Joshua Zirkzee | 2026/27 Performances

statpadders said:
But he has top notch link up play and improves everyone around him.
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No, he doesn't. He consistently gets caught in possession and underhits passes (gave away the ball with a very obvious pass out to the right wing yesterday). For a big lad, he's not great at protecting the ball either, despite his decent feet at times.

His underhitting of the ball in both passing and shooting is the oddest thing about a very odd player.
 
sparx99 said:
No, he doesn't. He consistently gets caught in possession and underhits passes (gave away the ball with a very obvious pass out to the right wing yesterday). For a big lad, he's not great at protecting the ball either, despite his decent feet at times.

His underhitting of the ball in both passing and shooting is the oddest thing about a very odd player.
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He has visibly improved in both aspects. He uses his body better and passes more quickly and purposefully.

Bruno misplaced more passes than Zirkzee against Leeds.

The whole team is passing more/better and Zirkzee fits right in with it. He‘s good at short combinations and has some tricks up his sleeve.

He can be a backup striker and play the 10 role.
 
NLunited said:
He has visibly improved in both aspects. He uses his body better and passes more quickly and purposefully.

Bruno misplaced more passes than Zirkzee against Leeds.

The whole team is passing more/better and Zirkzee fits right in with it. He‘s good at short combinations and has some tricks up his sleeve.

He can be a backup striker and play the 10 role.
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You're basing all of this on pre season, not reality. That reality was last season in competitive fixtures, in which he was diabolically shite in 90% of them.
 
Shark said:
You're basing all of this on pre season, not reality. That reality was last season in competitive fixtures, in which he was diabolically shite in 90% of them.
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He had some good performances as well. I‘m going to discount the Amorim era, he looks more like a baller under Carrick, who knows how to use him.

The Leeds game was competitive, both sides were going at it. Sorry Zirkzee has looked so good, that must be hard for you.
 
NLunited said:
He had some good performances as well. I‘m going to discount the Amorim era, he looks more like a baller under Carrick, who knows how to use him.

The Leeds game was competitive, both sides were going at it. Sorry Zirkzee has looked so good, that must be hard for you.
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Sorry but pre season is pre season and half of Leeds starting eleven were not on the pitch when Zirkzee was playing. The Amorim era is neither here nor there, he is being judged on two years of competetive Premier League games in which he has looked completely unfit for purpose and his looking good in some practice kickabouts is not the gotcha you think it is. His form was not an iota different under Carrick in the second half of last season, he is simply not cut out for the league and if we can move him on we should do so.
 
If he can just become a player who chips in with a few goals then he'd be fine. His scoring record is just so bad.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
If he can just become a player who chips in with a few goals then he'd be fine. His scoring record is just so bad.
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i mean the problem is i swear every time he shoots even if he were to score without keeper touching it the ball wouldnt hit the back of the net. Everything always seems so soft from him when he has a shot attempt. So weird from what i remember
 
Shark said:
You're basing all of this on pre season, not reality. That reality was last season in competitive fixtures, in which he was diabolically shite in 90% of them.
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Without doubt. A myth he improved under Carrick. I read he played the equivalent of less than one half of football between Carrick taking over and us securing Champions League qualification (3 and a half months), the biggest chunk of which was at Newcastle where we lost against 10 men. He certainly wasn’t any good in the last three games after that either.

Who knows, maybe this pre season is the start of him turning the corner here. But we’re talking needing a massive step up from what he’s produced the last two seasons.
 
NLunited said:
He had some good performances as well. I‘m going to discount the Amorim era, he looks more like a baller under Carrick, who knows how to use him.

The Leeds game was competitive, both sides were going at it. Sorry Zirkzee has looked so good, that must be hard for you.
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The standard of ‘ballers’ has really dropped if Zirkzee is considered one.

When someone calls him it during a debate on him their argument is null and void.
 
I liked Zirkzee when we signed him. Thought with players like Mbeumo and Cunha he would show his worth. I was wrong, he’s just not suited to the PL. I wish he was. But he isn’t.
 
NLunited said:
He has visibly improved in both aspects. He uses his body better and passes more quickly and purposefully.

Bruno misplaced more passes than Zirkzee against Leeds.

The whole team is passing more/better and Zirkzee fits right in with it. He‘s good at short combinations and has some tricks up his sleeve.

He can be a backup striker and play the 10 role.
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Playing against a mixture of youth team players and squad players. It’s not like PSG, Atletico or Rosenborg had their first XI’s out. They have a mix of players like we have with the Fletchers etc.

At PL level he doesn’t think fast enough but I guess we’ll see.
 
FerociousCorgis said:
i mean the problem is i swear every time he shoots even if he were to score without keeper touching it the ball wouldnt hit the back of the net. Everything always seems so soft from him when he has a shot attempt. So weird from what i remember
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Maybe his mum used to tell him off for kicking the ball too hard against the garden wall and it created some sort of mental barrier
 
Walrus said:
I liked Zirkzee when we signed him. Thought with players like Mbeumo and Cunha he would show his worth. I was wrong, he’s just not suited to the PL. I wish he was. But he isn’t.
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Exactly this. People being fooled by pre season.
 
