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Having scored just 21 goals in 16 games under Ruben Amorim in the Premier League, the 5th fewest in that time, Man Utd are undoubtedly one of the least threatening attacking teams in the PL and in this article we are going to delve into both their individual and team numbers that showcase how woeful their attack is.
We'll start of with their attackers, and apart from Amad Diallo, it's pretty bleak, especially under Amorim as Alejandro Garnacho, Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund have combined for 3 goals and 0 assists in the PL during his tenure in a combined 2408 minutes, which is around 27 games of football.
Funnily enough, Marcus Rashford, who was ousted from the club under Amorim has the same amount of PL goal contributions as those three combined under Amorim in the PL, with 3 goals in 221 minutes.
The last time either of those three had a goal contribution in the PL was Hojlund with a goal against Nottingham Forest in December, which has made it 12 Premier League games where three of Man Utd's main attackers have not had a goal contribution.
Amad Diallo when he was fit was the only United attacker with any output, with 5 goals and 4 assists in 13 PL games under Amorim, which despite being injured for the last three games, is still the most out of any player under their Portuguese boss.
The other player other than Amad to contribute is Bruno Fernandes, who despite being forced to play deeper with injury troubles and lack of ball-playing quality in the midfield, is still putting up numbers, with 4 goals and 4 assists in the PL under Amorim.
If you look at the other top clubs in Europe that play a three at the back system, their wingbacks produce plenty of goals and assists, just look at Bayer Leverkusen and Inter Milan last season, with Alex Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong combining for 39 goals and assists in the Bundesliga for Leverkusen and Denzel Dumfries and Federico Dimarco combining for 19 goals and assists in the Serie A.
Under Amorim, neither Diogo Dalot nor Noussair Mazraoui have had a goal or an assist in the PL in a combined 2476 minutes, equivalent of 27 and a half games of football, despite playing in an attacking wing back role for most of their time.
This means that if in the next game in the PL against Arsenal, Amorim lines up with Dalot and Mazraoui as wing backs, Zirkzee and Garnacho as the attacking midfielders and Hojlund as the striker, he will be starting with an attacking five that have not had a goal contribution in the PL in 12 games, and a combined 3 goals and 0 assists in 16 games under Amorim.
That would make it a combined 3 goals and assists in 4884 minutes between those 5, equivalent of 54 games, and a combined 4003 minutes, equivalent of 44 and a half games, since any of them had a PL goal contribution.
This is a damning statement on both the quality of the current Manchester United attack and the coaching that has not seen it improve at all.
Under Amorim, United have accumulated 19.1 xG in 16 games, giving them an average of 1.19 per game, which would put them only above Wolves, Everton, Ipswich Town, Southampton and Leicester City which are all teams who have been or are in a relegation fight this season.
As for goals scored, United have mustered 21 in 16 games in the PL under Amorim, an average of 1.31 per game, which is surprisingly an improvement compared to Erik ten Hag's record this season of 1.09 per game, but only Southampton, Leicester City, Ipswich Town, Everton and West Ham have a lower goals per game record than The Red Devils this season.
What all teams want to do is get their forwards shooting opportunities in the penalty area as that's where they're most likely to score from and there are three main ways to do that: dribbling the ball into the box, passing it into the box or crossing it into the box and not in any of those categories are United consistently successful in under Amorim.
Under Amorim, Untied average 8.38 passes into the penalty box per game, which ranks 12th in the PL, 5.81 carries into penalty box per game, which ranks 10th in the PL and 1.63 successful crosses per game which would rank 16th in the PL, making them below average at all the ways to enter the opposition box.
The only other teams that are below them in all of those categories are Ipswich Town, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Southampton.
You can see United's lack of creative spark by the chances created under Ruben Amorim, With only Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo the standout players with Fernandes creating 37 chances and Amad 25.
Every other player has created 11 chances or under with their wingbacks, Mazraoui and Dalot combing for 15 chances created in 16 games under Amorim, which is an average of 0.94 per game, which would ranked them 97th in the PL for chances created per game.
All of these numbers show just why United are 14th in the PL and look, slow, boring and lack any sort of spark or creativity in the opponents half and if another summer goes by where their attacking options aren't rectified, Amorim will have more of the same problems next season.
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