Three games, three different centre-forwards, with all three scoring when they have played in that position.
If the recent end of Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United tenure was marked by a squad-wide scoring malaise, the start of the Ruben Amorim era has been more promising on that front. And up front, specifically.
Five of the eight goals in Amorim’s first three matches as United head coach have come from his designated centre-forward in those fixtures. After Marcus Rashford’s opener at Ipswich Town and Rasmus Hojlund’s midweek double against Bodo/Glimt, it was Joshua Zirkzee’s turn on Sunday.
Two relatively straight-forward finishes either side of half-time in a 4-0 home win against Everton were Zirkzee’s first goals since the opening night of the Premier League season in August, helping to lift United’s goal difference above zero for the first time since then too.
Amorim said he decided to start the 23-year-old Dutchman in this game because he wanted a more technical profile in the front line and hoped to pose a different question for the visitors’ centre-backs.
Zirkzee celebrates his second goal against Everton (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)
“Today it’d be really hard for Rasmus to fight with the two centre-backs of Everton, so we tried to push them into a position where they are not so comfortable,” he said, hailing Zirkzee’s willingness to physically engage with Jarrad Branthwaite and James Tarkowski.
Hojlund’s hold-up play has improved but his strength is still running the channels, playing off the shoulder of defenders. There have, by contrast, been more than a few occasions where Zirkzee has looked short of that kind of explosiveness.
But the Netherlands international’s link-up play and willingness to drop further back can confound deep-set defences and create the space visiting managers such as Everton’s Sean Dyche seek to deny United. That was exactly what happened in the move that led to the third goal yesterday.
Rashford’s second of the afternoon was forced into being by man of the match Amad, who has seamlessly adapted to his new role as a right wing-back under Amorim.
But it began with Zirkzee inside his own half, Branthwaite at his back, bringing a dropping ball down on his thigh then flicking a pass around the corner to send Amad into the space vacated by Everton’s defenders. In other words, it went exactly according to Amorim’s plan.
Zirkzee not Hojlund was a case of horses for courses, then, and also a matter of rotation. The 90-minute run-out for the man signed from Italy’s Bologna in July leaves the Dane rested and refreshed for Wednesday’s visit to Arsenal. United’s schedule — with nine games during December in total — demands careful management of the squad.
But at some point in the coming weeks and months, when the calendar clears up a little and United are more suited to their new coach’s methods, Amorim says a first-choice XI will emerge. And with it, a first-choice centre-forward.
“We want always two players with different characteristics for changing the game, but in the future, we’ll have a structure or a base that is more clear in the team,” he said post-match yesterday, when asked specifically if he will eventually decide on who his No 1 striker is.
The recent rotation has not simply been due to the number of games, Amorim explained: “We are changing some details in training. The load is different — I’m not saying better or worse, it’s different. The way we play is different. Sometimes we have more pressure and we have to make bigger distances running.”
But all that will ease, he said, promising: “In the future, we will have a different system and you’ll see more of a starting line-up.”
Rashford’s form is helping him earn a place in that line-up. His two goals here meant it is three in two Premier League games for him under Amorim, more than in his previous 18 matches in the competition (two). After spending so much of his time under Ten Hag hugging the touchline, Rashford has looked more threatening when occupying central positions, whether as the nominal lone striker or as one of the inside forwards off the front man.
Rashford scored twice against Everton (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
But his deployment up front against Ipswich appeared to be more out of necessity than experimentation, given Hojlund and Zirkzee both arrived back from international duty. It is an option, if needed, but history suggests he is more effective elsewhere.
The battle to be Amorim’s first choice proper is all but certain to be between Hojlund and Zirkzee, then — indeed, it was telling that the manager himself spoke in those terms about the selection quandary for the Everton game.
Comparisons between Hojlund and Viktor Gyokeres, the Swede who scored goals galore for Amorim at Sporting CP, have abounded, and not simply because of their shared Scandinavian heritage. But the squad the latter managed in Lisbon did not include an obvious equivalent of the more languid, collaborative approach Zirkzee brings to centre-forward play.
For now, Hojlund has to be favoured as the regular starter. That was what the club hinted at in the summer when he was handed the No 9 shirt by United — rather than him requesting it himself — just 10 days after Zirkzee was signed.
But the past three games have served as a reminder that with a new manager comes a new broom, different ideas and opportunities to impress. All of Amorim’s options up top so far have taken that opportunity when presented with it, offering their own interpretations of the role while still trading in a striker’s most valuable currency: goals.
Amorim says one will eventually emerge as his first choice.
The next month or so will go a long way towards deciding who.
(Top photo: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
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