Manchester United just about managed to salvage a share of the points away at AFC Bournemouth on Sunday as Rasmus Hojlund broke free of his wretched luck in front of goal in the Premier League to rescue a 1-1 draw.
The Cherries were hanging onto their 1-0 slim lead after Evanilson saw red on the 70th minute mark and must have thought United’s wastefulness in attack was going to be their saving grace, only for the usually misfiring Dane to level the game right at the death.
Whilst the 22-year-old was the unlikely hero come the full-time whistle, a draw might still be deemed as an unsatisfactory result based on the away side’s lack of composure up top ,robbing them of a much-needed victory.
Man United's wasteful attackers vs Bournemouth
In total, Ruben Amorim’s men would notch up a hefty 25 shots on the Cherries’ goal, with Hojlund’s effort amazingly the only one that ended up beating the consistently switched-on Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Away from accumulating a stunning seven key passes to try and set up his teammates for opportunities, Bruno Fernandes will feel irked that he didn’t manage to beat Kepa like his Danish teammate, with three efforts unfortunately passing him by on the South Coast.
Likewise, Hojlund will feel somewhat annoyed that he couldn’t pick up a whole host of strikes, with the goal-shy number 9 failing to get involved in the contest for large portions of the 90 minutes, leading to his only effort on the day being the golden one that trickled in.
But, there was a far worse culprit than both of these attackers when it came to squandering chances against Andoni Iraola’s open hosts, with Amorim now clamouring for Wolverhampton Wanderers superstar Matheus Cunha’s signature even more so off the back of this underperformer lacking a clinical edge.
5/10 Man Utd could soon be replaced by Cunha
Whilst United’s wastefulness reared its ugly head once more during the 1-1 draw, Cunha showed off his spellbinding ability in attack again for Wolves at the weekend, with the ex-Atletico Madrid ace picking up a goal and two assists in his side’s convincing 3-0 takedown of Leicester City.
With it reported that the Brazilian could be on his way to Old Trafford, Fernandes would likely not be sacrificed for Cunha to take up a first-team spot.
As a result, his comrade in the attacking positions in Alejandro Garnacho could be the casualty, with his showing against Bournemouth leaving a lot to be desired.
As is outlined above, Garnacho is now up to a dire 14 big chances missed this season, with his game in the forward areas against Iraola’s men screaming of an attacker low on confidence when the heat is ramped up.
The South American forward ended the game having been handed a low 5/10 rating post-match by Manchester Evening News journalist Samuel Luckhurst and it was unsurprising to see why.
He fired a mammoth eight shots at the Cherries net without ever beating Kepa, meaning his goal count for the season in the Premier League is stuck at a paltry five. Furthermore, he won just four of his seven duels and gave away the ball 13 times, once every 3.7 touches.
Games played
33
29
Goals scored
5
15
Assists
1
6
Expected goals (xG)
7.02 xG
7.86 xG
Goalscoring frequency
411 mins
156 mins
Big chances missed
14
2
Big chances created
3
12
Whereas, moving back to Molineux, Cunha finds himself on a mightily impressive 21 goal contributions for the campaign from 29 clashes, with Amorim well aware that the Brazilian’s arrival onto the scene would see Garnacho instantly drop out of the XI.
It remains to be seen whether United can win their desired man away from rampant speculation, but if they are successful in their pursuit, he could be one piece of the jigsaw that enables Amorim’s Red Devils to recapture their former glories.
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