[the_cliff]

Great post, backs up pretty much everything the eye test says for me but most never bother to actually look into stuff like this and just whine about how he "goes missing" or isn't scoring enough goals which is "why we need an experienced striker" when the truth is we don't fecking pass him the ball. I can hardly think of a single decent pass Bruno has played him, and our wingers are almost always shoot first minded. Considering much of our game is built around transitions and finding our wingers on the counter it's just never going to be possible for any striker we have to really impact the game with how we currently play unless it's a Martial type that drops off the CB's (which everyone at the time complained about and wanted a box striker in the first place)

You're right about this. Bruno loves targeting the wide areas for his through balls and hardly ever looks for our cf. This was true even when we had Cavani at cf.

The only time I remember Bruno consistently looking for the cf was when his Portugal teammate was up front for us.

 

[Rojofiam]

Haaland has 83 goals in 92 appearances for City so far.

Anyone else think Hojlund would be somewhere between 50-60 if he was in the Norwegian's shoes?

He's really not an issue, and neither is his lack of experience.

Two things we need to do: 1. Sign a player who won't mind being his substitution. 2. Improve as a team and create more chances for him.

Hojlund can be a golden boot contender if he plays in a team that's competing for the title. Right now, he can't do anything about his situation. Not up to him.

 

[Brophs]

Haaland has 83 goals in 92 appearances for City so far.

Anyone else think Hojlund would be somewhere between 50-60 if he was in the Norwegian's shoes?

He's really not an issue, and neither is his lack of experience.

Two things we need to do: 1. Sign a player who won't mind being his substitution. 2. Improve as a team and create more chances for him.

Hojlund can be a golden boot contender if he plays in a team that's competing for the title. Right now, he can't do anything about his situation. Not up to him.

Honestly, no. I like him but I think he’s far too raw and flawed at this stage of his career to be putting in those sorts of consistent numbers.

Personally, I think it may be too risky to continue with him as our first choice centre forward. We need someone else to take the burden off him an bit and let him develop over the next few seasons.

 

[Rojofiam]

Honestly, no. I like him but I think he’s far too raw and flawed at this stage of his career to be putting in those sorts of consistent numbers.

Personally, I think it may be too risky to continue with him as our first choice centre forward. We need someone else to take the burden off him an bit and let him develop over the next few seasons.

83 goals means Haaland must have got around 350 chances created for him at City, so far, because his conversion rate is around 25% if I recall correctly. If these numbers are incorrect, feel free to correct me, because I could be wrong.

But if I'm right, then Hojlund would just have to convert around 15% of chances created for him to be on 50 goals after that many chances. Elite strikers usually have a better conversion rate than that.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Haaland has 83 goals in 92 appearances for City so far.

Anyone else think Hojlund would be somewhere between 50-60 if he was in the Norwegian's shoes?

He's really not an issue, and neither is his lack of experience.

Two things we need to do: 1. Sign a player who won't mind being his substitution. 2. Improve as a team and create more chances for him.

Hojlund can be a golden boot contender if he plays in a team that's competing for the title. Right now, he can't do anything about his situation. Not up to him.

What a ridiculous post

 

[Rojofiam]

What a ridiculous post

You think he couldn't score 25 a season for City, when he will probably finish on 15+ at United?

 

[mu4c_20le]

You think he couldn't score 25 a season for City, when he will probably finish on 15+ at United?

To be fair he might, and the part about what we need is also obvious. But the general tone of the post and the ending especially, makes it sound like he's perfect and doesn't need any further improvement on his movement, first touch, etc.

 

[honirelandboy]

He needs to be more physical in the premier league. His top speed is amazing but his acceleration seems slow enough. He’s not good enough to lead the line next season if we want to compete. I like him as a player but could do with a year loan to another premier league team or backup as main striker which is more realistic. Harry Kane was a similar age and was loaned to a championship team. He is a great talent but there’s very few players that burst onto the scene at his age as a striker in the premier league.

 

[Rojofiam]

To be fair he might, and the part about what we need is also obvious. But the general tone of the post and the ending especially, makes it sound like he's perfect and doesn't need any further improvement on his movement, first touch, etc.

