[#07]

Hojlund was awful tonight. The longer the game went on the worse he got, which is very worrying.

Sometimes forwards have games where they cant hit a barn door, I remember Ronaldo having one like that against Reading in 07/08, but he just kept going until he scored. That's what top forwards do. They don't let the misses get on top of them. Hojlund looked cooked from half-time. Started getting further away from the middle of the box and, when he did have chances to shoot, his efforts looked tame and lacking in belief.

Troubling signs that he's cracked under the pressure. Shades of Diego Forlan at United.

 

[harms]

To be fair even though he’s glaringly toothless he is only 19 and you can definitely see the potential for a turnaround I think. Whereas with Anthony I see absolutely nothing.

He's turning 21 in a month.

 

[astracrazy]

£75M for him, £7.5M would have been over priced.

He is technically on form as his stats go, which some told us all to ignore when we signed him.

He isn't a goal scorer and never has been.

 

[Shane88]

Should've been given the penalty. I don't care if it would've been a pity goal. It's a way to get him to fecking hit the net.

 

[Mike Smalling]

Still no real chemistry with the wingers and Bruno it seems like. They are not finding him, but I also think he is not making very clever runs in the box most of the time. Often it seems like he would benefit from stopping his run, so the wingers can cut it back to the center of the box, but he always seems to go for the central area right in front of the keeper.

I am less and less convinced, but still don't think we have much of an alternative unless we dip into the market.

 

[mu4c_20le]

I finally figured out who he reminds of, it's Timo Werner.

Yep, He needs space to run into

 

[Leftback99]

He just doesn't have it.

Striker is a bit of problem position for the summer.

 

[Keanes Magic Hat]

He's just short on confidence, I'm confident he will come good

 

[youngrell]

Given how often he gets ignored or the ball takes too long to get into the box, he’s too fecking generous with his teammates on times. He needs to be a bit more selfish and take a shot.

He really should’ve bagged a few tonight, a couple of very bad misses, but it must be soul destroying playing as a CF with Rashford playing as he is.

 

[Denis79]

We need to buy a finished product in the summer and use Hojlund as backup.

 

[Borys]

Another player that looks dangerous running in straight line into the large free areas in front of the goal and doesn't offer much else.

I'm still wondering why did we make him first choice CF target last summer. Even ignoring him not being very good at football, his profile doesn't seem to fit this team.

 

[Redplane]

The standards of this club, there was a time when even lukaku was deemed not good enough for united and now you have fans excusing this lad game after game when it is is clear his all round play is average and his ability in front of the goal is poor

I partly agree with you - but as I've said on here before we should have simply never been in a position where this lad was instantly made our starting CF. We should have brought in an experienced 30 something year old. Don't even really care if it was a merchant like a Giroud or other. But dropping this much cash on a still relatively unproven 20 year old and expecting him to lead the line every night when we ve had players like Rooney, RvN, Cole, RvP, Ibra, Berba, Owen, Tevez, Berba, and even a Chicharito and yes Lukaku lead the line before it - it feels very out of place to now expect this kid to take on that mantle.

 

[PlayerOne]

£75M for him, £7.5M would have been over priced.

He is technically on form as his stats go, which some told us all to ignore when we signed him.

He isn't a goal scorer and never has been.

Yeah, this is the worrying thing for me. This is the norm for him, but the hope is that he's a young player so he can grow.

I don't think you can teach players to become top finishers though, I'm worried about that part of his game.

 

[Woodzy]

I don’t think he was awful personally, it’s fairly clear what he adds to the team. No one else in our team has it in them to get in to the position he did for that header (aside from McTominay maybe, who ironically also couldn’t hit a barn door).

Either way, at £80m you should be scoring those with your eyes closed and that’s the concern.

 

[Ayoba]

Who tf sanctioned 75m on him?! Criminal

 

[iHicksy]

The standards of this club, there was a time when even lukaku was deemed not good enough for united and now you have fans excusing this lad game after game when it is is clear his all round play is average and his ability in front of the goal is poor

Even Lukaku? Sorry but are you 19? How is Lukaku, a terrible striker and one of the worst to play for us used as some kind of bench mark.

There was a time when Berbatov and Tevez were deemed not good enough, but freaking Lukaku? Have a word.

 

[Pronewbie]

Yeah, this is the worrying thing for me. This is the norm for him, but the hope is that he's a young player so he can grow.

I don't think you can teach players to become top finishers though, I'm worried about that part of his game.

Nor can their first touch and ball control improve much more past their teens.

 

[Lay]

The amount spent on a guy who wasn’t even a regular at Atalanta is astounding

 

[The Hilton]

There's some wild jumping of the gun in this thread, ridiculous statements like "cracked under pressure" and "just doesn't have it", he's only 20 for crying out loud. Having an experienced striker around that he could learn from would be brilliant for him and us though.

Tonight he was getting into the right positions, but his finishing needs to improve. He's exerting too much energy in matches too, and is clearly winded towards the end, his pressing effort is great but he needs to learn to work smart as well as hard.

 

[croadyman]

We need an experienced striker for him to learn from,can’t we get Martial off payroll and get this Guirassy from Leverkusen

 

[Bubz27]

£75M for him, £7.5M would have been over priced.

He is technically on form as his stats go, which some told us all to ignore when we signed him.

He isn't a goal scorer and never has been.

 

[JB08]

He just isn't very good at the moment.

Hopefully he will improve, and I'm sure he will (we've had enough flashes of ability in the Champions League), but the reality is that he is nowhere near good enough to lead the line for a team aiming for trophies.

