It is a raw deal to inherit two ostensible goalscorers (one is not actually a goalscorer) who struggle to score goals. Never mind that they cost an obscene £108.5million.

Ruben Amorim has been dealt an unwinnable hand with Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee. That has also been compounded by his bosses halving the United attack since the summer and not securing a replacement in the winter.

It was risky business to let Antony and Marcus Rashford leave on loan without an incoming. There was no reward for that risk as Amad injured his ankle the next week and he was ruled out for the season.

READ MORE: Manchester United to make £51m transfer 'move' as Sir Jim Ratcliffe seeks 'termination' of deal

READ MORE: Leny Yoro is right about his Man United position change - and it is helping one of his teammates

And then there were three: Hojlund, Zirkzee and Alejandro Garnacho. The latter has scored more goals than the former two yet he has been in and out of the side. Garnacho was contentiously substituted against Ipswich Town in response to Patrick Dorgu's red card.

Garnacho's ball-striking close to goal has regressed and he is without a Premier League goal since November. He is still more of a goal threat than Hojlund (seven goals this season) and Zirkzee (five).

Amorim insisted it would have been a risk to start Garnacho against Fulham. It was a greater risk to bench him. United conceded first for the 22nd time out of 42 games this season and Garnacho was summoned seven minutes into the second half with United 1-0 down.

The 3-4-3 system Amorim is wedded to could be fluid and attack-minded. For more than three months, it has been rigid and defence-minded. Six of the ten outfield starters against Fulham were defensive players - three centre backs, two full backs and a defensive midfielder. The starting XI had contributed 33 goals this season at kick-off.

Amorim has done that before. Away at FCSB, the balance was awry in the first half, so Garnacho and Amad emerged at the interval to even it up. United won 2-0 and played authoritatively in the second half.

United are hampered by their shallow attack and, of the trio of forwards available, only Garnacho is good enough. But Amorim has hindered the team with his trial and error.

He has selected 24 different line-ups in 24 games. Kobbie Mainoo has played as a No.6, a No.10 and a No.9. His best performance was as one of the two 10s against FCSB when he got an assist and scored. Three days later, Mainoo started up front in the defeat to Crystal Palace.

In those 24 games, Amorim has selected at least six defensive starters in 15 of them and United have won only four. Three of those were influenced by game-changing substitutes (Viktoria Plzen, Manchester City and FCSB) and the ugly win at Fulham was decided by a deflected pot-shot by Lisandro Martinez. That was United's only effort on target.

There was merit in recruiting Dorgu to end the partnership of Noussair Mazraoui and Diogo Dalot, two full backs winging it on the wings. If Dorgu is to be considered a defensive starter (which he technically is), Amorim picked seven at Everton, the scene of United's most inept first 45 minutes all season.

United have scored more than three goals in three games all season - against League One Barnsley, Championship-bound Leicester City and Everton. Two of those were in the League Cup. Two of the opponents have since sacked their manager.

United's minimum three-goal hauls in the Premier League have been against Southampton (twice), Leicester, Ipswich and Everton. Relegation fodder.

There is another injury crisis to contend with and that accounted for Amorim naming only seven substitutes against Fulham, two fewer than United were permitted. Two were academy goalkeepers.

The Under 18s overcame Arsenal over a two-hour epic in the FA Youth Cup quarter-final on Friday night, which would have had a bearing. But Harry Amass, a forward-thinking left back and breakout during the pre-season tour, has been unfathomably underused.

Ethans Williams and Wheatley, one a winger and one a striker, are on loan in League Two. Wheatley has been omitted from six successive squads by Walsall manager Mat Sadler.

Hojlund and Zirkzee were both on the bench for the defeat to Palace a month ago. Now both always start. The pair have lined up together in the last four games. Before then, they had been picked in the same XI only once - the home defeat to Newcastle. Hojlund and Zirkzee have not scored in any of those five matches.

The Newcastle experiment lasted 33 minutes until Zirkzee was abruptly hooked. Amorim should have dropped both frontmen that night and trialled Amad as a false nine, something he never got round to before the winger's unfortunate training ground injury.

Chido Obi's promotion was inevitable yet he is ineligible for the Europa League knockouts after United failed to include him in their revised squad. Bruno Fernandes, a false nine in the FA Cup final last year, is more influential from midfield in the 3-4-3 and whenever Mainoo returns he should be a shoo-in as a playmaker.

Amorim spoke effusively about Mason Mount, well versed in 3-4-3 from his Champions League and European Championship final appearances. Amorim dubbed Mount, a 26-year-old, a "kid" on the eve of his first match in charge.

Mount has kidded United with 33 appearances from a possible 94. He has missed the last 17 matches with a hamstring injury.

Jose Mourinho noticed how stubborn Amorim was during his placement at Carrington in 2018. A senior United player admitted they have "been a tough watch".

Had Fernandes not steered the ball through Sander Berge's legs and beyond Bernd Leno's reach, Harry Maguire might have gone up front on Sunday. Maguire did against Fulham at Old Trafford last season and got a late equaliser. Fulham got an even later winner.

Maguire has scored more goals since the turn of the year than Hojlund and Zirkzee. United's breakthrough title in 1993 would not have been possible without centre half Steve Bruce venturing into the opposition's third against Sheffield Wednesday.

Only Maguire may not travel to San Sebastian after his enforced removal at the weekend. "It's a tough moment in that aspect. It will be a competitive team on Thursday," Amorim promised.

But he could have another unwinnable hand.