He's not perfect, but I'm not concerned about him one bit. He will be a monster by the time he's 24-25

 

[Juicy Juiced]

He needs to be more physical in the premier league. His top speed is amazing but his acceleration seems slow enough. He’s not good enough to lead the line next season if we want to compete. I like him as a player but could do with a year loan to another premier league team. Harry Kane was a similar age and was loaned to a championship team.

You cant loan 70m player. If we were smart and instead buying him we should loan him with obligation to buy if some goals are achieved.

 

[CasaStreets]

Cole Palmer has equal goals to Haaland playing for a worser than us so there should be no excuses.

Right, he’s been worse than one of the standout players of the PL this season so is failing, got it. Thanks for that incisive commentary.

I don’t understand what’s happening on this forum.

Rasmus barely touches the ball because we have two wingers who are head-down speed merchants that are exceptionally poor passers into the front (love Garnacho but really - he’s an atrocious passer) and terrible at linking up with other members of our front four - this is easily verified in the stats. On top of that, we have a counter-attacking #10 who just wants to play long balls over the top to said wingers.

Despite all that, Rasmus has 12 goals and 2 assists in 2285 minutes. He’s around the 75th percentile for goals among forwards despite being below the 50th percentile for progressive passes received and below the 10th percentile for shots.

He is completely alone and unsupported at the top of the pitch in a way you only ever seen at relegation-threatened clubs who isolate the striker while playing two deep lines. Hold-up play is a two way street, if your #10 and wingers aren’t close enough to run off you, you’re going to struggle. This is especially true with Rasmus, who we’ve seen is quite deft with little first-time touches but not as strong at bringing the ball under control and creating his own time and space in the middle of the park.

Am I certain he’s our long-term#9? No. But he has been very solid for the situation that we’ve thrust him into? Absolutely, and at 20/21 to boot. I think he certainly has the potential to succeed here but that will be far easier with better ball-playing forwards alongside him.

 

[honirelandboy]

You cant loan 70m player. If we were smart and instead buying him we should loan him with obligation to buy if some goals are achieved.

yea backup to main striker is more realistic, was just highlighting Harry Kane was loaned out at his age. It could do him the world of good but not realistic.

 

[criticalanalysis]

In today's edition of player signs for United and is not being used to his strengths, we simply do not supply him with enough passes in advanced areas. I think his hold up play is a bit meh but his main strengths are his movement off the ball and his ability to use his pace to run at teams/run in behind teams/run the channels. As a comparison of him receiving progressive passes at United vs Atalanta -

He leaves Atalanta, a team trying to challenge for the European positions/qualify for the Champions League in Serie A, who under Gasperini have a very organized attacking playing style and comes to United, a team trying to challenge for European positions/qualify for the Champions League in the Premier League, whose attack relies severely on transitions and his service has dried up completely. We mainly use him as a sort of target man who mostly gets the ball with his back to goal and he's struggled to adapt to it. Reflects quite poorly on our recruitment team that we've signed a player with quite a high potential (in my opinion, of course) but seem to have completely mis-profiled him in terms of what he is good at vs what we want from our striker in this system.

To put the lack of service vis-a-vis City into context -

https://x.com/TheDevilsDNA/status/1779173964805448190

On the plus side, he's come to United and seems to still be quite good at finishing -

https://x.com/TheDevilsDNA/status/1780305133319987561

For the argument of "he's not doing enough to get himself involved in games", consider that, adjusted for team possession, his stats in terms of touches in the opposition box per 90 as well as progressive passes received per 90 were really good at Atalanta -

Further comparison to Atalanta as of February 1st 2024 i.e. when he had played roughly the same amount of minutes -
(Atalanta on the left, United on the right)
90s: 21.1 - 20.3
Goals: 10 - 8
NPxG: 9.5 - 6.7
Shots: 58 - 36
NPxG/shot: 0.18 - 0.22
Shot on target %: 50% - 47%
Passes p90: 21 - 14
Assists: 2 - 1
xA: 1.8 - 0.9
Key passes: 24 - 16
Shot-creating actions: 56 - 38
Touches: 700 - 396
Pen box touches: 133 - 69
Take-ons: 75 - 31
Progressive carries: 40 - 19
Carries into penalty area: 31 - 9
Progressive passes received: 224 - 82

Source for the stats -

https://x.com/TheDevilsDNA/status/1753063050754847185

Clearly shows he's scored roughly the same amount of goals but with far fewer shots, has actually improved his shooting somewhat, but just isn't getting on the ball anywhere near as often - getting only 1/3rd of the progressive passes as before, only around 1/2 the number of touches and only a bit more than 1/2 the penalty box touches - and is not getting the chance to show his best quality - carrying the ball/running at teams - almost at all.

