On the Premier League home page, expert Adrian Clarke analyzes the problem of Man Utd’s attack and the reason why Rasmus Hojlund only scored one goal in the tournament.
Wasted opportunity

Man Utd only created 36 big chances through the first 20 rounds of the Premier League, less than 13 other clubs in the tournament. This follows the fact that the “Red Devils” only scored 22 goals in 20 matches and are the third-fewest scoring team in the Premier League. Man Utd even scored fewer goals than Luton Town and Everton – the two clubs ranked 18th and 17th respectively – with the same 24 goals. The team under coach Erik ten Hag only scored more goals than the bottom two teams, Burnley (21) and Sheffield (15).

According to Clarke, Man Utd failed to stretch the opponent’s squad because of slowness, poor decision-making ability and many tactical problems.

Only three Man Utd players created more than one clear chance for their teammates: Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford with 9 chances each, and Antony with 5 chances. Meanwhile, defending champion Man City had 12 players creating more than one clear opportunity for their teammates.

Even worse, Man Utd took advantage of it very poorly and squandered most of the clear opportunities, scoring only nine goals and missing 27 such situations. Behind Man Utd in this parameter are clubs struggling in the relegation race, including Nottingham Forest (missed 21 clear opportunities), Sheffield (20), Burnley (18) and Luton Town (17). Newcastle – a club one place and two points behind Man Utd – successfully took advantage of 34 clear opportunities, compared to nine for the “Red Devils”.

Hojlund’s problem

Despite showing great potential, Hojlund has only scored once in the Premier League. The 20-year-old striker has explosive speed, suitable for Man Utd’s counter-attacking strength, but he is not compatible with the surrounding satellites.

In the Premier League, Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke is the striker with the most shots with 66 shots and scored 12 goals. Darwin Nunez and Erling Haaland both had 58 shots, scoring 5 and 14 goals respectively.

Meanwhile, Hojlund only hit the target 19 times – the lowest among players with over 1,000 minutes of play in the Premier League. The Danish striker has an expected goals index (xG) of 3.10 and scored one goal.

Ranked above Hojlund is Sheffield’s Cameron Archer with 25 shots on target, achieving xG 2.94 and scoring three goals. Raul Jimenez of Wolves hit the target 30 times, achieved xG 3.88 and scored five goals.

This parameter shows that Hojlund is not provided with enough ball by his teammates. When strikers are not given many opportunities and score few goals, they will increasingly come under great pressure and lack confidence in finishing.

Hojlund is a regular striker with the lowest conversion rate of opportunities into goals in the Premier League at 6.25%. Behind the Man Utd striker are Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Everton (10%), Darwin Nunez of Liverpool (10.42%), Carlton Morris of Luton Town (12%) and Julian Alvarez of Man City (15.79%). .

In the Premier League, Hojlund missed all nine clear opportunities but only missed the target once from such situations. That was a header off the post from Bruno Fernandes’s direct free kick in the match against Luton Town.

The remaining four of Hojlund’s clear opportunities were excellently blocked by the opponent, including one blocked by the opponent’s defender and the remaining three opportunities were blocked – meaning Hojlund did not have time to finish. So, in some respects, striker Dan Mach was unlucky at important moments.

Hojlund’s form in the Champions League, where he scored five goals in six matches, is the basis for Man Utd to be optimistic. In European tournaments, Hojlund’s conversion rate of opportunities into goals is extremely impressive at 55.60%. The Danish striker needs to show such performance from the match against Tottenham in round 21 of the Premier League at Old Trafford today.