How are FFP limitations defeatist? If we can't spend the kind of money required to bring in a Kane or Osimen then what/who do you propose we spend the limited funds on?
Rasmus Højlund | Signed for United
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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Woodward is that you?
The club literally can't afford to spend more money, there are no choices here, how is that defeatist, what are you even on about?
£50+5m should do it, €65m.
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He also provides good context in his longer article.
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Benjamin Hunt
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Now that Andre Onana has been given the "Here We Go", #MUFC will be looking for their next target, which is seemingly Rasmus Hojlund.
There are a lot of things that people seem to discredit him for, which I will go into in this piece. A quick word of warning there is a fair bit of hypotheticals, and for everyone that knows me, knows how highly I rate him and so some bias may shine through. If it does I apologise, but I'm going to try my best to let the stats/facts tell the full story.
Okay, lets start, one thing that everyone talks about when it comes to Hojlund is his "9 goals last season", this simply isn't true, in all comps he managed to score 20 goals last season in 31.7 90s, meaning 0.63 goals per 90 or a goal every 143 minutes. Yes this includes internationals which can sway figures but it shows that he knows where the back of the net is. With Atalanta he has managed 9 League goals in 20.4 90s, averaging a league goal every 204 minutes, this is better than most and even better than likes of Watkins (209), Saka (228).
Another thing that has been said is that you need an elite 9 or a 25+ league goal per season striker, this is also just not true. Haaland has broken the mould, previous to him no player for a title winning side had scored more than 21 goals in a league season since Van Persie in 2012/13 with 3 of the last 4 failing to hit the 20 mark. Goalscorers aren't necessarily a must for a title winning side, goal facilitators are, someone that allows the side to function better and score whether they are the ones doing it or not. In fact only 3 of the last 10 seasons has the top goalscorer from the league winning side, outscored the top scorer of the side that finished 2nd. The average top scorer from the league winning side across the last 11 years is 20.7, compared to the average top scorer of the 2nd placed side being 20.9.
This does however show how stats can be misleading, as the squad that usually wins has the deeper squad and can rotate more, which is evident when you look at the minutes per goal, which goes the other way. The top scorer of the league winning side managed a goal every 131.7 minutes, compared to the side that finished 2nd managed a goal every 138.5 minutes, with the side that finished 2nd having their top goalscorer play 132 minutes longer on average per season.
People are also massively underestimating how difficult it truly is to score goals at his young age. When talking about a prolific goalscorer when talking about United, they usually bring up Greenwood, However across his time in the Premier League he averaged a goal every 205.9 minutes, this is very good for someone so young, as stated previously that is worse than Hojlund's 204, this is also done in a harder, more experienced league.
People often joke about Serie A being a slow, defensive league, this is somewhat true, teams are a lot more defensive which makes it much more tricky for a striker to stand out, especially a young one as the central defenders that they will be up against will be incredibly experienced and will usually be able to read the game better than you. Which is why Hojlund is the only player in the Serie A aged 20 and under to record more than 5 league goals last season and in fact only the 5th player aged 20 or under to record such a goal tally in the last 15 years in the Serie A, following on from the footsteps of Mario Balotelli, Domenico Berardi, Patrick Cutrone and most recently Dejan Kulusevski. With the final 2 hitting 10 goals respectively. No player at that age has hit more than 10 goals since 2013 which outlines just how difficult it is to score such numbers in the Serie A at that age, with the average age of the 19 players ahead of him in the goalscoring charts this season having an average age of 27.16.
One other aspect of the "9 goals per season" statement that everyone says that I don't like is that with as I previously mentioned there are less goals in the Serie A than in most leagues, with LaLiga being the only league in the top 5 to see fewer goals per game. If you were to look at the goals per game ratio in the Premier League compared to the Serie A and add that metric to Hojlund's goal tally, he would instead score a goal every 182.9 minutes which puts him ahead of the likes of Martinelli, Jesus and Nunez, in fact in the top 10 goalscorers in the Premier League last season, only the top 6 would boast a higher goals per 90 than Hojlund.
