Erik ten Hag has remained consistent in his assessment of Manchester United this season: his side needs to score more goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Anthony Martial were the only recognised centre-forwards that Ten Hag inherited this summer and that was clearly problematic, as Ronaldo is 37 years old and Martial has been plagued with injury problems in recent times.
Ten Hag has preferred to play Marcus Rashford down the middle this term, as he does not consider Ronaldo a regular starter, and Martial has made just one start in the Premier League after spending the majority of the campaign on the sidelines.
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Martial has looked capable in the 133 minutes he has played, but he had already dealt with hamstring and Achilles injuries before his latest setback against Everton last month, which forced him to be substituted in the first half at Goodison Park.
Ronaldo and Martial are the only recognised strikers at the club and they've hardly played. That has left Rashford to shoulder the burden of finding the back of the net, while Antony, Jadon Sancho and Antony Elanga have hoped to contribute.
Rashford has contributed seven goals and three assists, surpassing his impact in the final third from last season, but there has been a distinct lack of goals from his teammates and that has been a cause for concern.
Ronaldo, Martial, Antony and Sancho have three goals each, Bruno Fernandes has two and Elanga has none, which is a total of just 14 goals between six attacking players across all competitions. Erling Haaland has 22 goals on his own in comparison.
The absence of goals from midfield has also exacerbated the problem, with Fernandes not as prolific as he once was. Fernandes scored 40 goals across 2019/20 and 2020/21 and he's scored just 12 when you combine his haul from last season and his record from the current campaign. Those statistics confirm the visual impression of Fernandes' declining goalscoring prowess.
Although Ten Hag has made sure to reiterate the dressing room has a strong 'team spirit' during his post-match press conferences, he's also regularly warned that his players need to be more clinical, which is clearly the biggest area for improvement.
United have scored 17 goals in 12 Premier League games and that is the level of attacking output of a midtable side, which is highlighted by Brentford, Brighton, Leicester, Fulham and Newcastle having all scored more league goals.
That explains why supporters are anticipating facing Barcelona, Atletico Madrid or Juventus in the Europa League Round of 32 this season, who are possible opponents for that stage of the competition should United fail to win their group this week.
If United finish second in their Europa League group, they will play a club that finished third in the Champions League group stage, and they have the challenge of beating Real Sociedad by two goals on Thursday night if they want to claim the top spot.
Real Sociedad defeated United 1-0 at Old Trafford on the night Queen Elizabeth II passed and the Spaniards will be confident of winning the group, given they won the reverse fixture and that goals have not flowed for Ten Hag's side.
It will take the best performance of Ten Hag's tenure so far for United to win their Europa League group. They have struggled to convert their chances this season, so beating Real Sociedad by two goals in Spain would be quite the achievement.
It's obvious that United need to sign a world-class centre-forward and it shouldn't take the club crashing out of the Europa League at the Round of 32 stage, which could be a real possibility if they don't win their group, for the Glazers to see that.
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