Erik ten Hag passionately defends Joshua Zirkzee amidst his Manchester United goal drought | OneFootball

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has insisted that new signing Joshua Zirkzee can still become a prolific goalscorer, even as he continues to undergo a goal drought.

Zirkzee arrived at United in the summer from Serie A outfit Bologna, in a deal worth around £36.5million.

He got off to the perfect start to life at his new club, grabbing the winning goal on his debut against Fulham. However, the Netherlands international has failed to find the back of the net since.

He has started for the Red Devils on four occasions this term and in that time, has missed four big chances in the Premier League.

Zirkzee started for United in their Europa League opener vs. FC Twente and while he made some excellent contributions in terms of linking up play and holding up the ball, he still found goals hard to come by. He didn’t have many chances to pounce on bar a shot from inside the box that required the rival goalkeeper to immediately swing into action.

Ten Hag spoke to the press ahead of United’s weekend clash against Tottenham Hotspur and said that Zirkzee can become a prolific goalscorer, despite going six games without a goal.

The Dutch coach told the media that not scoring goals enough is United’s biggest problem. When quizzed about whether Zirkzee can turn it around and become a lethal finisher, he replied, “Yes, I do.”

“And he is young and you see his capabilities, he is a very good link-up player, he is creative, he is creating chances but to be fair he has his moments towards the goal, it was a great action and finish yesterday [against FC Twente], it was a top save from the keeper but in that area he can definitely improve but we knew that beforehand.”

“He has some very good attributes and some attributes he has to improve and he needs our support how to improve.”

After the final whistle in the draw with Twente, Ten Hag accused his players of being too easy-going and complacent.

Christian Eriksen also remarked that the Eredivise club simply wanted it more than himself and his teammates.

During his presser ahead of the meeting with Spurs, Ten Hag urged the United stars that only the hungriest side will prevail.

“When you play 60 games [in a season], there will be games where you are not happy with the performance, but you are not happy with the opponent once more. That is always the psychological side of top football where any team has more hunger than the other.”

“The team who can manage this the best are the most successful. We are ambitious and we always demand from yourself that you are hungrier than the opponent. We should be and that is what we demand from each other.”

He added, “That is what we have to bring in on a consistent basis. That is what we are striving for. Successful teams have this.”

Spurs vs. United kicks off at 16:30 BST at Old Trafford.

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