I hope this helps you better understand his goalscoring figures in context. I have written about him briefly before but will go into further tactical detail and go through his style further down the line as the links become more concrete.
That really is fantastic and something none of our current players have in their locker
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Good post
Sturm Graz vs Salzburg.
Shows off Hojlund's physical tools - crazy speed for his size - pressing ability/intensity and it's also positive to see him putting a mark on huge games like this against a superior rival.
Goals at 1:34 and 3:06 if you don't want to watch the whole thing.
I like the speed of which we’re moving between targets. Seems like now we’ve gone from haggling with Inter Milan to haggling with Atalanta.
Much better than fecking Woodward getting lost in the Bermuda Triangle for six weeks on the way back from Australia 10 years ago.
Much better than fecking Woodward getting lost in the Bermuda Triangle for six weeks on the way back from Australia 10 years ago.
Selling the dream right here.
Let’s call a spade a spade. Outside of Kane and an arguably still unproven Oshimen, the talent pool is dry.
We’re in the market for the striker with the most potential. If we think it’s this fella then so be it.
Worth noting that once you discount penalties and adjust for minutes played, Hojlund scored at a slightly better rate than David last season.
While transfer fee is expected to be on the higher side, let's hope we give him a wage which doesn't put teams off in case he doesn't work out and we have to sell.
If ETH wants Hojlund that's who we should get. Simple as that.
Plus the rest of the strikers that are buyable are not in any way clearly better at football or better value.
It'll be a punt no matter who we go for
Plus the rest of the strikers that are buyable are not in any way clearly better at football or better value.
It'll be a punt no matter who we go for
A good option.
Not many top options, and I do think he has a potential.
Not many top options, and I do think he has a potential.
Any chance we'll be signing another striker alongside him? Either that or it points to us keeping a certain someone. Surely it's too much pressure for a 20 year old to come on board as our main striker.
cheers mate, gave me a good giggle.I think we definitely will, especially since Henderson & Telles will be on the way out, think more will follow.
I think if not Kane, we’ll sign another striker, a DM & CB (Amrabat & Diasi) & maybe a RB.
But with another Striker and DM as priority.
Unlikely with the budget. Maybe another young striker at the end of the window at best.
For the money touted I think just him and hope Kane is on a free in a years time
For next season I think the plan would be to rotate Hojlund and Rashford as the CF’s (Rashford starting on the left when Hojlund starts)
We should do even if it’s just another loan deal then in for Kane next Summer.
We should be glad that he is 20 and likely to improve. Even if things really doesn't work out, he is likely to have a good resale value. I trust ETH of the type of striker he wants.
I think it ultimately depends on sales. If we manage to sell the likes of Maguire or McTominay - along with the already expected exits of many others, I think we could go for another striker late in the window.
One point that shouldn't be overlooked is he's a massive Utd fan and joining would be a dream for him. How many other young, global striker prospects can you say that about?
I think after this signing it will be a one out one in scenario directly linked to the player leaving, so I think Martial will need to be shipped out if we are to sign another striker.
We might buy another CB if we do that or midfield player. We won’t sign another striker unless Martial is shipped.
Ideally you wouldn't sign him at all, but if you must sign him, as a Denmark fan who has extremely high hopes for him, this feels like it's too early in his career. Huge move but I fear that he isn't ready.
What you are saying is all right about the United finances. And if the signing doesn't work out, fans are fully justified to question the money spent (like I do with Antony for eg). But it's too early to complain about fees yet.
Interesting point about his height and physicality. That's what struck me too and makes him a relatively less risky option. It looks like a classic Fergie signing to me - skillful and fast.
We of course need a seasoned striker with a more guaranteed feel about it but in this case considering what we put up with last year in weghorst and martial having someone who has a threat and can play the minutes needed is an improvement already, he has something about him this lad imo and it's more of a case of getting him before someone else does and then not regretting it years later.
Maybe but in EtH we trust.