Given that his shooting/scoring numbers are staying consistent relative to involvement, it seems like in a more organized attacking set up, we can reasonably expect good numbers from him.

Right, he’s been worse than one of the standout players of the PL this season so is failing, got it. Thanks for that incisive commentary.

I don’t understand what’s happening on this forum.

Rasmus barely touches the ball because we have two wingers who are head-down speed merchants that are exceptionally poor passers into the front (love Garnacho but really - he’s an atrocious passer) and terrible at linking up with other members of our front four - this is easily verified in the stats. On top of that, we have a counter-attacking #10 who just wants to play long balls over the top to said wingers.

Despite all that, Rasmus has 12 goals and 2 assists in 2285 minutes. He’s around the 75th percentile for goals among forwards despite being below the 50th percentile for progressive passes received and below the 10th percentile for shots.

He is completely alone and unsupported at the top of the pitch in a way you only ever seen at relegation-threatened clubs who isolate the striker while playing two deep lines. Hold-up play is a two way street, if your #10 and wingers aren’t close enough to run off you, you’re going to struggle. This is especially true with Rasmus, who we’ve seen is quite deft with little first-time touches but not as strong at bringing the ball under control and creating his own time and space in the middle of the park.

Am I certain he’s our long-term#9? No. But he has been very solid for the situation that we’ve thrust him into? Absolutely, and at 20/21 to boot. I think he certainly has the potential to succeed here but that will be far easier with better ball-playing forwards alongside him.

Good post guys.

He's not been great recently but he's been 'given' a really thankless task. Same can be said of most of our players because the tactics are absolute shite but the difference is that pretty much every single player in the team will at least get the ball into their feet and passes from their team mates at least twice or three times more than Hojlund.

 

[Lash]

To be fair he might, and the part about what we need is also obvious. But the general tone of the post and the ending especially, makes it sound like he's perfect and doesn't need any further improvement on his movement, first touch, etc.

Haaland still needs improve those things as well, yet still is posting record breaking numbers. I don't think it's claiming he's perfect, but he's got the attributes to score a lot of goals in the prem. When you think a profligate Sterling scored 20-30 goals for City quite regularly, I don't think it's a big leap.

 

[Lee565]

Right, he’s been worse than one of the standout players of the PL this season so is failing, got it. Thanks for that incisive commentary.

I don’t understand what’s happening on this forum.

Rasmus barely touches the ball because we have two wingers who are head-down speed merchants that are exceptionally poor passers into the front (love Garnacho but really - he’s an atrocious passer) and terrible at linking up with other members of our front four - this is easily verified in the stats. On top of that, we have a counter-attacking #10 who just wants to play long balls over the top to said wingers.

Despite all that, Rasmus has 12 goals and 2 assists in 2285 minutes. He’s around the 75th percentile for goals among forwards despite being below the 50th percentile for progressive passes received and below the 10th percentile for shots.

He is completely alone and unsupported at the top of the pitch in a way you only ever seen at relegation-threatened clubs who isolate the striker while playing two deep lines. Hold-up play is a two way street, if your #10 and wingers aren’t close enough to run off you, you’re going to struggle. This is especially true with Rasmus, who we’ve seen is quite deft with little first-time touches but not as strong at bringing the ball under control and creating his own time and space in the middle of the park.

Am I certain he’s our long-term#9? No. But he has been very solid for the situation that we’ve thrust him into? Absolutely, and at 20/21 to boot. I think he certainly has the potential to succeed here but that will be far easier with better ball-playing forwards alongside him.

I'm going to assume your ten hag out then as he is the person that actioned this transfer when he is clearly a poor fit for our side and should have gone after a different profile of striker that isn't just a fox in box with poor control and hold up play.