Speaks volumes once more about our club's recruitment strategy in the past 10 years that this is our striker position.

 

[AltiUn]

We have the Danish Martial on our hands, paid way over the price for potential again.

Martial was miles better than him.

 

[astracrazy]

He hasn't?

 

[Woodenlung]

Before we even signed Højlund it was well signposted that he needed a lot of development and not to expect him to score 15+ goals in his debut season. I'm disappointed he hasn't scored more, but I don't have a problem with being patient either.

I see the usual bozos on this forum are already sharpening the knives however.

 

[Irrational.]

This was a tie where Hojlund should’ve been filling his boots.

Early days but does not look promising.

 

[Lee565]

Even Lukaku? Sorry but are you 19? How is Lukaku, a terrible striker and one of the worst to play for us used as some kind of bench mark.

There was a time when Berbatov and Tevez were deemed not good enough, but freaking Lukaku? Have a word.

I am talking about the fanbase, lukaku was never really rated by the fans (I was one of them) but he was still a lot better than hojlund but feels like the standards have dropped so bad of late post fergie that fans are happy to make excuses and give him a free pass game after game.

 

[astracrazy]

There's some wild jumping of the gun in this thread, ridiculous statements like "cracked under pressure" and "just doesn't have it", he's only 20 for crying out loud. Having an experienced striker around that he could learn from would be brilliant for him and us though.

Tonight he was getting into the right positions, but his finishing needs to improve. He's exerting too much energy in matches too, and is clearly winded towards the end, his pressing effort is great but he needs to learn to work smart as well as hard.

No ones jumping the gun, a lot of us said this when we signed him.

 

[Devil81]

He doesn't look like he can manoeuvre his body quick enough whenever the ball comes into the box.

I'm not seeing and instinctive goal threat.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

There's some wild jumping of the gun in this thread, ridiculous statements like "cracked under pressure" and "just doesn't have it", he's only 20 for crying out loud. Having an experienced striker around that he could learn from would be brilliant for him and us though.

Tonight he was getting into the right positions, but his finishing needs to improve. He's exerting too much energy in matches too, and is clearly winded towards the end, his pressing effort is great but he needs to learn to work smart as well as hard.

Definately a mistake to make him our starting no 9. Doubt he will ever score 15 PL goals in a season for us. Decent prospect but not an outstanding talent.

 

[KjaAnd]

The goals will come. He’s young but has great physical attributes and gets into good positions. However, like I said when we bought him, we can’t rely on him as our sole striker.

 

[croadyman]

Who could take the pressure off him?

 

[Stack]

Before we even signed Højlund it was well signposted that he needed a lot of development and not to expect him to score 15+ goals in his debut season. I'm disappointed he hasn't scored more, but I don't have a problem with being patient either.

I see.tge usual bozos on this forum are already sharpening the knives however.

The problem is he isnt good enough. His first touch under pressure and at pace is just not as good as it needs to be. David James had the same problem, his control broke down at pace and under pressure. He has everything else but he is just that bit short on something that is unlikely to improve at his age. By the time players have hit their 20's the areas that can improve are reading of the game and positioning sense, the first touch and control are pretty much set in stone. Its a shame because he could be brilliant if he had that. He is bound to have purple patches here and there but I doubt he will ever be consistently able to be what we need.

 

[Denis79]

Before we even signed Højlund it was well signposted that he needed a lot of development and not to expect him to score 15+ goals in his debut season. I'm disappointed he hasn't scored more, but I don't have a problem with being patient either.

I see.tge usual bozos on this forum are already sharpening the knives however.

So ETH went in to this season happy with a first striker that was well signposted wasn't expected to score even 15 goals? He should be fired for this alone.

 

[The Hilton]

No ones jumping the gun, a lot of us said this when we signed him.

Those statements are absolutely jumping the gun, and will be until he's mid 20s. Qualifying them with "at the moment" makes them more reasonable, but definitive statements like "he doesn't have it" at an age that very few strikers are pulling up trees is way overboard.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

I really don't see him developing into anything above a back-up striker here. He is physically good, probably looked better in a less physical league in Italy. He doesn't have a killer instinct.

 

[Bobski]

The problem is he isnt good enough. His first touch under pressure and at pace is just not as good as it needs to be. David James had the same problem, his control broke down at pace and under pressure. He has everything else but he is just that bit short on something that is unlikely to improve at his age. By the time players have hit their 20's the areas that can improve are reading of the game and positioning sense, the first touch and control are pretty much set in stone. Its a shame because he could be brilliant if he had that. He is bound to have purple patches here and there but I doubt he will ever be consistently able to be what we need.

Yep, that is the main concern, his touch when moving is pretty poor. He can deal ok with lower paced passes or when he is set but the co-ordination is not really there for consistency. By far the biggest issue with his game as much as people focus on the goals.

 

[astracrazy]

Those statements are absolutely jumping the gun, and will be until he's mid 20s. Qualifying them with "at the moment" makes them more reasonable, but definitive statements like "he doesn't have it" at an age that very few strikers are pulling up trees is way overboard.

He doesn't have it. The three chances today shows that. He should of had a field day today.

 

[massey]

I think he will be ok he has the raw tools imo just seems to be suffering in a stuttering team and probably was snatching too much at chances he rarely ever gets in most bigger games,I actually like his strength sometimes and he's still young give it another year or two to proper judge him in a big league and as others have said he shouldn't have been our main striker this year that's down to the way the club is run not him.

 

[Marwood]

Should have bagged at least one but it's legit the first game this season where you can say as a team we've created some proper chances for the No.9.