Manchester United have failed to score in 11 of their 47 fixtures this season and their most threatening centre forward at Nottingham Forest was a centre back.
Ruben Amorim has not often contradicted himself yet Joshua Zirkzee, whom he said is "not a number nine" less than two months ago, started there 16 days after United's actual number nine scored for the first time in 22 games.
Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund commanded £108.5million in transfer fees and one could argue neither is a proper number nine. Hojlund barely got a sniff after an initially purposeful half-time introduction against Forest.
Spending the best part of £30m on a left back-cum-winger and not investing in a forward in the winter transfer window was the latest inexplicable call by the power brokers at United. The squad's attack has been halved since the start of the season and they have had a minus goal difference since mid-December.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe claims Jason Wilcox has "the best eyes in football". He did not look for and wide enough for a goalscorer. Wilcox's former employers, Manchester City, have had a shot in the arm from Omar Marmoush and Marco Asensio has got the goals while Marcus Rashford has had the headlines at Aston Villa.
United went 1-0 down for the 23rd time this season at Forest. Leicester City are the only Premier League side that have conceded the opening goal more often this season.
Opponents know the score against the team that struggles to score. Forest were the latest to get a head-start and they held onto Anthony Elanga's fifth minute goal for close to 100 minutes, including the lengthy added time that extended each half. United's clearest chances fell to the battering ram Harry Maguire.
Benching Maguire was peculiar, too. United have enough fit defenders and wingers for Noussair Mazraoui to assume the squad role he was set for when he joined yet Amorim played him in a role he was liable to be vulnerable in against Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White. Mazraoui was flustered by the pair for Forest's winning goal.
Amorim needs specialist centre halves against a City side even without Erling Haaland. Leny Yoro, United's most accomplished performer at Forest, a positive that flew under the radar in the wake of a 13th Premier League defeat in eight months.
Manuel Ugarte was the fall-guy for the failings of Zirkzee and Alejandro Garnacho in front of him. Ugarte was away with Uruguay in Bolivia last week and had played in only one of United's three matches before his long haul flight to Montevideo, via El Alto. Casemiro's international days are over and he has been fit for the entirety of the season, which would legislate for his staying on beyond the interval.
It was remiss to move Bruno Fernandes further forward when he has been so influential from midfield of late that his relocation there appeared to be permanent. Fernandes dropped back to the middle third for the second half against Forest and he has to start there against City again.
Fernandes has played as the '10', the false nine, in midfield and on the right in derbies. He has either scored or assisted against City in all four roles. Three of his four derby goals have been from the penalty spot.
Mason Mount was back in team training three weeks ago and his cameo at Forest was his first appearance in three-and-a-half months. He played his way into the starting XI at the Etihad on December 15 - his last start - and there is a credible shout for him to be back in the fold at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Mount can become an accidental success at United. Recruited as a midfielder for a 4-2-3-1 formation, even Erik ten Hag realised the error of his ways and started Mount as the No.10 back in August. Then Mount got injured in the first half of United's third game against Brighton. He is far more suited to Amorim's 3-4-2-1 as one of the two behind the striker.
There was an incongruous question about Mount at Amorim's post-match press conference and he stated the bleeding obvious: "If you look at the history of Mason Mount, he played in this system many times, especially at Chelsea: left-hand, right-hand. So I think it's a very good position for him."
Mount won winner's medals in the Champions League and Club World Cup finals in 2021 operating in the formation Amorim is wedded to. Amorim has repeatedly said he "loves" Mount and that romance could do with blossoming during the critical run-in.
Christian Eriksen will leave in the summer and Amorim will still have Mount, Zirkzee, Amad, Garnacho, Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo as playmaking options. Mount has to be making one of the two '10' positions his own.
In this dire domestic season of United's, it is a quirk that they are unbeaten against City in 90 minutes. They also scored in both of those games.
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