[Witchking]

Hope he gets time to settle down in this chaotic team.

Players like Rashford are afforded months, he is a new player at a new club.

I would love it if he is a Berbatov type of a player with his flicks and passes but in this day and age, not chasing, not showing urgency when it is needed will be criticized.

Football has changed and with sports science where every metric is looked at, you cannot be the single player looking out of place.

Let him get used to the club, style and game in England and I think he will be a good player for the club.

 

[Dyslexic Untied]

Looked nervous and struggled to get involved prior to the play that ended his goal. Then I thought he looked more comfortable, and more involved, after.

 

[Witchking]

Also people who say Martial could not hold up the ball are forgetting how good he was.

When he was not injured and could play as a number 9, he was brilliant at shielding the ball, his pace was surprisingly quick and he always knew when to release the ball at the right time.

Very unfortunate that he was always injured after 20-21.

 

[Gordon S]

It's not flair vs not flair. Fans like seeing exciting players who play with speed and intensity mainly. Zirkzee isn't necessarily a flair player, but he is more a composed and relaxed player. He doesn't seem to play with much intensity. It'll definitely rub people the wrong way. Same as Martial, he didn't bust a gut constantly so people got on his back. Guys like Garnacho have plenty of flair but also you can see the intensity he plays with, so fans love that.

I think some people got on his back because he rarely did bust a gut and rarely was fully fit. But we still had/have a lot of fans that loved him because of his silky touch and sexy dribbling skills.

 

[Beachryan]

Encouraging debut but we really struggled to control posession when Mount went off. That was likely down to Casemiro and Mainoo being cooked, but it was very noticeable. ETH will need to solve that if Zirkzee is going to be a main feature of the team.

 

[golden_blunder]

In this age of players just playing to a plan like robots, id welcome any flair player. They are what football is all about

 

[DJ_21]

Love his intelligent play. Starts moves off and then finishes them of.

 

[DJ_21]

Encouraging debut but we really struggled to control posession when Mount went off. That was likely down to Casemiro and Mainoo being cooked, but it was very noticeable. ETH will need to solve that if Zirkzee is going to be a main feature of the team.

One of the reason we need a midfielder who can control and dictate play. Speed it up when you need to but also slow it down when it requires it.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Martial was adored early but obviously results trumps flair. Pogba, Martial etc all suffered disrespect largely due to poor results. Nani for example is still loved because he played in a winning team even though they're all probably around the same level of flair/consistency.

Yeh you could be right that if they were part of winning teams they would get more respect. But I still remember the early cries about Ronaldo and Nani was and remains a polarising player.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Silky big unit

 

[NZT-One]

Encouraging debut but we really struggled to control posession when Mount went off. That was likely down to Casemiro and Mainoo being cooked, but it was very noticeable. ETH will need to solve that if Zirkzee is going to be a main feature of the team.

Pretty sure that didn't have much to do with Mount. Felt more like we spend the majority of our fuel in 1st half. 2nd half was more the usual stuff where we sat a little deeper and played for long balls. Also theres a good chance that at halftime, Fulham adjusted to a degree and we saw the effects of that even when Mount was still on (15minutes of 2nd half).

 

[humdinger]

Absolutely made up for him that he scored. Avoids the media witch hunt that Rasmus had to endure. Although they’ll just move onto their next victim.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Absolutely made up for him that he scored. Avoids the media witch hunt that Rasmus had to endure. Although they’ll just move onto their next victim.

Hojlund only denied his debut goal by a bullshit VAR decision too.

 

[Teja]

I predict opinions in this thread are going to be as divided as the Fred one by the end of the season. Mount brought an aggression to the press that we lacked once he went off and Zirkzee was basically welcomed into a pretty chaotic PL game on debut - probably didn't know what hit him initially.

I think he'll be fine, some good touches and composure. I'll go hunt for an all touches video on YT or re-watch the match a second time without the stress to form a more informed opinion.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I think you’re bang on. There’s this myth that Utd fans like flair players but truth be told I think it’s just that a myth. Martial was electric at his best and produced some great moments for the club yet look at the disrespect he gets. This fanbase wants output and output alone. Flair doesn’t have a place for the vast majority of our fans.

