The interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy along with goalkeeper Andre Onana spoke to the press before what is a pretty big game for United in the Europa League tomorrow night even if the fixture itself isn't a glamorous one.
United face PAOK at Old Trafford in match four of the EL, a competition where MUFC find themselves in 21st position in the new league table.
With just three draws from three, a win is an absolute must.
One of the reasons as to why we find ourselves in this position in Europe as well as in general is failure to score goals. United have actually missed the most big chances in the Premier League and having only scored 5 goals in Europe, the return isn't good enough.
Speaking about young Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund, van Nistelrooy says that he is a player who can change things in an instant. He adds that to get the best out of Hojlund, United need to "get our players most of the time in the penalty area."
Nobody would know better than Ruud in terms of what is needed to be a top striker.
The interim manager also says that for Hojlund to live up to his potential, "he has to stay calm and believe in himself."
While the goal return is lacking, the Dutchman feels that United this season have created a lot of chances and is a reason as to why he isn't concerned about his side lacking up front.
Ruud mentioned that he still hasn't spoken to incoming manager Ruben Amorim even after Sporting's 4-1 thumping of rivals Man City in last night's UCL encounter. He also doesn't actually know when the two of them will speak.
On the squad, we've seen from training today that Leny Yoro was back after missing all of the season so far due to a metatarsal fracture. While the Frenchman is back in team training, "we're going to get him back partially over the coming weeks and look to get him on board as quick as possible" says Ruud.
Tyrell Malacia has been an even longer term absentee but according to the interim boss, he is back in full team training and that there's plans to let him play some under-21 games to get some minutes in the tank.
Andre Onana feels that United are capable of playing "in any system" after he was asked whether MUFC can adapt to uben Amorim's 3-4-3 formation.
Final Thoughts
To an extent, I do agree with Ruud that we are creating chances. The stats do back that up. As I said, we've missed the most big chances in the league so far and it's more about converting them that is the real problem.
However, where I don't agree and while Ruud didn't actually say this, we don't create those chances for the striker. Hojlund has had a total of 4 shots in the PL so far after six games while at the top of that table is Bruno Fernandes on 32, 8 times more shots than Rasmus.
I think a lot of the time, the chances are falling to the wrong player as if we can give Hojlund these opportunities, I do believe he will take them. He is a lot more clinical than most of our other players as his conversion rate of close to 50% from Christmas last year to the end of the campaign is brilliant.
This is where he can change a game in an instant.
It's a pity we don't create enough chances for him because I do think he's a top striker.
People want incoming boss Ruben Amorim to bring in-form striker Viktor Gyokeres with him to Old Trafford (although Amorim confirmed that the Swede will remain at the club at the end of the season), I find that Gyokeres will also be useless in our team.
We simply do not create chances for our striker which makes no sense as to why we should be bringing in another number 9. Amorim's style is one where his teams do create several opportunities for the centre-forward so before we start wanting new strikers, maybe we should start creating for them first before we see whether they are truly good enough for United or not.
Background Image: Rasmus Hojlund | Image credit: Getty Images via Goal