If Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had got his way, the scorer of the most famous goal in Manchester United’s history may now only be deemed the second best Norwegian striker to play for the club. He was Molde manager in 2018 and had a young centre-forward to recommend, and for a bargain price. “They didn’t listen, unfortunately,” he said in May. “They never signed him. Four million! Don’t ask [where he is now].” The answer, as Solskjaer knew all too well, is Manchester City. Perhaps, as a self-proclaimed fan of the club whose father had an altogether less prolific spell in their midfield, Erling Haaland would have always preferred the blue half of the city anyway. Maybe, like Jude Bellingham – another United target, another who found Borussia Dortmund a deluxe finishing school – he would have plotted a path to the top via places where potential tends to be realised. Whichever, Haaland scored a hat-trick in his first Manchester derby last year. He goes into his fourth with nine Premier League goals already this season. Or, to put it another way, nine times as many as United’s various forwards have between them. Admittedly, it excludes Bruno Fernandes’ sumptuous winner at Burnley, scored when he was standing in as a right winger, but even that lone goal, from Marcus Rashford at Arsenal, came in defeat. Rasmus Hojlund, Anthony Martial, Alejandro Garnacho and Antony are all yet to find the net in the league. Rashford has had 33 shots, Antony 16, Garnacho 13, Hojlund 11 and Martial three. It amounts to one goal from 76 attempts, a 1.31 per cent chance conversion rate. The law of averages suggests some will start scoring soon. “The goals will come in the Premier League,” Hojlund, who has three in the Champions League, said on Tuesday. The contrast with Haaland may be particularly jarring for him. “I don’t want to be compared to him,” the Dane said. Yet he is another Scandinavian, equipped with some of the same consonants, arriving at a cost of £72m – not the 2018 Haaland’s £4m - and also playing as a No 9. It may be both unfair and inevitable. His fellow forwards’ failings have made it harder for the 20-year-old to ease into life at Old Trafford, though. “I’m convinced with the quality from our [forward] players that they will go and score more goals,” Ten Hag said. The first step is to hit the target: Hojlund has done it with just three of 11 attempts, Antony three from 16, Garnacho two from 13 and Rashford seven from 33. There are reasons why United rank third for shots, but only joint eighth for efforts on target; only 29.4 per cent of their shots have been on target, the fifth lowest average. The forwards are not the only culprits, but a quintet of attackers with a combined xG of 6.95 have one goal between them. Ten Hag was keener to cite other statistics. “The pressing is quite good,” he said. “We have the most ball regains and the most middle [third] regains in the whole Premier League. But we don’t take benefit in attacking transition moments.” For him, the problem lies partly in decision-making, partly in execution. Certainly Hojlund is still trying to get to know his teammates, though there were signs against FC Copenhagen on Tuesday that he and Rashford are starting to strike up an understanding. But United, Ten Hag thinks, should have had more chances. “The cooperation has to click, but we showed this week in the week some examples where they are so many we have overload positions, going in overload position to the opponents’ goal and we don’t net or don’t even hit the target,” he rued. It has led to a disjointed feel, to a sense that United have been less than the sum of their parts. Rashford has veered between arguably the best form of his career, scoring 30 goals last season, to some of the worst. “I play him every game and so I have a strong belief he will return to scoring a lot of goals,” Ten Hag said. Rashford delivered a winner, albeit a controversial one, on City’s last trip to Old Trafford in January, but then he had also scored in his six previous games. Now he has no goals in his last eight outings for United. Yet Rashford’s struggles have overshadowed the enduring ineffectuality of Antony. The Brazilian’s season was interrupted by a leave of absence while he addressed allegations of assault from three women, which he denied. On the pitch, however, he has been dismal: his United drought stretches back 17 matches and Ten Hag’s best option on the right against City may be Fernandes, particularly if shifting the captain into a wider role allows him to bolster his midfield. And there are other reasons to select midfielders. Casemiro is an injury doubt but remains United’s top scorer in all competitions this campaign. Their