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Joshua Zirkzee Netherlands flag

2024-25 Performances

View full 2024-25 profile

5.2 Season Average Rating
Appearances
48
Goals
7
Assists
2
Yellow cards
2
Redstain said:
Funnily enough Hojlund is the very essence of this description. Scored less goals than Zirkzee in Serie A before his move to United and scored the majority of his goals last season from January to February.

Zirkzee at the least has qualities that entails him being useful in the 10, he absolutely has the attributes to be a player who can be used throughout the season with another forward player in front of him. I can see his performances improving even further as the team becomes more cohesive.

He's been the best attacking player since Amad's injury for me. The attack is nothing to write home about but he's turned a corner after some shocking performances when he joined. Has shown resilience when the market was open and is reportedly working hard in training / improving fitness. Zirkzee is the epitomy of the type of player in application United need moving forward.
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Hojlund also isn't good enough for what we need, so not sure that's a defence of Zirkzee.

It's a pattern for 15 years of United being overly sentimental and generous towards players who just aren't of the level needed, and keeping them for too long instead of moving on quickly.

I just don't envision a world where Zirkzee gets enough goals or assists to justify being part of a front 3 at a CL level side, hopefully league winning side. And then you think what else he could bring to the side outside of productivity. A threat in behind with his pace to stretch the opposition? No. Aerial dominance? Not really. A David Silva level dribbler and link up player? Doubt it.

Some nice touches and skills just won't cut it, we need attacking players who consistently hurt the opposition.
 
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Woziak said:
I get and respect your opinion but surely you think we should at least give him one more year to either adapt, watching games live recently he’s not rapid by any stretch of the imagination but he’s certainly quicker than people think and he looks much fitter now.
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No I don't think that. As I said, I think, stylistically, he doesn't fit the league and if there would be a good chance, to swap him for a player who might be a better fit, I'd do it. Not because I think, that JZ is a terrible player or that I think, he won't get better over time but merely because I think he isn't a great fit.
Woziak said:
Imagine if he becomes more dominant as a physical creative number 10 and we get an elite physical number 9 that does have elite pace and can finish, I only see this as a pretty safe bet for another year where Zirkzee Value would not diminish.
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Again, as I said, I consider JZ in a category of player that is difficult to integrate. The concept of a physical number 10 is rarely used. I don't see the need to reinvent the wheel when the short term objective would be to become a functional side again. I don't see the potential of an elite physical number 9 in him, I don't think, he has the striker instinct nor the poacher instinct. That doesn't make him a bad player, or useless or anything, but I as a not-scout don't see the potential. Pretty sure to say that elite pace is off the table within. I don't consider him slow as snails, it is alright but elite pace is likely not in the cards for him, its not like he is 17 anymore.

I guess you might be right that another year wouldn't diminish his value. I wouldn't consider it a mistake to continue with him but in case a good offer comes in and we have somebody at hand, who would be a better fit stylistically, I'd take that chance. That doesn't mean "I want to get rid of him". I'd not go out of my way to prevent it when all things considered it might make sense. His transfer last year didn't achieve the objective I had "bring in a striker who can take off some of the pressure of Hojlund". I see more potential in Hojlund than in JZ and given that younger players need minutes to fulfill their potential, it was an odd move to add JZ to the team who is more or less coming with the same pre-disposition as Hojlund, young, inexperienced, potential, not above doubts in terms of world class potential.
 
NZT-One said:
No I don't think that. As I said, I think, stylistically, he doesn't fit the league and if there would be a good chance, to swap him for a player who might be a better fit, I'd do it. Not because I think, that JZ is a terrible player or that I think, he won't get better over time but merely because I think he isn't a great fit.

Again, as I said, I consider JZ in a category of player that is difficult to integrate. The concept of a physical number 10 is rarely used. I don't see the need to reinvent the wheel when the short term objective would be to become a functional side again. I don't see the potential of an elite physical number 9 in him, I don't think, he has the striker instinct nor the poacher instinct. That doesn't make him a bad player, or useless or anything, but I as a not-scout don't see the potential. Pretty sure to say that elite pace is off the table within. I don't consider him slow as snails, it is alright but elite pace is likely not in the cards for him, its not like he is 17 anymore.

