It isn't just a confidence issue. He still has too many holes in his game.
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In the latest edition of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) chats to author, Dan Williamson, about his new book 'If I Hadnt Seen Such Riches' which chronicles our 1990/91 European Cup Winners Cup victory, which is a trip down memory lane for those old enough to remember it and a vital history lesson for those who don't.
His short passing game, anticipation, and overall decision making and awareness all looked suspect against Bournemouth. He is still very young and maybe one day he will be a quality player.
I see you follow his lead. There are loads of elaborate posts from people who use this as an actual debate forum, whereas you and your friend use it as an outlet for frustration.
Please don’t bother to reply unless you’re interested in a real discussion. To start with you could ask yourself if there’s a difference between excuses and explanations.
What’s your cut-off point for potential, would you say? Either in terms of age or games played.
I’d say that, because he’s already played over 200 senior games for club and country (including nearly 100 games for Utd) that you are very close to the point where what we are seeing now see IS his potential. He’s at, or very close to, his ceiling.
For what it’s worth, if I was Utd manager I’d keep Hojlund over Zirkzee, who I think is too slow and labouring to ever make it at Utd. I’d give Hojlund another season and hope he hits a purple patch at some point, as he did in his first season.
What you’re saying is definitely possible, and I don’t think United can take the chance of persevering with him. Even if he does get any better, it could be a long way off and being at United won’t be good for him.
I wouldn’t blame the club for selling him. It’s obvious that he’s much better than what he showed last season - as he showed in his first season here and before that as well - and still very young for a striker and IMO not near his ceiling yet. Remember he had an insanely quick rise through the ranks to end up here less than two years after being scrapped by a Danish team. But if Amorim thinks he should go whether it’s due to lack of potential or something else, then we should let him go.
I look forward to having this discussion with you later in the year, to see what other excuses you will pull out when he once again shows he is not up to the level required.
Don’t try to hold up the ball because sadly you can’t. Run the channels and get in the ‘right’ areas in the box. Stick to that formula and we might get something out of this lad.
Yep- fair points. It’s a bit reductive maybe, looking at his total games played. He had a good first season (I say ‘good’, because of the context. He was a 20 yr old playing in a new country). Then he had a very poor second season, but so did most of the players. My guess (without any real certainty) is that he’ll he looked back on as someone who tried hard during a difficult era for the club, and maybe just wasn’t quite good enough to get them back to where they feel they belong,
He totally burned the WHU centre back when he hit the post early on in that game. The guy had a 2 yard head start and Hojlund breezed past him. May have been Todebo?
Don't think he's good enough and really hope we buy a new no9 for are sake as much as his but when you hear him talk you can't but hope to see him turn it around. He'll probably be are striker for Arsenal so here's to hoping he transfers some of the preseason confidence into the season.
Which part of “please don’t reply” didn’t you get?
If there's one thing we can't really criticize Højlund for it's his pace. The guy is ridiculously quick, saw him comfortably keep up with a full steam Rashford in his first season on a counter. Højlund is a strange case, he should have enough to be a decent player but he just doesn't know what to do with his attributes. I think we bought him too early, he'd barely played any football at Sturm Graz or Atalanta before we came knocking. The jump in competition is simply too much for him.
There’s a difference between raw pace in an uncontested sprint and usable pace with the ball at your feet or actually getting past a defender.
He’s got no real strikers movement to go with the pace, which is not as sharp off the mark as people make out anyhow.
Hojlund is one of the largest, if not, the largest failure for a United player last season. If you want to keep him and hope he becomes good, you might as well keep the entire team and hope everyone becomes better. Fantasy thinking.
We cannot rely on him.
We cannot rely on him.
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We shouldnt rely on him, thats why were signing Sesko. And the difference with the other players is he was 21 and is now 22.
Few strikers that age are good enough to be starting every week for a decent club. At around 21 Isak was scoring 9 goals for Sociedad, at 22 he had his first high scoring season in Spain and while I dont see that happening with Hojlund I do see him coming off the bench to score more often when we are ahead and the pressure is off. I think he'll score more than his 4 goals from last season as a sub and he'll go for a higher fee the next summer if we want to sell him then
Most likely to persuade Sesko to join us, instead of Newcastle as they still have Isak, a much better striker that Sesko has little chance to dislodge.
Not that Sesko should worry about Hojlund that he needs the latter gone first.
Feel sorry for the boy. Many said it 2 years ago, was not ready to lead the line at 20/21 years old. But given our circumstances l, he was thrown all the pressure of man united to score goals. He has missed eally good chances, does seem to get himself in good positions, is strong and fast, can hold the ball up on most occasions. The talent is there but I think mna united is just too big for him right now. I hope he secures a move away and does really well wherever he goes. If he stays to be back up to Sesko, I think this would be a really bad move on his part (assuming Sesko comes).
If he scores one tonight against Everton he will think he’s untouchable and will be going nowhere. I can’t understand why he’s allegedly told the club he wants to stay and fight for his place - why didn’t he fight last year? If he had then we wouldn’t all be having this discussio now.
I don’t think he lacks fight, he just lacks quality. It doesn’t matter how hard you fight, it’s not gonna make up for a lack of ability. His game has too many deficiencies. Deficiencies which should have been picked up by our amazing scouting department, and which have only been amplified by our previous management team.
A fresh start and a new club would be best for everyone. It’s a shame, cos I like him and would love for him to succeed, but he’s a million miles away.
Yup, I watched a clip where he scored 4 (?) goals against Estonia. It was obvious after 3 seconds that his technical ability was quite poor. Impossible to miss.
If the club want him gone, they should leave him out of the squad vs Everton and hope he takes the hint.
