When
Manchester United were beaten at the
London Stadium on December 23 things were looking grim for Erik ten Hag and his team. It was four games without a goal and three defeats from those matches. It was not a happy
Christmas. At that point, United had failed to find the back of the net in five of their last six games, had recently been beaten 3-0 at home by Bournemouth and had lost 13 of their first 26 games in all competitions. Three months on they have lost only a further three times and although the turnaround wasn't instant, something has certainly changed. Arguably, the change is a fairly simple one. United are still open, they still give the opposition chances, but they are finally scoring goals themselves and that is allowing them to win more games than they lose. It wasn't the case in the autumn. ALSO READ: Ten Hag discovered a new game-changer in
Liverpool win ALSO READ: Amad opens up on Ten Hag relationship after Liverpool win A 4-3 scoreline isn't unusual this season. United lost games by that score to Bayern Munich and FC Copenhagen earlier in the season. Since February, they have beaten Wolves and Liverpool by the same score. So often games involving this team remain chaotic and unstructured, but the failings are less of a concern if you can score goals. Having gone 439 minutes without a goal in December, United have now scored in 14 successive games. In total, they have found the net 32 times in those matches, at an average of 2.28 goals a game. To put that into context, United scored 32 goals in their first 26 games of the season. The improvement is stark. Those last 14 games, beginning with the win against Aston Villa on
boxing Day, have produced just three clean sheets, but United have still won 10 of them because they suddenly have the firepower to hurt opposing teams. Maybe that is why Ten Hag is insisting he isn't worried about the shot count against United, which now stands at 223 in the last 11 games. Crucially, only two of those games have ended in defeats. It feels like there remains a reliance on fortune with this approach and at some point United will need to show they can control games and keep the shot count down, but with an attack that is starting to click Ten Hag feels his team can generally go toe-to-toe with the opposition and win matches even if they become a shoot-out. It's a revival in goalscoring fortunes that started with Rasmus Hojlund , who scored against Villa on Boxing Day and began a run of eight goals in eight games, but even without the Dane others have stepped up. Marcus Rashford has scored six times in those fixtures, Alejandro Garnacho has four and Bruno Fernandes has three. United have had 11 different goalscorers in that run and now have a remarkable 16 different goalscorers in 40 games this season. It is an impressive tally. It's also the biggest transformation in the team since those dark days of autumn and winter. United are still involved in chaotic games of football. They still concede too much ground in midfield and the opposition always feels like they are in a game. But now United have an attack equally capable of taking games away. It seems unlikely they are going to change between now and the end of the season. They have already been involved in some classics this season. There have been four 4-3s, a 3-3, three 3-2s and a 4-2. Expect the entertainment to continue between now and the end of the season, despite the stakes being high for United. Andre Onana is going to remain a busy goalkeeper, so if Ten Hag's side are to rescue
Champions League Football or win the FA Cup, then the forwards have to continue doing their thing, just like they did in an Old Trafford classic on Sunday.