Manchester United have four players who must respond to impossible to ignore criticism

Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho have eight goals in the Premier League between them this season. The firepower has failed to fire.

Manchester United have found finding the back of the net frustratingly difficult, to the extent that only Sheffield United and Burnley have scored fewer goals in the league.

Erik ten Hag has been let down by his forwards this season and Scott McTominay, who was free to leave the club in the summer, has been the team's biggest threat. McTominay has five goals in the league and his haul includes two braces against Brentford and Chelsea.

ALSO READ: United extend three players' contracts

ALSO READ: Ten Hag has made a demand Ratcliffe might not accept

McTominay single-handedly earned six points with those goals - his impact against Brentford was particularly crucial - and United would be flirting with the bottom half of the table without them.

You would have got long odds on Rashford, Martial, Hojlund and Garnacho scoring just eight league goals by the New Year and those players must contribute more for results to improve.

Cole Palmer, who is just 21 years old and playing his first full season at senior level, has scored eight league goals himself for Chelsea and that highlights how poor the attackers in a red shirt have been.

United have won 10 games in the league and nine of those have been by a margin of a single goal. The only time United have claimed a victory by a bigger margin was in the 3-0 win against Everton at Goodison Park.

Following a controversial points deduction, there was confidence in an aggrieved Everton camp of securing a result against United in November but Garnacho's stunning early goal quietened the crowd.

It might have been a