He will score less than Holjund but we will play better with him.
11
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 21
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 1
Its because he is Martial-esque, in the sense he will probably "unlock" Rashford and other wingers we have, linking up with them.
Hojlund wants the ball played to him in space which he can run into.
Two completely different forwards, we need both I guess.
It was an absolute class performance.. His control and touches are so satisfying.. His calmness on the ball so refreshing.. There is meaning and a message behind his passes and touches and his combination of technique and ingelligence allow us to attack so much more fluidly closer to the goal and in counter attack..
There is much to improbe.. His physical presence and ofcourse his finishing.. Some chances just need to go into the net.. But this is something which he can and will improve.. Zlatan also developed his clinical finishing as a much later stage for example..
What a classy and quality player we have om our hands...
There is much to improbe.. His physical presence and ofcourse his finishing.. Some chances just need to go into the net.. But this is something which he can and will improve.. Zlatan also developed his clinical finishing as a much later stage for example..
What a classy and quality player we have om our hands...
Really like him, would love to see him and Hojlund together
Promising game with some really good touches. Very happy that he seems to have good positional sense as he seems to be in the right places to get chances.
On another day he may have had a hattrick - first chance he was at full stretch , the second from outside the box was a truly quality save from Ramsdale ( watch it again it was top draw) the third hes beat the keeper for me but the defender gets a good foot in.
He will give us options and different dimensions. Its looking promising when Hoijlund returns as between them there is a bit of everything.
On another day he may have had a hattrick - first chance he was at full stretch , the second from outside the box was a truly quality save from Ramsdale ( watch it again it was top draw) the third hes beat the keeper for me but the defender gets a good foot in.
He will give us options and different dimensions. Its looking promising when Hoijlund returns as between them there is a bit of everything.
Yeah - good to have two options I like!
First situation was never a clean shot, he might have tried this but seems like he trusts himself more to get out of this traffic jam and create another opening. This is the tradeoff and consequence of the type of player that he is. Imagine someone like McTominay in this situation, there's no chance he makes more than one touch before pulling the trigger, but the chances of scoring are slim. I really wouldn't hold this against Zirkzee.
Second situation is 50/50, he was a few yards from goal, he got enough power on it, but made a wrong choice with where to put it. Best decision would've been probably to go high (ala Garnacho goal), but this is a high risk shot. Again, I don't care that much, it's fairly easy chance but if he ends up in those situation, the goals will come. I find this idea that he should've used more power on the second one a bit odd. The difficulty was how much of the goal was behind gk/ defenders bodies, not that the shot wasn't powerful enough.
On Hojlund - it's a valid point you made. However... The argument "there was no buildup" goes against Rasmus, as he is very clearly not equipped to contribute to it. I do agree that the jury is still out, and RH deserves another chance in with Amad and Co., but I am worried how rare it is for the ball to end up in a shooting situation for Hojlund. There is far more aspects of his game that is a concern, but it's very clear that Hojlund is a pure goalscorer, so he has to get at the end of chances far more often. That doesn't seem to be an impossible task tbh.
General/buildup play aside, the ball is looking for Zirkzee in the box, that is very very promising for the team.
People were writing him off after the Liverpool game, I remember that.
I can see Hojlund having a bit of a scoring run when he gets back. He’ll be up for it. Be interesting to see if he can partner Zirkzee upfront in some games in our 4-2-2-2 formation.
His touch and passing looked very sharp , linked up well but needs to be far more clinical when in the box , a few times he overplayed the ball in the box and then missed at least one very good chance.
The techinal ability is there , just needs that extra awareness in the box. Hopefully Ruud can work with him on that.
The techinal ability is there , just needs that extra awareness in the box. Hopefully Ruud can work with him on that.
Stick with him over Hojlund.
Would like to see him hit it first time more instead of taking a touch, pther than that a good performance
I think there’s all the tools to be a good goal scorer there, what I actually think when I watch him is almost the opposite of most young strikers. He almost seems so composed it’s almost casual, needs to be a bit more urgent and snappy when he gets into the box.
His hold up/link up and passing is fantastic and his movement is good as well. Very glad we got him.
His hold up/link up and passing is fantastic and his movement is good as well. Very glad we got him.
One thing that's clear is his movement in the box is much better than Hojlund's. He seems to get chances pretty often and doesn't need the excuse of ‘no service’.
The hope is that his finishing can improve as he’s had some big chances so far. If his finishing continues to be poor then no matter how good his approach play is, he will frustrate because we don’t have many goals across the team.
Although I maintain he wasn’t the type of striker we need, I’ll probably give it till around December to see how I really feel about him.
The hope is that his finishing can improve as he’s had some big chances so far. If his finishing continues to be poor then no matter how good his approach play is, he will frustrate because we don’t have many goals across the team.
Although I maintain he wasn’t the type of striker we need, I’ll probably give it till around December to see how I really feel about him.
He is a very stylish player.
After only a few starts he is doing amazing really!
After only a few starts he is doing amazing really!
Played very well and with a bit more luck, we would have already 4 goals in his tally. I can't wait to see him play together with Hojlund.
His first touch there is what put him in the traffic jam tbf, could've had a clearer chance if that touch there was better.
