Even withstanding their pitiful efforts in front of goal this season and the fact that only four Premier League teams have scored fewer times than them, Manchester United went into Sunday's game against Crystal Palace having netted 61 times in all competitions. Yet the players who started against the Eagles had just 31 goals between them.
Marcus Rashford, with seven goals to his name despite last starting a game on December 1, was absent from the squad as usual, though this time for very good reason as underwent a medical ahead of his loan move to Aston Villa. Rasmus Hojlund, joint-fourth top scorer alongside Rashford with seven strikes, was on the bench after a lacklustre performance against FCSB in the Europa League, and joining him was the only other centre-forward in the squad, Joshua Zirzkee, who has four goals this season.
And so despite United having spent more than £100m ($124m) on Hojlund and Zirkzee within the last two years while handing Rashford a £325,000-per-week ($405k) contract 18 months previously, it fell upon Kobbie Mainoo to lead the line. Mainoo had been a holding midfielder up until three days previously, when he had played as a No.10 to great effect in Bucharest, and had only scored one goal all season, which had come on that Thursday. So it was perhaps unsurprising that United failed to score for the ninth time this season and the fifth occasion in Amorim's 13 Premier League matches.
What was surprising is that it took 70 minutes for the coach to make an attacking change, going from having no natural strikers on the pitch to having two. Even more baffling was the fact that United finished their January business without bringing in any more forwards. They still have four months left of this wretched season to go, but they appear to have no strikers that their manager has any faith in.
