Manchester United attacking conundrum needs managing

National World - LocalTV

A look at the front line at MUFC.

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00:00 And just on Manchester United's attack, obviously we've seen a few different combinations and a few players coming back in.

00:06 Hoyland made his debut and Martial has been coming back in as well.

00:10 What's the situation? How do you manage the attacking line-up at the moment?

00:16 Because there are a few players on paper you might think could start and then there's more and you're leaving them out.

00:23 What's the latest there you can tell us?

00:25 Yeah, so I mean there have been quite a few issues in the team I think in the first couple of weeks.

00:31 But attack has definitely been one. I was having a look at the XG stats.

00:34 Only Chelsea and Everton have underperformed in terms of XG in comparison to Manchester United.

00:39 I think that United have certainly looked best when Marcus Rashford has been out left.

00:43 When he played through the centre in the first couple of games, he didn't look great.

00:46 But then of course the issue is Alejandro Garnaccio is best out left.

00:50 And again, I was looking at the numbers actually from last season.

00:52 United's three best players in terms of goals and assists were Garnaccio, Rashford and Anthony Martial.

00:58 Anthony Martial was actually mainly in the first half of the season.

01:00 The second half of the season he offered very little and has so underwhelmed I suppose in the first couple of weeks of this season.

01:06 So United's two best players are Rashford and Garnaccio, two players who both want to play off the left.

01:11 Now that is an issue, that is a problem.

01:13 I'm doing a piece on it at the moment.

01:15 I mean Garnaccio has never really been tried out right. Rashford has, it's never really worked.

01:19 I mean you've got Hoyland that come in, could there be some form of fluid from three?

01:24 But again, I don't even know if that really suits because all three, Garnaccio and Rashford have been best coming off the left.

01:31 You've got different issues with Sancho and Anthony.

01:35 Obviously allegations made against Anthony, which he denies, but has been dropped by the Brazil squad.

01:40 United say they are looking to invest into the issue.

01:44 So at the moment, we don't really know what's going on there.

01:47 But he's not performed well off the right wing this season, there's no denying that, and his numbers aren't great.

01:54 Then you've got Jadon Sancho and just that whole issue with him coming out and criticising Ten Hag.

02:00 I have a funny feeling he won't be in the squad for the first game against Brighton after we come back after the international break.

02:06 So both Anthony and Sancho aren't performing.

02:09 So that's the issue then as well.

02:11 You're trying to get your two best players out left, that doesn't work.

02:14 Your players out right aren't performing and I know Hoyland's avidly to come into it, but you don't have anyone up front who's really impressed.

02:19 So there's a big issue there for United and one they need to address.

02:23 Plus they've got issues in midfield, plus they've got issues at the back.

02:26 And Ana, in my eyes, he's very comfortable himself with the ball at his feet.

02:30 I don't know if everyone else in the team has adapted to it.

02:32 So there's a lot of issues I think for Ten Hag to address when we come back after the international break.

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