Manchester United succumbed to their second consecutive home defeat in the Premier League this season, with Crystal Palace getting the better of them 0-1 on Saturday.
Despite trailing by a goal from the 25th minute onward, the home side only managed one sustained spell of pressure but for the most part, lacked urgency and intensity.
The defence has been criticised early on in the campaign, but injuries have played a major part in that. It is in attack where Erik ten Hag is being let down week in, week out.
Poor display from front three
United are the lowest goalscorers in the top ten in the league and all three of United’s forwards were poor against the Eagles.
Their passing stats were really poor with Facundo Pellistri registering only 80 percent, successfully completing only 20 passes.
Rasmus Hojlund hardly got involved, managing only 13 passes, and Marcus Rashford was the most disappointing of the lot with 79 percent.
Both wingers had 0 shots on target, a poor metric for a team enjoying most of the possession while as a whole, none of the three forwards managed to win a single aerial duel.
In terms of ground duels, United’s frontmen were second-best again, winning only 12, which meant a win rate of only 50 percent. The wingers won only 52 percent of their duels.
Out of a total of seven crosses attempted by the wingers, none were successful, yet another woeful return.
Changes required but does ETH have options?
Pellistri, who looks like he is physically not yet ready for the Premier League, lost possession 12 times while Rashford lost the ball 18 times.
The Mancunian is really struggling and Erik ten Hag will be forced to tweak things moving forward to get the desired results.
Maybe for the next Champions League game against Galatasaray, Alejandro Garnacho will play instead of the Englishman while hopefully, Antony will be back out on the right.
As for up front, Anthony Martial does not really inspire confidence and the raw Dane needs to produce the goods. But can he?