Alan Shearer has targeted Manchester United’s wide players in his criticism of the Reds’ attack following their defeat against West Ham on Saturday. The Reds were dull as an attacking force once again as they were defeated at the London Stadium.

The result puts them in eighth place in the Premier League table, eight points behind the top four, with only Sheffield United scoring less goals.

Rasmus Hojlund is still without a Premier League goal and was substituted in the second half of United’s 2-0 defeat, but Shearer claimed on Saturday’s Match of the Day that the heart of United’s goalscoring woes comes from wide.

“Really embarrassing from a United standpoint – 18 goals this season,” the former Newcastle striker stated.

“‘We’ve got to stick to the strategy,’ says Ten Hag – To be honest, I have no idea what that plan is, and I’ve been watching Manchester United a lot this season.

“They need to get more people in there.” Poor passes, bad choices, and no opportunities at all.”

Shearer highlighted a stunning statistic to demonstrate his point that United’s wide players are at the root of the problem: Antony has only played six passes to Rasmus Hojlund this season, and Alejandro Garnacho has only played five.

“That should happen per game, not over five or six games,” he remarked. We can see what’s seriously wrong, and they’ll never score goals unless they fix it.”