Anyway rant out the way, I know for a fact I’ll bloody love him. My kind of forward.

Martial was adored early but obviously results trumps flair. Pogba, Martial etc all suffered disrespect largely due to poor results. Nani for example is still loved because he played in a winning team even though they're all probably around the same level of flair/consistency.

The idea that Martial didn’t get the praise he deserved because he was a flair player is, obviously, a pile of steaming dogshit. Straight out of the Martial FC playbook.

I do agree that the knives are out much quicker for players when the team is playing badly but the criticism is shared equally between flair players and non flair players alike. Look at the abuse directed towards the likes of McTominay, Maguire or Jones. Or Valencia towards the end of his United career. Nani did get a fair bit of shit despite playing in a much stronger team than any of them but that was entirely down to inconsistent performances. And he was a model of consistency compared to Martial’s United career.

Getting back to Zirkzee. The fans will love him if he keeps playing and producing like he did last night. They won’t if he doesn’t. It’s that simple. And the goal was a real touch of class that the likes of Nani or Martial would be very proud of. It was an extremely difficult technique, on his weaker foot. The hold up play he showed after the goal was also very encouraging. An all round very good debut.

 

[Doracle]

Love his style and he’s exactly the type of number 9 we need. Great finish and some other very smooth touches. Think he’s going to be a big hit and crucial to our season.

 

[Locke]

Like some others have said he's a little like Zlatan and Berbatov. Big and technical and offer a lot more than only goals.
Zlatan was 23 at juventus and scored "only" 23 goals in 70 games. Then he went to Inter and exploded.
We can get to see something similar here with Zirkzee under the guidance of Ruud etc.

 

[Glorio]

Caf was ready to turn on him already. Seen comments that he looked too big or is lazy because he wasnt pressing (read : running around aimlessly). But in the end he scored a goal on his debut after hardly any pre-seaon and made the posters look stupid.

Oh yeah the match thread was hilariously stupid to read at points. I've even said I think he'll be disliked by a certain section of our fan base simply because he doesn't run around and wrestle defenders and look like a chicken with his head cut off all the time.

He came with the reputation of someone who presses well and uses the ball well, however, there was little intensity to his play yesterday, he always seemed behind the play, we started to lose control of the game before his goal, and he looked utterly gassed at the end.

I won't blame anyone concerned by that before the goal (we're at OT drawing our first game and attempting to play as a pressing unit), however, I put it down to fitness. I was watching him closely, and even though he was obviously not 100%, what he did do was time his moves very well.

By the way, I was a full, proud member of Martial FC before it became obvious the man was experiencing diminishing returns.

 

[dwd]

His link up play was very good, it surprised me. Hope he carries on, really pleased for him.

 

[Devil_forever]

In this age of players just playing to a plan like robots, id welcome any flair player. They are what football is all about

Robotic players and systems win leagues, the post pep era.

 

[Pronewbie]

Robotic players and systems win leagues, the post pep era.

I'd love it if a midfield of Casemiro and Ugarte, together with a 4-2-4, wins the PL.

 

[Danilo]

Hi, I'm a Bologna fan and yesterday I saw JZ's match. Don't expect a bomber but Joshua is a player who works for the team and has an impressive technique, you'll notice it right away. He seems slow and detached from the game but he knows before the others how the action develops.

You bought a high-level player.

Sorry if I use google translate but I don't speak English

 

[golden_blunder]

Robotic players and systems win leagues, the post pep era.

Only until someone does it a different way. Pepball is the current fad until something else comes along. It will come back to entertaining people at some stage

 

[OsloRed]

Only until someone does it a different way. Pepball is the current fad until something else comes along. It will come back to entertaining people at some stage

Yeah, it's cyclical.

 

[golden_blunder]

Yeah, it's cyclical.

Exactly, history has taught us that

 

[Borninthe80ts]

Can see that he will have some questioning his work ethic already and his qualities may go under appreciated by some. However I can see how he will help us to attack smarter, especially in transition. He takes up really good positions centrally and takes minimal amount of touches. Also turns well and can pass.

