9
Depressing to see the level of hostility already in this thread. I would like a new striker but unless you have an agenda there is no denying he played a pretty good game tonight. He looks in better shape, had some good touches, got shots away, linked up well and clearly is trying to change his game to be more disciplined in staying around the box.
Of course we need better but it doesn’t look as if it is coming any time soon so for now I am happy to see him improving and hope to see it continue through pre season.
Of course we need better but it doesn’t look as if it is coming any time soon so for now I am happy to see him improving and hope to see it continue through pre season.
No agenda, just a tragic performance. He did have two good moments where he travelled with the ball but everything else was poor.
You have to be able to keep the ball when it's passed into you as the frontman at this level
You have to be able to keep the ball when it's passed into you as the frontman at this level
Yeah, no sh!t! Probably should read that post where I said I don’t want him leading the line either. Its become just blindsided criticism; almost reaching to the Harry Maguire thing we had here a year or two back which I don’t like.
Started well then reverted back to type
Trying to be kind and find a positive for him, hmmmm... He looked quite cool with his new facial hair. Is he trying to disguise himself hoping that we don't notice it's still him? Joking aside, I thought he looked physically fit and faster. Still not enough for what we need up front. I think he has it in him still to improve.
Its unfair to ask him to lead the front for Manutd. He isn't ready and might take 2 or more seasons and I would rather give that time to chido to develop. If we can move him and get an established striker we would look a very different team.
Pretty good game? What? When? How?
Now, whole your post is one big agenda.
Guy was terrible. Lost most of duels as usual, had heavy touch as usual and heavily missed a good chance which decent striker at least hits at target.
Standards for him are really low as it goes. "He looks fit" and "he is trying" is enough these days.
I thought he was decent. Anyone saying Obi should get chances before him have an agenda. I can see Zirkzee getting past him by the start of the season if he doesn't start putting the ball in the back of the net. At least Zirkzee brings others into play well. We will see. I think there's a lot of improvemnt and potential left in the pair of them and it's a few years too early for Obi
Pretty much but in that period we saw how he could be effective.
I was actually taken back by how seriously quick he can be.
Would play a one of mbeuno or chuna up front for me, this bloke ain’t doing it. Genuinely think a decent striker and we’d have been 3 nil up
You don't even have to log into redcafe or any forum for that matter - player ratings for the game has him as our worst performer by far, like a 3.3 amongst 4.3's and up.
Thought he was decent, definitely looks shaper. We need to find his runs better.
He needs to finish better though.
He had 2 good opportunities today and one of his efforts looked like a rugby conversion.
He had 2 good opportunities today and one of his efforts looked like a rugby conversion.
My post saying he is not good enough and we need better is still an agenda? No surprise to see that coming from you. I could only make you happy if I said he was shit and the worst excuse for a footballer in the history of the game.
Yes he was better tonight than he was for the whole second half of last season. It is nothing amazing but considering we probably will be stuck playing him for the coming season I am trying to look at the positive signs. He was more involved, didn’t waste time wrestling players and falling over and got a couple of shots away which he went whole games without doing last season.
In context, it is a step forward. Early in pre season so hopefully it is the first of a few baby steps in the right direction. If he can build on it maybe we can get 10+ league goals from him this season which we badly need and he will be a saleable asset next summer with a more positive campaign behind him. I just don’t want to go full on glass is fecking empty, we are fighting relegation and all of our players are shite before pre season is even halfway done. Sorry if that is an agenda.
As big as he is, I dont understand how come he is consistently bullied by defenders. His arse loves grass too, constantly landing up on it.
I don't even want to start down the avenue of putting hope in this guy for another season. He was slightly better tonight against an awful West Ham. Still nowhere near good enough and it's just going to be the same week in week out where he has 5 bad games, then 1 where he looks a bit better and we hope it's the turning point, but it never is.
Desperately need a new striker or to play someone else up there!
Desperately need a new striker or to play someone else up there!
