I felt sorry for him in the first half as he was making some good runs, and making himself available to retrieve the ball from the midfield and he got constantly ignored. Then they finally did past to him and the ball bounched off him and he lost possession. I'd imagine his teammates do not trust him enough to be holding the ball up or play one touch, as it can prove to put us on the back foot for the counter. His lack of ability means the rest of the team don't trust him, which is why he doesn't get a lot of touches because when he does he is falling to the ground or giving it away. I read somewhere he's won 1 out of 13 ariel duels tonight, but because he worked hard and ran the channels, that's the requirement for being our number 9
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 50
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 2
I felt sorry for him in the first half as he was making some good runs, and making himself available to retrieve the ball from the midfield and he got constantly ignored. Then they finally did past to him and the ball bounched off him and he lost possession. I'd imagine his teammates do not trust him enough to be holding the ball up or play one touch, as it can prove to put us on the back foot for the counter. His lack of ability means the rest of the team don't trust him, which is why he doesn't get a lot of touches because when he does he is falling to the ground or giving it away. I read somewhere he's won 1 out of 13 ariel duels tonight, but because he worked hard and ran the channels, that's the requirement for being our number 9
Pretty fecking pathetic that we consistently employ these large framed players that give us nothing in the air. Hojlund, Zirkzee, fecking Rashford.
Not a Manchester United player. We should be looking to move him on at the end of the season and buy a more experienced striker.
I don't think it's odd when it's so clear he's suffering from a crisis in confidence. It's probably came about originally by playing in such a dysfunctional attack and then a radical change in system where different things are expected of him holding the ball up while being isolated, but now that others have upped their game he's just stuck in a rut he can't get out of.
If our attacking play is ever properly fixed (tonight was encouraging) and he can manage to go on a mini scoring run again it will be interesting then to see what a bit of confidence can do for his overall play. At the minute it nearly looks like he's trying to get out of the way of chances or making them look more difficult as he's that afraid of missing them.
His off the ball movement is..... non-existent.
I like him as a character, he seems like a good professional and has traits that could add up to be a good striker.
BUT
He just stands there ball watching, never making runs off the ball to receive a pass - last season the main complaint was that he gets no service but this season it's easy to see why - he doesn't make himself available. He's just soooo static.
I like him as a character, he seems like a good professional and has traits that could add up to be a good striker.
BUT
He just stands there ball watching, never making runs off the ball to receive a pass - last season the main complaint was that he gets no service but this season it's easy to see why - he doesn't make himself available. He's just soooo static.
That was probably one of his better performance, if we’re honest. Actual shots at goal and touches in the opposition box. The cutback to Mainoo was decent too.
But yeah, a 4 or 5 out of 10 overall. Just looks like he doesn’t belong at this level.
But yeah, a 4 or 5 out of 10 overall. Just looks like he doesn’t belong at this level.
Exactly, he's not technical gifted or particularly strong, so at the very least he needs to have the anticipation and movement to have a chance in the first place.
It's telling that even if this is one of his better performances he still looks rubbish.
A goal would go wonders for the lads confidence
I'm not sure it would do him that much use.
The law of averages would suggest he is going to score at some point but for me he will never be a consistent scorer.
At best we can hope he gets around ten to twelve a season and that's nowhere near enough
Has the same number of goals and assists as Marcus Rashford since Rashford was banished on 15 December, 11 games ago. He’s been Manchester United’s starting CF in 8 of them.
It’s quite a skill - as a centre forward - to be able to find yourself in the wrong position, during an actual rare attack, every single fecking time.
But this lad manages to do just that.
But this lad manages to do just that.
This year is total opposite from last year. He was way more sharp then, doing all the right runs, not being played in, alert, less battling with defenders.
This year, the amount of times he has been caught on his hills is too much, while battling with defenders. You can see that he is reactive to what is going on around him, instead of being proactive. I know he is not bad player as he is currently showing based on the previous season, but my God, he is in terrible form this year.
There was a point in the second half where Mainoo left the forward line and dragged a central defender into midfield leaving a huge gap in the defence down their inside left. Pretty clever play by Mainoo creating the space.
Hoijlund just stood ball watching when any half decent striker would be making the 3rd man run into that channel for an easy pass from midfield into him for a free run on goal.
How can he not see that
Hoijlund just stood ball watching when any half decent striker would be making the 3rd man run into that channel for an easy pass from midfield into him for a free run on goal.
How can he not see that
Confidence is obviously rock bottom. I don't like him at all but looking like he doesn't belong at this level is harsh when the level he was playing at was just a Romanian team, so that's like what ... lower Championship level?
Well, some day hahaHow'd this go
Lets not give up on the kid just yet. He has lots of issues, for sure. But the environment is changing. And he looks solid in his attitude. Ruben knows how to change him. Lets see.
At least he took a shot today. That's certainly progress
Thought that was an improvement and he did a lot of the right things. Still desperately lacking confidence and clearly having a rough patch though. Play like that every week and things will turn for him i think. Not sure he'll be a united striker at that point but hes better than hes been showing recently and tonight was a step in the right direction.
Unfortunately this is it.
He's poor at creating movement for his teammates and he's poor at creating opportunities for himself.
He shows glimpses but he really needs an established striker to understudy the art of off the ball runs.
It's almost as if we're dealing with someone that's only now learning to play in that CF position.