I guess you might be right that another year wouldn't diminish his value. I wouldn't consider it a mistake to continue with him but in case a good offer comes in and we have somebody at hand, who would be a better fit stylistically, I'd take that chance. That doesn't mean "I want to get rid of him". I'd not go out of my way to prevent it when all things considered it might make sense. His transfer last year didn't achieve the objective I had "bring in a striker who can take off some of the pressure of Hojlund". I see more potential in Hojlund than in JZ and given that younger players need minutes to fulfill their potential, it was an odd move to add JZ to the team who is more or less coming with the same pre-disposition as Hojlund, young, inexperienced, potential, not above doubts in terms of world class potential.
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I understand your comment, you believe we can only keep one out Hojlund and Zirkzee and you would rather keep Hojlund, that I can understand.

Hojlund has shown he has the potential to be an elite number 9 with true elite pace and could be one of the best number 9’s in the EPL by the age of 24/25.

I Don’t think either will be sold in Summer, one of them may be loaned out and I think they have both been told that they are playing for their futures in no uncertain terms by the coaching and management team of the club.

Chido also looks young, raw but with with huge potential, we really need an experienced number 9 that is 26-29 years old and is the finished product and this might be an area where the Rashford transfer money is used to go get one of the obvious options we are looking at.

You might well be right about Zirkzee but if we bought Osimhen or Gykores I’d like to see him in the left 10 role until December 25, so see if he can continue to improve, he’s not and will never be a nine. However if Dorgu continues to improve with Heaven or Martinez/Shaw at left CB that whole side looks a completely different proposition than it has all season.

I just can’t see the club buying a number 10 and a Number 9 plus a winger/wing back. I think we will prioritise the number 9 and the wing back as our two major signings, maybe a new Goalkeeper as well and then add a lot of cheap snd left field signings.

Of course if the club financially could afford to buy Raphina, Mateus Cunha or Florian Wirtz , you would upgrade Zirkzee in a second but I don’t think we can afford all three attacking options and I think players like these currently would also chose alternative options right now.

Garnaucho is only going to improve in Amorim system so hopefully the nonsense of selling him dies down along with the same nonsense for Mainoo. Mason Mount has to take his final chance at the club or he’s the obvious choice to be sold.

Ruben Amorim seem a pretty decisive sort of guy, he knows he needs a number 9 more than any other position and right now it looks like he favours ; Garnaucho/Amad/Mount/Zirkzee/Mainoo as his options at number 10. He has reinvented Bruno as an all action 6/8 hybrid CM who plays much deeper.

We need 5 number 10’s due to injury concerns, maybe we sell Mount if he can’t prove his fitness or sell Zirkzee if an obvious upgrade is out there and the similar value but the other three will not be sold. I’ll be clear here I would take Morgan Rogers or MGW in a heartbeat over Zirzkee or Mount but both will be ridiculous transfer fees of probably £65-80m.
 
Turning into a decent player, just needs to keep the head down and keep putting in the hard yards sprinting and increasing his fitness.
 
I can still see him play as a Wellbeck/Firmino type with Amad and say Mitoma flying beyond him to score, using him for 1-2s and feeding off his through balls.

He can definitely do a job at LAM too as he's shown by striking up a bit of a rapport with Hojlund very recently.

An attack spearheaded by him with Amad, Garnacho, Dorgu, and Mitoma, all fed by Bruno and pressed by Ugarte, Yoro, Heaven and De Ligt has the potential to he very exciting.
 
Nottingham Forest 1:0 Man Utd New
Please Amorim, stop playing Zirkzee as the main striker. He doesn’t play well when played in that position.
 
Nottingham Forest 1:0 Man Utd New
Some nice buildup play with good decision making in the first half, but with no threat whatsoever up front. And being picked as the striker thats a big problem. 2nd half he was quiet and didnt have an impact when moved back to the #10 role
 
Being positive, first half he was really involved, being critical - we played a team who do not press high and are happy to let their opponents pop it around and play nice stuff.

Feel like Amorim has to sack of the 2 x 10s and just play Zirkzee right behind Hojlund, then put Bruno at his old 10 role to create/pull strings. He can keep the 3 at the back, but we need to be more direct/feed those two a lot more.
 
Has pretty much improved but somehow I still think he's mostly useless. Zero goal threat
 
Probably the most pointless forward in world football.
 
I thought he was pretty poor and some of the fecking backheels in dangerous spots can be really infuriating.
 
BorisManUtd said:
Decent 1st half followed by poor 2nd.
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Yeah exactly my thoughts. Looked super sharp in the first half and a big factor in us being so dominant. Then completely fell away, which coinicider with Forest getting on top until he was subbed off. And then we finished strongly.

Such is life when we’re forced to constantly pick a team full of young and/or inexperienced players. Or almost over the hill veterans. Or Bruno. Other than in defence we literally have no other options.
 