The goal should take off the immediate pressure and allow him to play his natural game.

 

[BAMSOLA]

Not really we have that already in Hojlund, the issue is more how the side combines to create chances as you could argue that when playing both Rashford and Garnacho we have two forwards who want to get narrow and behind teams to score, so it suits us to have a striker like Zirkzee who wants to drop deep and link play so that you have a set of complementary runs being made (one player starting high and dropping deep, whilst others start deep and try to get in behind).

The problem with Hojlund is it's part of his natural game to want to make the same type of runs as Garnacho and Rashford (the type you describe in behind) so it makes us less cohesive and predictable. Its no coincidence that we look a more fluid side when employing a false 9 for this reason.

Zirkzee movement and hold up play should open up scoring opportunities for the whole team, its then up to us to be more clinical but the fact that we create so little for Hojlund and would likely do for another striker like him is down to the two forwards either side of him who are much more goal driven than creative. Zirkzee should balance that out.

Not often that I quote myself (because I'm usual talking bollocks), but this is a good illustration of what I've said above only this time it end with Joshua scoring rather than assisting.

 

[Kaos]

Hi, I'm a Bologna fan and yesterday I saw JZ's match. Don't expect a bomber but Joshua is a player who works for the team and has an impressive technique, you'll notice it right away. He seems slow and detached from the game but he knows before the others how the action develops.

You bought a high-level player.

Sorry if I use google translate but I don't speak English

Thanks for the input, nice to see a Bologna fan here.

What do you think his ceiling is?

 

[Bo_devil]

You could see the change in quality and technique once he came on, which doesn't really say much for the rest of the attacking players who were on the pitch. He stood right out.

This team flatters to decieve a lot.

 

[despairingfool]

I love how tall and imposing he is. He's a football version of Nick Bosa. I'm in love

 

[OldTrevil]

Absolute top drawer of a finish on a debut, welcome to United Josh!

 

[Danilo]

Grazie per il contributo, è bello vedere qui un tifoso del Bologna.

Secondo te, qual è il suo limite massimo?

After two years we still haven't seen everything he can do. He has innate talent for playing football, everything comes naturally to him and he is unpredictable in his game.

He won't score many goals but he will make his teammates score many, he is not the classic center forward from the area, he likes to go towards the ball to exploit his class.

at times he may seem indolent but it is his way of doing things as a calm and almost cheeky person.

 

[jem]

Great post-match interview - seems like a total dude!

 

[DJ_21]

Not often that I quote myself (because I'm usual talking bollocks), but this is a good illustration of what I've said above only this time it end with Joshua scoring rather than assisting.

That outcome could have been very different if Mctominay had got a touch aswell. You could see Mctominay swinging for it. Luckily he missed.

 

[Reds go marching on]

Good hold up play, dropped deep, drifted wide, vision, off the ball running, a physical presence and a deft finish.

Another positive debut.

 

[J J]

Or maybe he’s right and you have the memory of a gold fish

Or may be you are wrong and have the memory of a pig?

 

[J J]

Being pigheaded is not wrong as a personal choice …but if you can’t defend an opinion…that is wrong…

Martial has not been the player that I have seen after his first successful season…why so serious

 

[J J]

Or maybe he’s right and you have the memory of a gold fish?

Being pigheaded is not wrong as a personal choice …but if you can’t defend an opinion…that is wrong…

Martial has not been the player that I have seen after his first successful season…why so serious

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Also people who say Martial could not hold up the ball are forgetting how good he was.

When he was not injured and could play as a number 9, he was brilliant at shielding the ball, his pace was surprisingly quick and he always knew when to release the ball at the right time.

Very unfortunate that he was always injured after 20-21.

People are stupid. 19/20 Martial is still the best striker we've had here post RVP

 

[J J]

People are stupid. 19/20 Martial is still the best striker we've had here post RVP

Well you are right!…..Why this “19/20 Martial is still the best striker we've had here post RVP” hasn’t found a club since leaving United?