Christian Eriksen has backed Ramsus Hojlund to come good at Manchester United.
Hojlund has only managed seven goals all season – just two in the Premier League – and has now gone 20 appearances since he last netted in a Europa League clash against Viktoria Plzen on December 12.
The 22-year-old came off the bench in the second half of Sunday's 1-1 draw against Arsenal and saw a good chance go begging, while he looked low on confidence when tackled by Declan Rice when well placed to shoot.
Eriksen, who returned to the starting line-up against the Gunners, said it would be unfair to focus solely on his fellow Dane Hojlund, and insisted several members of the squad are failing in their duty to share the goalscoring burden.
“There’s a lot of players on the pitch, me included, that should score some more goals, it’s not him,” said Eriksen.
“But he’s a striker, he lives for the goals, and tries to score goals. He’s in these situations [with getting chances today], now it’s about getting the belief of scoring, but he’s a hard-working guy who tries his best and wants his best for the team.
“At some point it will click and it will go the other way”.
United have lost seven times at home in the league this season, form which has taken a turn for the worse under new coach Ruben Amorim.
But against second-placed Arsenal, United kept a rare first-half clean sheet, showed resilience and created enough chances in the second half to win the game.
They took the lead against the run of play thanks to a superb Bruno Fernandes free-kick just before half time, with Rice equalising after the break.
“The goal helped us before half-time to get a bit more belief and trust ourselves and second half with the chances we had we should have been 2-0 up,” midfielder Eriksen told The National.
“We created chances and we got in good positions. Compared to the usual game plan today was a bit more sit back and wait and play on the counter.
“In the second half we had a bit more of the ball, held the ball a bit longer than we did in the first half. It’s something we have to adapt to be a bit better.”
The game took place against a backdrop of protests outside Old Trafford, with fans unhappy with the Glazer family who have been in charge of the club for almost 20 years.
The draw all but confirmed that Arsenal won’t be winning the Premier League, while United, who have been hit hard by injuries, are down in 14th after a dreadful season.
“On the pitch we are doing our best to win the game and whatever goes on outside is obviously not beneficial, but we’re doing our best to get the game over the line and win,” added Eriksen.
Asked if it was hard for him to look at the league table, he replied: “It’s not fun. We want to be higher. We’re at United, so we have to be higher.
“But in the end the ball is still rolling on the pitch, so we must focus on the football and look at the table when, hopefully at the end of the season, we end up higher and we’ll forget about this. But at the moment, we must fight for it.”
United’s next game is their biggest one of the season, at home to Real Sociedad in the Europa League last 16. The first leg was drawn 1-1 in San Sebastian last Thursday.
The competition represents United’s only chance of winning a trophy. And, given how far they are from the European places in the Premier League, their only chance of playing European football next season.
“It’s massive, we know the pressure, we know the situation we’re in, in the league,” said Eriksen of the game.
“To get into Europe we must win a lot of games in the league or go through the Europa League, so we know there’s a lot of pressure on that game, but it also comes with being at this club. You play for trophies so we have to play well to go through.”
Asked if it’s hard to imagine a United team not in Europe, the Dane replied: “It’s where they belong, but we don’t belong being in the lower half of the Premier League either so it’s a bit in between.
“We try to do our best to get up [the league], we’re not in a position we want to be in. It could save a little bit with the Champions League and the Europa feeling, but in terms of the Prem we still need to get a lot of points to go higher.”
United fans have backed new coach Amorim, and Eriksen also offered his support.
“He’s come in with new ideas, very honest guy, straightforward,” said Eriksen of his new manager.
“He has his head and we’re just trying to adapt to them and get into the system and the habits in his style of play. He’s a good manager.”