 

[Lyng]

In today's edition of player signs for United and is not being used to his strengths, we simply do not supply him with enough passes in advanced areas. I think his hold up play is a bit meh but his main strengths are his movement off the ball and his ability to use his pace to run at teams/run in behind teams/run the channels. As a comparison of him receiving progressive passes at United vs Atalanta -

He leaves Atalanta, a team trying to challenge for the European positions/qualify for the Champions League in Serie A, who under Gasperini have a very organized attacking playing style and comes to United, a team trying to challenge for European positions/qualify for the Champions League in the Premier League, whose attack relies severely on transitions and his service has dried up completely. We mainly use him as a sort of target man who mostly gets the ball with his back to goal and he's struggled to adapt to it. Reflects quite poorly on our recruitment team that we've signed a player with quite a high potential (in my opinion, of course) but seem to have completely mis-profiled him in terms of what he is good at vs what we want from our striker in this system.

To put the lack of service vis-a-vis City into context -

https://x.com/TheDevilsDNA/status/1779173964805448190

On the plus side, he's come to United and seems to still be quite good at finishing -

https://x.com/TheDevilsDNA/status/1780305133319987561

For the argument of "he's not doing enough to get himself involved in games", consider that, adjusted for team possession, his stats in terms of touches in the opposition box per 90 as well as progressive passes received per 90 were really good at Atalanta -

Further comparison to Atalanta as of February 1st 2024 i.e. when he had played roughly the same amount of minutes -
(Atalanta on the left, United on the right)
90s: 21.1 - 20.3
Goals: 10 - 8
NPxG: 9.5 - 6.7
Shots: 58 - 36
NPxG/shot: 0.18 - 0.22
Shot on target %: 50% - 47%
Passes p90: 21 - 14
Assists: 2 - 1
xA: 1.8 - 0.9
Key passes: 24 - 16
Shot-creating actions: 56 - 38
Touches: 700 - 396
Pen box touches: 133 - 69
Take-ons: 75 - 31
Progressive carries: 40 - 19
Carries into penalty area: 31 - 9
Progressive passes received: 224 - 82

Source for the stats -

https://x.com/TheDevilsDNA/status/1753063050754847185

Clearly shows he's scored roughly the same amount of goals but with far fewer shots, has actually improved his shooting somewhat, but just isn't getting on the ball anywhere near as often - getting only 1/3rd of the progressive passes as before, only around 1/2 the number of touches and only a bit more than 1/2 the penalty box touches - and is not getting the chance to show his best quality - carrying the ball/running at teams - almost at all.

Given that his shooting/scoring numbers are staying consistent relative to involvement, it seems like in a more organized attacking set up, we can reasonably expect good numbers from him.

Excellent post.

 

[CasaStreets]

I'm going to assume your ten hag out then as he is the person that actioned this transfer when he is clearly a poor fit for our side and should have gone after a different profile of striker that isn't just a fox in box with poor control and hold up play.

I'm confused by your post and how what I said related to EtH specifically. What do you have in mind?

I'm not an expert on the striker market and what other options were available in that age range + price bracket. I do think his hold-up play is weak on long-balls in particular, but his chance creation percentile is very close to his progressive passes received percentile and is much higher than his volume of touches would suggest.

He's pretty good at setting up others for shots or shooting situations - can't count the number of times Bruno blazed over Rasmus' lay-offs at the edge of the box.

In other words, I don't think of Rasmus as a 'fox in the box' at all, but I also definitely don't view him as effective receiving in the middle third of the park. I do think he's good in the box, but I also think he's quite good in close quarters around the edge of the box and in the channels to create for his teammates. However, we don't have a lot of willing central and channel runners on this team - particularly when we're in possession (and also when Shaw is out).

Anyway, I think he's got a lot more than you're giving him credit for and he's only 21 so plenty more development to come. I don't think he's the quality we need to reach the top, but neither are Rashford or Garnacho, so I guess three's company

The difference is, Hojlund and Garnacho are young enough to get there

 

[Bobski]

It is undeniable that the service to him has been poor and that the overall composition of the attack is flawed. Rashford, Garnacho and Hojlund are all quite one dimensional at this stage, perhaps the latter 2 develop into more rounded attackers as they mature but right not there is very little in the way of synergy among that trio.

Having said that I still have not been overly impressed with Hojlunds movement, we shouldn't assume his lack of involvement is purely the fault of those around him, he needs to get better at getting on the end of things, averaging fewer shots than Casemiro this season. That is also partly attributable to his erratic touch, there have been many times this season when he has got a pass with some space, but has needed 3/4/5 touches to get it under control, by which point the space and chance is gone.