It won’t happen, he’ll start and Ruben will say he loves his “fight”….and the charade of him being our starting number 9 continues.
You're confusing fighting for your place with good performances. There's plenty of evidence to suggest he may not be good enough for this level, but there's no evidence that he wasn't putting in the effort. All he's saying is that he's not ready to give up at United and wants to try to prove himself.
Personally, as I’ve said before. He has badly underperformed but I’d like to give him one more season due to his age and effort. However, if he does go because we get Sesko then it’s clear that they want to continue to give Chido Obi minutes and time to develop his game which I can’t argue with.
I'd counter most of those points apart from missing really good chances.
He doesn't often get in good positions - his off the ball movement has been one of his weakest traits.
He looks like he has strength but certainly doesn't use it well. He seems too focused on barging into defenders (who mostly win out in that battle) at the expense of winning the ball.
He has pace, but he never really out paces anyone.
He certainly does not hold the ball up well on most occasions. Maybe on rare occasions, but he has mostly been an attack killer. The ball comes to him and either through poor control or poor passing we end up losing possession.
If he was demonstrating the traits you describe it would suggest he's doing most things right but just needs to improve his finishing and have a bit of luck in front of goal but there's so much more than they. In fact, his finishing is arguably not the biggest problem. Not because it's not problematic, but because all the weaknesses he shows before that stage means he's rarely in positions to get shots away.
It is strange to me that so many are prepared to get rid of Garnacho on a cut price deal but also keep Hojlund and give him another chance. Purely as footballers Garnacho is comfortably the better talent for me, yes his finishing has been poor but Hojlund's basic technique is so lacking that it is difficult to see any real talent in him beyond physical elements and being a decent finisher.
He might have a better attitude than Garnacho, that would pretty much be it.
He might have a better attitude than Garnacho, that would pretty much be it.
You've just made this up.
In this system, with the number 10s we have acquired, physicality and finishing is what a striker needs. I think Hojlund could do well this season, but only if another striker is brought in alongside him.
But that's the whole point? The manager reckons Garnacho is toxic to have a around and wants him gone. His perceived talent doesn't come into it.
Gernacho thinks he’s made it. There’s signs there that he’ll be a great player but at this stage he’s not where he thinks he is.
Noise coming out (which might not be true) is that he constantly challenges coaches during training. To change the clubs culture he needs to go if there’s even a tiny bit of truth in this. Amorim deserves a chance to do this correctly.
There's no doubting it's a tough gig leading the line at United, especially at that age, but you sink or swim.
Despite occasionally scoring all manner of goal, he's sunk like a stone.
He might well develop and realise his obvious potential, but it's a gamble United should not take if they can afford not to.
For all the bemoaning of his team mates not finding him, in truth, only one or two instances of him ever being in the right place and not passed to spring to mind.
He's a striker who might have everything but looks like he has nothing.
There's no reason the boy should leave if he doesn't want to. He's signed a contract at the club and no rose-tinted nonsense about Alex Ferguson and Paul Ince makes that less legally or morally iron clad.
If he thinks he can stay and fight with Sessko, then good for him and I hope he proves us wrong.
Despite occasionally scoring all manner of goal, he's sunk like a stone.
He might well develop and realise his obvious potential, but it's a gamble United should not take if they can afford not to.
For all the bemoaning of his team mates not finding him, in truth, only one or two instances of him ever being in the right place and not passed to spring to mind.
He's a striker who might have everything but looks like he has nothing.
There's no reason the boy should leave if he doesn't want to. He's signed a contract at the club and no rose-tinted nonsense about Alex Ferguson and Paul Ince makes that less legally or morally iron clad.
If he thinks he can stay and fight with Sessko, then good for him and I hope he proves us wrong.
Odd that we have made this so public. But agree that he needs to leave. He should rebuild his confidence in a slower paced league.
Obviously, he’s been massively underwhelming for the vast majority of his time here. However, I was intrigued to see if we’d see a better version of him with the two new number 10s supporting him. Also, with less games and the possibility of a new forward signing, he’d have this huge burden taken off his shoulders, which would no doubt help him. Not to the point where I’d be disappointed if he got sold, as no one can honestly say he’s been anywhere near good enough, despite his obvious ‘effort’ and the teams poor performances over the last two seasons, being taken into consideration.
Surely, we can get £40m in the current market, though? Obviously, the club are trying to draw in interest and maybe generate funds quickly to fund his replacement.
Surely, we can get £40m in the current market, though? Obviously, the club are trying to draw in interest and maybe generate funds quickly to fund his replacement.
We really want Sesko it seems
Yeah, it's either "He'll play better/is playing better", which makes them think the manager has some confidence in them and not want to leave (Onana, Hojlund etc), or the opposite end of the scale of "We don't want you so go find a new club", which gives all the power to the player/buying club (Rashford, Garnacho, Sancho etc.).
United are so awful at transfers.
Must do wonders for a striker short on confidence to be publicly pushed out. Every chance this backfires spectacularly if we don't get Sesko
Seeing the likes of Rashford, Garnacho and Antony all on the naughty step might just be the kick up the bum Hojlund needs.
The talk of Delap, Watkins and now Sesko, must also set the alarm bells ringing.
Will be interesting to see how he performs this season. Hopefully we get to see him with Cunha and Mbeumo for 60-70mins tonight against Everton.
The talk of Delap, Watkins and now Sesko, must also set the alarm bells ringing.
Will be interesting to see how he performs this season. Hopefully we get to see him with Cunha and Mbeumo for 60-70mins tonight against Everton.
He had 40 starts last season to show something and was dire for tye vast majority of games he played. We have enough evidence to suggest he isn't good enough. Another year should not be given to a player that can't trap a ball or even have any hold up play.