Hojlund or Zirkzee as first choice striker?

Neither.

But if forced to choose, obviously Hojlund. Mainly because he has proven he can score double digit goals.

Nevertheless its still on odd question to ask given that questions like this are usually reserved for very good players ("Who do you prefer, Cole or Yorke?"). This one feels a bit like asking if one prefers Chicharito over Welbeck.
 
105m and these are our choices.

Jesus wept.
Ten Hag laughed.
 
Raoul said:
Neither.

But if forced to choose, obviously Hojlund. Mainly because he has proven he can score double digit goals.

Nevertheless its still on odd question to ask given that questions like this are usually reserved for very good players ("Who do you prefer, Cole or Yorke?"). This one feels a bit like asking if one prefers Chicharito over Welbeck.
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Harsh on Chicharito. He'd walk into this side, he ousted Berbatov, and didn't look out of place in a team featuring Rooney, Van Persie and Co.
 
Been said quite a few times before, but neither.

They're not good enough for a club with serious ambition. Nowhere near clinical enough. Hojlund has the better attitude, but mentality, though important, is not everything.

Zirkzee is rightfully being discarded. Fair play to Ineos owning up to their mistake and moving him on quickly. If it was the Glazers only, JZ would be performing his godawful machine-gun celebration twice a year until 2037.
 
None but Hojlund is better than Zirkzee. Even before his nightnare game vs Newcastle.
 
Hojlunds better than Zirkzee but neither are the answer
 
I wouldn't choose Zirkzee as a starter even if i was a manager of a League One team. That guy is a complete joke.
 
Crostien said:
Been said quite a few times before, but neither.

They're not good enough for a club with serious ambition. Nowhere near clinical enough. Hojlund has the better attitude, but mentality, though important, is not everything.

Zirkzee is rightfully being discarded. Fair play to Ineos owning up to their mistake and moving him on quickly. If it was the Glazers only, JZ would be performing his godawful machine-gun celebration twice a year until 2037.
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Not being clinical enough is an odd criticism to throw at Hojlund.

As for the decision between the two, Hojlund offers more of the qualities that should suit the system but has some obvious areas he needs to improve in.

I think the team still have a lot of work to do in learning how to create opportunities for strikers in general.
 
Zirkzee has been poor and is probably off this month. Still, Hojlund doesn’t cover himself in glory either, and I would argue that a fit and confident Zirkzee is a better fit for this system than Hojlund is.
 
Neither please. Recruiting a reliable striker (one with a proven track record at least) is definitely an essential purchase this summer.
 
Walrus said:
Zirkzee has been poor and is probably off this month. Still, Hojlund doesn’t cover himself in glory either, and I would argue that a fit and confident Zirkzee is a better fit for this system than Hojlund is.
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The reality is that neither are good enough.

If you could combine both players strengths you’d have a decent player. But both have such glaring weaknesses.
 
We'd be 0-2 right now up with a better striker up front. We're being set up to score, but we've nobody clinical enough. I think Hojilund has a future here, but not right now. Terrible recruitment decisions.
 
Shark said:
We'd be 0-2 right now up with a better striker up front. We're being set up to score, but we've nobody clinical enough. I think Hojilund has a future here, but not right now. Terrible recruitment decisions.
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He’s a young backup striker who should be developing behind an experienced in form striker. Gyokeres and Hojlund would be a good Ying and Yang.
 
Malone_Post said:
The reality is that neither are good enough.

If you could combine both players strengths you’d have a decent player. But both have such glaring weaknesses.
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Most likely true. I do think it’s still early to be getting rid of Zirkzee when he has barely even been here half a season. A bit of coaching to improve his intensity, a bit of fitness and a bit of confidence and I would like to see what he can do. But provably moot as he is likely off to Italy, no big loss.
 
Both are miles off, if you play to their strengths Joshua is probably the better player.

However, Joshua will never suit the speed of the PL and Ramsus just isn't good enough. Shocking that we have spent over £100m on these two.
 
lilcurt said:
Both are miles off, if you play to their strengths Joshua is probably the better player.

