[LDUred]

It's just a sophomore slump on the back of an exhausting and ultimately satisfactory first season.

I also get the feeling he's got a little carried away with social media stuff and let things go to his head.

With the right kind of coaching and rotation, he'll be back strongly at the end of this season.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

It's just a sophomore slump on the back of an exhausting and ultimately satisfactory first season.

I also get the feeling he's got a little carried away with social media stuff and let things go to his head.

With the right kind of coaching and rotation, he'll be back strongly at the end of this season.

He has already been rotated and has been outright poor for a long time.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

I actually endorse a loan for Rasmus, as there's no chance we would get more than 15m for him right now anyway. Let him perform in a less competitive environment and see if he can come good, great, and if not, then sell him for the 10m max we would get for him anyway. I don't know which Championship clubs need a striker but surely there must be at least 2 or 3

And play Zirkzee who is as terrible?

 

[LDUred]

He has already been rotated and has been outright poor for a long time.

Yep, he's been poor, but he's still learning the ropes and adapting to RA's system. Our attack hasn't really clicked yet and it probably won't fully until we have genuine wing backs like Dorgu and possibly Quenda providing numbers in attack.

I haven't given up on him yet because I liked what I saw last season. There's a role for him in this team.

 

[Gandalf]

I actually endorse a loan for Rasmus, as there's no chance we would get more than 15m for him right now anyway. Let him perform in a less competitive environment and see if he can come good, great, and if not, then sell him for the 10m max we would get for him anyway. I don't know which Championship clubs need a striker but surely there must be at least 2 or 3.

If he were to go on a loan then it would not be until the summer when we can bring in a replacement starter, it also would not be to the Championship as there are almost no clubs there that would cover more than a fraction of his wages. I could see him returning to Italy for a spell and also the Bundesliga would make sense although any loan would almost certainly be made with a view to rebuilding his value in order to get a good fee in a permanent sale. I don't recall too many examples of a player spending two years as a starter somewhere and then going on loan before returning to their parent club and becoming a starter again.

I do think it is more likely he stays at least one more season, I am certain we will sign a new striker who will be first choice in the summer but we are not likely to have the funds for two, not with the other positions that need to be addressed and the financial limitations we are dealing with. On that basis we need to keep either Hojlund or Zirkzee to back up our new starter and Hojlund seems to be a better fit for the role in Amorim's system than Zirkzee who just does not suit the position as Amorim views it. If he does stay he is going to have to show significant improvement in a lot of areas to make it beyond next season, he definitely needs to work on his movement and balance issues and the news that we have an elite athletics coach consulting at the moment is encouraging in this respect. I cannot see him being our long term starter but he does have a shot to secure the backup role if he can adapt and Amorim and his staff can develop him.

 

[LDUred]

A loan is not on the table for me and is a bit of an insult to a player who had a decent first season at this level. It's also diminishing them as an asset. Also, we need him simply as a body having barely any other options at the club. If he goes on loan, who takes his place? There's no guarantees that whoever replaces him will do any better.

Yesterday, I thought he showed signs of recovery and was just a bit unlucky. At some point, that will change and we will be the beneficiaries, rather than a Champo club.

We don't create an awful lot of chances and he tends to get outnumbered because we don't have many options going forward. That in itself is not surprising as we've been using the likes of Mazraoui and Dalot as attacking players when they're full backs who prefer to sit deeper. Just as Amorim said that there would be pain in the rebuilding process, that will inevitably account for dips in form on an individual level as players get used to the system.

Sending a young player on loan to the Champo after he had a good first season at the club is just overreacting.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

Yep, he's been poor, but he's still learning the ropes and adapting to RA's system. Our attack hasn't really clicked yet and it probably won't fully until we have genuine wing backs like Dorgu and possibly Quenda providing numbers in attack.

I haven't given up on him yet because I liked what I saw last season. There's a role for him in this team.

I see a Championship player.

 

[Camy89]

I can’t understand his technique of continually backing into a defender with his arse and then collapsing to the ground as the opponent simply heads the ball away?

Just try going for the header too? It’s a weird thing he does, rarely works.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

I won't rate Zirkzee or Rashford as large framed players, just strong but not strong enough.

Hojlund on the other hand, has the body of RVN, trying to play like Berkamp, end up being Bendtner

You think Zirkzee isn’t large framed???

He’s 6’4, and Rashford himself is 6’2 and both are worse than Martinez in the air.

 

[Gandalf]

I can’t understand his technique of continually backing into a defender with his arse and then collapsing to the ground as the opponent simply heads the ball away?

Just try going for the header too? It’s a weird thing he does, rarely works.

