11
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 43
- Goals
- 13
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 2
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
I thought he was okay. Not very good, but not as atrocious as some suggested here. Should have taken that one chance though.
He is under the microscope every game - for United or for the country, I hope he can cope with that mentally...
He is under the microscope every game - for United or for the country, I hope he can cope with that mentally...
If his name was Hoijlundinho, the CAF would have creamed themselves at his performance levels last season.
Yes in the last 3 games he has been the worst, before that he was amongst the worst.. . Every media and pundit in Denmark say the same about him.. Yesterday his ratings in newspaper was 1-2
Yes I did, and thats the scary part
Not sure. He’d have still of scored the same amount of goals though no matter what his name is
. I think he had an alright season though to be fair for his first in England. He’ll be much better next season.Watch Heskey at Leicester. People keep forgetting that Heskey was actually pretty damn good until he had to sacrifice his game to fit Owen and Rooney.
Or if he was English people would have seen the light already....more light than their eyes could handle.
Every player except Eriksen is getting those grades though. And most danish media agree that the main reason for yesterday's embarrassing game is Hjulmand (manager)
I guess I’m a bit hard on him. Probably a psychological thing where you sharpen your viewpoints when they’re met with resistance. I said it when we signed him, I like the kid, he has a good attitude, but he’s not a special talent and I very much doubted whether he was good enough to lead the line for United in the future, never mind right now. And frankly I knew him better than most on here. But back then you got absolutely battered for daring to be realistic. And since then I’ve seen people try to convince themselves that he has “all the tools” when the combined evidence of the season (and I think he’s done well with what he has) tells me he’s severely limited and we need a better striker ASAP. And when people laugh at the suggestion that Lukaku is a better player, it just becomes ridiculous. Hopefully Højlund will become better one day but you’d have to be deluded to say he is right now.
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Come on, I'm a big Rasmus fan and hold a lot of hope for him to come good but that there is just lazy. You don't see people cream themselves over Richarlison, do you? People judge him based on the ability he shows on the pitch, that's it.
He had some good games and some bad games. He showed he still needs to mature a bit in his runs, even his strength (people see his size but forget he's still very young), and his touch can range from very good to very poor. However, he has really good speed, dribbling, and has genuinely elite accuracy when he does get a shot.
He showed in bursts what he can do and I think he was overplayed last season, so while he ended up with very respectable numbers, I anticipate better performances if we sign someone else up front to share the burden
He need to score 25 goals next season.
No, we need to add a more refined striker and between them they need to score 35-40.
Hojlund is fine when he’s involved. His issue is that he’s almost never involved in the football but always involved in wrestling matches with CB. Needs to develop his desire and ability to influence games in ways other than playing the poacher role. In the modern game barring the odd exception you need to be a modern striker.
It’s not even like his general play tends to be bad - he’s usually quite good in the games where he gets on he ball more. But for some reason he’s like a ball repellant.
If he performed like Adriano did at Parma, sure.
It was a fairly typical Hojlund all round game. Some decent bits of hold up play, did particularly well in the lead up to the Eriksen goal, then equal amounts of technically poor moments were he just looked raw and a bit average.
People can talk goal numbers but it is correcting that erratic technical level that is most important in him being the player Utd will need over the next 5/6 years.
People can talk goal numbers but it is correcting that erratic technical level that is most important in him being the player Utd will need over the next 5/6 years.
That’s actually a great observation. I do this all the time
I do think with young players you have to keep as open a mind as possible. And the variety of goals he’s scored this season is encouraging. Although I agree that other elements of his game need a lot of work.
Fair assessment, but I'd add he stretched the pitch for them and was a threat in behind.
I agree, but he is only 21, so consistency is what tends to happen as they develop into their mid 20s. We all know we'll be getting some sort of forward this summer, so we either have a very good rotation option in him or whoever we bring in. That's down to both players.
Not really. TV2 gives Højlund the joint lowest score along with Joachim Andersen. DR gives Højlund the lowest score among all the players. Same tendency applies if you look at other media as well. Many of the players are given below average grades, but Højlund is often singled out as the worst.
Not comparing the players, comparing the situation and the players around them. Rooney could run riot because at the time he wasn't expected to be the primary goal threat and when he came to United, he was surrounded by experience and quality.
Rasmus is expected to lead the line for United. He's our main, arguably only striker. A lot to expect of any 21 year old really.
BBC have him as player of the match as well.
Edit - public vote
Edit - public vote
Denmark fans are saying he's not good enough and want him dropped for the next games...
Isn't this the path of pretty much every up and coming young player, unless you're a freak of nature like Rooney or Ronaldo. Then you have strikers like Harry Kane that only debuted at the age Hojilund is now at 21. He's delivering great numbers for his age right now, but still has a lot to iron out in his overall game, doesn't mean he's not going to improve.
His technical floor is a lot lower than you would want at this age, but saying that lets see how it gets on next season
Then you look back at the goals he scored last season, and at times shows great technical ability. Many of the goals he created for himself. He's just not able to do it at a consistent level at the moment.
Which is the point of saying technical floor...
Forgot they have Villa and Torres on the bench.
Always over reactions where Hojlund is concerned. He had a decent debut season, scoring 16, where we were generally awful, and I'd be pretty confident he'll score more than 20 next season. Getting higher returns from our other forwards is what we need and at 21, Hojlund will only improve. He'll be even better after a season in the PL under his belt.
They don't deserve a top striker, if true.
