[Andycoleno9]

He's joint second top scorer with 5 goals, alongside Bruno, only McTominay has scored more with 6 this season. So again, what do you want? It sounds to me like you want this inexperienced kid to carry the entire team on his back with a plethora of goals and are crying that he isn't doing so. What did you expect? Apparently this kid is absolute trash according to a lot of people in here yet he's still scored more than every player on the team bar two and yet he gets slandered the most out of every player on the team, I just cannot wrap my head around it.

Nobody is scoring at the moment.
We play like absolute trash and create little to no chances.

Expectations on this kid are astronomically stupid in this thread

Can we at least stop repeating that excuse about "lack of service". Even if we ignore the fact that for lack of clear chances is on him too (because his movement and positioning is bellow par), he is also missing chances. It is only a chance or two per game but he is missing them all.
Blimey, you can't get (at this level) clearer chance than this today.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Been giving him the benefit of the doubt all season but it's getting harder and harder to defend him at this point.

This is just criminal. GK is unbalanced and has all his weight on his right leg. Near side is totally empty. Just a simple pass towards the near corner would've gone in.

Honestly I'd bench him and play McT as a false 9. Kills two birds with one stone as it takes him away from midfield and he's also a bigger goal threat than Højlund at this stage.

Look at his highlights. He basically never places shots with inside of his boot. It is always full power shot.

 

[zaafi]

Been giving him the benefit of the doubt all season but it's getting harder and harder to defend him at this point.

This is just criminal. GK is unbalanced and has all his weight on his right leg. Near side is totally empty. Just a simple pass towards the near corner would've gone in.

Honestly I'd bench him and play McT as a false 9. Kills two birds with one stone as it takes him away from midfield and he's also a bigger goal threat than Højlund at this stage.

People thinking a football game is played in still photos.

The worst thing about this photo is that it's going to be used against him, as if the players aren't in constant movement. But since a still photo shows that Alisson has his weight on his right foot just as Højlund is about to shoot, that is somehow a ridiculously easy chance. fecking hell. I give up.

 

[pacifictheme]

Been giving him the benefit of the doubt all season but it's getting harder and harder to defend him at this point.

This is just criminal. GK is unbalanced and has all his weight on his right leg. Near side is totally empty. Just a simple pass towards the near corner would've gone in.

Honestly I'd bench him and play McT as a false 9. Kills two birds with one stone as it takes him away from midfield and he's also a bigger goal threat than Højlund at this stage.

He's young and been living off scraps. He's not the finished article at all. I think of he got the service weghorst got last season he would have scored a few more by now and be more in the groove. We've barely given him anything in the league because we are abject.

 

[Idxomer]

Very different type of players.

There are many 20 year olds who haven't scored 5 CL goals. It's just dumb game splits. He's a young physical striker. His type of CF tend to not do anything until age 22 or so (literally look at physical CF's over the past 30 years, basically none of them did anything in a big league).

Lukaku had no problem scoring loads of goals before turning 22. Anyway, what you're saying is that the club should find a starting striker soon because they can't wait for a guy who needs a few years till he performs at the required level.

 

[Mr Smith]

Been giving him the benefit of the doubt all season but it's getting harder and harder to defend him at this point.

This is just criminal. GK is unbalanced and has all his weight on his right leg. Near side is totally empty. Just a simple pass towards the near corner would've gone in.

Honestly I'd bench him and play McT as a false 9. Kills two birds with one stone as it takes him away from midfield and he's also a bigger goal threat than Højlund at this stage.

How you can be advocating for McTominay at CF after the performance he just put in is mindboggling to me. That freeze-frame is very unfair on Hojland, the ball came to him very quickly and he had very little time. I also disagree with Allison being off balance; he's very well positioned, the angle makes the near post look free bit he actually doesn't have far to go. Yes he should have scored or at least not put it into Allison's midriff, but this was his only chance. The best strikers in the world miss chances like this all the time, and then score the next one. But he isn't getting the next one. You all need to get off his back and give him time.