Huge fan of his performance in general yesterday I must say though, seemed to make all the right decisions and touches when outside the box.
Just needs to click for him inside the box and he will be a great signing for us.
Yeah, not sure what he was trying to do there, not even sure if that was a miscontrol or he had an idea. It's not what we were discussing though.
He's doing all the right things inside the box, he's even hitting the target. He's just been unlucky with those shots.
No they don’t. Sometimes they do rarely, they never tend to
So you’ve never seen a team beat another team by scoring the only few shots they’ve had on target?
He is very useful dropping deep and knitting play across the front line. He may never be a prolific scorer but I think there's a clear argument to be made that the rest of the team will play well because of him.
I also would like to see Bruno dropped.
If you read my post you would see I said they do sometimes, but it happens rarely. So it does not tend to happen, tend being the key word
I don't want to get ahead of myself but it's an absolute pleasure watching Zirkzee play. Maybe my one concern is that he seems to always try to place his shots instead of going for raw power now and again, but he's a clever, clever footballer and some of his touches yesterday were not picked up so much by the various pundits watching the game but were -slick-.
Not even sure about this. I think as Zirkzee grows into our side he'll hit double figures this season, as much as I like Hojlund I don't think he'll get close. Maybe between the two of them we'll finally have a front line that can -really- threaten though.
He was alright yesterday but his touch was quite inconsistent, hopefully he's just getting used to the pace of the league.
Fair enough.
Long term he might be a better option as a kind of deep lying 10, instead of Bruno, with Hojlund playing up top. United need a player that will use the ball simply yet intelligently, hold on to possession and bring the other attackers into the game.
He probably wouldn't be capable of producing as many "moments" as Bruno but if it helped the team function more effectively as an attacking unit, who cares!
He probably wouldn't be capable of producing as many "moments" as Bruno but if it helped the team function more effectively as an attacking unit, who cares!
I'm feeling this way. Ultimately, I think we'll be more likely to score goals with him on the pitch.
Also the most encouraging aspect about Zirkee is that he is not ten seconds behind the play like Hoijlund was last season. Yeah he enjoys playing deeper but at nearly every chance he is managing to put boot to ball in the six yard area, that tells us that his movement is great and that goals will come.
He will help develop the transitional football the manager was looking to play last season and also aid in our build up play against low block teams.
Great touch and positioning means he will always find space or an out ball and once he builds chemistry the link up play will be even more effective.
Think him and Rashford can have and effective partnership as he allows Marcus to turn and go again. Similar to Amad on the other side.
Great touch and positioning means he will always find space or an out ball and once he builds chemistry the link up play will be even more effective.
Think him and Rashford can have and effective partnership as he allows Marcus to turn and go again. Similar to Amad on the other side.
Early to tell but if the idea is that we are developing in to a high pressing energetic team then surely the one best suited to lead the line would be Rasmus. Not saying Zirkzee doesn’t press, not seen a big enough sample size of him but from what I’ve seen so far he doesn’t press with any intensity which we get from Rasmus.
He does look like a better rounded footballer than Rasmus but I suppose it depends on where we are heading and how ETH plans to use either. It’s good that both look promising and have differing attributes.
It's still early days yeah and the problems in front of goal could be more permanent given e doesn't have a great scoring record. However Martial didn't press with much intensity and ETH loved him to bits. Think he will get the same from Zirkzee but Hoijlund did well last term but he is going to need to do more to be the undisputed starter.
That could be said about me too, but United never offered me contract...
I’m fairly sure I saw a stat about him winning possession in the final third more than any other player in Serie A last season.
Could yeah, but nobody ever would say it outside of a comedy club.
Nah... i would score less than Højlund, and play better together with him than if i played alone.
I'm sure you would too...
You might need to re-read the statement you are replying to.
Yup. Höjlund has better pace and stamina, Zirkzee is more technical and has better holdup play. Think zirkzee will be more clinical.
First one was a poor touch but he still had the opportunity to take a shot, hence the 'taking too long to shoot'. It applies here. I understand it's a style thing but that doesn't change the fact, it was still a fairly optimal place to take a shot. We're not talking about a player's tendency here, we're talking about whether that was the best outcome out of that situation. We're not asking him to do a overhead kick or something unrealistic.
Second one, I sort of use power/speed invariably so my bad but the idea is that he needed to either shoot faster or with more power. To shoot with more power, you need to therefore to take the shot earlier. So again the same logic applies here. However, I would say it wasn't quite an open goal. In hindsight, probably taking the first touch with his right foot inwards to then lead it towards to and then lace with his left foot might have been a better angle.
As for Hojlund, he's not on Zirkzee's level of link up and touch for sure but he's been plenty capable of it even if he doesn't look as smooth with it. There are plenty of highlights to show that from last season. It would be interesting to see him in this set up and see how he fairs with Bruno or both with Zirkzee. The latter is seemingly being given freedom to drop deep and vacate the penalty box. I wonder if Hojlund was asked to provide the focal point last year.
We've got two talents on hands so looking forward to it.
Zirkzee seems to be getting a shed load of chances so his situation isn't the same as Højlund's last season at all.
I don't think it's just to do with the players and their styles though, I think with Ruud our attack is clicking better and creating more chances.