Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson once said, "attack helps you win games, but defense helps you win titles". The problem is, without reliable goalscorers, a team will never know the feeling of winning the championship. And sadly, the "Red Devils" are the team that rarely follow Ferguson's motto.
There are many reasons for Man United's unstable performance in the Premier League over the past decade. But sometimes, the simple answer can be found in a series of statistics. That is, they do not score enough goals.
Having played 5 matches in the Premier League 2024-2025 and only 3 teams - Crystal Palace 4, Ipswich Town (3) and Southampton (2) - have scored fewer goals than Man United. They have only accumulated 5 goals so far.
The 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace was the latest example of Man United's lack of creativity. They created 15 chances and failed to take any of them. In the 0-3 loss to Liverpool earlier this month, the "Red Devils" had 8 chances and failed to take advantage of any. Meanwhile, Liverpool scored 3 goals from 11 chances.
In the 3-0 win over Southampton, M.U created 20 chances. After 5 matches in the Premier League, Erik ten Hag's team has created a total of 68 chances and scored 5 goals.
In general, they know how to create opportunities but waste them in the final finishing step. Therefore, Man United are struggling in 11th place in the tournament. Their strikers are simply not good enough.
Ten Hag's Man United are a disastrous failure in following Ferguson's blueprint. Previously, David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also made similar mistakes. While everyone is partly responsible, both tactically and in terms of team selection, the biggest issue is the transfer stage.
As Ferguson's Man United dominated the Premier League, he prioritized recruiting world-class strikers throughout his two decades of success. From Eric Cantona in the early 1990s to Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robin van Persie. Man United always have the best players up front. That is why the team has won so many titles.
Since then, the Old Trafford team has signed contracts with past peak veterans - Radamel Falcao in 2014, Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2016, Edinson Cavani in 2020 and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021. In addition, their potential signings, including Anthony Martial and Rasmus Hojlund, have also failed. In the case of the Danish striker, it may take more time to prove.
Along with Joshua Zirkzee, Man United currently have an attack consisting of 2 young strikers who have not been verified to have moved from Serie A. Meanwhile, promising wingers like Amad and Alejandro Garnacho are not the striker capable of leading the attack.
Man United could be more confident in their defence under Ten Hag. Their midfield could finally be in harmony after the arrival of Manuel Ugarte from Paris St Germain. But if the strikers cannot score, Man United will not win enough matches for their defense to help them get closer to the championship.
