashford is he isn't a winger. He's best played as an old fashioned inside left forward.