Manchester United are desperate for goals and a surprise solution could make derby impact

In a week when one Manchester club lost a forward, another gained one. Manchester City were stripped of Erling Haaland but Manchester United repurposed Harry Maguire, sending him on in attack in the 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest.

But for Murillo’s injury-time goal-line clearance, it would have seemed an inspired change by Ruben Amorim. As it is, it may look like a move that stemmed more from desperation than inspiration.

A Manchester derby will occur without a player with two hat-tricks in them, plus the scorer of probably the most celebrated goal of Amorim’s time at Old Trafford: Amad Diallo delivered a dramatic winner at the Etihad Stadium. It was both an anomaly – Amorim’s other best Premier League results are arguably draws, against Liverpool and Arsenal – and typical: United’s goalscorers that day were Bruno Fernandes and Amad.

Neither is a striker. Indeed, Fernandes has often operated in central midfield for Amorim while Amad has not played at all for eight weeks. And yet they are United’s two top scorers in the Portuguese’s reign.

His side have a mere 25 goals in 19 league games, a record that is arguably still worse when it is factored in that nine came in three matches against the promoted trio who seem set to be relegated and a further four against Sean Dyche’s Everton.

But of those 25, six came from Fernandes, five more from Amad. They have 44 per cent of the goals and 76 per cent of the 13 assists: Fernandes again leads the way with six, Amad with four. If it all suggests United’s threat has been halved with Amad injured, the broader conclusions about Amorim’s attack are worrying. They are overreliant on two individuals, the rest of the forward line is misfiring and, right now, the team has too few other ways of scoring or creating goals.

Amorim could argue there was evidence to the contrary at the City Ground: United had 24 shots, their most without scoring in a league game since 2021 and their highest total this season. There is, though, a further damning detail to add: United’s third-highest scorer since Amorim’s appointment is the exiled Marcus Rashford, on three.

The remaining attackers have a mere five league goals between them: Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund with two apiece, Alejandro Garnacho with one. It felt bizarre that, after Hojlund had scored a belated first goal in 22 games at Leicester before the international break, he was promptly benched for the first match after it. It was scarcely the first odd selectorial choice: Kobbie Mainoo was chosen as a false nine instead of the out-and-out attackers against Crystal Palace.

The misfiring duo of Hojlund and Zirkzee are neither a partnership, when the summer signing operates as a No 10, nor compelling alternatives. But there is mitigation: a lack of service. Their expected goals per 90 minutes are almost identical, at 0.21 and 0.20, and their shots per 90, at 1.34 and 1.32. If all numbers reflect that they are in goalscoring positions too rarely, they are all on the low side. By way of comparison, Haaland’s xG per 90 in the same period is 0.83, with 3.73 shots. When the final whistle blew at Forest on Tuesday, some 76 Premier League players had a higher xG during Amorim’s reign than Hojlund.

In his case, there is at least a type of goal he wants to score: the one he did at Leicester, running in behind a defence; he has been granted too few such opportunities. There is also a type of teammate who should suit Hojlund but Amorim’s system does not feature out-and-out wingers and the wide men, whether Garnacho, Amad or the departed Antony, are not crossers anyway, with each likelier to cut in and shoot. Zirkzee, meanwhile, represents a conundrum: thus far, there is no such thing as a typical Zirkzee goal.

Or, indeed, an Amorim goal, beyond Fernandes or Amad conjuring something out of nothing in a way that seems to have little to do with strategy and to depend on individual inspiration. How are United actually trying to score? So far, it is unclear.

And if part of the problem is Amorim’s inheritance, a group of players he did not sign and, in some cases, may not want, the structure might not help. The Portuguese’s 3-4-3 formation has been controversial: Amad apart, no league goals have come from his wing-backs and a by-product is that the system contains one fewer attacker than Erik ten Hag’s favoured 4-2-3-1. The only way around that is to field Fernandes in central midfield or Amad as a wing-back; the former tactic, however, has often come with Christian Eriksen as a No 10 when the Danish craftsman’s goal threat has been negligible. Another No 10 – though another not ideally suited to it – is Garnacho, who presents a separate story in an impotent team: shot-happy but profligate, the Argentinian has one goal from an xG of 4.01 under Amorim.

Meanwhile, with a certain inevitability, United conceded a wonder goal to a winger they sold, Anthony Elanga, on Tuesday. Fernandes apart, the best functioning part of their attacking efforts of late have been the set pieces that produced three goals against Ipswich. In all competitions, 10 of United’s last 16 goals have either come from Fernandes or centre-backs. And so, perhaps it would not be a surprise if the Manchester derby ends with Maguire unleashed in attack again. Especially against a City side without three of their senior centre-backs and unable to use the injured Haaland’s height to mark him at corners.