The header after Licha's lob, he made a good pivot play with. He hold it, made a pause, pass it to Licha and inmediatly went through the middle when the defense kind of went bersek (3 at the same time) to press Licha, he blew the header (being a lob they tend to lack power), he should have try to place it, to at least to complicate the keeper. His anxiety made him rush the play and head it to the keepers hands, but he did a proper movement, hold it, pass it and instantly "create" the pass when he spot the gap.
Another disasterclass performance. One bit stuck out to me when the ball was on the right flank, Amad, Kobbie and Maz had some brilliant one touch interchanges, Hojlund steps in, takes like 4-5 touches and then gives the ball away. And then him rolling on the floor for Kobbie's goal 
Should have had an assist but so poor apart from that. I really think he needs to be out of the line-up for sometime, limit him to cameo appearances against tired legs.
Should have had an assist but so poor apart from that. I really think he needs to be out of the line-up for sometime, limit him to cameo appearances against tired legs.
If you check my post history about him you’ll see I’ve defended him many many times and said exactly that. Doesn't make what I said any less true!
Didn’t see the game, but I find that interesting considering the other posters’ assessments
It says it all really when our #9 gets praised for taking a shot
Granted I only saw the 2nd half, but I thought he did OK. Confidence is rock bottom though, desperately needs a goal.
It was much better than against Fulham on the weekend (it would've been hard to be as bad or worse to be fair) and nothing like a disasterclass. He got a few decent layoffs in, put it on a plate for Mainoo for our biggest chance of the first half, and generally took part without being outstanding or anything.
He still needs to take fewer touches and be more aggressive in his running off the ball. We're still not very good at finding him. At one point in the first half Licha kinda just lifted the ball into the keeper's hands when Højlund found himself in acres of space just inside the penalty area. Don't really know if Licha was crossing or trying to chip the keeper.
Ive been a fan of his since the start. I thought his early days were really promising despite not scoring domestically. I was over the moon when he got his goal streak going that earnt him his POTM. Thought he'd kick on from there, but unfortunately that hasnt been the case. I would absolutely not sell him, but dont want to see him in a united shirt for a long time. Needs to go on load to maybe a Bundesliga team, away from the pressures of Manutd. I still believe he has what it takes to become a class striker, but his development has stagnated massively and him starting every game looking as miserable as he does isnt helping.
Would like to see him spend the summer getting leaner. For whatever reason a lot of players come to United and get too big for football. I think his stamina is really suffering for that - he's a massive guy to move around for 90 minutes.
Would likely also help his balance, which is relatively atrocious for a top-level player.
Not giving up yet because there is something there, but definitely needs a big shake-up in what he's doing.
Would likely also help his balance, which is relatively atrocious for a top-level player.
Not giving up yet because there is something there, but definitely needs a big shake-up in what he's doing.
I don't understand how that's possible, but has he lost some pace? Or was his pace overrated?
He hasn't won a race in a really long time, no matter what kind of nobodies he's up against.
He hasn't won a race in a really long time, no matter what kind of nobodies he's up against.
Was better than usual, but that’s also a low bar to clear. He had some decent touches and runs, and could have an assist with a bit more luck.
Still did a lot of backing into defenders as well, which I simply don’t understand. And he seems to just be really poor at timing his jumps when challenging for long balls.
Still did a lot of backing into defenders as well, which I simply don’t understand. And he seems to just be really poor at timing his jumps when challenging for long balls.
I think we need to accept he's pretty average in almost all departments.
There was a lot of defense about his signing when he joined, citing we are "paying for potential" and it's fine. I remember posters pointing to the Vinicius of this world to justify throwing big money at unproven talent. But this is an example of how it can go so badly wrong, and we aren't in a position to be taking these risks. Of course he may turn it around but it looks unlikely at this stage.
There was a lot of defense about his signing when he joined, citing we are "paying for potential" and it's fine. I remember posters pointing to the Vinicius of this world to justify throwing big money at unproven talent. But this is an example of how it can go so badly wrong, and we aren't in a position to be taking these risks. Of course he may turn it around but it looks unlikely at this stage.
The move just came too early and his confidence is on the floor, go back and watch him for Atalanta, he was strong and held the ball up well and his movement and finishing were good but we have just broken him as it's so much harder playing for a big club but I think we threw him to the wolves by making him the starting striker, he should have been a sub/ rotation option.
Pants.
Was hoping he could get a goal against minnows to get a bit of confidence going. But never in the right place when crosses come across the six yard box.
I won't rate Zirkzee or Rashford as large framed players, just strong but not strong enough.
Hojlund on the other hand, has the body of RVN, trying to play like Berkamp, end up being Bendtner
Why are we living on a prayer of him 'coming good' eventually. We spent £70million on the kid, granted that price isn't his fault nor his true valuation, but the expectation is he should be hitting the ground running for us, not looking increasingly worse the longer we persist with him as our talisman. The whole notion of loaning him out is a ridiculous one too. We should be simply looking to cut our losses.
RVN was so much more nimble, balanced and quick over the first few yards compared to Højlund. I also don’t think he was quite as bulky.
Højlund somehow seems top heavy, which is the opposite of what you want. We have players half his size that are somehow much better at shielding the ball and outmuscling defenders.
I actually endorse a loan for Rasmus, as there's no chance we would get more than 15m for him right now anyway. Let him perform in a less competitive environment and see if he can come good, great, and if not, then sell him for the 10m max we would get for him anyway. I don't know which Championship clubs need a striker but surely there must be at least 2 or 3.