 

[bosnian_red]

Lukaku had no problem scoring loads of goals before turning 22. Anyway, what you're saying is that the club should find a starting striker soon because they can't wait for a guy who needs a few years till he performs at the required level.

Lukaku was a different type of player. He was basically a poacher. He has absolutely no attempts to be a hold up play CF, or a link up guy or anything like that when he was young. He was just pure pace and strength when running onto balls in behind and that's how he broke through. Numbers wise it's only really him and Haaland (who same deal as Lukaku, were big physical CF's but were broke through by being pretty much pure poachers and nothing outside of that) who have done anything before that age.

In terms of waiting for him... well we need a more experienced guy to rotate with him for sure. I wouldn't spend 50m+ on a CF to replace him fully, we spent big on Hojlund and if we believe in the potential than we just have work on developing him and trusting the process. Also, you have to take into account what are our team needs, what are our immediate goals and how do they change with a more experienced guy who will start every game. I think we're years away from a title challenge regardless, don't think we even have the right manager in and need plenty of squad rebuilding before we think about that. So having some short term struggles while he develops is almost inconsequential to our overall end goal, unless it actively is the difference in us being in CL football or not.

 

[Lee565]

He's young and been living off scraps. He's not the finished article at all. I think of he got the service weghorst got last season he would have scored a few more by now and be more in the groove. We've barely given him anything in the league because we are abject.

Isn't that the difference between a quality striker and a average striker, a quality striker is ruthless in front of goal and doesn't need 5 chances to score a goal like rashford does, compare him to Greenwood and hojlund is not on the same level of what he was before the criminal issues.

Reality is we have repeated the same mistake as we did with Antony of purchasing a 20-30 million striker and winger for 75/80 million.

 

[Ayoba]

He is obviously very raw right now but I do feel for him. He hardly gets passes played into him and our wingers rarely try to cross. The one occasion he is put through he doesnt score. It's asking a lot of Holjund to score from 1 chance a game. We have to create more for him

 

[Lay]

Its again, worth noting he only got into Atalanta's side in January, his first 90 minute game for Atalanta was just under a year ago. He wasn't meant to be a regular for them. He shouldn't have been signed as the main striker when he wasn't even the main striker for Atalanta until midway and even then, he was inconsistent.

He isn't ready yet and its an absolute shambles that the club paid £70m for him and put him in a position he isn't ready for

 

[SuperiorXI]

He is obviously very raw right now but I do feel for him. He hardly gets passes played into him and our wingers rarely try to cross. The one occasion he is put through he doesnt score. It's asking a lot of Holjund to score from 1 chance a game. We have to create more for him

It has been clear to me all season the team is not setup to create chances for him. We are more setup for goals out wide, our wide players are very greedy and would rather take a wild swing from outside the box than try to create a chance for him.

The no 10 player is the same, doesn't make enough chances for him. McTominay would rather score for himself.

I'd get the criticism for Holjund if he was missing chance after chance but he isn't. He's in his debut season, young kid and is living off scraps in a poor United side.

 

[pacifictheme]

Isn't that the difference between a quality striker and a average striker, a quality striker is ruthless in front of goal and doesn't need 5 chances to score a goal like rashford does, compare him to Greenwood and hojlund is not on the same level of what he was before the criminal issues.

Reality is we have repeated the same mistake as we did with Antony of purchasing a 20-30 million striker and winger for 75/80 million.

He's a kid. Give him a chance.

 

[Samid]

He's young and been living off scraps. He's not the finished article at all. I think of he got the service weghorst got last season he would have scored a few more by now and be more in the groove. We've barely given him anything in the league because we are abject.

He's leading the line for one of the biggest teams in the world, a team that is barely averaging a goal per game after half the season. If he doesn't score there will be scrutiny whether you like it or not.

"Living off scraps". Bollocks. Only two other players in the entire league are underperforming their xG more than Højlund. Being in this company means your finishing sucks. Pure and simple.

