How do we address our abysmal finishing?

It is all about mentality, the desire to improve and strive for perfection. But the problem is that the players know they’re going to achieve anything under this manager, so why strive to excel?
 
5 of 18 shots hit the target, 7 missed the goal (inc. Garnacho off the bar) and 6 blocked

Simply practice getting shots on target, and after that how to move the ball before shooting so they arent blocked
 
Alright, here’s the thing: we’re asking our wings to be miracle workers without actually giving them the tools they need, while basically running all of our attacking game through them. No support from midfield, no help from the fullbacks—just hoping they’ll somehow pull off magic on their own. But unless we secretly have some world-class wingers hiding on the bench (spoiler alert: we don’t), this setup is just setting us up for disappointment.

We’re basically banking on two 21-year-olds, a player who’s seen better days, and a diva to carry the whole load. It’s like we’re running a team based on vibes rather than what actually works with our squad. And yeah, I know I sound like a broken record, but this setup? That’s 100% on the manager.

Now, finishing might be something you can work on in training, but when our only real chances come from random press moments with attackers forced into tough angles and no real backup, that’s tough to coach. You usually need experience for those situations, and, well, experience isn’t exactly our strong suit here.

Now, about the strikers. Look, there are very few strikers in the world—or even in history (and yes, we’ve had a few of them)—who can be productive when they’re being dragged so deep into the midfield. Our setup asks them to play so far back that they’re practically midfielders, which is a tall order. And since most of our chances are coming in transition, it’s no surprise they’re not getting many clear looks at goal.
 
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Hojlund is an out and out 9, playing Rashford who literally has no dea how to support a striker and create anything is asking for what we are seeing. Anyone that has played as a 9 , knows that you live on the chances that come your way by the supporting cast. Not sure ETH he knows how to do that, and the signings reflect his obsession with Eredevise tactics of passing the ball around to try and set up space, not providing striker support.

Shaw if he is ever fit is someone who helps, my goodness we yearn for support players as we had in the 90s, and the muppet manager has no clue and the longer the INEOS appointed management sit on their hands, the longer it will take to get the club to head in the right direction.
 
It's so idiotic it's painful. We scored 57 ish goals for the past 2 seasons. So whats the answer? Zirksee. There was a reason why loads of people were clamouring for the likes of Toney and Olise. It's was just so fking obvious that this could happen. And that's just one of the bad decisions that lead to this. It's been one after another.

We decide to buy fking Anyony who is so obviously sht a blind mule could have told you that. We hold faith in Rashford comming good even though he has been sht for 18 months plus. We buy Hojlund who is a kid and not ready by a mile. We play Garnacho as a first teamer who is still developing. It just goes on and on.
Fk up after fk up. There is a reason why strikers are expensive as fk and the good ones are super rare. You don't just get some kids in and hope they get you 80 plus goals.

The answer now is to pray one of them finds form. That's where we are at. Hope and prayer and a January miraculous signing. All the tweaks and strategies in the world doesn't mean sht if your attackers are a bunch of kids that are out of form and lack confidence.
 
Can't be fixed. Manchester United have had a negative goal difference in the last two seasons. They are simply not good enough.
 
Cassidy said:
Stop relying on young inexperienced players to carry your attack
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This is a huge issue, one that was obvious going into this season. To put it all on kids and Rashford who was woeful last season was a clear recipe for disaster.

We’ve also got unpredictable wide players but unpredictable in the wrong ways. Those guys in the middle never know what they’re going to do, there’s no pattern, so is it a surprise no one is prepared in the box?

It’s painful watching us attack.
 
The young attackers could do with someone like Cavani/Zlatan alongside them.

Having inexperienced CF’s and inexperienced wide players was always going to be a frustrating watch.

The team setup is one of hope the kids will develop quickly while Bruno/Rashford deliver the goods.
 
The kid Chido obi Martin. I think his name is, from under 18 s . I've only seen him a bit but I'd seriously have him training with the first team.
 
Our issue is over the last 10 years, we either sign a great striker but they're too old, we sign good prospects but they're not the finished article, we sign strikers who aren't strikers or we get a natural finisher through the academy and they turn out to be a sexual danger.

JUST BUY A RECOGNISED GOALSCORING STRIKER AT THE RIGHT AGE FFS.
 
