Benni McCarthy not doing his job then.
11
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 38
- Goals
- 11
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 2
And one that only somebody who doesn't really watch United would believe. But at this forum, where most of us have not missed a single United game in decades, making such claim is just brave.
Martial wasn't even played as a striker for most of his tenure with United and by the time he was allowed to be a striker he was second fiddle to Ibra, Cavani, Ronaldo. Martial had moments of brilliance at best, moments were way too few and far between. Comparing him to Benzema is... not to be taken seriously
Isn't he leaving?
I don't know but it would not surprise me
I like the kid, his attitude is top notch and he gives it his all on the pitch…but…
I’m just not seeing the potential that you’d expect by now. He has some positives to his game, he’s very athletic & fast, relatively two footed and has a good powerful shot on him. However, the technical side of his game leaves a lot to be desired. His first touch is genuinely horrible, he can’t really dribble or play in tight spaces. He can’t hold the ball up or bring others into play. He’s not a particularly good passer and he does seem to lose his balance a lot.
As a cheap punt you’d say he’s worth sticking with because with his natural athleticism & and ability to finish he could come good if he’s able to polish up the rest of his game. But for £70 million I’d expect a far more technically sound player. As others have said, he really does look like a poor man’s Lukaku right now. I think we’ve been absolutely fleeced again.
I’m just not seeing the potential that you’d expect by now. He has some positives to his game, he’s very athletic & fast, relatively two footed and has a good powerful shot on him. However, the technical side of his game leaves a lot to be desired. His first touch is genuinely horrible, he can’t really dribble or play in tight spaces. He can’t hold the ball up or bring others into play. He’s not a particularly good passer and he does seem to lose his balance a lot.
As a cheap punt you’d say he’s worth sticking with because with his natural athleticism & and ability to finish he could come good if he’s able to polish up the rest of his game. But for £70 million I’d expect a far more technically sound player. As others have said, he really does look like a poor man’s Lukaku right now. I think we’ve been absolutely fleeced again.
I’m somewhere around here.
There’s definitely a lot of positives around him, but it’s frustrating that he is the main 9 at the club and there is quite literally no one else. He absolutely isn’t ready to be THE 9 at a club like United with the “ambitions” of where it wants to be.
I don’t fault him; he was thrust in this position and I think it’s fair to see every fan can appreciate he is doing what is a capable of doing. He isn’t shying away, or hiding.
But I’m also not seeing the full potential he offers. I like a lot of his game but he also seems quite limited and could have a low ceiling.
But far far better players have been worse at his age (and older) so it isn’t a write off in any sense of the word.
Really hope we see more to his game next season and beyond, would absolutely love to see a world class 9 develop at the club.
His first touch is just not good enough. He's basically a less explosive Darwin Nunez.
The biggest issue with United right now is we’ll hang onto any shred of success we can, so the Under 18’s probably wining their domestic league at a canter means we as fans tend to get carried away with their potential when they’ve have not developed properly yet, in recent years we’ve hardly featured in the top 4 of the Under 21/23 team when earlier we won this title three times, there needs to be a connect through all the Age Groups that when you play for United your expected to win!
Kobbie and Garnaucho have progressed rapidly but neither should be expected to play 55 games a season as teenagers as leading lights of a club like Man United. Thats on the truly terrible recruitment of the club in the last decade.
This summer we need a complete reset, CEO, DOF, Technical Director, Coach, Woman’s coach and the brightest young manger as the Under 21 coach. I’d like to see the best young coach out there to manage and coach U21/23 team but also be part of the First team coaching squad.
Wilcox and Ashworth should be making sure there’s promotion and targets, so for example the U18 coach Adam Lawrence should get promoted to Under 21 team, he should get 2 seasons to win the league just like he has with the under 18’s plus the players get promoted with the coach.
The new head coach of the first team must work closely with the U21 and U18 coach and Wilcox as Technical Director overseas the integration, sets out a style of playing but allows each coach to be flexible with their strategy and formation. United players need to be coached to play multiple systems not a rigid ridiculous 4-1-2-3.
I watch the under 16’s, the under 18’s and only when you get to under 21’s do you get a similar style of completely gung ho open football similar to the first team, this might be why our 21’s are mid table.
