Ruben Amorim has insisted that Rasmus Højlund is not solely to blame for Manchester United‘s problems scoring while also urging the rest of the team to take responsibility in front of goal.
Højlund was guilty of missing a golden chance during the second half of Wolves 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Sunday when he failed to convert Alejandro Garnacho‘s cross to the back post.
It’s now just one goal in nearly 30 hours of football for the Denmark striker, who has only found the net three times in the Premier League all season.
“I think if you look at the games we have several players that miss big chances, not just Rasmus,” Amorim said.
“Of course, Rasmus, the game is to score goals because he’s a striker, but it’s a team thing. I already said that. Our team should score more goals, it’s not just Rasmus missing chances.”
The pressure on Højlund has increased after Joshua Zirkzee was ruled out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.
Amorim was asked whether the 22-year-old needed to be taken out of the team to allow him to recover mentally from his poor run of form.
But the Portuguese coach hinted that he will keep picking Højlund in the hope that a goal might kick-start a run of confidence.
“The only way I know is to work on him and show him the videos,” Amorim said.
“Like you said he needs to score a goal and he won’t score if he is out [of the team] so I try to manage that during games. He needs to score, that’s all, like a striker needs.”
United are expected to try and solve their goalscoring problem by signing a new striker in the summer. They’ve been linked with Liam Delap, Victor Osimhen and Ollie Waktins among others. Amorim, though, believes the issue runs deeper.
“It’s a team thing,” he said.
“Of course, we have an idea of what this team needs but also the guys we play with, we play at least three guys in front to score goals and we have midfielders that can.
“All the team needs to score more goals and you have opportunities with the midfielders and the striker. We need to improve as a team because if you don’t score goals in this league it’s impossible to win games.”
