Wayne Rooney was delighted for one Manchester United star after his performance in United’s 4-2 win over Brighton.
After securing three consecutive victories, Manchester United appear to have finally hit their stride following a shaky start to the Premier League season.
The Reds now sit sixth in the table, only two points behind second-placed Bournemouth, reigniting hopes of Champions League qualification — a goal many had written off earlier in the campaign.
With the arrivals of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, and Benjamin Šeško, the new attacking trio appears to have settled into the team. Amad and Mbeumo, in particular, have formed a promising partnership down the right flank.
After not scoring in his first five appearances for his new club, Šeško has now scored two in his last four, while also setting up a goal in their most recent win over Brighton.
Cunha gets off the mark
Cunha, out of the three new forward signings, has had the slowest start to life at Old Trafford, having missed a couple of games through a hamstring injury.
Against Liverpool, while not contributing in terms of goals or assists, he added the flair and skills that a traditional Brazilian winger brings to a side, being labelled as a “beautiful player”.
Speaking on ‘The Wayne Rooney Show’, the legendary Man Utd forward spoke on the impact of Cunha scoring his maiden goal for his new club, and what’s to come from the exciting forward.
“You could see how much everyone was delighted for him [Matheus Cunha], you know, the manager as well, because that can play on your mind. We’ve seen it with [Florian] Wirtz at Liverpool as well, and the more it goes on, the harder it is to go and do it, and you lose that confidence again.
“To get that goal is massive for him, because I think some of his performances have been really good; he’s obviously missed a few games through injuries, but you can see the delight. I’ve had it. We’ve had players who need a goal, and you know they need a goal because they’re going through a difficult time.
“You just hope that that spurs him on as well. What we saw at Wolves last year, I think he can kick on from that. I think he can certainly get better and go and grab the game by the scruff of the neck, because that’s what he can do. He can play in different positions, and he’s unpredictable at times.”
Man Utd have several different scoring avenues
At times in the past, United’s attack has sometimes looked a little bit one-dimensional, with the plan being to give the ball to Bruno Fernandes and hope he can produce a moment of magic.
United scored just 44 goals last season, with the club’s strikers Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Højlund contributing just seven of those.
Now, with the new-look front-three, United have several different goal-scoring avenues thanks to their new signings. Cunha’s aforementioned flair and skills, as well as his scoring ability from outside the box, where he has scored a league-high seven, as well as Mbeumo’s goal-scoring ability, mean the onus isn’t purely on the striker.
Šeško himself is very physically imposing, meaning he has been able to adapt better owing to the physical nature of the league. He is efficient with the ball at his feet, and as shown by his assist against Brighton, he is the perfect player to accompany the other two, who will always look to run in behind.
The Slovenian’s aerial prowess has not yet been taken full advantage of, but with the return of Lisandro Martinez to the starting side, Luke Shaw, who has a better passing range than Patrick Chinazaekpere Dorgu and Diogo Dalot, could unlock yet another way to score goals.
Make sure to follow UtdDistrict on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to never miss out on any of our Manchester United content. Our podcast, What the Devil?, is streamed live every Thursday at 12:30 pm (BST) on the United View YouTube channel.