On The Ball | Manchester United’s rich goalscoring form unparalleled but they need a prolific striker to win Premier League
- Solskjaer’s side have been scoring in ways the Mourinho, Van Gaal and Moyes eras did not see as everyone shares in the goals
- A striker like Dortmund’s Haaland can take them to the next level as transformative Fernandes continues to excel
Manchester United’s 9-0 win against Southampton on Tuesday was the eighth time that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have scored five or more goals. The first was in his first match at Cardiff in December 2018, the second over a year later at Tranmere in an FA Cup game. Since then, United have scored more than five against Bruge, LASK, Bournemouth, Leipzig, Leeds and Southampton.
Critics are right to point out that United have struggled with goals against the best teams this season, but in the 301 games between Alex Ferguson retiring and Solskjaer taking the job, United only scored five or more goals twice – against Leverkusen in 2013 and Midtjylland in 2016. Jose Mourinho’s side didn’t hit five once, Louis van Gaal’s side only once and David Moyes’ too. Often their players became frustrated at the caution demanded by managers who preferred defending what they had rather than pressing for more.
United are also currently the top scorers in the Premier League, with Tuesday’s bagful pushing them past Liverpool. United’s 47 league goals so far compare favourably against 66 in the whole of last season, 1.7 goals per game last term to 2.1 this season. United are also the top scorers from open play. It’s more progress, as is actively being in a title race. In 2018-19, United were the league’s fifth top scorers and even in 2017-18 when they reached an impressive 81 points and finished second, the team only scored 68 goals – 1.78 per game.
What’s more surprising is that United don’t have a striker in the league’s top 10 scorers. Marcus Rashford, with eight, is 11th and there are no others in the top 30. Anthony Martial has just four league goals – two of them on Tuesday – Mason Greenwood only one.
The anomaly is in part because United’s top scorer isn’t a striker but Bruno Fernandes. Only Mohammad Salah, from fourth-placed Liverpool, has scored more than the Portuguese’s 12 goals. Half of Fernandes’ have been penalties as United’s detractors point out – but none of the penalty decisions have been as bad as the two which went against United in last week’s defeat to Sheffield United.
Fernandes’ overall stats are similar to most other top strikers. Jamie Vardy has also scored six penalties and only Harry Kane has made more assists than Fernandes. The Portuguese’s shot accuracy is 65 per cent, higher than both Salah and Kane.
