Do we have enough goals in the squad?

RiqCantona said:
We have barely enough if players have above average seasons.
Expectation wise, in the league -
Hojlund - 15
Rashford - 20
Bruno - 10
Garnacho - 15
Amad -10

That gets us to 70 goals. The others can and should chip in with another 10-15 in total, taking the total to 80+.

I wouldn't say that's a bad shout. But still doubt whether each player can hit that target.
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We have not had a 20 goal scorer in the league in a decade...Rashford at his absolute best, when he was our main scoring threat a few seasons ago, only managed 17. What in the world have you seen that makes you think he's going to get 19 goals in the next 33 matches?
 
RiqCantona said:
We have barely enough if players have above average seasons.
Expectation wise, in the league -
Hojlund - 15
Rashford - 20
Bruno - 10
Garnacho - 15
Amad -10

That gets us to 70 goals. The others can and should chip in with another 10-15 in total, taking the total to 80+.

I wouldn't say that's a bad shout. But still doubt whether each player can hit that target.
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Can I have a bowl of your optimistic Corn Flakes please?
 
Melville Red said:
Well if you think he’s a striker for the biggest club in the world then I fear for your mental health.
Ask yourself this, will Liverpool, Arsenal and City, let alone R Madrid and Barcelona and other big clubs around Europe not forgetting Aston Villa have him in their squad?
Answer, NO.
If he’s not good enough for them then what are we doing with him?
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Yes, they will.
 
Todd said:
We have not had a 20 goal scorer in the league in a decade...Rashford at his absolute best, when he was our main scoring threat a few seasons ago, only managed 17. What in the world have you seen that makes you think he's going to get 19 goals in the next 33 matches?
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Yeah exactly why we needed to sign one not taken a huge risk on an unproven one with pressure
 
Todd said:
We have not had a 20 goal scorer in the league in a decade...Rashford at his absolute best, when he was our main scoring threat a few seasons ago, only managed 17. What in the world have you seen that makes you think he's going to get 19 goals in the next 33 matches?
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Maybe 15 for Rashford is more realistic. But I still think we have the "potential" to score 75-80 goals without breaking a sweat. The numbers I quoted should be a bare minimum.

Ole'sgunnarwin said:
Can I have a bowl of your optimistic Corn Flakes please?
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Optimism would be saying we can score 100 goals. I think the players in question are more than capable of hitting those numbers. They're not even that high or overly ambitious.
 
Todd said:
We have not had a 20 goal scorer in the league in a decade...Rashford at his absolute best, when he was our main scoring threat a few seasons ago, only managed 17. What in the world have you seen that makes you think he's going to get 19 goals in the next 33 matches?
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A computing error will momentarily award him an additional 10 goals at the exact moment the final tallies are calculated.
 
Our main hope, whether anyone likes it or not, is Rashford.

He's the only one with the pedigree to prove he MIGHT get 20+ goals. We know he can do it and we know when he's on form he will score goals. There's still a big and increasingly sized "might" though. At this point its more unlikely than likely.

Garnacho though (and this is why I thought it was bizarre dropping Rashford on Saturday), much as he's an exciting talent, is a teenager still learning the game and not an out and out goalscorer. You could play him every game this season and even if he's on form for all of them, he wont get near 20-30 goals. He also wont get that in assists because we don't have anyone who would put the chances he'd need to create to do that in the back of the net.

Hojlund arguably we can expect more from, but he isn't even fit yet and then last season ETH stopped picking him. Fernandes might get into double figures if we're lucky. Zirkzee might get around that IF we have a good season. Diallo is a wild card.

And then everyone else its a bonus if they get more than 2-3.

Just a bunch of mights and maybes...and that's in order to scrape enough goals to get top 4. We've already arguably dropped 5 points this season primarily because we're rubbish at putting the ball in the net when on top. 5 points is a lot.
 
RiqCantona said:
Maybe 15 for Rashford is more realistic. But I still think we have the "potential" to score 75-80 goals without breaking a sweat. The numbers I quoted should be a bare minimum.


Optimism would be saying we can score 100 goals. I think the players in question are more than capable of hitting those numbers. They're not even that high or overly ambitious.
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We scored 60 last season. We have 5 in 5 this season, which is the same as the bottom 2 teams. 80 is very ambitious, I hope you're right, I just don't see it. That Palace game shows we have the ability to make more chances than before but we miss far too many chances.
 
