2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Samuel Meade)
Things got bleak under Erik ten Hag at Manchester United - with their of goals a real issue in his final months. It's been several weeks since the Dutchman was shown the door at Old Trafford with a defeat at West Ham proving to be the final nail in the coffin. Ten Hag couldn't address the obvious issues in his squad and Ruud van Nistelrooy has been in caretaker charge whilst the club wait for Ruben Amorim to arrive.
Van Nistelrooy has handled himself well and quickly addressed the problems in the final third. United have scored 11 goals in his four games in charge. Sunday's 3-0 success over Leicester was his final match at the helm.
The Red Devils led by two goals at the break. Incredibly, in their eight previous home Premier League games they had only scored one in the first half - so against Leicester they had doubled their tally. In fact, you have to go back to March for the last time the Old Trafford crowd could enjoy the comfort of a 2-0 lead by the interval.
That came during a win over Everton with United, particularly under Ten Hag, a goal shy outfit. Their former manager copped criticism for failing to address the issues in the final third. He signed Joshua Zirkzee in the summer, but that was his only recruit in attack and the Dutchman, after scoring on his debut, hasn't found the net since.
12 months before that the club signed Rasmus Hojlund, who was very much a long-term investment. Ten Hag acknowledged their failings as he said prior to his sacking: "Not scoring goals, not scoring goals enough. That's the problem, the key area.
We have to score more goals as a team. I think we have players across the team who have the ability to score. That's clear.
You see all the opportunities we are creating, we are not scoring enough." In the first game following his dismissal United would score five against Leicester in the Carabao Cup. Four of those came in the first-half and they've looked more potent in attack during Van Nistelrooy's brief time in charge of the team.
Questions though remain over some of their attacking talent with Amorim now tasked with getting the best out of several underperforming players. Marcus Rashford is among those who has under delivered and will be challenged to return to the form that saw him hit a career best 30 goals two seasons ago. Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content.
We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Sky has slashed the price of its Sky Sports, Sky Stream, Sky TV and Netflix bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £240 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more..
