Joshua Zirkzee image 11

Joshua Zirkzee Netherlands flag

2024-25 Performances

View full 2024-25 profile

4.9 Season Average Rating
Appearances
35
Goals
4
Assists
2
Yellow cards
1
VP89 said:
I think you're being a bit harsh. Hes shown willingness and aggression. Ive seen plenty of players walk around for good teams. Saka does it before he surprises defenders with runs in behind.
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But that's a deliberate move. Taking defenders by surprise by shifting from walking to sprinting. I don’t think Zirkzee is doing the same thing.

Somewhere in his footballing education the grown ups around him haven't sorted out this approach to the game he has.

If he came up under Eric Harrison no way would he be like this.

The OT crowd is very forgiving, so he has and will get a bit of time. But by the end of the season he has to drop the nonsense that blighted Martial and become a proper footballer.
 
Marwood said:
But that's a deliberate move. Taking defenders by surprise by shifting from walking to sprinting. I don’t think Zirkzee is doing the same thing.

Somewhere in his footballing education the grown ups around him haven't sorted out this approach to the game he has.

If he came up under Eric Harrison no way would he be like this.

The OT crowd is very forgiving, so he has and will get a bit of time. But by the end of the season he has to drop the nonsense that blighted Martial and become a proper footballer.
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Zirkzees style is also deliberate. Just like Berbatov or even Firminho would in between the lines, ghosting in or sussing out where to be before running immediately.
 
VP89 said:
Zirkzees style is also deliberate. Just like Berbatov or even Firminho would in between the lines, ghosting in or sussing out where to be before running immediately.
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Why do you think Barbatov's career never fully happened here. Why it ended prematurely?

And keeping in mind, Berbatov much more talented.
 
Marwood said:
Why do you think Barbatov's career never fully happened here. Why it ended prematurely?

And keeping in mind, Berbatov much more talented.
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Well he was also sticking out from Ronaldo Rooney Tevez who were very high octaine players.

But that didnt mean he wasnt a willing player or not putting in effort. He was just different stylistically.

Zirzkee is maybe a luxury player who really stands out when the other pieces are appropriately fit. I dont think that should be misconstrued with a lack of effort though.
 
afatzp said:
Zirkzee needs ball at his feet to perform. He basically would never perform well with Bruno in the team. It's just easy to tell. Bruno wants him to play like Rashford and gives too many inconsistent through balls for him to chase. Bruno can play simple and give Zirkzee the ball to his feet when Zirkzee shows to it, then all will click. But Bruno would not do it as he loves to monopolize all the key passes.

Zirkzee is more like Zlatan / Berbatov type of player with silky touch and good ball control. But ultimately the coach needs to play his strength and guide the team resource towards it, not like throwing him on pitch and then let him rot with Bruno's Hollywood style.
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Feck me Bruno gets the blame for everything these days
 
VP89 said:
Well he was also sticking out from Ronaldo Rooney Tevez who were very high octaine players.

But that didnt mean he wasnt a willing player or not putting in effort. He was just different stylistically.

Zirzkee is maybe a luxury player who really stands out when the other pieces are appropriately fit. I dont think that should be misconstrued with a lack of effort though.
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You can't be that though as a young player, without a great track record, coming to a big club.

And in any case a luxury player is just another term for a talented lazy player.
 
He's very obviously not up to the standard. Which is fine, not his fault, but you've really gotta wonder what the hell is going on behind the scenes with these transfers. Same with Malacia. He gets a pass because of the fee, but he's painfully not good enough.
 
Dont think he will work in England. Needs slightly more time than it is afforded in England. Would work in slower leagues. Could be wrong but he is the only player that didnt work out that we got in summer
 
pratyush_utd said:
Dont think he will work in England. Needs slightly more time than it is afforded in England. Would work in slower leagues. Could be wrong but he is the only player that didnt work out that we got in summer
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This seems to be the case with Zirkzee. I have no idea of how reliable the sources are but the whispers around him are that he is regretting leaving Italy and finding it a struggle which could well be true and would go some way to explain why he doesn't look too invested or happy when on the pitch. Juve are said to be circling and if we can get our money back then it might be best for all parties as we could then pursue an alternative who is a better fit for the new Manager. So far it is not from Tier 1 sources though so we will see what January brings.
 
I cant believe Erik Ten Hag had two years of seeing how last the league is, how little time on the ball you have compared to most other leagues and he still decided to spunk all that money on another bloke from Holland. He seems to need time on the ball, and cant possibly get it.
 
Is there any truth to Ten Hag wanting Welbeck on the cheap and being persuaded this fella was a better bet?
 
afatzp said:
Zirkzee needs ball at his feet to perform. He basically would never perform well with Bruno in the team. It's just easy to tell. Bruno wants him to play like Rashford and gives too many inconsistent through balls for him to chase. Bruno can play simple and give Zirkzee the ball to his feet when Zirkzee shows to it, then all will click. But Bruno would not do it as he loves to monopolize all the key passes.

