Ryan Giggs Says Manchester United Are Too Reliant on Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Goals

Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs believes the team rely too much on Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goals to get them out of trouble.

He told Teo Teng Kiat of Today: 

"

There's not a lot wrong [with the team], the performances are good and defensively we look strong. It's just that concentration in [front of] goal and just that over-reliance, really, on Ibrahimovic. 

He's the centre-forward, but you need goals to come from everywhere, be it the wide men, midfielders, or even the defenders chipping in at set-pieces.

"

Ibrahimovic opened the scoring on Sunday as United beat Sunderland 3-0 at the Stadium of Light.

The goal was Ibrahimovic's 28th in all competitions this season, and the ever-quotable Swede came out with yet another memorable line after the match:

His goalscoring record would actually bear that out, as Sky Sports Statto illustrated:

While the striker hasn't always put in his best performances this season and has been guilty of missing a number of chances he should have put away, he has been United's most potent attacker by far.

The Red Devils' next highest scorer is Juan Mata with 10 goals in all competitions, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan bagged his eighth of the campaign on Sunday, as did Marcus Rashford, marking his first Premier League goal since September.

While they should comfortably surpass last year's poor total of 49 Premier League goals under Louis van Gaal, United haven't been particularly free-scoring under Jose Mourinho.

As Squawka Football demonstrated, Ibrahimovic has been relied upon heavily:

Such was the case against the Black Cats on Sunday.

Aside from a Jesse Lingard attempt moments before Ibrahimovic's opener, United hadn't really troubled the relegation-threatened side despite controlling much of the ball in the first half hour.

As noted by Hesham Bilal-Hafiz of the Manchester Evening News, the Red Devils being overreliant on the 35-year-old is a consequence of their current setup and approach:

The likes of Mata, Mkhitaryan, Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba can all do the same, but they've not made those contributions enough this season to take the pressure off Ibrahimovic—the latter two in particular.

For United to be able to challenge for the Premier League title next season—and be a force in the UEFA Champions League should they qualify—Mourinho needs to get the best out of those players, and a dip into the transfer market would also help.

Even if they do bring in more attacking talent this summer, though, it would be a huge boost to the team for Ibrahimovic to stay. If they don't, his departure could be potentially disastrous.

For more news, rumours and related stories about Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Manchester United and the Premier League, check out the Premier League and Manchester United streams on Bleacher Report's app.