	Name	Team	xG Delta (Goals - xG)
	Calvert-Lewin	EVE	-3.06
	Maupay	BRE	-3.01
	Højlund	MUN	-2.83
	Jackson	CHE	-2.82
	Núñez	LIV	-2.82
	Fernández	CHE	-2.77
	Rashford	MUN	-2.69
	Wissa	BRE	-2.59
	Lerma	CRY	-1.95
	Gibbs-White	NFO	-1.89

 

[Devil81]

The defence of him is absolutely crazy at this stage, he's 20 which isn't even that young when it comes to talent these days.

He's miles off being the level for us at this time. 75 million was a crazy transfer fee, they've had our pants well and truly down.

If he was a 25 million player for the future I'd be pleased but he's been brought in as our main man.

 

[Nickosaur]

We know he can score, those goals in the CL did happen.

For some reason creativity throughout the team has been awful in the PL and we aren't creating enough for him.

He's not blameless - kid is incredibly raw - but I'm still very confident he'll come good.

 

[foolsgold]

The defence of him is absolutely crazy at this stage, he's 20 which isn't even that young when it comes to talent these days.

He's miles off being the level for us at this time. 75 million was a crazy transfer fee, they've had our pants well and truly down.

If he was a 25 million player for the future I'd be pleased but he's been brought in as our main man.

We absolutely overpaid for him, but I don't think he was supposed to be our starting striker when we signed him. I think the intention was that Greenwood would be reintegrated into the team but we did a very late pivot on this leaving Rasmus as our only option.

 

[Blood Mage]

The Scandinavian Lukaku. He may get better but his first touch is shocking and I don't see it improving to the level it needs to be at. Technique can only be marginally improved.

 

[Red4Ever]

Glad he played a rare 90
at least the ball sticks the off time unlike with rashford & martial

the chance was a great move; involving him, and it’s not as if he put it wide

 

[SAFMUTD]

We don't create many chances for him but the few he has he has to do better. Should had buried that one chance he had.

 

[zaafi]

He's leading the line for one of the biggest teams in the world, a team that is barely averaging a goal per game after half the season. If he doesn't score there will be scrutiny whether you like it or not.

"Living off scraps". Bollocks. Only two other players in the entire league are underperforming their xG more than Højlund. Being in this company means your finishing sucks. Pure and simple.

	Name	Team	xG Delta (Goals - xG)
	Calvert-Lewin	EVE	-3.06
	Maupay	BRE	-3.01
	Højlund	MUN	-2.83
	Jackson	CHE	-2.82
	Núñez	LIV	-2.82
	Fernández	CHE	-2.77
	Rashford	MUN	-2.69
	Wissa	BRE	-2.59
	Lerma	CRY	-1.95
	Gibbs-White	NFO	-1.89

You should check Lewandowski underperforming his xG then. I assume he is a shit finisher as well, pure and simple?

 

[VP89]

You should check Lewandowski underperforming his xG then. I assume he is a shit finisher as well, pure and simple?

Lewa takes most of his easy chances, offers a ton more in buildup and doesn't look like the ball is almost always trapped under his feet.

 

[NewGlory]

Nunez, for all his uselessness, is levels above Hojlund at present.

He’s been involved in 11 PL goals this season in 943 minutes vs Hojlund’s involvement in 0 goals in 882 minutes.

In his first season in the PL, Nunez was involved in 14 goals in 1684 minutes.

He’s a vastly superior player at present, which says a lot.

This is why watching stats instead of football is so damaging.

Nunez will never be half of the striker that Hojlund can and likely will be (if we dont break him)

Nunez plays in a very successful team and enjoys world class service. Hojlund plays in the shit that we currently are and gets almost no service. And he is new to a new league. Those are the explanations for Hojlund numbers, not his ability

Out of context numbers is no way to understand football. This ain't baseball, my friend

 

[SAF is the GOAT]

That's what you get when you create a chance to your striker once in 10 games. The kid is rusty, I don't blame him at all.

 

[Leftback99]

This is why watching stats instead of football is so damaging.

