8 isnt enough either and thats what our best player has. But he has 9 assists not 1 so hes doing miles better
11
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 48
- Goals
- 7
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 2
-
Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
8 isnt enough either and thats what our best player has. But he has 9 assists not 1 so hes doing miles better
Agree and that was my point in original post. He has to score more.
3 goals isn't the output of a decent attacker at United. Far too low. He can do way better than that with his natural attributes IF he shifts his mentality towards it.
Dont agree regarding his work rate.
I actually wonder how he does as a 9 if he was in a creative team.
Newcastle 4:1 Man Utd
New
Going to be a huge miss on Thursday.
We didn’t function without him
Very annoyed at how Amorim handled him and Hojlund these past 2 weeks. Just dumb to use Zirkzee in the game that is irrelevant rather than starting him against Lyon.
Thought he was good today. That link up with Bruno would've been a shout for goal of the season.
Assume that's the season done for him.
Assume that's the season done for him.
Had a very good game and then.....what a shame and huge hit for our chances in EL
Exactly this. It is obvious for a while that Zirkzee is better striker and far better option.
Zirkzee in EL, Hojlund in PL shoukd have been selection.
This. Idiotic.
When he plays, he ties everything together in the final third - his link-up play is crucial. He reminds me a lot of Martial, though Martial had more explosiveness and was a far more clinical finisher. Hopefully it’s not a serious setback, but a hamstring pull at this stage of the season likely means he could miss the remainder of it.
Was very good today, but out for the remainder of the season now.
Zirkzee's injury looks a problem for us. One of the few who doesn't mind taking care of the ball and making stuff happen for others. I wish he were a better striker of the ball though. Had he put his laces through that square pass from Bruno...
Been getting the minutes Hojlund should have been getting and vice versa, we are even more fecked in attack now if that's possible?
Out for the season I guess? Probably our best player today.
Feeling more devastated by his injury than the actual result.
Good game and real shame about the injury. We'll probably miss him a lot vs Lyon. Wonder what happens with his United career if he's out injured until summer. Think that most fans by now like him a lot.
Just when he managed to really get going for us. When given a chance by Amorim...
If it's a hamstring strain then he could he back in May. If it's a tear then yeah he's done for the season. Amorim said he'll miss a few games so I hope it's the former.
Really hope it’s the former. We’re down to one striker in the Europa League now and he’s hardly in great form himself.
He has been given lots of chances.
He still has very poor productivity. He needs to do a lot more. Some nice touches today, but that’s the minimum we should expect.
Shame that 1-2 and back didn’t go in, that was beautiful.
One could argue that he's just a player that needs a season to adjust. He wouldn't be the first.
I still don't know if he can be more than a squad player for us though. His finishing and aerial ability need a lot more work, he had a good game but he was far too weak in aerial duals.
I still don't know if he can be more than a squad player for us though. His finishing and aerial ability need a lot more work, he had a good game but he was far too weak in aerial duals.
It's a bit of a shame for him. He looked like he was starting to find his feet a bit more in recent weeks and I imagine that injury will be season over for him now.
That said, I'm still not sure what Zirkzee's long term future here looks like. He's an awkward fit because he doesn't really carry enough goal threat for a striker and I think he'll always be a step too slow for the league.
That said, I'm still not sure what Zirkzee's long term future here looks like. He's an awkward fit because he doesn't really carry enough goal threat for a striker and I think he'll always be a step too slow for the league.
He himself called himself a 9.5, half a striker and half an attacking midfielder - yet there's people here expecting him to be a 20 goal striker.
He isn't that type of player, he is a player that helps other players become 20 goal players through his link up play.
It's why I don't want Zirkzee sold because anyone with any footballing tactical variety will know how to get the best out a team that plays Zirkzee in it.
Amorim playing two CAM behind Zirkzee shows how Amorim has no ability to adapt & tweak his system slightly to get the best out of players like Zirkzee and Garnacho.
I believe our next manager will get the best out of Zirkzee if Amorim fails.
He isn't that type of player, he is a player that helps other players become 20 goal players through his link up play.
It's why I don't want Zirkzee sold because anyone with any footballing tactical variety will know how to get the best out a team that plays Zirkzee in it.
Amorim playing two CAM behind Zirkzee shows how Amorim has no ability to adapt & tweak his system slightly to get the best out of players like Zirkzee and Garnacho.
I believe our next manager will get the best out of Zirkzee if Amorim fails.
He's nothing special, he's just a much better option than starting the ghost of Ali Dia
Was excellent today and is clearly our best forward. If we can get a couple of decent players either side of him that can both break the lines and actually beat a defender then he'll shine.
Unreal how Hojlund gets the Europa league games ahead of him. Should have been him or Obi today.
Unreal how Hojlund gets the Europa league games ahead of him. Should have been him or Obi today.
The run that torched his hammy was class. Looked like he was going to score a Puskas contender at one point.
