It has been a frustrating week for Manchester United at Old Trafford, 180 minutes of football producing 49 shots but just one goal, Scott McTominay's face-saving winner against Omonia Nicosia.
United had a chance to again save their blushes in stoppage time on Sunday, but this time Marcus Rashford missed the target in the dying embers of the goalless draw with Newcastle.
That was the first draw of Erik ten Hag's reign, ending the boom-or-bust cycle of the first dozen games, but nine fixtures into their Premier League campaign they are fifth in the table, an acceptable position considering how the season started.
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The goalscoring difficulties that have crept into their game recently have become an issue, however, with the narrative that chances aren't being taken and it's undoubtedly the case that if United are to make a success of this season, they have to score more goals.
Only Bournemouth in the top half of the table have scored fewer than United's 13 goals and only Bournemouth of those top 10 sides also have a negative goal difference. United's is skewed by the six conceded to Manchester City and four at Brentford, but those kinds of one-off aberrations have become a feature of this team.
Ten Hag's priority now has to be find a way to get more goals into the team. In five of the nine Premier League games this season they've scored once or less and the fact three of the four occasions they've scored more came against Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal show they've enjoyed the spaces afforded to them by better opposition.
United have found it difficult to break more defensive teams down and continue to thrive on the counter-attack, just as they did in the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer years. There have been some wonderful team goals this season but they are the exception and chances of that nature aren't being created regularly enough.
The stats bear out the idea that finishing isn't necessarily the problem here. In United's nine Premier League games they have an expected goals tally of 12 (according to FBRef) and have scored 13. That's a marginal overperformance.
Against Omonia on Thursday they registered 3.4 xG and scored just once, a clear underperformance, but that isn't a regular occurrence. In fact, the two games against the Cypriot side are the only occasions they've gone up 1.8 xG across 90 minutes this season.
Three of their four highest numbers in that particular stat in the league have come against City, Liverpool and Arsenal. On Sunday they created chances good enough for just 1.3 xG.
So this isn't just a case of some slack finishing, even if a club of United's stature should expect to have a striker who is capable of scoring above his own xG rate. Manchester City and Tottenham are two of the clubs most outperforming the number of goals they would have been expected to score this season and it's no coincidence they have Erling Haaland and Harry Kane leading the line.
But without someone to regularly put away half chances, United need to be creating better opportunities. They are 11th in the Premier League for xG this season and 11th for actual goals scored, which tells a story.
United certainly missed Christian Eriksen on Sunday, but he has started every other Premier League game and a midfield featuring the invention of Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes should be more creative than it has been. Antony and Rashford have offered a goal threat from out wide when they've played there, but they haven't been creators and United also lack that kind of play from their full-backs.
Ten Hag has been unfortunate with injuries too. Anthony Martial might just be the best No. 9 available to him this season and he's scored three goals in 135 minutes, but that is all he's been available for.
Cristiano Ronaldo's frustration at being replaced with United desperate for a goal on Sunday summed up his struggles this season. It would have been incomprehensible not to rely on him when in need of a goal a couple of years ago, but he hasn't carried the same threat this season.
But regardless of who plays up front, United need to become more creative. At the current rate they are on track for 54 goals in the league this season, the lowest tally since 2016/17, when they got the same number. That season they conceded just 29, a rearguard effort that looks beyond them this season, so increasing the ammunition in the final third has to be the priority now.
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