Haaland is the player in the prem with the highest amount of missed chances....
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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?
The more I see of him, the less convinced I am.
I just don’t see the technical ability needed to be a top top player. He’s strong and fast and can (at times) hold the ball up really well. He also work’s incredibly hard. But beyond that? His touch is ropey, he can’t really dribble, his shooting is erratic, his movement isn’t great and he seems pretty poor in the air.
He’s the type of young player you take a punt on because he’s a physical specimen who if he is able to pull it all together could be very effective. But to spend £70 million on is utter lunacy.
I bet Atalanta couldn’t believe it. They saw us coming and absolutely took us to the cleaners.
I just don’t see the technical ability needed to be a top top player. He’s strong and fast and can (at times) hold the ball up really well. He also work’s incredibly hard. But beyond that? His touch is ropey, he can’t really dribble, his shooting is erratic, his movement isn’t great and he seems pretty poor in the air.
He’s the type of young player you take a punt on because he’s a physical specimen who if he is able to pull it all together could be very effective. But to spend £70 million on is utter lunacy.
I bet Atalanta couldn’t believe it. They saw us coming and absolutely took us to the cleaners.
And is also the leagues top goal scorer, often scoring despite having minimal touches in the game.
A young inexperienced forward alone against Bayerns top class defenders?
Being fed all night long with dumb ass passes, no runners and inexistent midfield?
Even with all that he managed to get involved, worked his bollocks off for 90 minutes.
He did more then Kane did on the opposite side.
Stick with the kid, at least he's got the attitude and hunger.
Being fed all night long with dumb ass passes, no runners and inexistent midfield?
Even with all that he managed to get involved, worked his bollocks off for 90 minutes.
He did more then Kane did on the opposite side.
Stick with the kid, at least he's got the attitude and hunger.
I am not refuting that, but you wrote "you know it will take one chance to him to get a goal" which is simply not the case.
That's pretty much the whole issue with Hojlund imo. We surely don't create enough. But also because of him imo. As a striker you gotta know how to make space and get into the right position yourself first. Then your teammates would deliver you the ball.
The idea of your teammates must spoonfeed you 1vs1 chances without you doing anything right is simply unrealistic. It's not simple like that. If it's City would not have to buy Haaland but just keep Jesus.
As many have posted in the caf all the proven goal scorers usually have a similar converting rate. And that rate is not much higher than the rate of the average ones. They score more than the average ones just because they got more chances that's all. There is a few exceptions like Greenwood in his first season. Where he outscored his xG by a very large margin but that's actually quite rare.
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Højlund at times does the wrong run, such as yesterday next to Garnacho, but more often than not he is actually freeing himself from defenders and is in the right positions. A great example is the run he did where Dalot could have made a simple pass, ala what Kane did for their goal, but instead chose to just storm straight ahead.
Højlund needs to improve but the biggest issue at the moment is how absolutely abysmal we are in the final third. The decision making of our players is absurd.
That pass wasn’t on, you guys need to move on. There’s literally a defender on the 6yard line with clear view of the ball as well as Hojlund and ready to intercept the pass.
Kane’s pass yesterday was behind the defenders where Coman had made the run. Hojlund is in front of the defender. And with a defender on the 6 yard line already there’s probably too little space between defender and keeper for him to receive the ball if Dalot puts it across. Nor is Hojlund getting there in time, unless he can run faster than the ball.
That pass is easily on for anyone that thinks instead of sprint and shoot. The defender is in full tilt, step on the ball and pass if needed. Anything is better than shooting in to the sidenetting.
No it wasnt. Højlund was in line and moving free of the defenders just like Coman was. It was almost exactly the same move. Difference is Kane is excellent and doing the right thing at any time.
For me I don't see him freeing himself from the defenders and is in the right position often. Of course it's not like he's never managed to but most of the time when I see him he's usually tightly marked by the CBs and he's also usually late for the pass/cross. It's like only a split of a second you move too early you're offside and you move too late you won't make it. Just a bit but that makes the whole difference in the top flight imo. He's simply too young and raw for this level.
Probably his weakest overall performance but to be fair I thought their CBs were very good (Kim in particular, sigh…). He looks to be losing abit if his early confidence now which was guaranteed to happen with the Prem goal drought. That being said I don’t agree with people slating his movement. He moves well, gets in good positions and clearly has the strikers instinct, he just isn’t getting the supply which I think honestly is more of a tactical issue than anything.