 

[sourdough satellite]

Haaland still needs improve those things as well, yet still is posting record breaking numbers. I don't think it's claiming he's perfect, but he's got the attributes to score a lot of goals in the prem. When you think a profligate Sterling scored 20-30 goals for City quite regularly, I don't think it's a big leap.

Assuming of course, that Pep wouldn't simply prefer to play Julian Alvarez upfront most games and stick Hojlund to the bench.

 

[Bobski]

He did much better in extra time and a cool pen but he needs massive improvement to be a long term starter. Now, maybe that happens as he matures but his movement is very basic.

 

[Mike Smalling]

Does anyone get the sense he isn’t very well-liked in the squad? Only Eriksen came to celebrate and he doesn’t get many passes as has been discussed to death. Or is that reading too much into it?

 

[100]

Feels like the physicality of the season has taken its toll on him. Looked a physical beast when he started and it’s a complete 180 now

 

[acnumber9]

I’d love to know what he thought he was doing with that chance at 3-2.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

Does anyone get the sense he isn’t very well-liked in the squad? Only Eriksen came to celebrate and he doesn’t get many passes as has been discussed to death. Or is that reading too much into it?

I think they were all rightfully embarrassed. Don't blame Hojlund for calibrating as it was a very high pressure moment. Eriksen probably didn't want his international teammate there totally alone.

 

[Malone_Post]

Ellis Simms looked twice the player.

£70 million was daylight robbery.

 

[Castia]

Does anyone get the sense he isn’t very well-liked in the squad? Only Eriksen came to celebrate and he doesn’t get many passes as has been discussed to death. Or is that reading too much into it?

He doesn’t get many passes that’s for certain not sure why but i think the players were generally embarrassed to do the usual rush the keeper/last scorer and rightly so

My thought on Rasmus is that he’s nowhere near ready. His service isn’t great that’s certain but he’s not helping himself because his all round play is shit, he’s not putting himself about or winning his duels he’s invisible for 90 minutes

 

[MVP_88]

Does anyone get the sense he isn’t very well-liked in the squad? Only Eriksen came to celebrate and he doesn’t get many passes as has been discussed to death. Or is that reading too much into it?

Reading too much into it. I took it that there was no cause for celebration to beat the 8th best team in the Championship on penalties after being 3-0 up with half an hour to go

 

[mu4c_20le]

Ellis Simms looked twice the player.

£70 million was daylight robbery.

But who's going to the final? Huh?!

 

[Andycoleno9]

Can't blame him for today. He was against Kitching and Thomas. Many strikers would struggle against those two.

 

[united for life]

Does anyone get the sense he isn’t very well-liked in the squad? Only Eriksen came to celebrate and he doesn’t get many passes as has been discussed to death. Or is that reading too much into it?

No one celebrated as there is nothing to celebrate. Embarrassing

 

[Leftback99]

Offers very little.

 

[Cassidy]

Can't blame him for today. He was against Kitching and Thomas. Many strikers would struggle against those two.

Hahaha

 

[NinjaZombie]

Are there any stats to compare the amount of times he receives passes from his team mates to the amount of times he brings them into play? I suspect it's all a bit one sided. Should've finished the chance he had though.

 

[Nick7]

He cared at least in extra time. More than you can say for the rest of them.

 

[Jev]

Even playing against what is probably his level, a Championship side, he was awful. Just doesn’t look the part, at all.

 

[Rozay]

Getting tired of this guy not only not scoring a goal, but not even nearly scoring a goal. Game after game. Even when he had a scoring run, half were ricochets and bundles. It is so rare to see him just have an actual shot on target.

 

[Stadjer]

He did much better in extra time and a cool pen but he needs massive improvement to be a long term starter. Now, maybe that happens as he matures but his movement is very basic.

Yes agree. He was pretty shite in the match but in extra time he was okay-ish. He is a project player. If only Martial lived up somewhat to his potential.... Hojlund would be a good young option from the bench instead of a young starter without much competition for the CF spot.

 

[sepulturite]

There was some posters being absolute arseholes in the match thread when he was stepping up to take the penalty, disgraceful some of ye.

 

[Superunknown]

He's coming to the end of 1 season. I'm expecting a lot more from his second. He has to do a lot more.

 

[RedDevil [NC]]

Hard to contribute when rashford is constantly loosing the ball and no one else looking for him. No striker has a chance in this squad.