I can only judge based on what I am seeing. He looks fitter and stronger. We‘ll see whether that translates into PL form or not.

Casemiro was fitter and stronger last pre-season, and had a great season.
 
Nobody can say how the upcoming season will go for Zirkzee but regardless of it being pre season, there’s something steely and determined about him that I haven’t seen before. The fitness, intensity and frequency of his running and pressing, the sharpness of his first touch and his upper body strength look different. He just looks at it. I have always said if he can put it all together - big if - we’ve got a proper Manchester United player. He might not get there but we’ve invested two years in him. Do we want to give up now, most likely just for a loan, when there’s light on the horizon?
 
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Cornfield Chase said:
Nobody can say how the upcoming season will go for Zirkzee but regardless of it being pre season, there’s something steely and determined about him that I haven’t seen before. The fitness, intensity and frequency of his running and pressing, the sharpness of his first touch and his upper body strength look different. He just looks at it. I have always said if he can put it all together - big if - we’ve got a proper Manchester United player. He might not get there but we’ve invested two years in him. Do we want to give up now, most likely just for a loan, when there’s light on the horizon?
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I can. With a high degree of certainty.
 
Cornfield Chase said:
Nobody can say how the upcoming season will go for Zirkzee but regardless of it being pre season, there’s something steely and determined about him that I haven’t seen before. The fitness, intensity and frequency of his running and pressing, the sharpness of his first touch and his upper body strength look different. He just looks at it. I have always said if he can put it all together - big if - we’ve got a proper Manchester United player. He might not get there but we’ve invested two years in him. Do we want to give up now, most likely just for a loan, when there’s light on the horizon?
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Pre-season Pele
 
I like him as a player, i think he is really good. Im nist not sure the Premier league suits him. I think he would do incredibly well in Germany, France or Spain. Saying that, if he stays, could be a big season. Has looked decent in preseason, maybe he can play a strong role this season in squad depth.
 
NLunited said:
He has visibly improved in both aspects. He uses his body better and passes more quickly and purposefully.

Bruno misplaced more passes than Zirkzee against Leeds.

The whole team is passing more/better and Zirkzee fits right in with it. He‘s good at short combinations and has some tricks up his sleeve.

He can be a backup striker and play the 10 role.
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I agree with all this, and he does make sense in the 4-2-4 Carrick plays as one of the 2 central attackers, as long as the other guy is looking to score goals (Mbeumo or Sesko), but there were also games last year where he was asked to come on for 5-10 minutes and hold up the ball and harry the opposing defenders while we were protecting a lead and I'm not sure we've ever had a striker who annoyed me more at this simple task. He just lost the ball and walked around.

So, I have no idea. I'm guessing him or Rashford go, but not sure which one. Cunha can play centrally along with Sesko, Mbeumo and Bruno starting and Lacey got minutes there (and him being an option at RW means Mbeumo can play more often centrally when Amad isn't starting or is coming off after an hour) whereas at LW we just have Cunha tucking in and Dorgu losing the ball (bad) but working hard and being direct (good) and nobody else has actually ever played well there (Mbeumo looked bad out there, Mount hasn't been good in wider spots, Thompson I assume isn't ready).

But it might come down to who will actually pay real money for Rashford or Zirkzee and not just a bit of cash for an option to buy.
 
Its funny how people get all giddy about how the team are playing in pre season and then base their season's expectations off that, especially the performances of Santos and Yoro for example, yet when someone says look how good Zirkzee has looked and then people dismiss it because its pre season.

Anyway, I think he's a great option because he offers something completely different, he's a maverick of sorts, he can be frustrating but if you can get him confident and performing, he's quality and that's hard to replace. If the only offers are a loan or about £20m which I suspect is what clubs will pay, I don't see the point in selling him. He's only 25 and this could be his breakout season, sometimes it takes a couple of seasons to settle into a new country and league and honestly, I'd give him another season because for the money we paid we were never getting the finished product. Maybe after 2 seasons with the right coaches and playing a style that brings the best out of him, we will.
 
Can’t believe some people are still hanging their hopes on Zirkzee suddenly turning into a Bergkamp or Berbatov.

He must be doing some kind of subliminal Amorim or something.
 
Feel the same about him as I do about Rashford: If they stay I hope Carrick gets a tune out of them. And I do believe that if anyone can get a tune out of them it’s Michael.
 
We’ve had him for two seasons. People are really waiting for his value to completely diminish till they see the light
 
I've said this before, but there came a point where, whenever Martial played through the middle, you could see a distinct difference in the way we connected in the final third. I see something similar with Zirkzee.

