His link-up play and passing look very good for a young forward IMO. The first thing I noticed about him was his press resistance and his ability to get away from his man with skill and strength. He's definitely a player I'm excited to see as he's the profile we've needed for a long time, and he's not cost a fortune so he won't be automatically called a flop and hated.
Joshua Zirkzee is a Red | and our #11
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Koeman isn't a very good coach. He preferred out form Depay for whatever reason.
Wout just offers something else.
He will be bald in 10 years. I see the signs which still hurt me to this day.
Koeman is a “favourites” manager, a bit like Southgate. He had a strategy that worked ok so he stuck to it (Depay starting, Wout on for his height). I have no doubts Zirkzee will be starting for Holland in the near future, especially if he hits the ground running here.
Every manager is a favourites manager. Usually a player is a favourite for a reason. But there are questionable ones for pretty much every manager. A great example is City and Walker
You can add the fact that Zirkzee fell ill, had a light fever and was forced to travel seperate from the squad before the Austria-Netherlands match as another reason why barely featured at the Euros.
Trolls and kids and pretend football fans
Hojlund and Zirkzee both seem to have great potential but it's a shame we don't have 20+ goals a season striker anymore in our team. Used to be Ruud, Rooney, RvP, even Berbatov one season.
Just seen his interview, he went to school with Malacia and has known him for years which I thought was a neat piece of info.
You can, but it seems a strained argument given that he wasn’t even in the squad even before he got, ill, he was just included late because of injuries to others.
I think we should just accept that as such a young striker go, it’s not the most important thing if he fits the NT coaches plan’s or not.
Koeman is a solid coach, if no genius. He got a not so impressive Dutch squad to a Euro SF, using Wout. His predecessor got a better Dutch squad to a EC QF, using Wout. It isn’t stupid to use Wout for NT tournaments for this Dutch group, it works quite well.
Hojlund was only 4 off that as a 20 year old who had 2 injuries and barely any service.
I think there is good reason to hope he will become that.
Weghorst was definitely used correctly by Koeman, the problem is Memphis. He has been very useful for the Netherlands, scoring lots of goals, but he really seems to be fading now. It's understandable that Koeman sticks with him given Memphis's past record, but by always playing Memphis and never Zirkzee or Brobbey (or even Luuk de Jong), Koeman created a situation where there's no backup for Memphis's role (which Weghorst can't play) with any real experience in playing for the Dutch national team. Consequently, when Memphis was pretty useless during the EC, there wasn't someone who could really be trusted to be the starting striker instead.
But yes, many people in the Netherlands did think that someone should have been Zirkzee, and except if he tanks at United, I'd be surprised if Zirkzee didn't start getting more game time in the Dutch national team soon.
Cracking chant tbf
He didnt look ETH in the eyes. He is shy. Shy players are often among the best at United.
Soooo Hojlund takes 9 and our new boy gets 11?
If you look around Europe they don't really exist apart from a few (assuming you're talking about league goals)
Real Madrid did just fine last season without a 20+ goals a season striker. Arsenal, to a lesser extent obviouvsly are the same and you can maybe add Leverkusen to that list. There are plenty more of examples from the last 10 years or so. On the other side, Bayern had arguably the best in the world and still managed to have their worse season in a decade. I am not saying that having such a striker in the modern game is a hindrance as there are examples to the opposite like Benzema for Real not too long ago but it's far from a must as there are clearly many ways to build a team that scores goals and having that profile of player is just one of them.
These points sound sensible, and of course you know this better than me as well.
I am curious about Zirkzee and have hopes for him at Utd, I don’t think it’s right when some posters feel the need for painting a coach like Koeman with a black/white brush (using only the black side) in order to inflate their own expectations about potential Utd targets, like some did.
Should've clarified - 20 league goals per season, not in all comps. I think Hojlund can become that but is still like 2 seasons away.
Agree, it was more me reminiscing about past days.
Yeah, true. Koeman is obviously not a bad national team coach. He's done pretty alright in both spells, and outside Van Gaal and him, the Netherlands have had some really poor periods under other coaches. So as much as it seems like he could be doing better, Koeman is definitely not a trash tier coach; he's got the team performing above expectations if anything.
Not having that 20+ goals per season striker will hurt us for sure.
The issue is that there aren't many of those strikers around and those strikers who could score that prolifically will cost a lot.
So, I can understand why we are reluctant to spend £100m, say on a top class striker.
I think we need to build a better quality squad AND system which enables more players to score.
Unfortunately, I don't think ETH is capable of building that system.
He is very good. I wanted him at Juve.
So when is he starting to train with the lads? Anyone curious about his squad number???
Rasmus is back and still in the 11 shirt so far. I expect him to move to 9
Rasmus is back and still in the 11 shirt so far. I expect him to move to 9
I wonder if we will see him play on the LW for some games (or in a system that has both him and Hojlund up front)
Still not read any news about him going on the US Tour?
Still not read any news about him going on the US Tour?
Yeah I feel you but at the risk of sounding like a Liverpool fan - I do think this year's different. I'm quite pleased with how the rest of the squad's shaping up. The average age is being brought down. The baseline technical level on most of our players is really good and I don't expect us to shit the bed as soon as say a Brentford or Southampton press us high. The rotation quality / depth is a tad lacking still and I hope the next few signings we make (De Ligt, Ugarte, RB) help us in that regard.
The only questions for me are can we keep the starting XI generally fit? And can Ten Hag get a tune out of these players?
I know the Dutch made it to quarters but he didn’t play at all basically… I suppose he still gets a vacation and then needs to get back asap
You still have to be on it and train everyday, it's a bit different to actually getting a proper break.
Imagine if you had a holiday, but you had to be on call the whole time or even had to be at the office sitting and waiting, just in case they needed you to do a few minutes work. Would you feel refreshed and well rested after a couple of weeks like that?
This.
Doesn't matter who we have as striker if we are not providing service, for much of last season Hoijlund was left isolated and given scant service, no reason he cannot get his numbers north of 20 or even 30 if we actually utilise him correctly, he has a conversion rate of 55%+, whilst that may drop giving him 2-3 chances a match should easily result in 20-30 goals next season.
The issue is that last season the team was dysfunctional in attack as well as defence, even without personnel changes, changes to the formation and tactics should have a massive impact, failing to change the formation/tactics will result in much the same performances irrespective of the players we utilise
So is he a Firmino type?
That's actually a very good comparison stylistically
I wouldn't be mad at all if wound up with a 6'4 and built Firmino type
The problem is, how many 70m+ transfers have been successful for us? More generally, how many transfers have actually been successful for us in the last decade? We cannot spend big unless we get the foundations right. Then we cap it with a star player or two. Getting a expensive shiny new toy right now will do us more harm than good.
Berbatov style.
Feels that Zirkzee would revitalize Rashford and Garnacho this season.
Our own Salah - Firmino - Mane?
A watered down version. We don't have a player like Salah, who's insane goalscorer and good playmaker. Probably if Amad can surprise us.
Bold is gold.