Christian Eriksen is giving Erik ten Hag what he asked for at Manchester United
When the transfer window officially opens for business in a little over a week’s time, all eyes are set to be fixated on Manchester United’s pursuit of a striker.
Manager Erik ten Hag, during United’s recent visit to Spain for a warm-weather training camp, confirmed that he plans to try and add a new goal-getter to his squad in January. United have plundered just 20 goals in the Premier League so far this season, making them the lowest scorers of any club currently camped inside the top seven, and are light on options up front following Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure.
Marcus Rashford, although he plays out wide, has cemented himself at the top of United’s scoring charts so far this season with nine goals, followed by Anthony Martial in second on four. Though Rashford’s record this season is impressive, there has, at times, been an over reliability on him to deliver the goods.
If you were to take Rashford’s and Martial’s goals away, however, United’s next highest scorers would be Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes and Antony, all tied on three each. Ronaldo had also scored three times this season prior to his departure.
However, while United’s forwards have been chipping in and sharing the load, not enough have been coming from midfield. While there is not a huge expectancy on Casemiro to chip in regularly, such is his role as a defensive-minded midfielder, fellow midfielders Christian Eriksen and Fernandes are expected to deliver the goods from the engine room.
They have built their careers on being creative and attack-minded midfielders. Goals and assists are what you expect from them. They have scored 91 career goals in the Premier League alone between them.
This season, however, they have not been as fruitful in front of goal as Ten Hag would have liked them to be. Certainly not up until recently, anyway.
Eriksen bagged his second goal in as many games on Wednesday night, scoring United’s opener in their 2-0 Carabao Cup fourth-round win over Burnley at Old Trafford. The Dane converted Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s excellent cut-back to net his first Old Trafford goal.
The former Brentford man had opened his United account in the final game before the World Cup, scoring the opener in the 2-1 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage. Although neither of those goals, in terms of the finishes, were anything too explosive or overly difficult, Eriksen managed to get them as a result of getting into the penalty area, taking a gamble, and finding himself in the right place at the right time.
He showed a real determination and hunger to get into position to connect with Fernandes’ cross against Fulham, busting a gut to get forward, whereas he almost ghosted into the right area to score against Burnley. Nevertheless, his bravery to take a gamble and get into the right area should be applauded.
With two goals in his last two games, it is certainly a step in the right direction for both Eriksen and United. Ten Hag, following the Reds’ slender 1-0 win over Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League in October, which was sealed courtesy of a last-gasp effort from Scott McTominay, highlighted the importance of United’s midfielders and defenders needing to ease the goalscoring burden on the club’s forwards.
“I think we have in our squad players who can score that number of goals, but you can also divide it because we have many goalscorers across the offensive department,” he said. “But I think we also need something from midfield and the defensive department.”
Since making that statement in mid-October, United have scored six goals via their midfielders in all competitions, being shared among Eriksen, McTominay, Fernandes, Casemiro and Fred. It was a message from Ten Hag that clearly got through to his midfielders.
While Eriksen has only scored two of those six goals, he, with the exception of Fernandes, will be the one under the most pressure to deliver the goods from that area of the team. He has always been a player capable of chipping in from midfield, whether it be from distance or getting into the right spaces.
Having scored in each of his last two appearances, he will now be expected to continue in similar fashion and get somewhere between five and ten goals this season. He has answered Ten Hag’s call and now the challenge is to sustain it.
