Erik ten Hag said Manchester United’s summer signing Joshua Zirkzee can become a prolific scorer – despite going six games without a goal.
The £42m forward scored on his debut against Fulham but has not found the net since and Ten Hag believes the major issue for his struggling side is a lack of firepower.
“Not scoring goals enough, that is the problem,” he said, with United only scoring five in as many games in the Premier League and one in the Europa League so far this season.
Zirkzee struck 11 times for Bologna last season and Ten Hag is impressed with many other elements of the 23-year-old’s game. But he thinks for Zirkzee can turn himself into a prolific goalscorer.
“Yes, I do,” he said. “And he is young and you see his capabilities, he is a very good link-up player, he is creative, he is creating chances but to be fair he has his moments towards the goal, it was a great action and finish yesterday [against FC Twente], it was a top save from the keeper but in that area he can definitely improve but we knew that beforehand. He has some very good attributes and some attributes he has to improve and he needs our support how to improve.”
Ten Hag said United have to be hungrier than their opponents every game after they put their disappointing draw with FC Twente down to a lack of desire.
The Dutchman admitted United were guilty of “complacency” in Wednesday’s 1-1 with his former club while goalscorer Christian Eriksen said “they wanted it more than us”.
And Ten Hag believes that at the top of the game, the hungriest team will be the most successful as he told his side to want victory more than their rivals.
He explained: “When you play 60 games [in a season], there will be games where you are not happy with the performance, but you are not happy with the opponent once more. That is always the psychological side of top football where any team has more hunger than the other. The team who can manage this the best are the most successful. We are ambitious and we always demand from yourself that you are hungrier than the opponent.
“We should be and that is what we demand from each other. That is what we have to bring in on a consistent basis. That is what we are striving for. Successful teams have this.”