Manchester United finished the 2022-23 Premier League in third place, behind rivals Manchester City and Arsenal.
Despite the top-three finish and a subsequent return to the UEFA Champions League, United lacked a consistent goal-scoring threat, finishing the campaign with 58 goals for, compared to Man City’s 94 and Arsenal’s 88.
Even Newcastle (fourth place; 68 goals for), Liverpool (fifth; 75 GF), Brighton (sixth; 72 GF) and Tottenham (eighth; 70 GF) scored more than United, which finished level with ninth-place Brentford in that category. Manchester United’s top scorer, Marcus Rashford, was the club’s only player with double-digit goals in the league last season with 17.
To help with those woes, Manchester United remains hopeful it can land England and Spurs all-time top scorer Harry Kane, who finished second with 30 Premier League goals last year.
While still searching for its No. 9, this summer United signed midfielder Mason Mount ($69.88 million) from Chelsea and goalkeeper André Onana ($56 million) from Inter on five-year deals each with an option to extend a further 12 months.
As Manchester United kicked off its U.S. summer tour with a 2-0 win against Arsenal at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., former midfielder Bryan Robson gave his thoughts on the club he made 461 appearances for while winning two Premier League titles, a trio of FA Cups and the 1990-91 European Cup Winners Cup.
Robson is working with Marriott Hotels, the Official Hospitality Partner of Manchester United, which hosted a viewing party including an iconic red double decker bus at Hudson Yards in New York City for Saturday’s match, and is also offering fans a chance to see the Red Devils during their U.S. tour via the Marriott Bonvoy platform.
Michael LoRé: A top-three finish for United last season and a return to the UEFA Champions League. What are your thoughts on the 2022/23 campaign and how can the club continue that momentum this year and potentially challenge for the Premier League title?
Bryan Robson: From where we were the season before (sixth place), last season was a good season for us because we won a trophy. People might say it’s only the Carabao Cup, but it is a trophy and it gets you into Europe. The main thing for us was to get back into the Champions League. That was good the club did that because now we can grow that little bit more for this season. We made a couple of decent signings to add to the squad.
I feel if we want to go on this season and improve that little bit more to challenge Manchester City, we need a center forward because we fell short in scoring enough goals to win you the title. It would be nice to see a center forward come in before the start of the season. Some of the younger lads—especially on the width—if they can add a few more goals to their game because the young lads are improving, they’re getting used to the Premier League but if they can add goals as well, and we get a center forward who’s a prolific goalscorer, then we can compete with the best teams.
LoRé: So the missing piece is a true No. 9 then?
Robson: I think right across the midfield it’s looking pretty solid with the quality of players we got. At the back, (Lisandro) Martinez and (Raphaël) Varane have a great understanding and (Aaron) Wan-Bissaka and (Luke) Shaw have definitely improved since Erik ten Hag’s come into the club. We’re looking fairly solid there, but it’s just scoring more goals so we can win games rather than draw games.
LoRé: Sounds like they need to get Harry Kane instead of letting him go to Bayern Munich
Robson: Yeah, he would be good.
LoRé: You mentioned Erik ten Hag, so I’d love your thoughts on the job he’s done since joining the club as United try to return to prominence and find the right manager to fill the giant shoes of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Robson: You can see that he’s done a good job. The players look when they’re on the pitch they know what he’s after. The organization is good, the pressing is good and they’re working as a team. That’s why they improved a lot from the season before. The players have to keep working hard and the manager knows that. He’s brought discipline into the squad again. What I’ve seen with the lads towards the end of last season and even on this preseason tour that’s just started, the camaraderie between the players seems to be very good, and for me that’s a really important thing.
LoRé: You alluded to some of the new signings, so as a former midfielder, what are your thoughts on Mason Mount and how he can fit into this side and continue to bolster the midfield?
Robson: I liked him when he first got into the England team. At Chelsea, for whatever reason the coaches started leaving him out and I think he got a bit rusty last year, so when he did get a little bit of a chance, he wasn’t quite on top of his game. Mason Mount, when he plays all the time, is a quality player. He’s got a bit of everything—he works hard, he can defend, attack-wise he can see a pass and can score a goal. I think he’s a really good signing for us.
The thing I like about him is he’s a bit of a utility player because I think he can play to the width coming in or if Bruno (Fernandes) got injured or couldn’t play in that No. 10 position, he can play that role. He’s quite versatile as a player. When you’re a manager, you like a few players who can do that and can play in a couple of roles so if you do get injuries or suspensions, you have the players who can cope with it.
LoRé: We’re here for Manchester United’s summer tour, so what are your thoughts on the world’s most popular game growing in the U.S., especially with the 2026 FIFA World Cup on the horizon?
Robson: I think in about 12 years we’ve come across to the U.S. about six times for preseason tours, so right from the first one, the popularity of football and the amount of fans that Manchester United have in the U.S. is growing all the time. I saw it a few years ago when we played Real Madrid over here (in 2014). They’re a really popular club throughout the world, but there were about 110,000 at the game and 100,000 must have been United fans with United shirts on. It shows how popular we are here and that’s why we enjoy coming back. This will be a great tour, especially for me and a couple of the legends who get to go to Las Vegas, San Diego, Houston and New York.
The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.