Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to see Scott McTominay hit double figures for goals this season after extending his purple patch with the winner against West Ham on Tuesday.
McTominay now has three goals in his last three games for Manchester United and six in his previous 14 appearances, while all of his 14 goals for the club have come under Solskjaer.
The Norwegian has urged McTominay's fellow midfielders to take a leaf out of his book and to begin contributing in front of goal as well, after making an improved output from midfield one of the key areas for improvement this season.
McTominay has as many goals as Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani this season and his total of seven is more than Fred, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba and Donny van de Beek have between them.
United have tended to rely on Bruno Fernandes and the front four of Cavani, Mason Greenwood, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford for goals, but Solskjaer knows that they need more from the midfield as well if they're to win trophies.
"To add goals from midfield is vital, last season our three forwards were brilliant and scored goals, 60 odd, and Bruno came in and scored goals, but we needed more goals from midfield," said Solskjaer.
"Scott has the ability to go box-to-box, he used to be a striker, for us to move up the league and to be successful in the cups we need our forwards to keep on firing and I wouldn’t mind some midfielders adding a few.
"If Scott can get to double figures that would be a very good season for a so-called defensive midfielder."
McTominay's goals have certainly helped United build on their efforts of last season. They are five points behind Manchester City at the top of the Premier League and still in contention in the FA Cup and Europa League.
But Solskjaer knows the true judgement on that improvement will arrive over the next few months and to really achieve something this season they need to improve in both boxes.
"You go into every season trying to improve, if you improve that’s a step forward. Is it a big enough step forward? We'll have to see at the end," he said.
"We’re still in competitions, we’re in the quarters of the FA Cup, still in Europe and second in the league at the moment. It looks like we’ve improved but going into the deciding period of the season it’s now that we have to kick on and keep our consistency, get the quality higher, eradicate some of the mistakes and be more clinical in front of goal.
"I don’t want to say what is successful at the moment but we have a chance to end this season with a feeling of this season being successful if we improve, because we’ve shown qualities that can win us trophies."
