Soccer: Moyes concerned by toothless United

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, right, Javier Hernandez, centre and Michael Carrick wait for play to restart after West Bromwich Albion's first goal during their English Premier League soccer match

Manchester United manager David Moyes admits his team's lack of cutting edge is giving him serious grounds for concern following a shock home defeat by West Bromwich Albion.

Moyes' side have not scored from open play in the Premier League since their 4-1 victory at Swansea City on the opening weekend of the season.

The run continued when they were deservedly beaten 2-1 by West Brom on Saturday, making it three defeats in Moyes's first six league games in charge and United's worst start to a season since 1989.

Moyes had previously complained about a difficult opening to the campaign that saw his side take on Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City over the course of the first five games.

After heading to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in midweek, they travel to Sunderland next weekend before a pair of back-to-back home matches in the Premier League.

Moyes's only major addition in the summer was midfielder Marouane Fellaini and despite the lack of any attacking signings, he is adamant he has the options at his disposal to resolve the goal-scoring issue.

"I'm concerned, but only because we didn't play well (against West Brom). There's a lot of games to go and we can put it right in the games to come,'' he said.

"It's not from the lack of trying or lack of forward players. There are plenty of forward players out there. It's just not quite opening teams up the way we would like and we need to try to do that better.

"We missed that spark, which would have been something just to go on and make the difference and make it happen. If we'd got the goal, it would have changed.

"West Brom deserved it no question, and I can't argue with that.''

Robin van Persie, who had missed the previous two games with a groin problem, came off the bench against West Brom as United looked to force a way back into the game.

Moyes is hopeful that Van Persie will be fit enough to start Wednesday's match in Ukraine.

-AAP