Hojlund or Zirkzee as first choice striker?

Zirkzee may have done more than Hojilund yesterday in terms general play, but we're talking about strikers here. Neither are good enough for United in their current states.
 
Hammondo said:
From the eye test I would say he's average speed for our team, I never see him beat a player with the ball.
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Him vs Van der Ven last season should show he's not average speed.
I don't think his initial burst is super quick though.
 
Shark said:
Zirkzee may have done more than Hojilund yesterday in terms general play, but we're talking about strikers here. Neither are good enough for United in their current states.
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True but given that they are the 2 options, right now...I start Zirkzee.
 
antsmithmk said:
Starting? I'd be worried if we spent 7 million on him. 70?! We've been had.
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The insane transfer fee aside, we all expected a difficult adjustment for Hojlund. But he's been here long enough and should be firing on all cylinders by now.
 
I really like Hojlund but not seeing the consistent development in his play. On the contrary lots of the things I liked about him last year even when he wasn’t scoring he doesn’t do anymore.

So basically. While I’m all for giving young players time to become world class. I think by the end of the season the club should start assessing whether Hojlund still has the potential to become a world class forward. Not ruling him out just yet but probably my most disappointing player this season.
 
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Ideally neither but I doubt we bring in a proven striker in January. I would go with Zirkzee since he has earned a start given his last two cameos.
 
It's a hard one to decide but for me Zirkzee is a lot better in possession so for the majority of the games i hope he starts.
 
Can we try a 3-5-2 formation and put both Zirkzee and Hojlund as front two and Bruno in behind? I feel both sort of complement each other a bit and neither are good enough as lone striker for us.


We could push Amad as RWB again where he has been excellent and Mazarouli can be back as LCB/RCB where he has been great.
 
Pronewbie said:
Neither. We need to bring in a 1st choice striker sooner rather than later.
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Pretty much this.

Out of the two we have I'd only pick Hojlund on the basis he's an actual striker and not some bizarre '9.5' hybrid, but he's pretty pants otherwise.
 
Hojlund is shit, I think that's becoming obvious. We were absolutely daft to spend that much on him. A few windows of gentle low key interest in him while we signed a proper striker would've resulted in us getting him for 30 million or so, not 70. And even at 30 it's a gamble.

He doesn't really do anything. He's never in position to score, he can't control a ball, he offers no threat and doesn't really help in the build up.. He's not very useful. Zirkzee might be a little more aloof as a player, but he's shown he can hold up the ball and play people in. I'd give him a shot, especially at home where we're beginning to dominate possession.

But obviously buy someone else.. I'm not sure the Coventry guy is the guy though. We could end up with 150 million spent on two very average players.
 
With Zirkzee we might have one of the top 19 False 9's in the world one day.

Im unsure if Hojlund will be a top 10 player in the world with his type of clinical striker style.
 
Neither are good enough to be honest. I can't remember the club having a worse striker dept!? It's going to be a long time before we are back to the glory years I'm afraid.
 
I think I would start Zirkzee and then bring on Hojlund around the 60-70 min mark. Hojlund has been shit but he also spends so much time fighting with fresh defenders (not very well mind you) that he just doesn't have any energy left to use in other aspects of his game.

Would like to see him get a run at tired defenders, he has the raw characteristics, but shouldn't be a starter, he's not ready yet.
 
I actually think we are in a good position with strikers attributes apart from the lack of goals. I feel like the team is starting to click and create chances. We have two very different profiles. Rasmus should be useful to make space against teams who sit back. Zirkzee can pick out a pass or hold up the ball and bring others in when we are against the biggest teams and have less of the ball and need to be clinical when we get it. If we get these lads scoring we are laughing. It was always going to take time but I really think we are about to go on a run under the new manager. I'm really looking forward to the game tonight. I expect whichever striker who starts to bag a goal and take some confidence from the game and get their season started again.
 
CG1010 said:
Can we try a 3-5-2 formation and put both Zirkzee and Hojlund as front two and Bruno in behind? I feel both sort of complement each other a bit and neither are good enough as lone striker for us.


We could push Amad as RWB again where he has been excellent and Mazarouli can be back as LCB/RCB where he has been great.
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My thoughts, possibly insane, would be to play Hojlund in the left 10 role and Zirkzee as the 9 in the current formation
 
Zirkzee clearly has something ability wise, so I would stick with him for now at least. The way he sat Saliba down was top class, and he's looked good in cameos.