Nunez will never be half of the striker that Hojlund can and likely will be (if we dont break him)

Nunez plays in a very successful team and enjoys world class service. Hojlund plays in the shit that we currently are and gets almost no service. And he is new to a new league. Those are the explanations for Hojlund numbers, not his ability

Out of context numbers is no way to understand football. This ain't baseball, my friend

Based on what?

 

[Doracle]

He is a young striker who wouldn’t look out of place currently coming off the bench for Burnley. There’s just no point getting mad at him for not being good enough. The insanity was spending £70m on a £25-£30m prospect and not signing a world class CF to actually give us a chance of continuing to build something this season.

 

[NewGlory]

Based on what?

Based on having a pair of functioning eyes and watching him play

It is called "an opinion" and that is my opinion

 

[Member 117152]

You should check Lewandowski underperforming his xG then. I assume he is a shit finisher as well, pure and simple?

Comparing Hojlund to even a mid 30’s Lewandoski is pretty wild. Hojlund isn’t fit to lace his boots as a footballer.

We can talk about potential all we want but he’s just not very good at his current age.

Totally agree on the valuation of 25m for this guy. I’m struggling to see these world class traits people speak of. He’s just a normal journeyman striker to my eyes.

 

[evil_geko]

Lad is feeding on scraps, anyone getting on his back this early should be ashamed of himself.

 

[PSV]

Lad is feeding on scraps, anyone getting on his back this early should be ashamed of himself.

He's been fed 3 times (and missed 3 times) the chances that Weghorst was and the general consensus is that Weghorst was poor. He's now also played more than Weghorst.

 

[Member 117152]

The defence of him is absolutely crazy at this stage, he's 20 which isn't even that young when it comes to talent these days.

He's miles off being the level for us at this time. 75 million was a crazy transfer fee, they've had our pants well and truly down.

If he was a 25 million player for the future I'd be pleased but he's been brought in as our main man.

I don’t even like big strikers either for us. ETH seems to love a carthorse up top.

This shouldn’t be our football since in 99 and 08 we played with smaller, quicker interchanging players. We have never been known to have big guys up front.

I’d be looking for super technical players personally across the front line. Although I assume Pep or Madrid just seem to get their hands on most of them these days.

We certainly aren’t known for technical football any longer unfortunately.

 

[always_hoping]

People thinking a football game is played in still photos.

The worst thing about this photo is that it's going to be used against him, as if the players aren't in constant movement. But since a still photo shows that Alisson has his weight on his right foot just as Højlund is about to shoot, that is somehow a ridiculously easy chance. fecking hell. I give up.

People on here and other social media platforms do think football is played in still photos alight.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Nunez will never be half of the striker that Hojlund can and likely will be (if we dont break him)

Nunez plays in a very successful team and enjoys world class service. Hojlund plays in the shit that we currently are and gets almost no service. And he is new to a new league. Those are the explanations for Hojlund numbers, not his ability

Out of context numbers is no way to understand football. This ain't baseball, my friend

Hojlund is currently underperforming his xG worse than Darwin…

That is alarming for 2 reasons -

1. It completely puts to bed the now clichéd, ‘bUt hE’s fEediNg oN sCrAPs’ narrative.

2. Darwin Núñez is famous for shockingly underperforming his xG, and to be below him on this is… shall we say, an ‘achievement’!

 

[Ali Dia]

He would have been a very very good piece of scouting and recruitment if we’d got him from Denmark or even Austria for relative peanuts and used him as a backup to a more established player. As things stand it’s not his fault he cost so much or we are only really interested in players once they become major breakout stars. I think we are doing the right thing getting a big young striker but agree we need someone older to take the pressure off for a season or two. He should have been an impact player this season

 

[lex talionis]

He would have been a very very good piece of scouting and recruitment if we’d got him from Denmark or even Austria for relative peanuts and used him as a backup to a more established player. As things stand it’s not his fault he cost so much or we are only really interested in players once they become major breakout stars. I think we are doing the right thing getting a big young striker but agree we need someone older to take the pressure off for a season or two. He should have been an impact player this season

Buy this man a beer.