However, Joshua will never suit the speed of the PL and Ramsus just isn't good enough. Shocking that we have spent over £100m on these two.
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On what evidence??
 
Im starting to prefer Zirkzee.
Everytime i see Zirkzee start i prefer Hojlund and every time Hojlund starts i prefer Zirkzee.

They both have the same issue imo - they dont get involved in the game much and it feels like we are playing with 10 men.

However, im coming to mind that our ST should be heavily reliant on who are wide players are.

If we start Bruno & Amad like 2 AM then Hojlund should start because he is the more clinical of the two. Two AM try to create for a striker.

However, if we are playing more inverted forwards like Garnacho & Amad then Zirkzee would be better to try act as the interlink between two wider forwards to make up for his lack of clinical ability. One false 9 tries to make passes for the two inverted forwards.

Hojlund
Bruno - Amad

Vs

Zirkzee
Garnacho - Amad
​
Personally for me, im starting to feel like i prefer option 2 mostly because how i feel that without Garnacho our attack becomes lopsided and makes it very hard for Amad to play his way in to the game.

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We need someone like Drogba in this system. Someone strong that can hold up play, create chances, make intelligent run and most of all has good finishing.
 
Højlund by some distance.

He is far from the finished article but he at least has some good moments, uses his strength well. Zirkzee plays like someone coming from a different sport and stuck on your team in a game in the park. He's got a terrible touch and I haven't seen him do any part of the game well, whether that's shooting, passing, dribbling, showing for the ball, running into space, heading it - nothing.
 
dubplate warrior said:
I would rather go with Zirkzee. Thr performance. The last game we played with him in this system was very promising and he needs a run of games to see if he can reproduce this.

But yes, we absolutely need to go and get Gyokores in the summer, it's an obvious signing.
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Could not agree with you more. We have seen what Højlund has to offer and where he needs to improve. It's time to give Zirkzee a run of games so we can give rate him.
 
Walrus said:
Yes yes, it should be Gyokeres. Yes yes, they are both rubbish. Et cetera.

Between the two, for the rest of the season and assuming we dont sign another striker in January, who gets the nod? Clearly Hojlund is the more athletic of the two and arguably has a higher ceiling, but there are questions about his technique, his game sense and his strange desire to constantly wrestle defenders.

Zirkzee meanwhile has been public enemy number one for most of the season, but there is an argument that stylistically, he fits better in Amorim's system, with the two overlapping 10's behind him. There are serious questions about his languid style and work rate.

Hojlund is younger, and will surely improve over the years to come. That doesnt necessarily mean he should have all the pressure on him right now to be leading the line - we saw last season that he isnt the finished article yet and may never be.

Out of the two, who would your go-to be for the remainder of the season as the #9 in Amorim's 3-4-3?
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Høljund needs to stop his UFC tactics , otherwise he has good attributes. I would like for Zirkzee to be given a run of games in order for us to decide if we keep for next season. Both players have the attributes that the other needs. We will need a proper # 9 whilst both players are developing.
 
What a question. Can't believe anyone would genuinely say Zirkzee. He doesn't even have the strengths Hojund does. And Hojlund is very much a development player.
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
Højlund by some distance.

He is far from the finished article but he at least has some good moments, uses his strength well. Zirkzee plays like someone coming from a different sport and stuck on your team in a game in the park. He's got a terrible touch and I haven't seen him do any part of the game well, whether that's shooting, passing, dribbling, showing for the ball, running into space, heading it - nothing.
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Agreed unfortunately.
Not sure what strengths people think he has that Hojlund doesn't have.
 
We need to develop hojlund with no excuses. If we think he has that potential then we can't afford to be throwing away 70m strikers without even trying to develop them.
 
Zirkzee did better yesterday, may change back to Hojlund if he can move beyond the back into opposition CB phase.

In reality both should not be starters, we need a top class striker. If we had one yesterday, we would have comfortably won, with amount of chances we made, which is a bit weird to say, as we are talking about Anfield.
 
Neither are good enough to start. So it's more of a question of who should be the backup to a new striker. That should be Rasmus. Zirkzee should be shipped out as soon as possible.
 