If he wasn’t United player and was recruited as the main striker for any other top 6 team in the league, we would be laughing our assess off and the posts about his “clear world class potential” or suggestions his ceiling is higher than Forlan’s would most likely be called delusional, wishful thinking at best.
no doubt the lad is talented but every game shows us that he’s levels from the standard required to start for a team with our ambitions. Rarely does it happen that a player improves leaps and bounds over a short period of time - it’s not impossible, but rational thing now is to expect that Hojlund would need at least another season or two before getting anyhow decent.
what worries me most is not even that we got the inexperienced guy way of the first team’s level, but the fact that he doesn’t seem at all adapted to the game ETH wants to play. Many here posted that he’s not getting the service as our wide forwards don’t cross enough and play to his strengths. But this is ETH game plan, always was and will continue to be - we are playing with inside forwards that prefer to cut in rather than cross, Garnacho is right footed left winger, Antony a left footed right winger, they’ll never ping infinite crosses. In such system the striker has to be much more involved in the build up, his passing and vision should be as good as finishing and his technical skills on par with his off the ball movement. He lack in the key departments for his role in the current tactic and it feels like another signing done without considering whether the player actually fits the tactic and the role. Our recruitment is truly abysmal
no doubt the lad is talented but every game shows us that he’s levels from the standard required to start for a team with our ambitions. Rarely does it happen that a player improves leaps and bounds over a short period of time - it’s not impossible, but rational thing now is to expect that Hojlund would need at least another season or two before getting anyhow decent.
what worries me most is not even that we got the inexperienced guy way of the first team’s level, but the fact that he doesn’t seem at all adapted to the game ETH wants to play. Many here posted that he’s not getting the service as our wide forwards don’t cross enough and play to his strengths. But this is ETH game plan, always was and will continue to be - we are playing with inside forwards that prefer to cut in rather than cross, Garnacho is right footed left winger, Antony a left footed right winger, they’ll never ping infinite crosses. In such system the striker has to be much more involved in the build up, his passing and vision should be as good as finishing and his technical skills on par with his off the ball movement. He lack in the key departments for his role in the current tactic and it feels like another signing done without considering whether the player actually fits the tactic and the role. Our recruitment is truly abysmal
I have seen him do it so much in the beginning for United and usually on the national team. On the national team he scores buttloads because we have some excellent wingers / AM's who are trained to feed the strikers. Yusuf Poulsen is such a boon for any striker and Wind is a fantastic second striker. Ideally Rasmus had a experienced striker to learn from or play off in United, but that is sadly not the case.
He is raw, but he is absolutely not getting any help at all from our abysmal offensive play.
Usually strikers explode later. Kane was a nothing at 19.
Got talent and will have a decent career, but he's not ready to be leading the line at a club like United or in a league like the EPL yet. It's obvious to see for anyone with half a football brain. Not dissimilar to when we signed Amad from Atalanta truth be told.
As with every single penny spent this past transfer window, would have been better spent elsewhere. Literally splurging our entire budget on Kane or Osimhen and keeping DDG would have been better than bringing in the big money signings we have.
As with every single penny spent this past transfer window, would have been better spent elsewhere. Literally splurging our entire budget on Kane or Osimhen and keeping DDG would have been better than bringing in the big money signings we have.
It’s official, this place has gone full retard.
Never go full retard
Never go full retard
Well, it kinda is, he was averaging a goal every 21 or so touches, with a huge amount of those being one touch finishes.
He scored a Hat trick against Wolves with just 16 touches, 5 goals in 30 touches vs RB Leipzig, at Dortmund he scored a Hat trick in ten touches, I think you get the point.
It literally does only take one moment for Haaland to score, I just don't get that with Hojlund and that's an issue of he isn't getting involved in the game.
Probably his worst performance for us last night. Got absolutely bossed by Upemecano.
There is a player in there but this is verging beyond a Forlan situation. Diego just couldn’t get the ball in the net but was dangerous and had plenty of chances. Hojlund isn’t clicking at all.
Atalanta have rinsed £100m out of us in recent years. Has to be a bung in there somewhere.
There is a player in there but this is verging beyond a Forlan situation. Diego just couldn’t get the ball in the net but was dangerous and had plenty of chances. Hojlund isn’t clicking at all.
Atalanta have rinsed £100m out of us in recent years. Has to be a bung in there somewhere.
One moment and one chance isnt the same. If you combine Haalands ratio of missing chances with how few chances we create for our striker you would have a disaster. Yes he would score more than Rasmus, but he would still not look like a great striker simply because our setup ruins any real 9.
We are setup to constantly feed the inverted wingers and 9 out of 10 times they go for the shot. And then when you add someone like Dalot who always does the wrong thing its going to be difficult for any striker, let alone a 19 year old very raw talent.
Upemacano is now world class. He is walking dissaster.
Its more like that we make any team competent.
Its more like that we make any team competent.
I've already factored in that we don't play to Hojlunds supposed strength,
Haaland would still flourish in our setup as he makes the runs and has the hunger to get on the end of scraps. We've seen it time and time again where he hasn't had a sniff yet gets one chance and scores.
I don't quite see that fight or desire yet from Hojlund, hopefully it will come as that's going to be his best way of scoring moving forward if we can't change personnel
Man, I just posted the still of the moment Dalot takes the shot and Hojlund is neither inline with the defenders, nor moving free. At some point you just have to ackowledge what your eyes are seeing instead of what you want to see.
He was piss poor yesterday.
You posted a still from the Bournemouth match....
Worrying sign is that he looked more promising earlier in the season , his last few performances have been poor and he has looked well out of his depth.