Sturm Graz fans seem to rate him very highly. Translation from one of their forums:
Rasmus was here for a short time, not playing many minutes, but it was instantly clear in how many levels of class he was above the basic...which leads to the fast sale for a lot of money.
He has an array of speed, strength, intelligence and technique that is rarely seen for a player that young. Currently we have a striker called Emegha who will also be sold one day for a lot of money. Big talent, he is 1.95m, goalscorer, speed, but does not come close to Hojlund in talent and potential.
As a kid Hojlund had strength, tactical intelligence and technique that Emegha can just dream of. Hojlund was at once our focal point but also dropped to the midfield with a touch and passing that is so impressive, even very good at flicks and backheels which sounds strange but easy to see when you watch.
On the attack, firstly he gives you the target to receive it, use his strength to hold off a defender and his passing to make the link. He has that really good feeling to make smart runs constantly to make space from his defender, his movement is one of his best strengths and I have no problem to compare it to the very best like Romario and Cavani especially when you factor the inexperience of Rasmus. This sounds like a crazy thing but I am not comparing their overall quality, just the movement, and Rasmus brings non-stop intelligent runs when the ball enters the danger zone - it's normal even to see him make 3 or 4 different moves in one sequence. He also provides threat to both balls over the defence line with his speed and to feet with high level technique in his touches and better than it should be dribbling.
On the negative, at least in his time here, he had a very blindfolded mentality when he had a shooting chance. Even if the chance was 10% probability, he would take the shot most times instead of passing to a teammate with 70% probability. I don't know if this is lack of vision or just a young talent being arrogant in his own ability. Secondly for a tall, strong player he didn't win many headed balls. Again I'm not sure if this is technique or mentality. I think the last because he has a good jumping ability and all the tools to be very competitive in the aerials.
He has an array of speed, strength, intelligence and technique that is rarely seen for a player that young. Currently we have a striker called Emegha who will also be sold one day for a lot of money. Big talent, he is 1.95m, goalscorer, speed, but does not come close to Hojlund in talent and potential.
As a kid Hojlund had strength, tactical intelligence and technique that Emegha can just dream of. Hojlund was at once our focal point but also dropped to the midfield with a touch and passing that is so impressive, even very good at flicks and backheels which sounds strange but easy to see when you watch.
On the attack, firstly he gives you the target to receive it, use his strength to hold off a defender and his passing to make the link. He has that really good feeling to make smart runs constantly to make space from his defender, his movement is one of his best strengths and I have no problem to compare it to the very best like Romario and Cavani especially when you factor the inexperience of Rasmus. This sounds like a crazy thing but I am not comparing their overall quality, just the movement, and Rasmus brings non-stop intelligent runs when the ball enters the danger zone - it's normal even to see him make 3 or 4 different moves in one sequence. He also provides threat to both balls over the defence line with his speed and to feet with high level technique in his touches and better than it should be dribbling.
On the negative, at least in his time here, he had a very blindfolded mentality when he had a shooting chance. Even if the chance was 10% probability, he would take the shot most times instead of passing to a teammate with 70% probability. I don't know if this is lack of vision or just a young talent being arrogant in his own ability. Secondly for a tall, strong player he didn't win many headed balls. Again I'm not sure if this is technique or mentality. I think the last because he has a good jumping ability and all the tools to be very competitive in the aerials.
How's his first touch? Can he hold the ball up well? Does he use his size and strength to bully defenders? Is he a beast in the air?
I'm really sick of strikers being shit at the basics. In the 2000s almost ever PL striker was decent at these. Now it just seems like penalties, goals and assists is what everyone cares about.
I'm really sick of strikers being shit at the basics. In the 2000s almost ever PL striker was decent at these. Now it just seems like penalties, goals and assists is what everyone cares about.
If we’re actually prepared to spend 50m on Hojlund, we should be prepared to spend 120m on Kane.
Explain this logic please
Who says we aren't? Levy probably wouldn't sell him to us for even that amount
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