We should have enough squad players at all age levels past Under 18, to be able to switch in game from 4123 to 3421 or
4-1-2-1-2 to 352 as the game requires. A player like Rasmus might be better in a two striker formation, he might be better learning from an experienced number 9 to polish his craft, next season I’d like to see Kobbie, Garnaucho and Hojlund all being given more time to develop, maybe play 1 game in a week and the club not rely on them so much?
Kobbie and Garnaucho have progressed rapidly but neither should be expected to play 55 games a season as teenagers as leading lights of a club like Man United. Thats on the truly terrible recruitment of the club in the last decade.
This summer we need a complete reset, CEO, DOF, Technical Director, Coach, Woman’s coach and the brightest young manger as the Under 21 coach. I’d like to see the best young coach out there to manage and coach U21/23 team but also be part of the First team coaching squad.
Wilcox and Ashworth should be making sure there’s promotion and targets, so for example the U18 coach Adam Lawrence should get promoted to Under 21 team, he should get 2 seasons to win the league just like he has with the under 18’s plus the players get promoted with the coach.
The new head coach of the first team must work closely with the U21 and U18 coach and Wilcox as Technical Director overseas the integration, sets out a style of playing but allows each coach to be flexible with their strategy and formation. United players need to be coached to play multiple systems not a rigid ridiculous 4-1-2-3.
I watch the under 16’s, the under 18’s and only when you get to under 21’s do you get a similar style of completely gung ho open football similar to the first team, this might be why our 21’s are mid table.
We should have enough squad players at all age levels past Under 18, to be able to switch in game from 4123 to 3421 or
4-1-2-1-2 to 352 as the game requires. A player like Rasmus might be better in a two striker formation, he might be better learning from an experienced number 9 to polish his craft, next season I’d like to see Kobbie, Garnaucho and Hojlund all being given more time to develop, maybe play 1 game in a week and the club not rely on them so much?
He should be backup. Isn’t starter quality at the moment and has to prove himself to be. The CF position at United should not be a training ground.
He has been seriously off the boil since his injury, which is a shame as he was looking in top form before then.
I hope we haven't rushed him back but right now it's like watching a raffle winner up front - no hold up play, not in the right positions for the limited chances we do create, and is being out-muscled constantly.
He needs help in order to develop into the player he can be. So much potential, way too much responsibility.
I hope we haven't rushed him back but right now it's like watching a raffle winner up front - no hold up play, not in the right positions for the limited chances we do create, and is being out-muscled constantly.
He needs help in order to develop into the player he can be. So much potential, way too much responsibility.
Cool. Sometimes people are right about players and other times they are wrong. You also don't need to be a top level coach to see that we're awful going forward and are incapable of creating chances for our strikers, no matter who plays there. His goal scoring run wasn't down to creativity from this team.
Any examples of me, or anyone else doing this?
My comment was aimed at what I saw today, I didn't say he had a good game. I said he had little to work with, a pattern with this team you have mentioned yourself...
Game was barely over and you couldn't wait to jump in with this, and yeah effort wise Martial was on a different level.
He's maybe like the 15th best striker in the league. Playing with him alone was always going to spell trouble. Two strikers were clearly needed last summer. We all knew it, it was publically said but it didn't get done and that is going to cost you. SAF rarely had fewer than 3 top strikers in any of his teams and here we are pretending Rashford is a proper forward and Martial is somehow useful. Hojlund simply isn't reliable enough and it's far too much pressure for him to handle being the lone guy up top.
Our front 3 (striker and two wingers) have been our biggest problem by far this season. Even bigger than the continous circus of defensive fitness. Even bigger than our lack of midfield for most of the season.These guys have poor first touch, they can't beat their man, they slow down play way too often and they make the exact same runs every time. So predictable every one of them. Garnacho has been ok but he blows hot and cold. Diallo certainly brings in something new and is not predictable as the others. Antony, the most predicatble of them all at least has decent first touch and you can pass to him under pressure without having to call heads mid-air.
I'm too tired to rant about it more and the Hojlund thread isn't the correct place to do so as he's only one cog of the faulty machine.