Tbf we probably don't need to score 80 goals anyway. Over the last 4 seasons the average amount of goals scored by the 3rd/4th place teams is slightly under 70.
 
Ole'sgunnarwin said:
We scored 60 last season. We have 5 in 5 this season, which is the same as the bottom 2 teams. 80 is very ambitious, I hope you're right, I just don't see it. That Palace game shows we have the ability to make more chances than before but we miss far too many chances.
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We scored 60 because Rashford was terrible. Hojlund only got going in the 2nd half of the season (where he was injured as well). Basically the 15 of the extra 20 goals from last season has to come from Rashford and Hojlund. Its the least we can expect.
 
Meanwhile Mason Greenwood has 5 goals and 1 assist in 5 games.

That really would've completed our attack.

Garnacho Hojlund Greenwood

We'll never know what might have been.
 
RiqCantona said:
Maybe 15 for Rashford is more realistic. But I still think we have the "potential" to score 75-80 goals without breaking a sweat. The numbers I quoted should be a bare minimum.


Optimism would be saying we can score 100 goals. I think the players in question are more than capable of hitting those numbers. They're not even that high or overly ambitious.
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Saying we could score 100 goals (in the league) wouldn't be optimism, it would be downright lunacy; at that point it wouldn't be any different to say we could score 200 or 300.

Here's our goal returns in the league going back a decade:

23/24: 57 goals
22/23: 58 goals
21/22: 57 goals
20/21: 73 goals
19/20: 66 goals
18/19: 65 goals
17/18: 68 goals
16/17: 54 goals
15/16: 49 goals
14/15: 62 goals

75-80 goals for this squad full of players who simply cannot finish off chances reliably is a pipedream.

I think a realistic target for this season is between 60-65, and that's assuming a continued improvement in form because right now we don't even look like we could manage 50.

None of our players will score more than 12 or 13 in the league.
 
This is going to be a major problem, we are starting to see better performances, but do not take advantage of spells of dominance. Will continue to haunt us throughout the season and beyond, if not addressed.
 
Not even close. We've had the same issue scoring goals since Ten Hag joined.
 
Performances have improved. We are creating more danger. But I agree with the original post. I don't think we have enough goals in the squad. Rashford won't score more than 15. Hojlund maybe 20. Zirkzee maybe 10? Fernandes maybe 10. Garnacho 5-10. We're missing someone who can put away 25-30 in a season.
 
We’ve signed two CFs for over 100m and neither has proper goal threat. One has some but his general play is poor and the other is more of a slow 10 than a striker.

We’ll probably need a striker next summer too unless these come on leaps and bounds
 
I seriously don't get how some of our fans have suffered through post Fergie managers and still have this idea of 'just sign someone better'. This isn't football manager, managers impact performances.
 
Here this term "firepower" get chucked around a lot in football. Whatever combination you put out there in the front 3, they just don't have it.

I think compared to last year though, there is improvement going forward. There seems to be more combinations/better link up at least from what I have seen. But our attackers just don't have the edge.
 
Our attack is just so fecking ineffective. I never feel confident that we'll score enough goals (7-0 demolition against a second division team aside). Amad and Zirkzee are technically very good players but i'm not sure you'd bet on either of them reaching 10 goals this season. No idea how Hojlund will be. It's grim.
 
For me, we are lacking that ‘talismanic’ forward player. Our forward players at the moment are all talented and capable of scoring and creating in some games but we lack that individual player who can be decisive. A player like Halaand, Salah from a few years ago or even Ronaldo in past days would take apart a team like that with the amount of possession we had.
 
We needed someone who can get you 30+ goals, but we're betting on a lot of young players to score and it's a bit unfair to them. I like Zirk and Hojlund, but both are far from the finished article and they're lacking in experience.

If you put just one player from our forward line in a Fergie side they stand a chance at making it, because they'd be playing with tons of experienced players. But to have Hojlund, Zirk, Amad, and Garna, along with Rashford, the only experienced forward we have and the least consistent, and expect them to get you the goals you need, then you'll be disappointed.
 
It will be interesting if a top coach can get these players scoring, I didn't feel we have a prolific bunch before, some of it is the type of football but we have too many okish players and two very spent players in Rashford and Bruno that have weighed in with goals in the past. We've added more that don't have a lot of goals in them.

Pep's coaching and system is an extreme example, without a striker scoring 100 goals and having Gundogan a top scorer, it shows what can be done but we have Liverpool under Rodgers scoring for fun. United have been stuck in this 40-60 goals range since Fergie went, all that money spent for such a poor return. A small upside in goals under Ole required Cavani, Greenwood, Rashford Bruno Martial, like lighting in a bottle season for us.

