Another expensive mistake.
11
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 39
- Goals
- 11
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 2
100% this! I feel for him, its really unfair to expect him to lead the line for a club like Man Utd at such a young age. Of course it was only going to fail. Such poor planning from Ten Hag and co.
He doesn’t look like he has this finisher instinct.
He is always a bit late or stuff like that. I don’t think it’s something you learn. He will never be a lethal finisher I think. And he is not good enough technically as well.
He can be a good player but we need better first choice striker at Manchester United. Fergie even had better strikers on the bench (I know, football wasn’t the same) and City has a better second fiddle striker as well.
It’s all nice and well to defend him. And everyone knows it’s not his fault.
But at the end of the day, we have one promising kid on the right, promising but still raw and learning. One young and not so promising talent wise central striker and an out of form Rashford on the left. All that with no depth.
We should remember ourselves, this club is Manchester United. One of the most famous and richest on earth, with one of the biggest wage bill.
How far we have fallen.
He is always a bit late or stuff like that. I don’t think it’s something you learn. He will never be a lethal finisher I think. And he is not good enough technically as well.
He can be a good player but we need better first choice striker at Manchester United. Fergie even had better strikers on the bench (I know, football wasn’t the same) and City has a better second fiddle striker as well.
It’s all nice and well to defend him. And everyone knows it’s not his fault.
But at the end of the day, we have one promising kid on the right, promising but still raw and learning. One young and not so promising talent wise central striker and an out of form Rashford on the left. All that with no depth.
We should remember ourselves, this club is Manchester United. One of the most famous and richest on earth, with one of the biggest wage bill.
How far we have fallen.
On the bolded part, see post from @KiD MoYeS which expelained my concerns:
I also mentioned that looking back at his Serie A highlights, it looked like a lot of his good moments there were down to physical superiority - which concerns me about succeeding in the Premier League, which is generally a faster paced and more physical league.
End of the day, we need a new striker for next season. Not Hojlund's fault, but we need to be realistic. This is on the club.
At Atalanta he was used very differently. He was constantly doing runs down the flanks and was then the main recipient for long balls. He was then to do the run and pass the ball / cross it. A polar opposite role of what he does for Denmark. Much like was the case with Mæhle, I was very happy to see him leave Atalanta.
Being critical of a player/manager doesn't equate to writing them off, or being a hater as some people like to say.
We all want him to succeed, because we want the club to succeed. But some of us just say it like it is and call a spade a spade, rather than sugarcoating the truth or turning a blind eye to it. It's not our problem if you decide to take offence to criticism of Hojlund and its not going to make him less of an underwhelming striker by you doing so
Nobody is taking offense to any criticism, he deserves some criticism, i’m not saying he doesn’t. But I don’t know if you’ve noticed the posts are way more than just some light criticism. He’s been called all sorts in here and basically written off as an expensive flop who can’t do any of the basics right and might as well just not be a footballer and we should get rid asap, after a few months. Where as I see it differently and see a young player who is joint top scorer in all competitions in a terrible team where nobody is scoring much with great attributes that can be built upon, maybe in a few seasons he’s not great and then we have the conversation about moving him on, but after a few months??
We as a fanbase have given plenty of young players time and patience to see if they come good, for better or worse, but for some reason alot of people here seem massively unwilling to do so and that’s why i’m here defending the lad. Hell look at the Garnacho thread, the posts there flip from fraud who will never make it here to world class talent depending on if he has 1 bad game or not. When did we get so impatient and shitting on our young players constantly?
Yeah those are good points about his abilities mate.
It has been so frustrating for so many years with attackers that dont get enough in the box.
I hope more experience, better self confidence and the whole team playing better will elevate Højlund as a striker
His movement is his best attribute for sure. He had some really good changes against Wigan, really needs to bury those.
A trend for United forwards not getting enough shots off.
In their first 25 games Hojlund, Sanchez, Cavani, Weghorst, Falcao with just 35 shots on goals.
United players with the most shots in the Premier League this season Fernandes 47 Garnacho 43 Marcus Rashford 42 and we'll probably see the same on Sunday with Fernandez,McTominay,Rashford and Garnacho taking on shots than to create chances for Rasmus.
In their first 25 games Hojlund, Sanchez, Cavani, Weghorst, Falcao with just 35 shots on goals.
United players with the most shots in the Premier League this season Fernandes 47 Garnacho 43 Marcus Rashford 42 and we'll probably see the same on Sunday with Fernandez,McTominay,Rashford and Garnacho taking on shots than to create chances for Rasmus.