Wing Attack Plan R said:
Højlund by some distance.

He is far from the finished article but he at least has some good moments, uses his strength well. Zirkzee plays like someone coming from a different sport and stuck on your team in a game in the park. He's got a terrible touch and I haven't seen him do any part of the game well, whether that's shooting, passing, dribbling, showing for the ball, running into space, heading it - nothing.
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Absolutely! He may be sloppy with his holdup play and missed a good chance yesterday, but people on here constantly moan about work ethic and players running, this guy has that in abundance!
 
Neither but I think Hojlund could be a good squad player and even a starting striker in a couple of seasons.

In the interim, I wonder if it would be better almost having three 10s instead of 2 and getting some interchangeability in there - Garnacho, Amad and Bruno. Would make use of our more technical and quick players
 
Maguire and Martinez. Bring back the idea of a big man little man forward partnership.
 
lilcurt said:
On what he was doing in Italy, a slower game where he as more space and he can play.

Rasmus just doesn't look technically sound, isn't exceptionally fast and can't finish well.
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So when you say play to Zirkzee's strengths, we ask the opposition to slow down and give him more space? It's a completely different league, he's the one who needs to adapt.
 
I am not here to condemn either player, they play for us and we support them when they represent United. My baffled thinking is who, with their years of top football knowledge, in using this wisdom saw either player as a top United striker ? We, in the majority, seem to be saying Hojland has the potential....yet, in my eyes, he doesn't appear to have taken any strides toward achieving this, he struggles to find space, often freezes in front of goal, very very rare does he get across the defender....he's been here eighteen months!!! Zirkzee is another mystery, again who on earth assessed him ? He will occasionally lay off a decent ball quickly followed by "something" akin to a baby lamb learning to walk. But hey this is where we are, perhaps time will see them blossom, and we give them our full support while at our club, I hope I am wrong with my thinking about both. I reserve my exasperation for the "football experts" who have not let us down with their continued dire evaluations of what constitutes a Man United player.
 
lilcurt said:
On what he was doing in Italy, a slower game where he as more space and he can play.

Rasmus just doesn't look technically sound, isn't exceptionally fast and can't finish well.
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I remember when the Atlanta coach said he could run 100m on grass in 10 seconds and once I'd seen him for about 15 minutes I could tell that he was nowhere near that level
 
Yakuza_devils said:
We need someone like Drogba in this system. Someone strong that can hold up play, create chances, make intelligent run and most of all has good finishing.
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There are very few players that play like that at a high level left in 2025.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
So when you say play to Zirkzee's strengths, we ask the opposition to slow down and give him more space? It's a completely different league, he's the one who needs to adapt.
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That's the point, his strengths don't suit this league. So he isn't a good fit for us or a team in the premier league. That does make him a poor footballer though, just not one for here. Feel like you've missed the sentiment of my post.

Rasmus in comparison I feel is limited wherever he plays, not excelling in any specific area.

Both not good enough for United but for different reasons.
 
lilcurt said:
That's the point, his strengths don't suit this league. So he isn't a good fit for us or a team in the premier league. That does make him a poor footballer though, just not one for here. Feel like you've missed the sentiment of my post.

Rasmus in comparison I feel is limited wherever he plays, not excelling in any specific area.

Both not good enough for United but for different reasons.
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I read back through and that wasn't the most clear but understood. Disagree though as i think Rasmus has the raw skillset, Zirkzee I hoped would adapt and become a squad option across the front three - he's a unique combo of size/skill/technique but just seems so languid.
 
Suspect Hojlund will remain the #1 choice with Zirkzee getting subbed on after Ruben inevitably realizes he's probably not going to score - only to subsequently realize neither will Zirkzee.
 
ItDoesntEvenMata said:
I remember when the Atlanta coach said he could run 100m on grass in 10 seconds and once I'd seen him for about 15 minutes I could tell that he was nowhere near that level
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11seconds maybe. He's not a competitive sprinter in 10secs. Even Walcock wasn't that was he?

You also have to factor that we've absolutely run him into the ground and don't often give him the chance to properly open up max pace.
 
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