He has been an enhancement to our attacking play for sure. But he needs our wide players to be killers in front of goal. 22/23 Rashford would score bucketloads and here’s hoping Garnacho steps up too. Otherwise we are in trouble
11
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 19
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 1
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) review both the Everton and Bodø/Glimt victories at Old Trafford. Listen to the guys discuss 2 wins and 7 goals in the last week, analyse of the Amorim formation, focus on Amad and how he is playing, and also take a look at Hojlund, Rashford & Zirkzee – who starts v Arsenal?
Not really. Most goals still come from the strikers and that is their main job. Of course they still need to link play but they are still mostly judged on goals.
The only teams where a strikers main job is hold up and link play are the teams who have wide players that can score at the rate of strikers and these are usually reserved for some of the best attackers in the world so it’s not common. Salah and Mbappe are exceptions. If Saka can up his tally then perhaps he joins them too.
You look at strikers across Europe and the likes of Kane, Haaland, Lewandowski, Lauraro Martinez, Isak, Osimhen, Watkins, Duran, Guirassy, Lukaku, Alvarez, Hojlund, Openda etc. Their main job is goals. And in their teams are all expected to score more than their wide players.
He will divide opinion, but I think he’s potentially a top young player, the goals will come for him as well when he gets 90 minutes regularly. He fits perfectly with our wingers.
Not his fault but was a luxury signing, we simply had to prioritise a proven goalscorer then if there is money left then can sign him. We wasted nearly £180m on three players so got forced to sacrificing a signing
I love how he plays football. Silky, quick thinking and exquisite decision making combined with a great first touch and perfect weight of pass nearly every time is just brilliant to watch. With him as our striker, I really think we should be moving on from 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3, and get in some goal scoring wingers next summer. There is no need for a 10 with him in the team as he does Bruno's job currently better than Bruno himself, and they would end up running into each other. Intrigued to see a midfield three of Ugarte - Eriksen - Mainoo or Ugarte - Mount - Mainoo going forward.
He's silkly smoov and plays like a leopard.
Can't take chances, though.
Not what we really need.
Can't take chances, though.
Not what we really need.
Needs to start getting amongst the goals. Some very good things he brings but he also needs to score goals. Decent start
The thing is nobody would be saying “he needs to score more goals” if he walked off the pitch with two assists. Yes he should be expected to chip in but if he’s facilitating goals for his teammates then he’s doing his job.
I don't think that's fair on him at all. It is such a small sample that it can't be taken as a fact. Strikers miss plenty of big chances all the time, but it doesn't affect us emotionally as we don't give a shit about other teams so it is subconsciously forgotten. Watkins has already missed 7 big chances this season, whereas Zirkzee has missed 4. Solanke has also missed 4, but we don't act like Watkins or Solanke can't score chances.
I definitely agree that he needs to be more clinical, but the fact that he has gotten into these positions in the first place is very promising.
I mean, if any of other players could take their chances then he's exactly what we need if he helps us create more. We have A LOT of wasteful players in front of goal
He's not a luxury if he's bringing qualities we badly needed. Which he is.
This team didn't need another player only concerned with scoring goals. Remember last year chance creation was a massive problem. We gave Hojlund nothing to work with.
We really needed more players with a first touch, a brain, some composure. Looks to me he brings that.
Yeah, agreed. And it’s not like he’s spooning easy chances over the bar. He’s generally worked the keeper and at least one of his shots needed a really world class save to keep out. Plus we’ve already seen him convert one chance with a classy finish. So calling him a bad finisher based on this small sample size is definitely being premature.
I like what he brings. Him at 10 behind Hojlund will be a really interesting setup.
Firmino didnt work just because of Salah and Mane. He worked because they had Salah, Mane AND Trent, Robertson. I love the idea of a playmaking 9 but make up your mind Eric. Are we doing that or playing with a traditional 9 in Hojlund. Because we cant make up our mind we are stuck between both systems. We can play Amad and Zirkzee and create more chances, have more control etc BUT we cant score goals. Or we put our 'goal scorers' (in quotes because they dont score many but are our goal scoring forwards) in Rashford, Garnacho, Hojlund and dont create anything and therefore dont score. The balance is not there yet
He is not an out and out forward but he links play very well and our build play suffered massively when we bought him off.
Hojlund looked slow and was on his backside all the time again
Hojlund looked slow and was on his backside all the time again
I would like to see that.
That touch to set-up Bruno in the second half was absolutely ridiculous and very Berba-esque. Pity Bruno went for the finish he did.