 

[NewGlory]

He would have been a very very good piece of scouting and recruitment if we’d got him from Denmark or even Austria for relative peanuts and used him as a backup to a more established player. As things stand it’s not his fault he cost so much or we are only really interested in players once they become major breakout stars. I think we are doing the right thing getting a big young striker but agree we need someone older to take the pressure off for a season or two. He should have been an impact player this season

I agree with this.

He is a very promising young striker that we should have signed (alongside a senior striker) but the money we paid for him was stupid. Our recruitment / negotiation team is utter garbage.

 

[MadMike]

He plays like a player you’d take a 20m punt on, hoping for him to become decent in 2-3 years. Like a Danish Daniel James. Not a player you spent 75m on to lead the line right now.

Neither the cost nor the level of responsibility are his fault. It’s the fault of the people who signed him. But we need better and soon.

 

[RedCurry]

When your CF is not getting too many touches, the midfield needs to bring him into the game. If he was elite level striker who only needed one touch to score, then we could play the way we do. But he’s not at that level. He’s leading the line and the rest of the team need to bring him into the game for him to gain some momentum within the game. Otherwise it will be more of the same for rest of the season.

 

[Ali Dia]

I agree with this.

He is a very promising young striker that we should have signed (alongside a senior striker) but the money we paid for him was stupid. Our recruitment / negotiation team is utter garbage.

Our success rate with highly rated young players post Fergie is really bad. We are lacking the kind of organisational leadership that players truly will get behind for longer than a few months. This should be one of the best places in the world to work but it doesn’t seem like it looking in.

Shaw - good
Martial - poor in hindsight after a good start.
Sancho - mentality bust
Adnan
Greenwood
Does Pogba count?
Antony - could still improve but is only there all the time because he’s the managers project. He’s been better recently.
Rashford has had major struggles with form and motivation
Rasmus next? I don’t think so. He seems like a serious fella and not controversial. I’m confident if we start making a few more chances he’ll score. Bet he’ll get a few once Mount gets back and starts finding him on the shoulder. McT is hopeless on the ball.

Worryingly something in this club is repeatedly stopping potentially class players from reaching their full potential. We are paying way too much in wages for players on their first deal here like Sancho and Antony. I know our recruitment is shambolic but if we signed young players for other positions apart from attack that would be smart too. If a few of them hit their prime together again we are back in business. It’s that simple.

 

[NewGlory]

Our success rate with highly rated young players post Fergie is really bad. We are lacking the kind of organisational leadership that players truly will get behind for longer than a few months. This should be one of the best places in the world to work but it doesn’t seem like it looking in.

Shaw - good
Martial - poor in hindsight after a good start.
Sancho - mentality bust
Adnan
Greenwood
Does Pogba count?
Antony - could still improve but is only there all the time because he’s the managers project. He’s been better recently.
Rashford has had major struggles with form and motivation
Rasmus next? I don’t think so. He seems like a serious fella and not controversial. I’m confident if we start making a few more chances he’ll score. Bet he’ll get a few once Mount gets back and starts finding him on the shoulder. McT is hopeless on the ball.

Worryingly something in this club is repeatedly stopping potentially class players from reaching their full potential. We are paying way too much in wages for players on their first deal here like Sancho and Antony. I know our recruitment is shambolic but if we signed young players for other positions apart from attack that would be smart too. If a few of them hit their prime together again we are back in business. It’s that simple.

Agree

I think Rasmus will blossom when we [hopefully] get new CEO, new director of football and complete overhaul of the squad. Ironically, City would probably have been great for him, if they didn't already have Haaland

 

[ClassOf'99]

We desperately needed proven, world class striker. We had money and we have reputation to lure nearly any striker. So if price for that striker was 130-150 mil, we should have go for it.
Put in this team Kane, Osimhen or Watkins and our season would be way way better.

Please stop.