United look set to end the season as the league’s third-highest goal scorers, which is a welcome stat considering how poor they were in the forward areas last season. However, it must be said that this hasn’t been the most entertaining of league seasons. Arsenal, who currently top the league table and the ‘goals for’ table with 61 goals, would do well to match United’s goals tally of 73 from the 2020/21 season.
United’s three new forward signings have been warmly received by fans. They’ve had patches
of good form, but with seven league games left, none of them have hit double-digit goal numbers yet. It helps that each one of them has qualities that go beyond goals: Matheus Cunha’s ball carrying, Bryan Mbeumo’s speed without the ball, and Benjamin Sesko’s aerial ability are useful attributes. Not to mention, all of them are physically capable.
Yet, they haven’t really set the league alight this season. Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro’s goals have certainly helped in this regard, and though spreading the goals across the team is cause for optimism, it’s usually not easily replicable over many seasons. Next year, at least one of these forwards will be expected to up their numbers in the league.
When we look at the rise of teams that were in the wilderness for a while, like the United of recent years, or even a side that’s had a sudden influx of money, like Manchester City, the set of forwards in those years of ascendency is quite similar with regards to their quality. When Liverpool were starting to look the part under Jurgen Klopp, they had Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Daniel Sturridge, Sadio Mane and Adam Lallana. Manchester City acquired Robinho, Carlos Tevez, Craig Bellamy, and Emanuel Adebayor, among others, to break the big-four monopoly in those years.
Some of these players would become important members of the title-winning sides, but the others, as talented and significant as they were to the club’s reemergence, weren’t as key to the side’s major successes. You could call them enablers or the support cast; none of them were outright superstars, with Sadio Mane coming the closest. League leaders Arsenal are facing a similar issue this season: winning league titles without at least one highly prolific forward is hard work.
United will most certainly go big in midfield in the summer, and rightly so, with at least one wide player expected to join the ranks. Anything more will be seen as a bonus, but there’s no doubt that expectations will rise with that. Since Champions League qualification seems wrapped up, the next step will be a serious contention for the title. The players will certainly want to meet those expectations, but whether they’re capable is another matter.