He has some weird balancing issues but the backing into defenders is typical number 9 stuff, Haaland does it all day long. The problem with Rasmus is that he had never played this way before joining us and so seems to not know how to do it effectively and as mentioned he does seem to have some issues with his balance which need to be addressed. I would add though that he is frequently held and pulled over by defenders when he is doing this and for some reason the refs never give anything even though he is blatantly being fouled a lot of the time. If a player falls a lot you can start to see it as being on them every time they go to ground, yesterday people were going on about him hitting the deck when Kobbie scored and yet the replays clearly showed the defender grab his arm and pull him over.

 

[LDUred]

I see a Championship player.

Rasmus is still only 21 years old; we have to remember that. Strikers are rarely the finished article at that age, and as in Rasmus's case, he must be given the opportunity to grow and develop.

He virtually led the line for us last season and it was probably inevitable that his development would stall at some point.

I think some people have pretty short memories of how good he was last season beyond even the goal scoring. He took on a lot of responsibility and led the line well.

 

[Lentwood]

Slightly torn because he did score in 7 consecutive PL games, and some of those were really well-taken...I could pick out three or four that were great finishes.

He's 21 and he's playing in an underperforming side, surrounded by other young lads for the most part (Amad, Garnacho, Mainoo) and he's struggling for confidence.

Should we have paid £70m? Absolutely not....but that's done now, and we need to evaluate him for what he is...a very young lad playing as a lone CF in a mediocre side. It's no good talking about his fee, it's a moot point at this stage.

I'd love us to sign someone like Osimhen and use Hojlund as that impact sub when the game opens up. Hope that in-time, he'll be a more well rounded player.

 

[jem]

It's just a sophomore slump on the back of an exhausting and ultimately satisfactory first season.

I also get the feeling he's got a little carried away with social media stuff and let things go to his head.

With the right kind of coaching and rotation, he'll be back strongly at the end of this season.

I get this sense too. I know I’ll sound old but he seems a bit too on-point and rehearsed with his posts (the Kyle Walker one comes to mind, although it was amusing.) He didn’t come off too well in the spat he had with some rando who commented on his IG. I do think he warrants further patience but a loan might work best for everyone

 

[MadDogg]

I won't rate Zirkzee or Rashford as large framed players, just strong but not strong enough.

Hojlund on the other hand, has the body of RVN, trying to play like Berkamp, end up being Bendtner

Rashford yes, as he's quite lanky. But Zirkzee is a large guy, bigger than either Hojlund or RVN were.

Zirkzee does seem to be getting better at winning balls in the air both in terms of long balls or crosses, but he's not good at directing the latter.

 

[Ceteris]

I saw the video of him racing past the city defence for Atalanta. He seems bulkier these days and not seen that pace for us either.

 

[Tallis]

He set up Kobbie for what should have been an easy finish. We are not helping him as well. 2 assists in 2 games (Garnacho missed one in his previous start) would have done wonders for his confidence -

 

[Schmeichels pinky]

Why are we living on a prayer of him 'coming good' eventually. We spent £70million on the kid, granted that price isn't his fault nor his true valuation, but the expectation is he should be hitting the ground running for us, not looking increasingly worse the longer we persist with him as our talisman. The whole notion of loaning him out is a ridiculous one too. We should be simply looking to cut our losses.

Because he showed his potential until this season and it would be bad business to let him go at a low point when it’s reasonable to expect him to come good and at least become a decent PL striker

 

[lex talionis]

I don’t recall Rasmus being amazing for us last season. But if it were indeed the case that he was brilliant in his debut season for United then of course we should hang in there with him during this season-long barren streak.

 

[JJ12]

I don’t recall Rasmus being amazing for us last season. But if it were indeed the case that he was brilliant in his debut season for United then of course we should hang in there with him during this season-long barren streak.

He was better but not amazing

 

[Denis79]

He's very much a one-trick pony at the moment which is very concerning, if the game doesn't allow running in behind the defenders he struggles. He tries hard to be a link-up player, or target man but he really doesn't have the techique or first touch to handle that role. The Fulham game wasn't an exception, it just highlighted how poor his technique is because he was involved in the play more than usual.

I still have hopes he will become a decent striker for us but I can with certainty say that he is no exceptional talent like we all hoped he was.

 

[Ali Dia]

Yep, he's been poor, but he's still learning the ropes and adapting to RA's system. Our attack hasn't really clicked yet and it probably won't fully until we have genuine wing backs like Dorgu and possibly Quenda providing numbers in attack.

I haven't given up on him yet because I liked what I saw last season. There's a role for him in this team.