Just play him for longer periods basically. Or try him on the right when Højlund comes on and Amad needs to go out.
If we are playing both Zirkzee and Hojlund, then I’d try Højlund off the right. His poor touch is then less exposed and he can get some confidence feeding off Zirkzee’s supply. Ole did that with some success with Lukaku, and they are similar style players.
I do notice he covers a hell of a lot of ground, so as much as we'd like to have him around for 90 minutes, he might not be ready yet.
I don't think he is a 10. It's the Berbatov conundrum again. Not an out and our striker but not a 10 either .
We never used Berba effectively but hope he we can do better with this guy this time
We never used Berba effectively but hope he we can do better with this guy this time
How can you say we didn't need another player concerned with scoring goals, correct me if I'm wrong but isn’t that the most important thing
I agree. He'd probably do well in a traditional 4-4-2 as the second striker. Berba was great in that role with Robbie Keane.
I am really impressed how much he helped transforming the way we play. Absolutely essential player for me.
I'd say playing decent football and creating chances comes first. Last season we didn't do that, didn't create.
Doesn't really matter who you have up front if that's the case unless it's some force of nature type No.9
But in anycase it's way too early to say Zirkzee can't get a decent number of goals for us.
Would like to see him with Mount buzzing around him, think that gives a good mix as well as a solidity off the ball. Obvious problem that Mount can't stay fit though.
It's not a horrible idea
After Liverpool he was apparently out of his depth and not good enough for the Premier League, then 3 weeks later subbing him was a criminal decision, according to football fans
Onana
Mazraoui—De Ligt—Martinez—Dalot
Mainoo—Ugarte—Casemiro
Bruno——Zirkzee
Hojland
Missing Garnacho, Amad and an in form Rashford is mad. As is a throwback formation. But that’s solid as feck if the full backs are on song to provide a little width. The two tens have enough about them to take up good attacking positions.Mazraoui—De Ligt—Martinez—Dalot
Mainoo—Ugarte—Casemiro
Bruno——Zirkzee
Hojland
You're either bebe or Pele, no inbetween
Osimhen not a force of nature?
I want to see him, Mount and Eriksen all playing together. We’ll dominate possession and wear defences down
Could see it in Europa League, maybe also at home to the so called bottom half teams
Has to play
He’s changing our style and patterns of play in precisely the ways we need
Our play through the middle of the park against Palace was arguably the most compelling we’ve seen since pre-CC final in early 2023, maybe longer. Fantastic football and created many quality chances
He won’t bang in 20+ goals per season, so wingers, Bruno, and others will have to take their chances. But I do think he will have a respectable tally by season’s end
Never want to see Hojlund, Rashy, Garnacho, Bruno as our front 4 again. No composure, no control.
Zirkzee is certainly showing us something different. We need to see if the new style he brings can also get us results over the next 10-15 matches.
This may take some experimentation with the players around him - dropping Bruno, partnering with Hojlund, Rashy vs Garnacho, etc. But with him and Amad available, I do think we have a better set of puzzle pieces than last year - we just have to figure out how to fit them together.
He’s changing our style and patterns of play in precisely the ways we need
Our play through the middle of the park against Palace was arguably the most compelling we’ve seen since pre-CC final in early 2023, maybe longer. Fantastic football and created many quality chances
He won’t bang in 20+ goals per season, so wingers, Bruno, and others will have to take their chances. But I do think he will have a respectable tally by season’s end
Never want to see Hojlund, Rashy, Garnacho, Bruno as our front 4 again. No composure, no control.
Zirkzee is certainly showing us something different. We need to see if the new style he brings can also get us results over the next 10-15 matches.
This may take some experimentation with the players around him - dropping Bruno, partnering with Hojlund, Rashy vs Garnacho, etc. But with him and Amad available, I do think we have a better set of puzzle pieces than last year - we just have to figure out how to fit them together.
I’m eager to find out whether he can partner Hojlund upfront. Ones a link up ST. Hopefully the other can be the finisher
Just playing an old fashioned 4-4-2 against a bottomside team would probably show if there’s potential.
I don’t really know why anyone thinks Hojlund is a better finisher. In the early part of last season he missed a bunch of chances just as easy, if not easier, than anything JZ has missed so far.
Never going to make it here, another poor signing.
There's no aggression in his play, thank decks we bought him for a reasonable fee.
There's no aggression in his play, thank decks we bought him for a reasonable fee.
He doesn't look a poor signing to me. He looks silky smooth.
I think we’re in the enviable position of both of our strikers being pretty middling (at best) as finishers.
To the moon!