Admittedly I only really watched the first half, but I thought he was playing well. Dropping deep, collecting the ball, playing in a teammate and then getting forward into the box. He still doesn’t have those goalscoring instincts mind.

Thought he was better than Garnacho, and from what little I saw of him, Hojlund too.
 
Greatest United trickster in a while. One or two nutmegs have people tricked that he's United level. A step back from Martial at the same age and he's supposedly his upgrade.
 
Maybe we'd appreciate him a little if we had Salah and Kvaratskhelia running either side of him. But in this formation, with our squad, he is of very little use to us. Sell him or loan him out this summer. We can't be sending a message that passengers like him will be tolerated up front at United.
 
I'm still unsure of what kind of player he is? He doesn't have the goalscoring instincts/combativeness of a No.9, and his best contributions seem to be linking up play when dropping deep. When our attack desperately needs some potency, I can't see what impact he will have long-term. He has a good touch and some tricks, is he basically a less effective Sheringham?
 
Firmino without the mobility and like someone above said. We haven’t got Mane and Salah running next to him. So just flog him off and get a bagsman in the summer.

Rather not have as an awkward fit and buy players who can slot into the 10s and 9.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Being positive, first half he was really involved, being critical - we played a team who do not press high and are happy to let their opponents pop it around and play nice stuff.

Feel like Amorim has to sack of the 2 x 10s and just play Zirkzee right behind Hojlund, then put Bruno at his old 10 role to create/pull strings. He can keep the 3 at the back, but we need to be more direct/feed those two a lot more.
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Isn’t that just 2 10s?
 
There's been plenty of games in the past where his lack of movement in and around the box should be criticised. I don't think this match is one of them (or at least in the first half). He actually made four or five good runs but his teammates (mostly Garnacho) either ignored him or their pass was easily cut out. He was arguably our best player in the first half.

Second half after being moved deeper his performance definitely dropped off though.
 
MadDogg said:
There's been plenty of games in the past where his lack of movement in and around the box should be criticised. I don't think this match is one of them (or at least in the first half). He actually made four or five good runs but his teammates (mostly Garnacho) either ignored him or their pass was easily cut out. He was arguably our best player in the first half.

Second half after being moved deeper his performance definitely dropped off though.
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Exactly. I don't really get where the harsh criticism is coming from. We became very disjointed as a team, partly thanks to forest shit housing and us making too many changes but I very pleased with his first half performance.
 
Standards are far too low this guy is shite
 
There's at least a couple of times a game where he plays the most simple of passes straight to an opposition player, starting to think he must be colour blind.
 
I like him. Happy to keep him and he definitely will improve. Yes, there is a laziness in his style but he is young and first season in PL.
 
He’s clearly got talent, but feck sake man, can you get in the box and take a shot. I’m not sure what’s worse, Hojlund not getting shots because he barely has the ball, or Zirkzee having loads of the ball and still taking zero shots.

He does a few things every game where you can see his ability but I think standards are so low that him making a 10 yard pass or controlling the ball comfortably is vastly overrated.

A lot of our players seem to do the odd thing well and then have huge holes in the rear of their game, apart from Bruno.
 
He has his qualities but ultimately will never be good enough for a top half Premier league team. Neither offers enough creatively or in terms of goalscoring threat
 
Think he's just not that good of a player. He has a nice touch but nothing else to his game. At least in this league.
 
He plays like a player that hasn't had a position invented for him yet, if ever football went to 12 players then he'd probably fit in perfectly.
 
He isn’t a number 9 or a number 10, if a team from Serie A is willing to take him for 30m we’d be stupid not to sell.

He just doesn’t look suited to the league or Amorim’s system, will have some decent games and score few goals her and there but we can find better players in that 10 role without spending fortunes.
 
Walrus said:
Posting without comment:

https://breakingthelines.com/player-analysis/joshua-zirkzee-the-man-who-plays-in-reverse/
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Thanks. Massive word salad. So could only skim it.

The penultimate paragraph made me laugh:

“And this is his great illusion: to seem idle, even indifferent, while the world around him spirals into chaos. He walks, yet the defenders run. He waits, yet they panic. He does not force his way into football’s history; he invites it, as if it were always meant to come to him.”

Would be fine with all of that, if there was any consequence to his play - a goal, chances created, making teammates better. But there is close to zero output from him. All fart, no… some might say.
 
Ultimately, we can't have someone in our front 3 on 45 appearances and 6 goals.

Zirkzee has some things he's good at, but we can't carry that upfront.
 
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