I thought he was fine, looked more in form then last season. He definitely needs to score some goals consistently to get more confidence in him. It's odd but you can definitely see he has more chemistry with Cunha then Bruno. I don't think he should be out starting 9 but I think he can still develop into more. I'm more worried with Zirkzee in this Amorim system long-term vs Hojlund
This is comical. Obi had as many shots in 90 minutes last season as Hojlund had in the 10 games before that. Yes, Obi is very raw and absolutely shouldn't be starting for us, but saying you have an agenda for wanting anyone to start ahead of Hojlund after the season he just had, is nonsense.
Exactly this. 'He gave it a go' doesn't cut it. We need much better and the boy simply cannot rise to the occasion as needed
I'd love to see us play Cunha as the 9 then use Bruno/Mbeumo as our 10s. This allows us to use Mainoo/Ugarte as the CMs which gives us the energy we need.
Rasmus just isn't good enough sadly.
Rasmus just isn't good enough sadly.
After having statistically the worst season of any premier league striker who got consistent minutes and the worst striking season I've ever witnessed as a United fan it most certainly is not an agenda and entirely based on his horrific performances.
A large portion of the United fanbase unironically wanting Obi to start is a reflection on him not us.
Apart from the one occasion in which he hit the post. It was the same old Hojlund last season - poor runs, misplaced passes. He just didn't wrestle as much as he did last season.
He will still be the statistically worst starting striker in EPL if we don't buy a better one
He will still be the statistically worst starting striker in EPL if we don't buy a better one
I agree with this. Cunha and Zirkzee could fill that role if we don't sign a CF this window. I actually think it's worth the risk not signing one just yet. Cunha has played that role before
The only agendas here are by people like yourself who keep trying to gaslight us into believing Hojlund is fine.
You are being overly harsh. There's a player in there. Just needs that service.
Even though he is not nearly clinical enough just please play Zirkzee up front instead of Højlund.
Never expected him to be good enough to play for United but he is genuinely one of the worst if not the worst striker in the league.
Never expected him to be good enough to play for United but he is genuinely one of the worst if not the worst striker in the league.
That's how I feel, i am just hoping even though I know he won't be good
I said this last season. But most importantly he needs to at least test the keeper. Need to get more shots on target even if he is challenged by defenders. He is too tame to be a main CF.
Looked decent in the highlight reel I saw. How was he overall?
Just watching the match now and he was decent again. Encouraging stuff.
If anyone is going to play as a 9 among those three, it will likely be Mbeumo.
Would be really unfair to make him stay because it'll ruin him send him out on loan and find a solution for striker.
He didn’t look any different to last season. He’s not good enough for us and if he starts the season as CF then we aren’t changing league position.
He’s a poor striker playing in a poor system - both aren’t good enough for the league and we keep persisting with them.
He’s a poor striker playing in a poor system - both aren’t good enough for the league and we keep persisting with them.
Doesn't sound like it's worth signing anyone then. We should just give up and go home
I only watched the highlights. Before I did, I read a sky sports article about how United need a new striker (do these guys even try anymore?) based on this game. Now, I'm of the opinion that we obviously do need a new striker. However, the reason this journalist gave in his piece was because of a chance Højlund missed when bearing down on goal and hitting the post.
But when you watch the highlights, the chance in question was a great show of strength and pace where he manages to get a good shot away. It was a very low xG chance, that he did pretty well with and was unlucky to not get more from it.
Højlund's main problem is that he only gets chances like this. He can't get into positions to just finish a move off regularly enough. He's nowhere near as bad as people make out, but we need someone better.
But when you watch the highlights, the chance in question was a great show of strength and pace where he manages to get a good shot away. It was a very low xG chance, that he did pretty well with and was unlucky to not get more from it.
Højlund's main problem is that he only gets chances like this. He can't get into positions to just finish a move off regularly enough. He's nowhere near as bad as people make out, but we need someone better.
Odd take. The system doesn’t support Hojlund - clearly needs a different player there. What sort of CF we don’t know because the system limits the amount of ball the CF gets.
Either way, I don’t think either the system or Hojlund are good enough.
At the moment he is simply not good enough and not the guy to fire us back up the league, having said that, let's hope he proves us all wrong and smashes it by improving out of sight, failing that, we really can't afford not to address the striker situation before the window closes.
He hit the post yesterday after 50 sec of play after a good run. He looked really fast.