Our front 3 (striker and two wingers) have been our biggest problem by far this season. Even bigger than the continous circus of defensive fitness. Even bigger than our lack of midfield for most of the season.These guys have poor first touch, they can't beat their man, they slow down play way too often and they make the exact same runs every time. So predictable every one of them. Garnacho has been ok but he blows hot and cold. Diallo certainly brings in something new and is not predictable as the others. Antony, the most predicatble of them all at least has decent first touch and you can pass to him under pressure without having to call heads mid-air.
I'm too tired to rant about it more and the Hojlund thread isn't the correct place to do so as he's only one cog of the faulty machine.
Not sure I agree here. Weak players can show isolated moments of good strength too
To think a few days ago some posters claimed Hojlund is better than Isak
I've said this before - I don't understand why we want to build our team around a poacher.
We will have to change our whole team and dynamic just to get the best out of Hojlund by laying nearly every ball to him.
It's better we get the best out of our inverted forwards like Arsenal are doing and focusing on getting the best out of Garnacho, Rashford, Amad, Antony plus even Sancho & G'wood depending who is here next season.
We were the 2nd best team in the league under Ole where we played to Rashford's and G'woods advantage by playing a creative forward like Martial almost playing like a False 9 creating chances for them.
For me, if Martial was available this season we would have seen a better version of both Rashford & Garnacho than we saw this season because Martial would create chances from them - not even by just passing but him dropping deep aswell.
Hojlund should be our Plan B.
I'm not mad at him or disappointed - but I believe all this hype started with just a hattrick against Finland.
We will have to change our whole team and dynamic just to get the best out of Hojlund by laying nearly every ball to him.
It's better we get the best out of our inverted forwards like Arsenal are doing and focusing on getting the best out of Garnacho, Rashford, Amad, Antony plus even Sancho & G'wood depending who is here next season.
We were the 2nd best team in the league under Ole where we played to Rashford's and G'woods advantage by playing a creative forward like Martial almost playing like a False 9 creating chances for them.
For me, if Martial was available this season we would have seen a better version of both Rashford & Garnacho than we saw this season because Martial would create chances from them - not even by just passing but him dropping deep aswell.
Hojlund should be our Plan B.
I'm not mad at him or disappointed - but I believe all this hype started with just a hattrick against Finland.
I like him, I think he has some great potential, but the state of this club that he’s our only option is an absolute disgrace.
He shouldn’t have this pressure on him to be thrust back in after injury and to immediately be United’s number one & only striker.
He shouldn’t have this pressure on him to be thrust back in after injury and to immediately be United’s number one & only striker.
Not sure why nobody passes to him? Amad could have set him up at the end instead of trying a silly volley
He's a kid who's gonna be inconsistent, especially given he plays in a position where experience is paramount. He's also the only centre forward in the squad and has already had five separate injuries this season.
It's obvious that he needs help.
It's obvious that he needs help.
This is a good point. But then again did ETH ever care for possession and control? Most of his signings appear to be aimed at hitting teams hard and fast (with a toothbrush). For a team like City, they can do with a limited CF as the rest of the team compensates. With our weaknesses you could argue that we need someone more well rounded.
I also don’t think Rashford and Garnacho should be ones to build around either with one being not good enough and other a kid.
Why did you have 0 posts in this thread when he was scoring goals almost every game?
Did he show up for the Bournemouth thread?@Leftback99 is absent from this thread lately.
Hang in there, I'm sure Rasmus will have a bad performance sooner or later and you'll be able to post again!
Exactly- City have built their team around Haaland - whilst having creators like De Bruyne, Bernando Silva, Foden, Grealish all on the pitch at once. They also keep possession and use Haaland as their target man/poacher or atleast the player that keeps the opposition CB's busy to create space for the attacking midfielders to score whilst still arguably being creators themselves.
No offence to Hojlund but he is not on Haaland's level either so we would have to build arguably a better creative team than City have which is simply not possible.
Ten Hag gave up possession football to transitional football - I have no idea what that means but I still think its a version of transitioning the players position very quickly to try catch the opposition off guard - which seems like a slightly altered version of a counter attacking team with just a bit of extra possesion rather than completely sitting deep.
