Misfiring Man United are paying the price for failing to make the signing they most needed
Tom Hancock
Manchester United’s current plight is manifesting itself as a litany of problems on and off the pitch, all of which complement each other perfectly – if turmoil is the aim. It goes without saying that it isn’t, but it’s going to persist if they don’t start turning these complementary problems into complementary solutions.
The ultimate fix may well entail wholesale off-field changes, but for now, ahead of Sunday’s home Premier League showdown with Bournemouth, Michael Carrick is still in charge, and the repair job has to start on the pitch – not least at the sharp end of it.
Man United have had the most shots in the top flight so far this season (138 at an average of almost 20 per game). In four of the last five Premier League campaigns, the division’s leading top shooters have finished third or higher – indeed, that was United just last term – so why are they languishing in 13th, two points above the relegation zone, the best part of a quarter of the way into 2026/27?
The answer is perhaps obvious – they’re wasting those shots, hitting the target with barely 25% (the second-lowest proportion in the league), and the chances aren’t high quality to begin with (United rank joint-bottom with Tottenham for Expected Goals (xG) per shot with a mere 0.08) – but it poses a bigger question: should United have strengthened their attack in the summer? Bryan Mbeumo is their go-to centre-forward option at the moment and has scored in each of the last two Premier League games, but it’s hard to see him being converted from a winger to a true number nine.
This is hardly a new issue – across the last three seasons, United’s leading Premier League scorer averages a touch under 10 goals (only Marcus Rashford has managed more than 11, netting 17 times in 2022/23) – but that’s all the more reason that it should have been addressed during the last transfer window.
Arsenal might have won the title last term with a relatively low 14-goal top scorer (Viktor Gyokeres) – but that’s by no means the norm in the Premier League. Over the last decade, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City pre-Erling Haaland are the only other team to be crowned champions without a leading marksman within one of a 20-goal tally – and it’s worth noting that when they did that in 2020/21 and 2021/22, they had five then six players with at least eight goals to their name.
A first Premier League title of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era feels a world away for United at the moment, but they’re not going to get anywhere near with such bluntness in attack.
In captain Bruno Fernandes – who broke the single-season Premier League assists record last term – they have at their disposal one of the very best playmakers in world football. Imagine the kind of numbers he could put up with a truly ruthless finisher in the side: a Ruud van Nistelrooy; a Wayne Rooney; a Dimitar Berbatov; a Robin van Persie. Such players’ modern-day equivalents (or at least somewhat close to) do exist – so why are they not at Manchester United?
For all the club’s flaws, they’ve managed to make quality additions in other positions – Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba, for example, were both very savvy summer signings indeed – so it can’t be said that Old Trafford is no longer an attractive destination for top talent.
Rashford, reintegrated into the squad following loan spells at Aston Villa and Barcelona, might have been the answer, but he’s barely resembled the player he was a few years ago – and is currently injured in any case.
As things stand, it’s hard to see how United solve their toothlessness in front of goal without adding a proven goalscorer in January – whoever happens to be in charge of the team come then.