I'm with you on this one. I think it's mental asking a player so young to carry an attack where older more experienced and more highly paid players are totally failing around him. Our fans have been spoiled with Rooney and the likes of Rashford and Martial breaking through on the wings in better teams. This lad needs rotation and help from those around him. He has the tools to become a really complete striker if we are patient. It's people are blaming him for the situation we find ourselves in which is also crazy. He's just the scapegoat for a shite team and a club that's been run into a wall but hopefully with progress all around him he'll come back stronger for this blip and the experience it's given him. He's a United fan who is giving his all and is having the first major crisis of his career. Fans should be backing him like they did with Forlan instead of turning him into a scapegoat

 

[flameinthesun]

I'm with you on this one. I think it's mental asking a player so young to carry an attack where older more experienced and more highly paid players are totally failing around him. Our fans have been spoiled with Rooney and the likes of Rashford and Martial breaking through on the wings in better teams. This lad needs rotation and help from those around him. He has the tools to become a really complete striker if we are patient. It's people are blaming him for the situation we find ourselves in which is also crazy. He's just the scapegoat for a shite team and a club that's been run into a wall but hopefully with progress all around him he'll come back stronger for this blip and the experience it's given him. He's a United fan who is giving his all and is having the first major crisis of his career. Fans should be backing him like they did with Forlan instead of turning him into a scapegoat

I get the sentiment, however, there is also an opposite and equally as valid view. He is 21 soon to be 22. No one is questioning his workrate and he definitely should have some rotation to take him out of the lime light (which technically he does have in Zirkzee who he is now rotating with). He is not being asked to carry the team or the attack, he is being asked to do the basics better. No one is expecting him to be Harry Kane, however, they are perfectly in the right to point out that he is performing below what you would expect from him. Him consistently losing physical battles, consistently having poor hold up play whether against top opposition or weaker opposition could be down to him not having an older striker to share the load or it could equally be that he isn't as good as we hoped he would be. Currently he is amongst the worst strikers in the league. Not just based on stats but visually as well. Incapable of holding up the ball, Incapable of linking play up and constantly being bullied by defenders. If he is not getting opportunities to score that can be down to the team not being creative, however everything else is on him.

 

[Giggsyking]

Because he showed his potential until this season and it would be bad business to let him go at a low point when it’s reasonable to expect him to come good and at least become a decent PL striker

Time's up. He needs to be sold or at least loaned out in the summer.

 

[LDUred]

I'm with you on this one. I think it's mental asking a player so young to carry an attack where older more experienced and more highly paid players are totally failing around him. Our fans have been spoiled with Rooney and the likes of Rashford and Martial breaking through on the wings in better teams. This lad needs rotation and help from those around him. He has the tools to become a really complete striker if we are patient. It's people are blaming him for the situation we find ourselves in which is also crazy. He's just the scapegoat for a shite team and a club that's been run into a wall but hopefully with progress all around him he'll come back stronger for this blip and the experience it's given him. He's a United fan who is giving his all and is having the first major crisis of his career. Fans should be backing him like they did with Forlan instead of turning him into a scapegoat

Yeah, it's weird that fans have been so quick to jump on his back. He's been poor, but so has Garnacho under Amorim. Amorim has focused a lot on improving the foundations and making us tighter out of possession, which he deserves credit for; but the attack as a collective hasn't really fired.

In time, the attack should start to click because with having genuine wing backs players in the attacking third, we'll be able to create more and be less one-dimensional and reliant on hold-up play.

 

[Fabian Kellar 2]

It's not that he doesn't make runs, he does -- its that he makes the wrong runs. EVERY time.

Watching the game on Thursday, he ended up on the floor, somehow, for both our goals.

It's getting to the point where the sight of him starts to make my blood boil. Only other players i have had that with is Maguire in Ole's second season (its just apathy now) and Fellaini.

 

[FreakyJim]

He was visibly faster when he started. Had that spring in his step. Now he looks like he's running through quicksand. Slow to react, slow to press, not enough runs.

Come to think of it, Mainoo looks slower too. Who's their dietitian, Luke Shaw?

 

[Rozay]

It's just a sophomore slump on the back of an exhausting and ultimately satisfactory first season.

I also get the feeling he's got a little carried away with social media stuff and let things go to his head.

With the right kind of coaching and rotation, he'll be back strongly at the end of this season.

His first season wasn’t satisfactory either, certainly not before extensive mitigation is allowed (age, he came back from injury, struggling etc). He had approximately one satisfactory month of football, and was largely dreadful for the majority of last season too. It’s just that we said that we were not permitted to judge him at the time. Perhaps some may wish to excuse his poor performances last season, but they were still poor performances in the main. Largely invisible, as he has been for about 70% of the games he has played in our shirt.

He’s just an average (at the very best) footballer. It’s almost impossible that he’ll come off the pitch having been unanimously considered to have played well in a game in which he didn’t score. And of course, in most games, he doesn’t score anyway.

 

[utdalltheway]

Watching the game on Thursday, he ended up on the floor, somehow, for both our goals.

I noticed that, for one of the goals anyway. He was tussling with their defender and fell (too easily imo) to the ground. It also looked like he was fortunate that the goal bound shot didn't hit him.