leading marksman in the Premier League, somewhat improbably, is Scott McTominay, who got more goals in injury-time against Brentford than their five main forwards – six if the absent Jadon Sancho is included – have mustered between them in the top flight all season. It is hardly a Haaland-esque haul. And while - when Hojlund was still with Atalanta, and Rashford managed 30, the quartet of the Mancunian - Antony, Martial and Garnacho equalled the Norwegian’s total of 52 goals for a Manchester club between them last season, now they are very much trailing in his wake. And whether or not Haaland would actually have joined United, they have added reasons to regret the one who got away and subsequently joined their neighbours as long as their own forwards are misfiring. 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Liverpool overcame a torrid start and a red card for Alexis Mac Allister to beat Bournemouth 3-1 for their first win of the Premier League campaign. Antoine Semenyo gave the visitors a stunning third-minute lead but Luis Diaz levelled with a neat finish and before half-time Mo Salah tucked in the rebound from his own missed penalty, his 187th Liverpool goal moving him ahead of Steven Gerrard and into fifth in the club’s scoring charts. Liverpool could have been rocked when Mac Allister was harshly shown a straight red for catching Christie on the foot just before the hour mark, but instead they scored a third moments later as Diogo Jota rifled in a rebound to settle it. The hosts were fortunate they had not dug themselves an even deeper hole in a chaotic opening few minutes which illustrated the work still ahead as Jurgen Klopp reshapes his side. With new signing Wataru Endo watching on from the bench after receiving international clearance, the need for such a defensive midfielder was clear as Liverpool repeatedly played themselves into trouble and were made to pay a price by Bournemouth’s energetic press. The visitors, who have never won a league match at Anfield and who lost here 9-0 12 months ago, thought they had an opener inside 60 seconds as Alisson and Ibrahima Konate both went to try to intercept a long ball down Bournemouth’s left channel, but Jaidon Anthony was offside before tucking the ball in. No matter, as the opener came two minutes later. Virgil van Dijk played a routine pass to Trent Alexander-Arnold but the England man showed his deficiencies in an inverted role, with a loose touch allowing Philip Billing to prod the ball through for Dominic Solanke. Andy Robertson prevented the ex-Liverpool man from getting a shot away but the ball fell for Semenyo to thump home. Van Dijk then headed against the crossbar from Robertson’s corner, briefly lifting the mood inside Anfield before Alisson provided another moment of panic. The Brazil goalkeeper mis-placed a pass and then felled Anthony just outside the area as he threatened to race through on goal, his punishment limited to a booking with Konate covering. The brittle nature of Liverpool’s midfield was seen again in the 25th minute when Marcos Senesi strode out of the Bournemouth defence and simply kept going all the way to the final third, slipping in Solanke who was sandwiched by Robertson and Van Dijk but made no great appeal for a penalty. Moments later, Liverpool were level. Jota’s ball from the right was slightly behind Diaz after Senesi got a touch, but the Colombian adjusted well to control and then fire home from close range. The penalty came eight minutes later as Dominik Szoboszlai made the most of a dangling leg left by Joe Rothwell and went down in the corner of the box. Neto saved a relatively tame effort from Salah but the Egyptian was there to finish at the second opportunity, his ninth goal in nine against Bournemouth. Liverpool looked much more settled in a strong start to the second half as Jota and Salah threatened. It might have all changed when Mac Allister’s home debut was cut short just before the hour, but if anything a sense of injustice fired Liverpool up. Endo was waiting to come on for his debut in a midfield reshuffle when Neto could only parry a deflected shot from Szoboszlai and Jota tucked in the rebound. Endo slotted in well as Liverpool adopted a more conservative approach to see the game out, although Alisson still needed to make a fine late saves from Solanke and Hamed Traore to prevent a more nervous finish to the afternoon. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Serial winner Sarina Wiegman eyes the biggest prize of all with England Katarina Johnson-Thompson recovers well from shaky start in Budapest heptathlon Harry Brook disappointed by omission from England World Cup squad

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