Why Attack Is Area Manchester United Must Fix in Final Week of Transfer Window

Manchester United's attack is not firing properly, and time is running out to add personnel to the squad to help with this issue.

Louis van Gaal's men managed to slice apart Club Brugge, but they needed a late, vital contribution from Marouane Fellaini to provide a scoreline that felt relatively safe heading into the away leg.

However, in the league, they have scored just two goals in three games—one an own goal and one that took a hefty deflection on its way in. It is too early in the season to make grand proclamations of what this means for the campaign ahead, but with the transfer window about to close, attack has overtaken defence as the key priority.

Jon Super/Associated Press

The centre-back situation would benefit from attention. Daley Blind and Chris Smalling have hugely outperformed expectations for their partnership. Blind, who had rarely played centre-back since his days as a youth footballer, was a surprising choice for the role, to say the least.

However, he and the back four as a whole have been superb. Admittedly, tougher tests lie ahead, but a first-choice back four has been assembled, and it looks like it will be a match for most of the opponents United will face this season.

There are issues in the squad behind these first-choice options, though.

Marcos Rojo was solid last season, and few fans would worry much if he came into the team in Blind's place. That is where the certainty ends, though.

Jon Super/Associated Press

Phil Jones is next in line behind Smalling. For both Jones and Jonny Evans, huge questions exist regarding consistency of form and the ability to stay injury-free.

However, with fine full-backs on either side of them and plenty of protection being afforded to them from the midfielders ahead of them, United's defence should function reasonably well this season. And the first-choice options seem up to the job for now.

It is a different story up front, where a lacklustre Wayne Rooney is yet to get off the mark. With the exception of his disallowed goal against Newcastle United, he has rarely looked likely to get off the mark. Of course, he will score goals this season, but just how many he will manage remains up for debate.

United's attack carved out a lot more chances against Newcastle than they had against Tottenham Hotspur or Aston Villa. In the latter two games, they had nine shots at goal, and against Newcastle, it was 20, to no avail.

Not too many of those chances were gilt-edged, though. Juan Mata's volley from a Rooney cross and Javier Hernandez's shot from a deflected Mata attempt were probably the best chances on offer.

More than any missed chance or passage of play that did not result in a chance, there was one specific moment of the game against Newcastle that highlighted United's need for alternatives up front.

It was during a first-half counter-attack, when Newcastle for once were not retrenched in their own half. The ball broke to Mata, and Adnan Januzaj picked it up from him and burst forward. Mata and Rooney peeled off behind him, aiming to give him an option to pick out.

However, he left them both for dust and was forced to check back, ending the move's momentum.

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It was obvious at that point that the balance of pace and precision, of explosiveness and meticulous craft, was not quite right in United's front four. Rooney and Mata were too slow to match Januzaj. Bringing in additional pace to United's attack would help.

Bringing in someone to share the burden with Rooney may also be the difference between a title push and another season of battling for Champions League qualification for Van Gaal. Even assuming he rediscovers his form, history tells us it will dip again. What United do in that circumstance is the biggest single question mark hanging over the season.

Sadly, it is hard to imagine any of the great and the good of football who are being linked with United arriving in the next week. Persuading Thomas Muller, Gareth Bale or Neymar (links to whom are broken down by B/R's Rob Blanchette here) to leave their current environs for Manchester seems a long shot at best as things currently stand.

If they do not, and if United do not significantly address issues around their attack, it could be a long season. There are goals in this United side. Memphis Depay, Mata, Rooney and even Januzaj are all capable of double-digit tallies.

It is just that they could do with bringing in a few more. With Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao both leaving, centre-forward options look a little threadbare. Right-wing options are a bit limited too. It is not a disastrous lack of options, but it is noticeable in an otherwise well-stocked squad.

More than any other area of the "selection," to use a Van Gaal phrase, it is attack-focused transfer activity in the week ahead that could make the biggest difference to the season ahead.

All advanced statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com.