Like as a whole unit, Denmark fans have decided this? Or is it just like everything in football and people have different opinions like on here? For example, one of the Danish newspapers today says 'the danish fans really want the United star to start'
Not having a go, but it feels like your post is a little narrative-pushing
More decision making and execution I would say, technically you don't tend to see major leaps, a bit of refinement, but if you have a dodgy touch at 21 it is unlikely to become a major strength of your game at 27.
I have no doubt he can score goals, he finishes very well, but everyone is looking for that rounded CF who can score and be a part of the build up, not many of them around.
He's the one I'm least convinced will make it out of him, Garnacho and Mainoo. He has some incredible attributes but is anonymous way too frequently
"Make it" in what sense? He's just scored 16 goals in all comps as a 20/21 year old in his first season in England. Perhaps you're referring to making it to a World Class level?
Ekstrabladet has him and several others at 4 while the lowest is Andersen at 3. BT its much the same even though they seem to agree more with me that Højbjerg was awful.
My point is, singling out Højlund in that performance is quite silly given his role in the first goal and that he was very close to scoring himself. He wasnt good but no one apart from Eriksen really was.
What worries me the most is the managers and players reaction to the criticism of the performance. You even have Hjulmand claiming it was factually wrong that our second half performance was bad.
That is worrying because it underlines what some of us have sensed for a while: Hjulmand doesnt read the game very well. The subs where, as usual, way to late.
It was an awful performance from the entire team and singling out Højlund as if he was the main culprit is downright stupid.
Does it make Højlund play any better, that the rest get low ratings too? He was still the worst in our team, according to DR and DR-fan voting and BT. In EB he got the lowest rating with 3 others players.
And he has been shit for the last 3 games which most media agree with, and he has 1 goal in a year (9 games) for Denmark.. I guess the danes dont wanna pass the ball to him either
I agree that the game was on Hjulmand and not Højlund or the players.
His role in the first goal was a clumsy dribbling attempt that luckily ended in a throw-in for Denmark rather than Slovenia gaining possession. He's got basically nothing to do with Denmark scoring in that situation. It was all about Bah taking it quickly, Wind's flick and Eriksen's control and finish.
Højlund is not to blame for the bad performance or result, but I also wouldn't just throw everyone bar Eriksen in the same category in terms of performance. The likes of Christensen, Kristiansen and Wind definitely also made a better impression.
Hjulmand is rightfully getting much of the criticism though. Surprisingly I think Gravesen said it quite well in the post match analysis. He has to react faster and be able to influence the game with changes, rather than sitting back and let things unfold.
This is why i will never blame Rashford for his last season's performance.
Hojlund is literally a ghost to the players around him
Especially when playing inverted forwards like Rashford & Garnacho.
He has arguably not had many good performances for United either if you consider that scoring a goal is not a whole 90 min performance.
He's okay as a plan B but i never see him being top class.
It's got nothing to do with his age - sometimes you can just see 'it'.
Hojlund is literally a ghost to the players around him
Especially when playing inverted forwards like Rashford & Garnacho.
He has arguably not had many good performances for United either if you consider that scoring a goal is not a whole 90 min performance.
He's okay as a plan B but i never see him being top class.
It's got nothing to do with his age - sometimes you can just see 'it'.
No he wasn't Eb gave Andersen a lower rating. He wasn't lowest in BT either.
He had a bad game but not the worst of the bunch and he is not the reason we didn't win.
Much like United he was forced to fight cb's and it's just not his game. He needs to run channels but with how absurdly slow our passing and movement was that was never going to happen.
There where 8 separate instances where Kristiansen had about 5000 acres of space and was screaming for the ball, but every fecking time Højbjerg would either pass it back or into the feet of a pressed Hjulmand. He completely destroyed any momentum every time the ball got to him.
Well that's fair. I am probably just tired of Rasmus getting blamed for everything. You even have people now claiming he is the reason for Rashfords dip in form.
It’s not just about one game with Højlund, though. He’s been struggling to have any kind of impact for Denmark pretty much since the hattrick against Finland. It would be natural for someone else to get a chance instead if his performances don’t pick up soon.
I agree. He's under enormous scrutiny from United fans, because he's been basically our only striker and because he cost a lot of money, and from Denmark fans because we finally have a decent striking talent, so people are focusing a lot on his performances. If that was Yussuf Poulsen putting in that performance yesterday (and let's face it, he probably would have), it wouldn't have gotten nearly the same kind of attention.
It's not quite fair to him, but it's the reality of being a striker sometimes. People need to temper their expectations a bit, and objectively assess his performances against where he is in his development, rather than as a complete forward.
I'm not quite sure what I'd do for the England game, to be honest. Switching him for Dolberg or Poulsen and expecting something better seems incredibly naive.
He was.
You said it right - he is a striker who runs the channels.
So how does that effect the inverted forwards?
Everyone blames the inverted forwards for not creating chances for Hojlund but hardly anyone talks about Hojlunds ability to bring other players in to play especially from out wide.
He is shit at it & it 100% effected Rashford that he had to play more with Hojlund (as you said a running the channel striker) than say Martial who plays different to Hojlund in many ways. Better hold up play, better first touch, better with his back to goal, can play very good passes and through balls to other forwards - Rasmus showed none of these things in comparison to Martial.
It's not just a one way thing. Rashford was shit for Hojlund but Hojlund was just as shit for Rashford.
And so far as history goes, Rashford's the better player so I'm more likely to blame Hojlund not getting the best out of Rashford than Rashford not getting the best out of Hojlund.
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