[ron86]

Love to see him come good but from what I've seen we need to sign someone as 1st choice and develop him.

How many tike does that actually happen? So many people saying he develops behind a 1st choice, that never happens. They develop at other clubs then come to a big club, its not a plumbing apprenticeship

 

[Red00012]

Dear God in heaven...

They were my thoughts until maybe October / November but I couldn’t defend him any more. There’s championship teams with better strikers than him.

 

[Rossa]

And with all Højlund's speed, he's always a second behind the ball because his actual football anticipation is slow. How many times was a ball hit across the face of goal and he was stretching after the ball had passed? With Zirkzee he'd either not make the run or make it.

Zirkzee at least added a lot in hold up and the build-up, particularly leading up to the point he got injured, and if I remember rightly, Højlund was beginning to sit on the bench.

Zirkzee hasn't shown a huge lot himself, he just doesn't come across as someone who's interested in football, but he's shown a lot more than Højlund who just seems like he offers nothing at all (perhaps his illogical runs might somehow start to confuse opposition defenders more than they confuse his teammates).

We 100% need a new senior striker

Both are woeful, but Zirkzee hardly looks like a solution

 

[Rossa]

Hamstring injury in the opening game of the pre season tour and he did not get back until the 3rd of 4th game of the regular season so clearly missed out on the conditioning and other work done in pre season. Seemed to bulk up a lot too, carrying a lot of muscle but looked unbalanced with it which is a common problem for young athletes filling out and not getting the balance right in gym work. He does seem to be more trim in the few pre season shots I have seen so hopefully the coaching staff got his conditioning regime right for the summer and he will look more explosive in games if we are going to be using him this year.

I hope so. Plenty of cases where he has looked blistering, but last sesson he couldn’t get away from any average CB. How much of that is physical and how much is mental is hard to tell.

 

[Rossa]

That stood out to me as well, his physicality dropped off massively. I remember in his first season, his goal against Galatasaray - he left the defender for dead on the half way line. Maybe he just didn't have the confidence to run in behind, but he looked a shell of that player last season.

Yeah, lack of confidence, maybe poor training as someone else pointed out, and sldo poor timing. Stsrt half a second too late and you know you won’t win the foot race.

 

[SilentWitness]

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/rasmus-højlund-2025-26-performances.488754/

New thread here.