Manchester United have problems at both ends of the pitch… and time is running out to fix them

If Manchester United want to get the fans believing in them, even after all the money they have spent, they need to buy a centre-forward.

Wayne Rooney only scored 15 goals last season and he hasn’t played as an out-and-out striker for a long time. So I just wonder if really wants to play in that position.

We have to remember his ability to play in that role was question by Sir Alex Ferguson. Those who feature there nowadays are players who make short little bursts. You look at Diego Costa at Chelsea and Sergio Aguero at Manchester City or even Olivier Giroud and Danny Welbeck at Arsenal.

You have to say Rooney isn’t the high-energy player he was when he exploded on to the scene at Everton and at the start with United. So if it stays at it is, I do wonder if Van Gaal is playing a little bit with fire really – putting everything on him.

Let’s look at the other options. Javier Hernandez is a sub, an impact player, even Real Madrid realised that. You bring him off the bench to change things. Look at his record for United, he can’t do it in the 90 minutes.

It’s great that Adnan Januzaj got a goal in the last game. But that’s in America, that’s in pre-season. Are we going to take anything from the fact that United beat Barcelona? Are their odds going to change on winning the Champions League after that match? No. Januzaj can’t play through the middle as he doesn’t have the physical presence and he falls down too easily. I just don’t think he will get regular football this season.

Then there is James Wilson. The 19-year-old gives them something different. But he hasn’t had a run in the team yet and it’s not the time to suddenly throw in a young player. He’s done okay but you wouldn’t start a season looking at him as your second choice. He gives you a different option to Rooney as he can run in behind teams. If United are playing Chelsea for example, they might come out of their penalty box, knowing that Rooney isn’t really going to do that.

Someone like Wilson runs in behind and so teams may drop a bit deeper. But in general United haven’t got that change of pace. We might see them play nice little pretty patterns in front of the defence, but there is a lack of penetration. You need someone with imagination up front who will make runs to create space for other to move into. United didn’t have that last season with Robin van Persie or Radamel Falcao. They lacked a cutting edge.

We’ve also heard about this “mystery player” that Van Gaal wants to sign. Thomas Muller has been mentioned but he is not an out-and-out forward. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has also been talked about. But when he plays for PSG he drops off a lot as well. So I don’t know what system Van Gaal will play. They are not good enough to play with a “false” No 9 either. It’s not a style you can just make up over a summer, you have to grow into it like Barcelona did with Messi after he played the role for so long.

There has to be a method in the madness. Van Gaal’s had a lot of opportunities to buy players. But you don’t get to where he is, achieving what he’s achieved, by going into a campaign with the bare bones United have in areas of the squad.

And that brings us to another area of concern - centre-back. Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are not going to be able to hold the fort all season and Jonny Evans needs to get back to his top form. The Northern Irishman should be a regular player in the team. Then you look at Marcos Rojo, who hasn’t done himself any favours over the summer – especially by missing the flight to the pre-season tour. He also needs someone who can play next to him that can boss him around, someone like Nemanja Vidic.

At the moment United are looking very weak in an area where they have always been strong. Most of their great sides over the years have had a top goalkeeper and centre-half pairing. Forget about scoring goals, when you win leagues, you don’t concede many.

You look at Jones, who is a lone centre-half who does what he wants. He’s not disciplined in a central position. When you have the array of forward-thinking players that United have got, you need him to concentrate on defending and let the front six express themselves.

And Smalling is always likely to make a mistake. So the two of them playing together has to be a worry for Manchester United fans. Even though they are both in the England squad I don’t think they are giving the fans the belief in the centre-half partnership that United have had over recent years. You can’t really compare them with Ronny Johnsen and Jaap Stam, Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister or Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. They’re just not working.

People will argue it’s more important to score goals and some will say you simply must not concede but they are both very important areas of a team and United still need to look at them. But they are running out of time to get it done. We’ve only got a week and a half to go until the season starts, so whatever happens now it will still be very, very late.