Zirkzee may lack certain attributes you'd ideally want from a striker, but he's so good at dropping off, receiving between the lines and linking play. He's the type of player who can make those around him look better, and I actually think he complements our wingers more naturally than any of our other striker options.

The key is having runners around him, and this current system gives him exactly that. Carrick either inverts his wide players or pushes midfielders into the half spaces, so Zirkzee almost always has someone beyond him to combine with.

I'd be inclined to keep him. He was arguably our best player against Prem opposition in Leeds, so we know the ability is there. It's just about finding that consistency.
 
ThanksBoss26 said:
Without doubt. A myth he improved under Carrick. I read he played the equivalent of less than one half of football between Carrick taking over and us securing Champions League qualification (3 and a half months), the biggest chunk of which was at Newcastle where we lost against 10 men. He certainly wasn’t any good in the last three games after that either.
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Just your daily reminder that people sometimes bend the facts a little to give their agenda posting more weight

Zirkzee played 27, 16, 3, 8, 4, 13, 3, 2, 3, 65, 10, 16 minutes since Carrick took over as manager. That's an average of 14 minutes per match - and if we count the matches in which he was available on the bench but didn't play at all then... he played 170 minutes out of a possible 1,530 minutes across 17 matches. (10 min per match)

And also, against Newcastle, he came on at 75th minute and was closest to scoring with his attempt from long range. Also, he wasn't good in any of the next three games, because he didn't play AT ALL in any of the next three games. Kind of hard to get involved from the bench.

So yeah, there it is ... typical caf selective memory, with a bit of fact-invention thrown in for good measure just because they don't like a player.
 
statpadders said:
Just your daily reminder that people sometimes bend the facts a little to give their agenda posting more weight

Zirkzee played 27, 16, 3, 8, 4, 13, 3, 2, 3, 65, 10, 16 minutes since Carrick took over as manager. That's an average of 14 minutes per match - and if we count the matches in which he was available on the bench but didn't play at all then... he played 170 minutes out of a possible 1,530 minutes across 17 matches. (10 min per match)

And also, against Newcastle, he came on at 75th minute and was closest to scoring with his attempt from long range. Also, he wasn't good in any of the next three games, because he didn't play AT ALL in any of the next three games. Kind of hard to get involved from the bench.

So yeah, there it is ... typical caf selective memory, with a bit of fact-invention thrown in for good measure just because they don't like a player.
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Firstly I was referring to the three games after Champions League qualification was secured.

Secondly from your list 27 minutes was against Leeds under Amorim and 16 was against Burnley under Fletcher. So neither even under Carrick.

Let’s just agree to disagree on the overall point. You’re welcome to your opinion, as am I.
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:
I've said this before, but there came a point where, whenever Martial played through the middle, you could see a distinct difference in the way we connected in the final third. I see something similar with Zirkzee.

Zirkzee may lack certain attributes you'd ideally want from a striker, but he's so good at dropping off, receiving between the lines and linking play. He's the type of player who can make those around him look better, and I actually think he complements our wingers more naturally than any of our other striker options.

The key is having runners around him, and this current system gives him exactly that. Carrick either inverts his wide players or pushes midfielders into the half spaces, so Zirkzee almost always has someone beyond him to combine with.

I'd be inclined to keep him. He was arguably our best player against Prem opposition in Leeds, so we know the ability is there. It's just about finding that consistency.
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We have looked more disjointed in possession when Bruno is out there this pre-season, for sure. As good as he is, he's obviously tough to play with for the deeper midfielders. His unpredictability in moving without the ball makes him tough to defend but you probably have little idea where he is when they're under a bit of pressure and still want to move the ball forward. Zirkzee is also a bigger target.

Not sure this matters a ton, though. Don't think they'll play much together and Bruno obviously won't be dropped even if we look sharper in general with Zirkzee out there. More likely it's just whatever 4 guys seem to be complimenting Bruno and Santos (only one who protects the back 4) well.
 
We don’t know how and when to sell players and our fans get carried away with even the smallest hint of form. Zirkzee is average and a terrible fit for the PL. Sell him asap.
 
Honestly disappointed that the didn't get more minutes again.

He really has looked much quicker, more agile, and more determined during pre-season than I can recall during his spell at United. I don't think it's just the context of pre-season either as he'd looked very sharp even relative to other United players.

He's recently hit 25, which is the age at which most players, and certainly strikers, tend to hit their peaks. It'd be annoying to sell him before giving him a chance in a competitive fixture to see whether he really as turned a corner or not, as I think there's a fair chance he still could have done so.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
We don’t know how and when to sell players and our fans get carried away with even the smallest hint of form. Zirkzee is average and a terrible fit for the PL. Sell him asap.
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It’s crazy isn’t it, one of the least effective players we’ve had and people are still hoping he turns good.

He’d get into no top teams squad let alone first team yet we seem to be stuck with him.
 
The sooner we realise that Zirkzee is a midfielder/CAM the better.
 
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