The problem is even if we are a transitioning team - when an attack happens in our front line - we need either Rashford or Garnacho to play in Hojlund (inverted forwards trying to play in a poacher) or Hojlund to try and play in Rashford & Garnacho ( a poacher trying to play in inverted forwards). It's like asking Lewandowski to play the final pass to David Villa all the time rather than playing Messi as a False 9 asking him to play through balls for David Villa to score. Lewandowski isn't going to get the best out of David Villa and David Villa isn't going to get the best out of Lewandowski.
The tactics are simply not good enough because its very basic mistakes and problems we have which is why i think the players like Rashford gave up on ten hag a long time ago. Arsenal use Havertz, Trossard, Jesus as goalscorers but also creators for Saka and Martinelli aswell as Odegaard creating chances for them all.
If we want to use our inverted forwards who are just wide playing goalscorers as our main tactic - then we need a more central creative forward, not a poacher. This is why Kane was the most impossible but best signing we could have made last summer. Because as we saw at Spurs - he can play in a final ball to a player like Son.
If we want to play a poacher as our main tactic - then we need more creative players from as deep as our goalkeeper, to our fullbacks, to our midfielders, to our wingers ultimately to get the best use of Hojlund.
This is why I have said that losing Sancho playing as our False 9 from pre-season hit us harder than people realise.
Ten Hag either knew we needed a central creative player to get the best out of our inverted forwards or just wanted to get a/build a better version of Sancho.
Losing both Sancho and Martial all season centrally has left our inverted forwards with no service from central positions just as Hojlund as a poacher has received no service all season from out wide.
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Team chemistry is bad, they probably don't trust Hojlund tbh
the bolded part is fantasy. We’re as likely to discover a Time Machine to bring back a 40 year old Fergie to solve our issues
I am not sure if he's particularly rated across European leagues.
The main creator clearly doesn't.
Agree. I said myself we should be going for a creative type number 9 last summer that can dribble and hold the ball themselves. Rashford and Antony (our first choice RW at the but same stands for Garnacho) don't create for a striker at all.
Wasn’t at his best yesterday but would have had a tap in had rashford squared it instead of shanking the ball 2 yards wide with his left foot.
That seems to happen quite a lot, for the most part I think he’s getting into some good positions it’s just that people seem to ignore him.
That seems to happen quite a lot, for the most part I think he’s getting into some good positions it’s just that people seem to ignore him.
Did we pay 72m for a player who could only score tap ins? Serious question, how many goals in the premier league an average league 2 striker would score in our team?
At Atalanta he often drops deeper to receive the ball and lay if off for a cross or pass into the box, his hold up play in that sense was good and he is a good poacher as we've even seen at times. He is oddly too high up backing into players in difficult spots and losing the ball holding onto it too long, getting surrounded. Said before he came he wasn't the most agile quick footed inside the box to twist and turn, he can rust fast with or onto the ball, poach well, but not so much high up back to goal like a younger Kane could do very well and release a powerful shot on the turn or like Mark Hughes could.
Right now he looks worn out, doesn't get much recovery time, he's done a lot of physical work occupying defences feeding off scraps. He's looked best for us with passes into the box or running with the ball at goal to sweep it in.
Right now he looks worn out, doesn't get much recovery time, he's done a lot of physical work occupying defences feeding off scraps. He's looked best for us with passes into the box or running with the ball at goal to sweep it in.
Did we buy the wrong type of striker to fit the team? Seems like Højlund is mostly a finisher, but we create no chances. Maybe it would have been better to get someone with more skill on the ball to drop deep and link midfield to attack.
In any case, we are in trouble if we enter next season with him as our only real striker. Need to get someone in, but of course that’s the case for almost all positions. Sigh.
In any case, we are in trouble if we enter next season with him as our only real striker. Need to get someone in, but of course that’s the case for almost all positions. Sigh.
He's been poor since returning from injury. Mirroring how he looked at the beginning somewhat.
He's just not offering anything at the moment.
He's just not offering anything at the moment.
Not many as we struggle with chance creation. Probably 4-5.