It's diminishing returns though, isn't it? He's not a 20 a season striker, but then he doesn't have the speed or creativity to compensate. You can't even really play him just off the main striker because that's the position Bruno Fernandes excels in.
During his post-match interview with MUTV, Amorim admitted the picture does not look good for Joshua, with the problem coming at the worst possible time.
"We had to make rotation because we are trying to recover in two days from each game," he said. "But trying to win this game also.
"Josh, I think he will be out for some games. So, let’s focus on the next one against Lyon ”
"We had to make rotation because we are trying to recover in two days from each game," he said. "But trying to win this game also.
"Josh, I think he will be out for some games. So, let’s focus on the next one against Lyon ”
Well not for me.
Zirkzee is very creative & is why he was used as a CAM for Amorim. Even today's chance he played with Bruno - that was done because of Zirkzee's creativity aswell as Bruno getting in behind Zirkzee - Bruno's run behind Zirkzee made Zirkzee's position himself properly to take a shot.
I genuinely think Zirkzee could be the best False 9 in the world if he improved his stamina because his speed and work rate has improved. If not, I don't see why Zirkzee can't be in the top 3-5 False 9's in the world even if people don't see my point of view.
However, the biggest problem for me is that the whole "false 9" tactic isn't that great anymore and teams seem to find it easier to play against inverted forwards and False 9's compared to traditional number 9's because the False 9 tactic has been overused for over a decade now.
However, as a team and a squad - I don't see why we should let go of someone who could be one of the best in his position (a false 9 & not a ST) even if it doesn't exactly fit our system right now because it could in the future to a different manager with different tactics.
If I was a manager playing footballing chess - I don't want 4 Bishop chess piece strikers, I'd rather have 1 Bishop, 1 Knight, 1 Castle etc. Having a variety of strikers is more useful than having alot of strikers of the same mould in my opinion and that's where I value Zirkzee's uniqueness.
Normally, and this is not a rule, strains, you can walk on your own. The fact that they had to carry him out and he looked in some pain, does not look at all.
Gutted for him. I criticised him heavily but he's showing a lot of fight and signs of some quality. Again we're going to be without a skilful player due to injury, it sucks.
Better than Hojlund but I still don’t see it with him. Beyond that nice interplay with Bruno he didn’t do much today, imo. Yes, he’s a good dribbler but he’s not a 9. Maybe a 10. I keep seeing people talk about his hold up play but how many balls did he miss judge that went over his head from a deep ball? Still think he’s Fellaini light.
He's not a main striker and I don't see him ever being that in the PL. I'd be intrigued to see him with a proper striker to play off.
Maybe I'm just being trickled by finally seeing some silky and smooth touches by one of our players again, we don't see it enough from this group.
Maybe I'm just being trickled by finally seeing some silky and smooth touches by one of our players again, we don't see it enough from this group.
It looked like a mild tear on his hamstring because he was able to walk off, probably just felt tender rather than the agonising pain of a full tear.
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Either way it should be a minimum of a month out, season over.
Not sure if I agree with that.
He had a tough time at the start, getting booed in one of his first games as a 10, so he was taken out of fire (and gave him a chance to work on his speed and strength - to his benefit).
And for a while, we played with Hojlund at 9 and Zirkzee at 10 - usually with Garnacho as the other 10 to give a bit of pace as balance - but it didn't work, Hojlund and Zirkzee didn't seem to link well, and we were more defensively vunlerable with both of them on.
Now, I understand the frustration with starting Hojlund instead of Zirzkee recently. But after the Newcastle game I wonder if it's because of his physical health and fear of injury? A bit far-fetched, I'd admit myself, but maybe there were underlying numbers that made the medical team fear he could be more susceptible to injuries if he started more games? I mean, in his first start for a while, he gets injured after 50 odd minutes...................
But I do like the boy, he may not be good enough to be a starter when trying to challenge, but we're far away from that right now. Even then, I think he'd be a good option to have, he has different skill sets to many other players, and he seems to have a good mentality to bounce back after the brutal booing earlier in the season, and he seemed to have worked hard to improve himself (with his increased pace and stamina compared to the start of the season).
Hope his injury isn't too bad, because he actually looks quite promising. Even his shooting, he seems to be shooting a wee bit more in the last few games, and has a bit more power. Still not good enough, but I still think it's been better than before.
Josh must have been taking notes from Shaw/Lindelof/Mount…when you are having a poor season make sure to pick up an injury for the summer 
Joking aside, it’s a shame as he was (very slowly) finding some form and that link up play with Bruno in the first half was orgasmic!
Joking aside, it’s a shame as he was (very slowly) finding some form and that link up play with Bruno in the first half was orgasmic!
That's such a shame, he's been in a good form and linking up well with the team. Not to mention we now must rely on a ghost of Hojlund to score on Thursday. Shite all around.