Manchester United 0-0 San Jose Earthquakes: 5 Talking Points

#3 United need someone to step up in absence of Lukaku

Goal scoring was a problem for United for the whole of last season and apart from Lukaku, there was no one prolific enough. So, in absence of the big Belgian, the pre-season was the perfect chance for someone else to step up. Martial had his chances and will continue to get more of them in the pre-season, but his finishing has been poor.

A lot was said of Alexis Sanchez after the Club America game and how he could change the dimension of this United team, but the truth is, even though he looked lively, apart from that one free kick, the Chilean did not look like scoring either. United will most likely not have Lukaku in their ranks all through the pre-season and as such, they desperately need someone else to step up and take responsibility for scoring goals.

This will also help them in the long run, because even though they have a wealth of attacking talent at their disposal, apart from Lukaku, no one excels in the number 9 role, so in event of an injury to their number 9, Manchester United could suddenly look blunt in attack. Since he is short of options in pre-season, Mourinho will be wise to start Sanchez through the middle against Milan and hope that the Chilean can conjure up something.

On the other hand, United also need goals from the midfield, something they were missing last season. While Pogba, if he stays, will be expected to take over that responsibility in the wake of a fantastic World Cup, United also need Hererra, Mata and Co to use the pre-season and improve their goal-scoring abilities.