Cambridge Draw Reveals Manchester United's Attack, Not Defence, Is Real Problem

Ask any Manchester United fan where their squad is in need of improvement, and most will tell you Louis van Gaal needs a new centre-back. With Angel Di Maria, Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao and Juan Mata already at Old Trafford, very few will say United are in need of more attacking players.

United will need another defender eventually. But their struggles at the moment aren't because of a shaky defence. They kept a clean sheet against Cambridge on Friday night and David De Gea had very little to do. 

But it was still a disappointing result. Disappointing because they didn't create enough chances and couldn't score against a side sat 12th in League Two. 

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The defence has had a lot of criticism this season. Some of it has been warranted, especially after conceding five at Leicester in September. 

But despite using a mixture of three- and four-man defences, and having to cope with a long injury list, United still have the third-best defensive record in the Premier League. Better than second-place Manchester City. They've conceded just four goals in their last nine games, including three clean sheets in their last four.

The problems, at the moment, are at the other end. Van Gaal picked a strong team at Abbey Stadium. And it should concern the Dutchman that, even without Rooney and Mata, they couldn't break Cambridge down.

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It might have been different if Chris Dunn hadn't made fine saves from Falcao and Di Maria in the second half. But they didn't create enough opportunities against a mid-table team from the fourth tier.

It was the same against QPR last weekend, and Southampton the week before, when they failed to have a shot on target. Van Gaal likes to judge the quality of a performance by the number of chances created. He hasn't been happy for a while.

United are playing like a team without any pattern. The constant tinkering with formation and personnel, some of it enforced, isn't conducive to flowing attacking football. 

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There's a saying in football circles that you only worry about a striker who's not scoring goals when they stop getting in positions to score goals. It's the same with a team. It's not that United are missing a lot of chances. The problem is that they're not creating enough.

There will be some fans who will be desperate for United to sign a new defender in the final few days of the transfer window. But it's not the quick-fix they might think.

United's issues are on the other end, and they've already got enough players there. It's a problem Van Gaal will have to fix on the training pitch rather than in the transfer window.