I co-sign the majority of this too. I'm not seeing the player I expected. Some of this is tactical and some of it is simply first season in a new team/league. Kid has too much pressure on him just let him be
I like him but the difference between him and Solanke today was clear to see. He is not at the level required of this league yet. No doubt he will get there, but he shouldn't be starting for us now if we are serious.
Since his come back from injury a few weeks back about half hour into games he has looked absolutely knackered...resulting IMO in losing a lot of his battles/duels.
The service into him is still poor. Has been all season.
The service into him is still poor. Has been all season.
He was poor yesterday for sure. Pre injury he was holding it up well and bringing others into play.
Prime shearer would struggle to score in this team as we create so little.
72m looks like a lot right now but I think the basics are there and he’s shown he can be a good player. Am not overly concerned about him.
I love Rashford and don’t buy all of the criticism, yes he’s been shocking all season but he clearly needs a 9 like Martial or Weghorst who works for him plus an elite Left back that dominates the side and feeds him.
We either replace all of our front three with Rasmus and Garnaucho being squad and game changers from the bench, maybe with Amad and Antony or Sancho as the other back ups.
If we make that decision and it’s certainly a question then we need to discuss with a new coach the following;
1. Club has decided to sell the following attacking players M Rashford(£85m),
M Greenwood(£30m), F Pellistri (£10m), and either Antony or Sancho(£30m). That’s a total of £155m.
2. The club will recruit three attacking players to compete with our existing options.
3. I Toney or D Solanki(£58m),
M Olise(55m), I Williams (42m buy out) that’s a huge upgrade for the sane money.
4. The new coach now has 7 options for 3/4 spaces, the players are all on similar wages with the exception of Antony or Sancho whichever stays, because of the HG rule more likely Sancho and the fact that no one paying his wages.
This would be best for Rasmus to compete with a more experienced number 9 but Ivan Toney or Dominic Solanke also have the ability to both play in a 2 as both can play as deeper second striker. Players don’t get burnt out, the United coach has serious options from the bench to change games, something we currently do not possess.
We’ve gone from Ole team having ; Inform Rashford, In form Martial, rising superstar Greenwood, Wily old statesman Cavani, Igalho, Daniel James and Antony Elanga as speed merchants and Amad being giving minutes to currently no Target man, a young number 9 learning their trade.
I feel sorry for Rasmus but he must improve and improve quickly or he’ll be sitting on the bench most of next season.
We either replace all of our front three with Rasmus and Garnaucho being squad and game changers from the bench, maybe with Amad and Antony or Sancho as the other back ups.
If we make that decision and it’s certainly a question then we need to discuss with a new coach the following;
1. Club has decided to sell the following attacking players M Rashford(£85m),
M Greenwood(£30m), F Pellistri (£10m), and either Antony or Sancho(£30m). That’s a total of £155m.
2. The club will recruit three attacking players to compete with our existing options.
3. I Toney or D Solanki(£58m),
M Olise(55m), I Williams (42m buy out) that’s a huge upgrade for the sane money.
4. The new coach now has 7 options for 3/4 spaces, the players are all on similar wages with the exception of Antony or Sancho whichever stays, because of the HG rule more likely Sancho and the fact that no one paying his wages.
This would be best for Rasmus to compete with a more experienced number 9 but Ivan Toney or Dominic Solanke also have the ability to both play in a 2 as both can play as deeper second striker. Players don’t get burnt out, the United coach has serious options from the bench to change games, something we currently do not possess.
We’ve gone from Ole team having ; Inform Rashford, In form Martial, rising superstar Greenwood, Wily old statesman Cavani, Igalho, Daniel James and Antony Elanga as speed merchants and Amad being giving minutes to currently no Target man, a young number 9 learning their trade.
I feel sorry for Rasmus but he must improve and improve quickly or he’ll be sitting on the bench most of next season.
Some fans cannot remember anything beyond the latest match.
Do you also ditch your girlfriend/boyfriend after one bad night?
Do you also ditch your girlfriend/boyfriend after one bad night?
Greedy bastards around him wanting all the glory and accolades for themself making this guy look a mug.
In a functioning team, he’d flourish.
In a functioning team, he’d flourish.