At the end of the day strikers are judged on goals , and service or not it is not good that we are half way through December and he still has not scored a premier league goal.
He is far too young to right off and has shown potential at times to suggest over time he will work out to be a successful signing , but at 70 million and be a main striker at Man Utd in his raw state , it was a baffling signing. Another worrying sign that ETH does not understand this league at all.
At the end of the day strikers are judged on goals , and service or not it is not good that we are half way through December and he still has not scored a premier league goal.
He is far too young to right off and has shown potential at times to suggest over time he will work out to be a successful signing , but at 70 million and be a main striker at Man Utd in his raw state , it was a baffling signing. Another worrying sign that ETH does not understand this league at all.
He had Rashford alongside him at LW in his early games who, whilst not on top form, still takes a lot of the load as defences have to focus on him. He also set up most of Hojlund’s chances. Now he has a black hole on the RW and a very raw LW. Not surprising that he’s finding it even more difficult.
Didn’t realise we played Bournemouth again last night.
Upamecano is one of the best defenders in the world. A few mistakes in last season's CL doesn't change that. If he was a walking disaster, do you not think they would replace him last transfer window?
Exactly. Just appalling from all layers of club management. We are a shambles.
There are so many professional scouts in here announcing that they don't see anything that could make him a top player, and it genuinely makes me laugh. Oh, I'm sure you saw something with Ollie Watkins for Exeter City at the age of 20, or Toney for Shrewsbury. A lot of you were calling Kane a one-season wonder for 5 seasons in a row because you couldn't see anything about him.
You don't have to look like Agüero did for Atletico or Suarez for Ajax to have potential to be a good/great striker.
He clearly has got the tools to potentially be a great striker, and it's not hard to see.
You don't have to look like Agüero did for Atletico or Suarez for Ajax to have potential to be a good/great striker.
He clearly has got the tools to potentially be a great striker, and it's not hard to see.
There are always going to be pro and anti agendas but until we start creating decent chances and seeing if he converts them or doesn’t, we can’t make much of a decision on him.
Was he worth £70m? Of course not, we’re sh!t at buying players
What I don’t get is why we buy a more traditional no.9 then play wide players who either shoot or (regularly!) stop, turn and pass inside/back. Stupid, same as the Mount deal was given tactics/need.
He’s got pace and size… play quicker, drop McT, get Bruno nearer, get some crosses/passes to him.
Then we can judge him. I like his effort and my gut feel is there’s a much better player there than his (PL) output suggests… not convinced he’ll be a 20, 25 PL goal a season player though.
Was he worth £70m? Of course not, we’re sh!t at buying players
What I don’t get is why we buy a more traditional no.9 then play wide players who either shoot or (regularly!) stop, turn and pass inside/back. Stupid, same as the Mount deal was given tactics/need.
He’s got pace and size… play quicker, drop McT, get Bruno nearer, get some crosses/passes to him.
Then we can judge him. I like his effort and my gut feel is there’s a much better player there than his (PL) output suggests… not convinced he’ll be a 20, 25 PL goal a season player though.
Osimhen scored only 2 more goals than Hojlund did this season btw, 2 of which were penalties
At an average of 1 in 2 games. Hojlund is 1 in 4 with no goals in the league.
I'm not trying to bash him - he's an exciting talent - but we were stupid to spend what we did on him, especially given what we are currently demanding from our strikers.
He would have been a far more impactful signing than Hojlund. And he's ready for the challenge of a club like Utd.You think Osimhen would work in this team?
We don't create chances, mate.
I think the chances created is a bit of a red herring with Hojlund sadly. There have been games in the league where we've created a lot and he's come up short. Granted, not enough and certainly not enough to write him off but a proper/ready striker would have done better so dar this season.
Oh ffs, there are so many games where his runs are getting ignored over and over again, he is getting starved of service, let alone spoonfed.
I actually think he is being asked to do too much. He is entering every game with the idea of it being a physical battle...which is not how it should be. He should be focused on running in behind and laying the ball off, playing one twos or wall passes. He rarely gets the ball when he runs in behind and he now rarely runs in behind. For a player with his speed, we have managed to completely use him wrong. He is now just a fast weghorst and yet he can do so much more.
We need to ditch mctominay such that bruno is next to him for the interplays...right now bruno is playing much deeper because he has to cover for mctominay. We need to play the ball to him whenever he runs in behind and we should encourage him to come deeper if he isnt receiving the ball. Basically he should just watch harry kanes masterclass yesterday on how to be an effective number 9 without going toe to toe with varane or maguire
We need to ditch mctominay such that bruno is next to him for the interplays...right now bruno is playing much deeper because he has to cover for mctominay. We need to play the ball to him whenever he runs in behind and we should encourage him to come deeper if he isnt receiving the ball. Basically he should just watch harry kanes masterclass yesterday on how to be an effective number 9 without going toe to toe with varane or maguire
Let's agree to disagree then I think.
Osimhen is literally a more established and older Hojlund, what an example to bring up to prove you have no idea what you're talking about.