Well. UEFA says it is. Take a look at the five year ranking.
Rasmus Hojlund | Napoli
- Thread starter RDCR07
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He's similar in Italy. He has the same tendency to back into his defender who then moves back and Hojlund falls to the floor. He did score against Chelsea though just as he will score if the ball is in the area enough.
His general play is no different and his flaws are all still there. I will say that Conte has improved certain areas but Hojlund isn't consistently applying them yet.
But it doesn’t matter when there’s a yawning chasm between the Premier League and everywhere else right now, which is the current state of play.
Remember how far ahead Serie A was in the 80s and 90s? That’s the Premier League today. Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford finish in the CL spots in any other European league.
He played well throughout. A few things to consider because his form has been poor, he has started almost every game for months now. He has looked dead on his feet a few times. His backup Lucca has been sent to Forest (scored yesterday for them). Lukaku isn't fit enough for 15 minutes yet.
The midfield has been decimated because injuries in midfield have been (and still all out) De Bruyne, Gilmour, Anguissa. They've started McTominay and Lobotka 3 times a week since December with mostly a wide player in Elmas having to play centre midfield.
So the creativity was meant to come from the wings but Neres picked up a long term injury, Noa Lang was loaned out to Galatasaray, Politano is injured.
Napoli's shining light has Vergara who played in Serie B last season but that's only been for about 4 games.
There's been a lot against Hojlund. Has had the hard task of playing 90 minutes every game with everyone around him dropping like flies. McTominay might be another one injured and Di Lorenzo will also face some time out
If I'm honest, I don't even know how they're managing to score goals with everyone creative being out. McTominay was playing a man possessed tonight but was unfortunately injured.
Thanks for the write up! I don't watch much outside of Utd so nice to hear how Hojlund's doing over there.
According to UEFA the chasm between the PL and the Serie A is smaller than the one between Serie A and the french league. IN between are La Liga and the Bundesliga.
Conte begs to differ about his all round game. He keeps praising him.
And regarding the goalless spells you have just had 2-3 posts explaining why - all their creative players are out injured.
Conte can praise him all he likes but the eye test shows it...
If you even look at the Chelsea game, it was his failure to hold the ball up that led to the Chelsea goal.
So? That doesn’t prove that he has been shit all season which was the claim I reacted to.
He has now had two of the best Italian coaches and they both have high expectations for him. No one knows how good he’ll become, but there’s no doubt that his primary strengths are skills that are hard to teach. Gasperini and Conte both see him as a very pacy player who can become one of the best finishers in the world and with the right coaching a very good to world class all round center forward. I trust their judgement more than your eye.
That's fine.. if they think he will become a world class centre forward, that is their opinion.
I dont expect you to believe me but I watched him for 2 seasons and I saw his potential.
In my view, he wont be a world class CF because his first touch was poor, his off the ball runs were poor and his anticipation was poor. Yes, in Serie A he may do very well because he has pace, but I see him more in the Lukaku range, excels in a slower league.
Being a bit harsh, when is the last time someone actually cared about the top goalscorers in Serie A? Osimhen maybe, and he ended up plying his trade in Turkey.
Last season's top four were Mateo Retegui, Moise Kean, Riccardo Orsolini, and Ademola Lookman. Anyone keen on bringing any of those to Old Trafford? Højlund is not proving anything in Serie A right now, other than that it is a better fit for him. He could get 25 goals, and I still wouldn't want him near our squad next year.
Last season's top four were Mateo Retegui, Moise Kean, Riccardo Orsolini, and Ademola Lookman. Anyone keen on bringing any of those to Old Trafford? Højlund is not proving anything in Serie A right now, other than that it is a better fit for him. He could get 25 goals, and I still wouldn't want him near our squad next year.
No they won't, Roma is better than all of them and Roma haven't finished in top 4 since 17/18
Lookman was the only one I'd consider out of the 4, but he joined Atletico.
We looked at Kean, many wanted Lookman after his spell at Atalanta in fairness.
Serie A is a decent league, more importantly it's quite entertaining - the way the UEFA rankings work, I would suspect it is a very competitive league (inter have been on a roll recently but the top 4/5 are tighter than in the PL for example) but lacks the real top quality you will find in other leagues.
I don't think he will ever be as good as Lukaku. Lukaku had a very good spell in England and at international football where he's second to Cristiano for most goals for a European nation.
It's not even to shit on Serie A, but it seems obvious that the lack of intensity and physicality in that league does not translate super well to the Premier League for strikers. At least you need to take it seriously into account when assessing a striker. I would say the same for the Bundesliga and how open it is.
I really dislike Lukaku, and his record in big games is appalling.
At United he scored 1 goal in 23 appearances against top 6 sides, and that was a single goal against Chelsea in the FA Cup.
However he was very good at plundering goals against weaker sides. Something Rasmus has not been able to do. He would do well to get anywhere near Lukaku’s level.
I think mostly the discussion is based on his second season here which some see as his actual level and others think was due to circumstances. For me it’s not about us as he’s not coming back, but there’s a tendency among some fans to make him seem a very bad player when he clearly isn’t. So the question shouldn’t be if he’s league one-material, but how good he can become from here - and “here” is a very promising forward at a top club in a top 3-league.
Easily my 2nd favorite league to watch outside of the EPL.
He made a brilliant assist in the Cup yesterday...
So good a pass, it’s almost like he was trying to pass to someone else entirely…
The deal is only mandatory if they qualify for the CL right? Napoli are not assured of qualifying at all.
Roma who have Brighton’s third choice striker on loan? That Roma?
He is also Roma's third choice and have been playing like shit so what exactly is your point?
He was appalling so they got a backup from Villa instead, who is doing great
He is also 3d choice at Roma… And even the Roma that destroyed Brighton in the EL didn’t make the top 4… They had to concede it to Atalanta that destroyed Klopp’s Liverpool on their way to win EL.
Hojlund toiled as per usual. Good battle with N'Dicka.
Precisely. A lad who hardly set the Premier League alight. I love Italian football, grew up on it, but Scott McT and Romelu Lukaku winning POTY says everything about how far it’s fallen.
Quick addendum: Brighton were the biggest spending team in the whole of Europe in 2025. Brighton. A not even mid-sized Premier League team. The rest of European football hates the premier league, because it’s effectively already a super league. There’s a handful of European behemoths that can compete, but Italy (for both better and worse) has a more diffuse power base. Makes for a better league overall, because the talent is more evenly spread, but the teams at the top are nothing like they used to be.
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Jordan Henderson was Footbaler of they year, so...
Yeah the top teams this season are terrible. Way worse than expected
From the EL/Conference level down the level is good, better than anywhere else but england, but the top 5 are really bad for being top 5
Last year's Inter which was already a team in decline was better than this year's Inter by a country mile(largely it's a mental thing for them)
They should be stripped of their euro 2021 win
Yeah, and it should be given to a team that didn't dive their way to the final!
Yes and that team is England who valiently should have won the trophy
England cheated. Might as well call is Cheatland!
Why do you guys want Spain to have another Euro title is beyond me....
It's not cheating when you're the main characters
It’s coming home mate.
Holy feck I'd forgotten that they're only in the playoffs and not actually qualified for the WC. Wild to think a country like Italy could miss out on three successive World Cups.
Start a new thread about the state of italian football.