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The One Thing Mason Greenwood Must Improve To Become A Number Nine

The One Thing Mason Greenwood Must Improve To Become A Number Nine

The Manchester United forward has been playing on the right for most of his short career so far but has been tipped to play centrally.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Mason Greenwood came off the bench on Tuesday night to score another goal for Manchester United and secure their passage into the next round of the Carabao Cup, but once again he played on the right.

Many believe that Greenwood's future will see him move from the wings to become a number nine, having scored 18 goals in 55 appearances in his short career so far.

Certainly the 18-year-old does seem to have all the tools needed to play up front and is managed by someone who knows the position better than most in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The United boss has revealed that Greenwood needs to do one thing to become a central striker, improve his heading ability.

"He had a fantastic season last season," Solskjaer said in his post match interview, "To get his goal was important for him, and Marcus [Rashford], it is always nice for strikers to get that confidence and that feeling of scoring - to get that hunger again.

"He can play through the middle, I think as a young boy - not physically grown yet, sometimes it is nice to be facing forward instead of being the foil and being the battering ram.

"'I scored most of my goals from just outside the posts as well, I wasn't in the middle.

"For him to be a number nine, though, he needs to learn how to head a ball. I keep telling him that and if he wants to do that he is welcome to come and practice with me."

The need for the teenager to improve his heading ability was shown on Saturday, when United lost their first game of the season to Crystal Palace.

Greenwood had a chance with United 1-0 down, having come on at half time, with a free header at the back post but he could only head wide.

Palace went 2-0 up 14 minutes later and, though United pulled one back, went on to win 3-1, their second win at Old Trafford in-a-row.

Greenwood and Rashford came on as late substitutes on Tuesday as United got past Championship side Luton Town but their introduction, along with Bruno Fernandes, was much needed.

The Premier League side led 1-0 at half-time through Juan Mata's goal but were unable to put the game to bed, with Dean Henderson's incredible save stopping Luton equalising in the second half, before the cavalry arrived.

Greenwood set up Rashford for his goal before getting the third for himself and Solskjaer's team will play either Preston North End or Brighton next week.

Featured Image Credit: PA/Sky Sports

Topics: Football News, Carabao Cup, Manchester United, Mason Greenwood, Luton Town, Premier League, Marcus Rashford, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Crystal Palace