IMO, we need to be patient with him because I believe that he'll be a very good PL striker in a year or two. No doubt we paid too much for him and he isn't ready to start games regularly but that's where the market is for top (hopefully) talent. He isn't being helped by the fact that the players around him seldom provide a good goalscoring opportunity for him (don't get me started on Rashford's decision making). For sure he should have scored against Wigan but that's how things are for him at the moment. It's frustrating for all of us right now but I personally believe that he'll come good soon enough.
I think he has a bright future but paying 70 million pound is just a desperate move. He is at most a 35 million striker and a backup one. United suck at transfer and will buy whatever the manager wants. Erik should be gone for a season striker and goes for him for a 35 million bid. Once they know he is only a backup, they won't ask for 70 million. If United plays poker, they will lose their shirts and pants.
Yeah the problem with this is that PSG had already bid 50 million before we had agreed to buy him, so what good does bidding 35 million do?
People are saying he was too expensive, and I agree, he was, but PSG had bid 50 million, Atalanta didn't want to let him go, and he is a young talented player who was on a long contract, with a relatively low amount of striking options going for good prices. People really shouldn't be that shocked at the money paid given todays climate.
I would find other target. He is still unproven talent for 70 million.
20 years old.
It's an investment, an expensive one, but I'm quite confident with him. He's shown some good things at various times but there's work to do to pull it all together. He can be more clinical, he can smarten his movements which are already decent, he will continue to grow into his physicality which is already very good. At 20 you don't have full strength and power.
It will come together, especially as this team (hopefully) improves in the coming seasons.
It's an investment, an expensive one, but I'm quite confident with him. He's shown some good things at various times but there's work to do to pull it all together. He can be more clinical, he can smarten his movements which are already decent, he will continue to grow into his physicality which is already very good. At 20 you don't have full strength and power.
It will come together, especially as this team (hopefully) improves in the coming seasons.
Like ? Not trying to wum but the striker market is dry. We took a gamble and invested in a potential. Overpaid by about 20m .I don't think anyone with sane thought was expecting this kid to be a hit the very first season.
From what I saw from him in this 20 or so games, he is far away from world class talent. At the best we will have good sub, and that is if his price tag and pressure that he will get from media in the next year or so, do not kill his confidence.
He is struggling with runs, he always take the wrong one, he is going into space that his teammates should use (and usually use), he is not taking his players to open up space. His finishing is terrible. His first touch is far away from good, he is a little bit better than Lukaku in that department. Some of this can be fixed, but not if he is under spotlight and the first and only choice every 3 days. Some of this could be on manager, as our attacking transition is terrible so good coach can fix that in a month or two working with him. It would be awesome if we got him for 20-25m as sub that will get better with time.
He is struggling with runs, he always take the wrong one, he is going into space that his teammates should use (and usually use), he is not taking his players to open up space. His finishing is terrible. His first touch is far away from good, he is a little bit better than Lukaku in that department. Some of this can be fixed, but not if he is under spotlight and the first and only choice every 3 days. Some of this could be on manager, as our attacking transition is terrible so good coach can fix that in a month or two working with him. It would be awesome if we got him for 20-25m as sub that will get better with time.
Need to buy more players that are 23/24 years old if you’re going to spending the big cash. Players at 20 aren’t guaranteed to make it to the next level. Would rather he had another few years of Serie A to see if he was up to it. One season with 9 league goals is hardly phenomenon level.
A lot of people can’t see past the fee. Like you say, there are market circumstances that make the whole transaction far less binary.
THe service this lad gets is diabolical. Rashford has two ‘moves’, cut inside and shoot, go outside and run down a blind alley. He’s pretty much as one footed as Antony when it comes to feeding balls into the box.
How anyone can thrive with that level of ‘service’ is incomprehensible (and makes buying someone like Osimhen an even bigger gamble).
Rasmussen has shown a lot of potential, and that’s what we paid for. It’s up to the club to unlock that potential and get a good ROI.
this new trend of saying mctominay is the reason he cant score is really childish. nobody is buying that, everyone knows one player is just the more fashionable.
reminds me of when people said rangnick couldnt win because of the instructions ole gave the players 4 months prior
He’s shown limited potential since he’s been here. He looks like a midtable Atalanta level striker, with some pace and finishing ability, but limited technically.