Pogue Mahone said:
Christian Eriksen our top scorer heading into October. Who predicted that?!?
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He's took the place of McTom from last season being top scorer, not that surprising with how desperate our play is.
 
The attacking 4 have only played a handful of games together.

I know it’s super annoying watching them fumble attacking chance over and over, but you just have to be patient.

*Side note being the subs are not helping as the attacking style almost completely changes once Zirkzee and Amad are removed.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Sterling doesn''t sound so bad now looking at the state of our attack.
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Not really. But age, wages, career trajectory, milage. We weren't rumoured to be getting a risk-free loan, were we?

I think what we lack besides a goal scorer is a goal scorer with an ego the dominate the front line. Someone who screams at Bruno when he's faffing about, and likewise the rest of them.
 
Todd said:
Saying we could score 100 goals (in the league) wouldn't be optimism, it would be downright lunacy; at that point it wouldn't be any different to say we could score 200 or 300.

Here's our goal returns in the league going back a decade:

23/24: 57 goals
22/23: 58 goals
21/22: 57 goals
20/21: 73 goals
19/20: 66 goals
18/19: 65 goals
17/18: 68 goals
16/17: 54 goals
15/16: 49 goals
14/15: 62 goals

75-80 goals for this squad full of players who simply cannot finish off chances reliably is a pipedream.

I think a realistic target for this season is between 60-65, and that's assuming a continued improvement in form because right now we don't even look like we could manage 50.

None of our players will score more than 12 or 13 in the league.
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As things stand, we need to score 45 goals in the next 32 matches in the league to avoid matching our worst-ever return in the EPL era.

It might be a close call...
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Sterling doesn''t sound so bad now looking at the state of our attack.
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The deal that Arsenal got would have suited us fine. 1 year loan paying only part of his wages.

People were against us giving him a few year deal, paying a fee to Chelsea and paying his ridiculous wages.
 
No one wants to admit it but Rashford is still our best attacker. He’s a player that wasn’t selected for England for the Euros.

Not only is Rashford past his best the most he’s ever scored in the league is 17 goals. That should tell you enough on if we have enough goals in this team.

We have an extremely average set of attackers. Just because they are young doesn’t make them good.
 
El Jefe said:
No one wants to admit it but Rashford is still our best attacker. He’s a player that wasn’t selected for England for the Euros.

Not only is Rashford past his best the most he’s ever scored in the league is 17 goals. That should tell you enough on if we have enough goals in this team.

We have an extremely average set of attackers. Just because they are young doesn’t make them good.
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The money we’ve spent on attacking players in the past 2 years as well

Antony 90m
Hojlund 75m
Zirkzee 37m
Mount 55m

Madness.
 
Castia said:
The money we’ve spent on attacking players in the past 2 years as well

Antony 90m
Hojlund 75m
Zirkzee 37m
Mount 55m

Madness.
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And that quartet will be lucky to score 15-20 max league goals between them this season. Let that sink in for that investment.
 
Zirkzee has been absolutely awful. Can't press. Always behind the play or ahead of it. Terrible signing.
 
The Antony signing is maddening. The fact that we haven't got a usage for a £90million pound player is just utterly mad. Awful signing. For that sort of money, we should be starting that sort of player every game and they should be at the heart of all of the good things that we do in an attacking sense. The fact that we can't rely on this player to score and/or assist just infuriates me. Nobody is even begging for him to be given a run of games either. Says it all.

The next player we sign has to be a goal scorer. No fecking about. We need goals.
 
Superunknown said:
The Antony signing is maddening. The fact that we haven't got a usage for a £90million pound player is just utterly mad. Awful signing. For that sort of money, we should be starting that sort of player every game and they should be at the heart of all of the good things that we do in an attacking sense. The fact that we can't rely on this player to score and/or assist just infuriates me. Nobody is even begging for him to be given a run of games either. Says it all.

The next player we sign has to be a goal scorer. No fecking about. We need goals.
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Yeah disastrous. £90m and £200k a week for nothing on the pitch at all.
 
I don’t think it’s being mentioned enough just how bad our options in attack are.

Other than Rashford do we don’t have a player that is in the top 20 forwards in the PL and he just about scrapes that nowadays.

None of our attackers outside of Rashford and maybe Garnacho would look out of place at Fulham.
 
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