United View: United’s frontline finally firing

The Ruben Amorim era is officially up and running, winning his two opening matches at Old Trafford.

A Rasmus Hojlund brace rescued a first-half scare in the Europa League before a 4-0 demolition against Everton on Sunday. One thing is clear, the new head coach has got his forwards firing again.

Firstly, this was written before the game against Arsenal on Wednesday night. So, the points made in this column could be completely redundant, but United’s frontline has been much more efficient in Amorim’s opening three games.

Rasmus Hojlund, Joshua Zirkzee and Marcus Rashford have all scored a brace in the previous two games, along with a goal for Alejandro Garnacho. United’s forwards have now scored eight goals in three games under their new manager, moving them into a positive goal difference for the first time since the season's opening game.

Before the game against Bodo Glimt, Amorim spoke of the lack of goals from his forwards, saying, “We will try and improve as a team and Rasmus, Josh and Rashford will score more goals. Even Bruno has to score more goals. Amad has to be better near the goal. All these guys need to improve, and we can score so many goals.

"We don't need... you are trying to [say] I need a new striker to score goals. We need to improve as a team and these players can score more goals."

Amorim has already started to get a tune out of his strikers, who are looking to be growing in confidence. And one player who seems to have that in abundance right now is Amad Diallo, who is unplayable right now, setting up the two on Sunday and playing a pivotal role in another.

The Ivorian has had to bide his time so far at Old Trafford, but he’s showing why he should have been trusted all this time, from his relentless pressing, decisive decision making and overall play. Thankfully Diallo is finally being trusted regularly and delivering in all facets of his game.

Another key theme to Amorim’s start at United has been his willingness to rotate the squad. Six changes were made from Thursday to Sunday, with the manager putting it down to the physical demands expected of his team.

Hojlund would have been expected to start after scoring twice, but Zirkzee was opted instead, perhaps because of an eye on Wednesday’s game against Arsenal and wanting to keep the Danish forward fresh for that trip to the Emirates.

However, the Dutch forward has made his claim to being involved after a brace of his own against the Toffee’s, his first goal since his match-winner against Fulham in the season opener.

Not only that, but Zirkzee also displayed some of the traits he displayed whilst playing for Bologna, dropping deep and linking up play. This was on full display for the third goal, playing a quick pass out to Diallo to start the counterattack.

Hopefully, this will spur on the man who cost United £36million in the summer, who has yet to make his mark at Old Trafford. If he can continue to deliver, he’ll be a good option for Amorim, offering a different threat to Hojlund.

United have a hectic December ahead of them and keeping the team fresh will be key to getting results. It’s a welcome change for United to be able to mix and match their starting eleven, especially considering the injury crisis they faced for much of last season.

United then face Nottingham Forrest on Saturday evening, who may or may not have inflicted further misery on Manchester City in their midweek tie against Pep Guardiola’s side who have lost six of their last seven games.