Remember when a 19 year old Rooney was volleying an incredible equaliser against Newcastle or when a 20 year old Ronaldo was scoring the goal of season against Portsmouth in early 2006? Those are the moments when you realise you are watching a special talent. We’ve seen nothing of that nature from Hojlund which would justify putting him on that level.
What we are hoping (and it is no more than hope) is that his pace and finishing will in due course all come together and he will be the next Lewandowski. However, there’s many many strikers who could develop in that way at 20/21 and it’s pretty much impossible to predict which of the 2nd/3rd tier level talents might make it. He could easily have a creditable career at Carlton Cole or Conor Wickham type level, without ever going on to be one of the very few who go on to become world class.
This is why top clubs simply don’t spend mind numbing sums on this level of player, especially when they don’t even have a current striker who can be the figurehead of the club whilst they see if the youngster can actually make it. It’s not an investment. It’s a flat-out gamble.
Edit - I’m just going to add that, to make it even worse, he’s not even the style of striker we needed. We have wingers who thrive on cutting inside and linking up with a mobile CF, who can drop deep and feed them in. Think how Martial (when he could move) used to link up the play or how Kane has made it look like Sane is world class. For reasons unknown, we purchased a forward who doesn’t want to really be involved in the build up and wants to himself have balls fed in behind. It just isn’t a good fit.
Bingo, Keano. There's nothing wrong with Rasmus as a young prospect but there was nothing about his performances in Serie A that ever indicated a future worldbeater. And although I understand the cost of doing business is what it is these days, spending 70m on a young prospect who didn't exactly light up the scoreboard in a significantly lesser league is pretty fukking insane.
Oh, just two of the greatest talents of the 2000s? One of them was one of the best 19 year olds ever seen, and the other guy went on to become the greatest goalscorer ever and at least a top 5 player of all time.
Even just comparing those two's careers will tell you that development is often not linear, so why are you comparing a completely different player to them 20 years later?
What were Lewandowski and Drogba doing at 20? See, it goes both ways.
And all of these examples you and I listed are irrelevant to Hojlund.
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Precisely, two of the great talents of that era on whom we correctly spent sums that, at the time, were comparable to what we have just spent on Hojlund. That’s the level of player he should fairly be being compared to.
As you say, where were Drogba and Lewandowski at 20? Why were they not already at big clubs? Yep, that’s right - it’s because it’s very difficult to predict which 20 year olds will make it.Quite properly, their moves to bigger clubs were later, once they had shown slightly more, and even then as relatively low risk transfers (€4 million for Lewa to Dortmund and €6 million for Drogba to Marseille after he had a great season in Ligue 1).
Of course, if in 4 years time, Hojlund has turned into Drogba, our purchase will look like a masterstroke. That’s what we are all hoping for but, as it stands, it’s based on a lot of faith in the brilliance of our recruitment policy, which has not exactly looked infallible with some of the other purchases.
Man Utd 2:2 Tottenham
His best game for us in the league. Need more of that.
Actually played well
So did he do enough today for the people in this thread calling him a fraud and the worst striker to ever play for us to give him some patience?
Probably MOTM for us, a great goal and an assist and his general overall play was very good, setup a few chances for others that they fluffled and didn't do a whole lot wrong all game.
If you don't see something worth working with then I don't know what to tell you at this point, he needs patience.
Probably MOTM for us, a great goal and an assist and his general overall play was very good, setup a few chances for others that they fluffled and didn't do a whole lot wrong all game.
If you don't see something worth working with then I don't know what to tell you at this point, he needs patience.
Man of the Match for us. Can hold his head high.
Let down by the team.
Let down by the team.
Good finish. Completely dominated by Romero and Van de Ven otherwise.
Excellent ! Hope he'll keep it up and grow up in confidence. MOTM easy.
Good game, good goal
Some very nice stuff in the build up that makes me much more optimistic about him. Was never concerned with the drought, he had shown he could score against solid teams in the CL but if he can be tidy and effective in the build up then you have a striker to build around.
Good game.
Good game.
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You mean like when he skilled past VdV and outran him? This is completely made up
Enjoyed that a lot. Obviously a lot to work on still, but ends up with a goal and assist. He's going to be a great player.
Apart from the assist and other chances created?
He had a good all round game today
Come on, we have no midfield and been outplayed. Dominated?
Quite obviously a good player in there. Him and Mainoo are being let down by those around them.
Excellent performance. More to come, but it’s clear that Rasmus will need to manufacture his own chances if he’s to reach 5 goals in the PL this season.