It was another tough evening in red for Wout Weghorst on Wednesday as he failed to register a single shot on goal in 58 minutes during the 2-2 draw against Leeds United.
Backed to start a seventh straight game since his loan from Burnley but failing to influence the game, the Dutchman watched from the bench as his two replacements pulled back a two-goal deficit. Marcus Rashford moved centrally and placed a wonderful header past Illan Meslier before Jadon Sancho, the man he was taken off for, levelled with a first goal since September.
Rashford's goal will have left Weghorst thinking where those crosses were during the first hour, Diogo Dalot's perfectly-arched ball dropping between white shirts and onto the rising head of a man on fire. It's now 274 minutes of Premier League football without a goal for Weghorst and just one in seven starts across all competitions.
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Weghorst's six months at Burnley last year were scant, his two goals in 20 league games not enough to keep the Clarets above water, but a prolific spell in Turkey with Besiktas encouraged Erik ten Hag enough to push for his compatriot. Buoyant with the confidence of a goal every other game, the 30-year-old made clear his wish for a similar rate of return.
“I want to score goals here,” Weghorst told United's in-house media in his first interview. “I’m a striker and I think every striker knows it – you are living for scoring goals. That’s the thing we have been working all week to get it done at the weekend, and that’s definitely something I want to achieve here also.
“That’s also what I meant with being part of it and contributing. Of course, for me as a striker, at the end, it’s also all about goals.”
Unfortunately, the goals haven't come, but Ten Hag continues to back his striker even if it is partly down to a lack of alternative options. Rashford has done some of his best work down the middle in recent weeks but is needed to provide the energy and directness from wide. Alejandro Garnacho was handed a rare start on Wednesday after injury to Antony but failed to terrorise Luke Ayling - a man 13 years his senior - in the same way he has done from the bench.
Anthony Martial's relentless battle with fitness means Ten Hag simply cannot rely on him, leaving Weghorst. But rather than a choice of necessity, the United boss hinted he values the striker's work beyond finding the net.
"He is the one who makes players around him play better," Ten Hag said of Weghorst ahead of Wednesday's game. "As a team we have to work better to anticipate his movements because his movements are good, and quite a lot of times he was close [to scoring].
"He had many good actions and already a lot of good contributions to our results. He will score, but in the meantime, he will do the other stuff, and do it good."
Weghorst more than anyone will want to get his Premier League account up and running for United, and Ten Hag's insistence on playing his forward into form will continue to work as long as others are returning. The on-loan target man has just the one goal against Nottingham Forest but the Reds have been playing some of their best football since January, whether that be coincidental or not.
Rashford's form from wide and Martial's continued absence leaves the Dutch boss with little choice, and while he will remain insistent that goals are not the be-all and end-all, a couple would certainly fulfil the player's wish and provide the foundation for confidence to grow.
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