United View: Can Amorim sort United’s misfiring attack?

Manchester United has quickly moved on since Erik ten Hag’s exit, with all the hype centred around their new head coach, Ruben Amorim.

But with United continuing to misfire in front of goal, will their new Portuguese boss be able to transform the Reds' frontline back into a functioning and dangerous force?

United played out a one-all draw with Chelsea on Sunday in a game that lacked real quality from both sides. Bruno Fernandes’ 70th minute penalty was cancelled out by a well-taken volley by Moises Caicedo. Although Chelsea have been much improved this season under Maresca, it’s fair to say United could have got the win had better decision-making sufficed in attack.

Alejandro Garnacho received most of the flak from fans for his performance on Sunday, opting to go it alone on several occasions when the more appropriate solution would be to play in a teammate. He also got an earful from his senior teammate Casemiro for losing the ball in the final third, resulting in a Chelsea counterattack which led to the Brazilian taking a yellow card to stop the threat.

The young Argentine is a huge talent, but his rawness and desire to take on every defender resulted in United squandering several good opportunities on Sunday. It’s something he’ll need to improve upon but one he has the skill to do, he is still only 20 years old after all.

The decision to keep Garnacho on but remove Marcus Rashford seemed odd, with the English forward often being the first forward taken off by United this season. However, it’s debatable that United looked best when he was on the left, linking up with Noussair Mazraoui – who had an excellent game again for the Reds.

Regardless, what isn’t up for debate is that the Reds have been poor in attack this season, and still yet to reach ten goals in the Premier League. For context, they’ve scored more goals in the Carabao Cup this season (12).

Perhaps it’s a result of the tactics being implemented, with an overreliance on moments of individual brilliance rather than rehearsed patterns of play. And whilst the football has appeared more stable under Ruud Van Nistelrooy, he has yet to drastically change things since the departure of Erik ten Hag.

With only two games left in his short stay as interim manager, it’s interesting to see if United can significantly improve under his finite leadership and whether the Dutchman will be a part of Amorim’s coaching staff upon his arrival.

Should the current Sporting CP manager wish to go it alone with his staff is understandable but having a club legend sit with you in the dugout could help in terms of fanfare. However, on the flip side, it could also serve as an unwelcome distraction should the Amorim experience a challenging time to life at Old Trafford.