Let's ignore Dalot's brain fart. Most of the finishes we miss are quite difficult because they are Garnacho coming in at speed at an angle. Or Rashford on the wrong side of the pitch. Or Hojlund too deep. We don't create easy goals because we don't have quick incisive link up play around the penalty box. By the time we are building something all the opposition players are back parking the bus soaking up the pressure. That suggests a ponderousness of thinking and a lack of understanding between forward players.
 
Create more chances. Finishing is a lot about confidence.

Make sure every big chance we get isn't a life or death situation. Top scoring teams create tons of chances, they miss a bunch too but their players know that if they miss another one will come along.
 
We've the wrong players taking most of our shots. Rashford and Garnacho aren't heavily underperforming their expected goals and the reason is they're spamming lower probability cut in and shoot attempts within crowded areas.

As a team we're very much midtable in our expected goals, we don't create enough changes due to our setup. Yet people want to pretend it's just bad finishing.

Hojlund last time I looked was in something like the bottom 3rd percentile for number of shots per 90. If the team setup can't give your striker a decent volume of genuine chances then that's the first place to look.
 
It's revolutionary, but we could sign a recognised goal-scorer!
 
Guess we’ll find out if one of the greatest strikers ever to grace this country can get a tune out of them…
 
27 big chances, 22 missed, in the league this season.
 
A proper world class centre forward is the only real way. Whether we have the money is another thing
 
Deduct 50K in wages for every shot missed along with a 30 minute 1 on 1 meeting with Roy Keane armed with a baseball bat.
 
Irrational. said:
Not sure sacking ETH is the answer.

You’d have thought by having a PL goalscoring legend as part of our coaching staff this season, things would have changed but if anything we seem to have become even more limp in front of goal.

Today we should’ve won by at least 4 or 5 goals.

So, what’s the solution? Different formation? Tactics?
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When the team tactics are resulting in the majority of shots being taken by Garnacho and Bruno, neither who are very good finishers, you'll struggle to consistently score goals. The way in which we went about creating chances was completely backwards, having Rashford playing deeper or on the touchline while players like Dalot and Casemiro marauded into the box. Hojlund hardly ever gets more than one sniff at the goal per game, and that's not due to "his bad movement" it's due to how the ball was funnelled and where players were comfortable playing/creating in possession.
 
A forward needs to work the defenders and create spaces to get service Hojlund rarely does that
 
lsd said:
A proper world class centre forward is the only real way. Whether we have the money is another thing
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Read the posts in this thread about us not creating chances and having our wingers try the Hail Mary. That’s the problem.
lsd said:
A forward needs to work the defenders and create spaces to get service Hojlund rarely does that
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He does it all the time and quite well. There has been countless moments since he came when Garnacho, Rashford and Bruno could’ve played him in a totally free position, but they tried to shoot instead. Hojlund is not the problem here, he’s part of the solution - few players are more clinical and he has the perfect balance of positive self confidence and team spirit.
 
Create chances for our better finisher (Hojlund) rather than our shit ones (everyone else).
 
Schmeichels pinky said:
Read the posts in this thread about us not creating chances and having our wingers try the Hail Mary. That’s the problem.

He does it all the time and quite well. There has been countless moments since he came when Garnacho, Rashford and Bruno could’ve played him in a totally free position, but they tried to shoot instead. Hojlund is not the problem here, he’s part of the solution - few players are more clinical and he has the perfect balance of positive self confidence and team spirit.
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He was completely invisible against West ham and never once created any sort of space for himself
 
lsd said:
He was completely invisible against West ham and never once created any sort of space for himself
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He was obviously told to fall down to create space for our wingers - and he did. It’s not his fault they can’t score and that he’s instructed to create space for others rather than for himself. He also played a brilliant pass to Amad that should’ve resulted in a goal, and he had a shot himself.
Also, it’s one game and hardly a useful sample size.
 
Sacking Ten Hag is part of the solution.

We work all our chances wide, which means we’re flashing crosses into the box or fullbacks are our furthest forward players.

Start fashioning chances for the strikers first and foremost and they’ll start putting them away.

Our tactics have mostly relied around defenders doing more at the top of the pitch in order for us to score goals. The whole thing is upside down.
 
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