Manchester United ended their home campaign with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Brentford in the Premier League on Monday night. It all started with a brilliant play on the right flank involving Diogo Dalot beautifully releasing Anthony Elanga, who picked up Bruno Fernandes to tap in the ball for the opener. Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal at the end of the first half was ruled out for a marginal offside call. But at the start of the second period, the Portuguese forward made it 2-0 from the spot after winning the penalty through good work from the right-hand side. Raphael Varane then scored the third – the Frenchman’s first of the season – to help the side end the home campaign on a positive note.
Ronaldo’s impressive form amidst the poor run of results has been the only positive for Manchester United fans this season. The Portuguese skipper has scored 24 goals in all competitions this campaign and 18 of them have come in the league, while the remaining six were scored in the Champions League. But the feeling among the fans is that the Red Devils have been relying too much on Ronaldo for goals and the rest of the players have not contributed enough in front of the goal. Interim manager Ralf Rangnick names a number of reasons for it, however, he feels the problem can be resolved by signing two “modern strikers.”
Rangnick said: “Cristiano is not a central striker or does not want to play in that position. It’s obvious that the club needs, I would say, at least, two new strikers who just give this team more quality and more options. I wouldn’t even call it wingers. Two strikers and modern strikers, that do not necessarily have to be wingers. If you look into international football, there are not that many top teams who still play with two strikers. Most of the international top teams play with either three strikers or with a false nine.”
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Once Ralf Rangnick’s tenure as interim manager ends, Erik ten Hag will become the club’s permanent manager in the summer. When Ten Hag takes over the role, Rangnick is expected to give a full report card on the current players at the club. One of those positions the German coach will recommend to the Dutchman for recruitment has become clear with his latest interview.
Rangnick added: “If you look at, Liverpool and Manchester City, and look at their strikers, they have, in their squad, five or six top-class strikers. Gabriel Jesus, until four weeks ago, he hardly played. Now he’s playing again regularly, I mean you look at the number of players they have and if you ask me in his career is he playing central striker or a winger? Is [Jack] Grealish a winger or central striker? They’re all strikers and they can play in different positions. They can also switch, they can rotate.
“Those kinds of players, we don’t have that many. Mason Greenwood, would have been one of those players who regularly play, but then after the West Ham game, he was no longer part of the squad. [Anthony] Martial was on loan at Sevilla and Edinson Cavani was injured most of the time, so we didn’t have that many alternatives up front. So, for me, it’s not just a question of position; it’s also a question of what kind of quality players Manchester United will have in the future.”