Zirkzee is more like Zlatan / Berbatov type of player with silky touch and good ball control. But ultimately the coach needs to play his strength and guide the team resource towards it, not like throwing him on pitch and then let him rot with Bruno's Hollywood style.
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I disagree with this. Bruno used to link very well with Martial who was also a 'ball to feet' kind of player
 
Borussia Teeth said:
I disagree with this. Bruno used to link very well with Martial who was also a 'ball to feet' kind of player
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Yeah have to disagree too. Zirkzee has had plenty of passes to feet and in his first appearances did quite well to look after the ball with his touch, but after those 2 or 3 matches he's been worse than Hojlund at taking a sure touch and finding a teammate. It looks like it should be what hes good at, but he's had inconsistent touch and some poor quality with his layoffs instead.

Edit - Further than that... I just looked it up and his pass accuracy is 3rd worst in the squad at 75.9%. Only Onana and Antony have less. He does have more key passes per 90 than Hojlund (1.1 per 90 to 0.9) so we can say he's trying to find players with a dangerous pass a bit more but still, all he needs to do is control the ball and lay it off and then get into a dangerous position for when the move is closer to goal. Its not like he's trying Bruno-like passes every time he gets the ball and hes only the 11th most per 90 mins in the squad...
 
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I just don't see what Zirkzee brings to the team, he's the ultimate nothing player. No threat, no drive, no anything.

Another pointless signing that we'll struggle to move on and take a financial kicking on. I expect he'll be on loan next season somewhere mediocre and struggle to get much game time there.
 
acid_fuji said:
I feel sorry for him but I don’t get why these such a things would influence doing your job. Wish we all could have a leeway from our bosses whenever we broke with anyone.
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Depending on the circumstances and his personality, of course it may affect his performance. That’s the case for most people, but few of us have jobs where 1 or even 5 % less effort for a short period of time will be noticed.

It’s no excuse for him, of course, and I’ve no idea whether or not it has played a role in his tough start here.
 
Schmeichels pinky said:
Depending on the circumstances and his personality, of course it may affect his performance. That’s the case for most people, but few of us have jobs where 1 or even 5 % less effort for a short period of time will be noticed.

It’s no excuse for him, of course, and I’ve no idea whether or not it has played a role in his tough start here.
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Or course it would have an effect he's not a robot. Makes sense as we all know breaking up can send you off course for a while.

These things happen though and we do get over it, and so will he. He has to as the fanbase takes no prisoners atm... Hope he turns in to a real player for us as he has the tools to
 
acid_fuji said:
I feel sorry for him but I don’t get why these such a things would influence doing your job. Wish we all could have a leeway from our bosses whenever we broke with anyone.
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Why wouldn't it? It can affect people playing 5 a side on astro.
 
FujiVice said:
I cant believe Erik Ten Hag had two years of seeing how last the league is, how little time on the ball you have compared to most other leagues and he still decided to spunk all that money on another bloke from Holland. He seems to need time on the ball, and cant possibly get it.
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I don’t think ETH should be blamed for a player he apparently didn’t want
 
acid_fuji said:
I feel sorry for him but I don’t get why these such a things would influence doing your job. Wish we all could have a leeway from our bosses whenever we broke with anyone.
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Aye and we don't have hundreds of thousands of pounds in the bank while having opportunities galore to meet a new woman.
 
FujiVice said:
I cant believe Erik Ten Hag had two years of seeing how last the league is, how little time on the ball you have compared to most other leagues and he still decided to spunk all that money on another bloke from Holland. He seems to need time on the ball, and cant possibly get
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Have a day off.
He was an Ineos signing.
 
afatzp said:
Zirkzee needs ball at his feet to perform. He basically would never perform well with Bruno in the team. It's just easy to tell. Bruno wants him to play like Rashford and gives too many inconsistent through balls for him to chase. Bruno can play simple and give Zirkzee the ball to his feet when Zirkzee shows to it, then all will click. But Bruno would not do it as he loves to monopolize all the key passes.

Zirkzee is more like Zlatan / Berbatov type of player with silky touch and good ball control. But ultimately the coach needs to play his strength and guide the team resource towards it, not like throwing him on pitch and then let him rot with Bruno's Hollywood style.
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Whilst there is a lot of truth that he needs ball to feet it doesn't excuse some of his performances.
 
red_de_pologne said:
I think he will be the quickest we give up on and sell a player since di Maria or Depay?
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To be fair to Di Maria he wasn't that bad for us but his family didn't like it here and the home invasion made them all want to leave Manchester. Also LvG stifling all creativity didn't help with his happiness so I don't blame him for wanting to leave.
 
Wolves 2:0 Man Utd New
I remain entirely unconvinced by him, but I did at least see him sprinting to close players down and press at times. He was showing more effort. It wasnt quick but he did try to do that part.
 
Didn't offer anything after he came on. If we can get a swap deal for a proper striker in January we should. Neither him or Rasmus should be the main man right now.
 
How did we end up with him and Hojlund as our main strikers? Unbelievable...
 
Better than usual off the bench today, but that says more about how much Hojlund was annoying me, and how bad Zirkzee usually is.
 
If you were to compare him to an elite striker past or present - who would it be ?

I swear some clubs are on the milk for us. There is literally nothing i have seen in him that is redeeming to justify what we paid for him.
 
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