 

[LDUred]

His first season wasn’t satisfactory either, certainly not before extensive mitigation is allowed (age, he came back from injury, struggling etc). He had approximately one satisfactory month of football, and was largely dreadful for the majority of last season too. It’s just that we said that we were not permitted to judge him at the time. Perhaps some may wish to excuse his poor performances last season, but they were still poor performances in the main. Largely invisible, as he has been for about 70% of the games he has played in our shirt.

He’s just an average (at the very best) footballer. It’s almost impossible that he’ll come off the pitch having been unanimously considered to have played well in a game in which he didn’t score. And of course, in most games, he doesn’t score anyway.

So...what would have been a satisfactory first season for Hojlund, scoring 20 goals instead of 16?

Personally, I thought he did well enough last season to buy a bit of time, but hey, it's the caf and everyone's shit.

 

[Fortitude]

Just in case you're not one to venture into the transfer forum:

Pretty damning for Højlund wouldn't be surprised if we need to bring someone else in next season

I think this has him down as the worst forward in the league.

 

[sixdwarf]

There was a time when folk would turn their nose up at Chris Wood. But even before this season he is way better than either of our strikers. And he us ably assisted by a player we deemed not good enough...Elanga

 

[next_number_seven]

His first season wasn’t satisfactory either, certainly not before extensive mitigation is allowed (age, he came back from injury, struggling etc). He had approximately one satisfactory month of football, and was largely dreadful for the majority of last season too. It’s just that we said that we were not permitted to judge him at the time. Perhaps some may wish to excuse his poor performances last season, but they were still poor performances in the main. Largely invisible, as he has been for about 70% of the games he has played in our shirt.

He’s just an average (at the very best) footballer. It’s almost impossible that he’ll come off the pitch having been unanimously considered to have played well in a game in which he didn’t score. And of course, in most games, he doesn’t score anyway.

I remember when we signed him his old coach in Denmark said his brothers were considered the brighter talents.

ETH was a dreadful judge of player. More misses than hits.

I still have a glimmer of hope that Amorim can get a tune out of him and then we sell him on to another club for 40m maybe.

 

[Marwood]

Yep, he's been poor, but he's still learning the ropes and adapting to RA's system. Our attack hasn't really clicked yet and it probably won't fully until we have genuine wing backs like Dorgu and possibly Quenda providing numbers in attack.

I haven't given up on him yet because I liked what I saw last season. There's a role for him in this team.

I don’t think it's him struggling with the system. A 9 in this formation is the same as any other.

It's more we never get him in the positions he's good in.

Been pointed out in the Ayden Heaven thread that Rasmus did him. But that's no great shame. If you get Hojulnd in those channels running at goal he's very difficult to handle for a defender.

We just never do.

 

[Tallis]

He has another half a season to make a breakthrough. if he can get us 10-12 goals in the remainder of this season (15 Games in EPL + FA Cup + Europa), he can save us 70-80m that we need to spend on a front line striker.

I know it looks like a tall order but I somehow feel that the capability is there. We will hopefully have a more functional attack with Dorgu in and our attackers havinng more of an understanding.

 

[next_number_seven]

I think if we sign Mathys Tel then we'll see a competent striker in action and that'll be the end of Rasmus.

 

[Crimson King]

I think if we sign Mathys Tel then we'll see a competent striker in action and that'll be the end of Rasmus.

Tel is nowhere near the finished article and has barely played up front for Bayern. He's mostly been used from the left, so saying he's a competent striker is a bit rich.

It's likely he'll struggle just as much as Rasmus. My hope is that having two developing CFs will get them to push each other and also lighten the load on Rasmus, who needs to be taken out of the firing line. Tel can probably play as one of the inside forwards/10s as well.

If we get Tel, by the end of next season you'll probably have a better idea of who your starting 9 should be going forward. It might well be neither of them...

 

[Rozay]

So...what would have been a satisfactory first season for Hojlund, scoring 20 goals instead of 16?

Personally, I thought he did well enough last season to buy a bit of time, but hey, it's the caf and everyone's shit.

Me watching his games over the course of the season and being satisfied by what I have seen. It’s not determined with a calculator. His 17 goals and Martial’s 17 goals in their debut seasons were not the same. Hojlund was rubbish in the league aside from a month, that was not satisfactory by any stretch.

 

[Bobski]

That touch that bounced yards off him, there aren't many players who have fixed that level of technical inadequacy this late in their development. The basic technique should be ingrained at this stage, everything else is just developing decision making and tactical awareness.

With that touch he will never be a starter long term.

 

[Superunknown]

I never had confidence that he would score once he came onto the field.

 

[Andycoleno9]

We desperately need new striker. When you manager at home game decides to plsy without striker you know what he feels about his current strikers.