Hojlund is probably a bit more reliable in front of goal but his hold up play of late has been atrocious.

Zirkzee just has a higher ceiling and better technical ability.
 
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Zirkzee, Zirkzee a thousand times Zirkzee. Vital for the rest of our season that he starts tonight. Make the right call Ruben.
 
In Amorim's system Hojlund. But right now as a backup as he's few years away from being our starter. Zirkzee is someone I can see Amorim selling in summer and probably to Juventus as he's Motta's type of player. And we should get most of his fee back so that transfer won't look like a disaster.
 
BorisManUtd said:
In Amorim's system Hojlund. But right now as a backup as he's few years away from being our starter. Zirkzee is someone I can see Amorim selling in summer and probably to Juventus as he's Motta's type of player. And we should get most of his fee back so that transfer won't look like a disaster.
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Would you mind elaborating on why you think Hojlund is a better fit for Amorims system? I think the opposite.

My view is that if we are playing two 10s, we want a striker able to drop deep, drag defenders out of position, hold up the ball and then play through to those 10s who are (hopefully) making overlapping, attacking runs. With the wingbacks doing the same from a wider position. The striker becomes a bit of a cross between a playmaker and a target man. Thats the role I see Zirkzee playing and I think it can be a very effective one in the 3-4-3.
 
Don’t think Hojland has even been bad lately. He hasn’t lit it up sure and he could have done slightly better in places but the rhetoric around the lad is bizarre.

This sort of overreaction is exactly why we lunge from scapegoat to scapegoat of late.

I am not worried about Hojland at all. We need more from him, but so far he’s average. He will either make it or he won’t but he’s not the disaster some are making him out to be.
 
The fact that our choice is between these two is a great example of how far the club has sunk.

Hojlund is like a labrador puppy. You can't help but warm to him and his obvious enthusiasm is endearing. He loves running around after a ball, it's just not clear what he intends to do with it when he catches up with it.

Zirkzee is an odd one. Occasionally he seems to have a decent touch and could be a tidy number 10. Other times he barely looks like a footballer. Seems like he loves a little flick or through ball, but he's got no idea if there's going to be anybody there to receive it. if there is and it comes off, it looks great. if not, he looks like a clown. I wish him the all the best and hope he does well, but i struggle to see him ever being a reliable 9.
 
Play Zirkzee - he won't do much - sub him with Hojlund and he'll do well. Caf: Play Hojlund

Play Hojlund- he won't do much - sub him with Zirkzee and he'll do well. Caf: Play Zirkzee

Truth - They both aren't united quality and still need a lot of development, we need a proven striker
 
Both Hojlund and Zirkzee have just made a very strong case there. Both of them in favour of Zirkzee.
 
Zirkzee is on fire. Should lead the line based on form. Unless, he does better as a super sub. And boy was he super today.
 
Both aren’t very good goal scoring strikers.

But at their best, at least one of them is a good hold up, and intelligent interplay forward.

Zirkzee > Hojlund for me.
 
Zirkzee should be getting the nod now for sure if garnacho buries that chance made by hojlund though maybe it changes the game and gives him confidence but definitely needs to be dropped we desperately need a proven striker and have him come off bench.
 
Each time I see one play I ask for the other one to start. Zirkzee wasn't anything special tonight but damn Hojlund was bad. Out of the league bad, Hojlund is looking worse and worse as time goes by. He lacks so many of the technical qualities needed that I think at this point even Zirkzee will be a better choice.

But will have to wait, maybe next game after watching Zirkzee I'll have to say that even Hojlund is better.
 
None should be a starter, but you don't have a proper forward, so....?

Since you have zero creativity in the centre midfield and opt to Onana's long balls to your forward, then it should be Zirkzee who's not just taller but can shield the ball as well. He also got better individual skills than Hojlund.

Højlund might be better in the box?, the team doesn’t appear capable of utilizing that style of play though.
 
Depends on the game, but if we want a target man then Zirkzee, if we want to run the channels then Hojlund.
 
Hojlund seems to be regressing. Not sure what's going on with him, but all aspects of his game are off at the moment. Zirkzee on the other hand is turning things around, and should start ahead of Hojlund now.

All in all we need buy a new one.
 
I honestly can't fathom it, but Rasmus doesn't deserve to start over Big Zirk. That was a night and day difference on being able to have some minimal impact on the game. Rasmus offered nothing, except for the one moment he created for Garnacho where to be fair, he should have gotten an assist.
 
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