[Gaidal]

Probably our best player, good movement, good holdup. If we had competent passers he would be scoring so much more.

That Shaw pass late in the second half where he was in front of the defender and Shaw just had to put in an easy 5 yard pass for an easy goal, but instead Shaw put it 5 yards behind him was just insane.

 

[MadDogg]

I feel one of his weaknesses, and perhaps one why he doesn't get much service, is because his movement is pretty poor.

Ruud would do him wonders.

His movement was quite good in the earlier part of the season. A combination of people not passing it to him and some bad finishing/luck meant he didn't get any goals, and as as his confidence dropped (or maybe as he lost faith in his teammates actually passing the ball) I do think his movement suffered.

His movement was quite good against Newport though. His runs in some cases got him in a good position if the winger had actually passed it, and in other cases pulled defenders away and opened space for somebody (mostly Bruno) to receive the cut back in space.

 

[Loon]

I do wonder if he had a genuine supplier like Beckham how he'd fair.

 

[golden_blunder]

I’ve said that I would like to see Ruud brought in to work with him on a 1:1 basis, on his runs, and also his heading. He’s a big unit of a lad, he needs to use that skill set by bullying defenders on the ground and in the air.

 

[Member 123428]

Either he’s a massive ****, awful in training or people are jealous of him. Because our team is genuinely sabotaging him.

 

[DWelbz19]

Saw a tweet which stated that of the 8 goals he's scored this season, 5 haven't been assisted.

That's not a good look. Both, for his teammates (clearly aren't picking him out enough), and himself (suggests he doesn't have that natural instinct to be in ideal positions).

 

[Gordon Godot]

I’ve said that I would like to see Ruud brought in to work with him on a 1:1 basis, on his runs, and also his heading. He’s a big unit of a lad, he needs to use that skill set by bullying defenders on the ground and in the air.

Exacty. Every match it seems to be the other way round. He cant hold the ball, lay offs are limited, rarely wins headers. Other than running onto through balls what exactly are his strengths mean to be

 

[FrankDrebin]

I think his hold up play is OK but I actually don't think his movement is as great as fans keep harping on about.

 

[RuudTom83]

I think his hold up play is OK but I actually don't think his movement is as great as fans keep harping on about.

Yeah I like the kid a lot, but it is a two way street. He needs to improve/change his movement so that wingers can find him easier! and the wingers need to actually attempt to find him!

Both sides can improve massively, which in some ways is a great position to be in, as you'd hope with coaching big improvements could be made fairly quickly.

 

[golden_blunder]

Exacty. Every match it seems to be the other way round. He cant hold the ball, lay offs are limited, rarely wins headers. Other than running onto through balls what exactly are his strengths mean to be

He’s got huge potential though, if coached correctly he can go on to become top drawer. Which would be lovely as he’s a United fan so less danger of him clearing off to Madrid etc

 

[El Jefe]

While the wingers have obvious problems, I still believe a lot of Hojlund’s struggles are brought on by himself.

I’m by no means a fan of Bruno but It’s pretty bizarre that the one striker he’s not been able to form a decent partnership with is Hojlund. He’s had zero issues playing with Rashford, Martial and Cavani. He even supplied Weghorst pretty well but he was shite.

Ronaldo is the only one Bruno has had problems with and that was more from Bruno deferring too much because in the Portugal NT he has no such problems.

For all his faults, Bruno is a strikers dream but there’s been nothing between him and Rasmus so far and I put it mainly on Hojlund.

 

[Borninthe80ts]

Finding his feet after a interrupted start due to injury and form. As others have said if he had a regular supply of chances created he would be in double figures already. I think involving him more in the build up play will improve his touch and confidence and overall performance levels too.

 

[neon_badger]

Either he’s a massive ****, awful in training or people are jealous of him. Because our team is genuinely sabotaging him.

And the manager is allowing it, sometimes we play like a bunch of under 10's doing what they want because the coach is busy chatting up someone's mum

 

[Von Mistelroum]

Until he plays with competent wingers and support, then he is beyond reproach in my opinion. He's got 8 goals in 20, only 3 of which were actually assisted by a United player! This is disgraceful.

If you can't find the striker, or are too selfish to find the striker, then you shouldn't play. The fact that we're out here looking at buying a striker (to get no service) when in reality we should be looking to replace 2-3 wingers, is crazy.

 

[tomaldinho1]

While the wingers have obvious problems, I still believe a lot of Hojlund’s struggles are brought on by himself.

I’m by no means a fan of Bruno but It’s pretty bizarre that the one striker he’s not been able to form a decent partnership with is Hojlund. He’s had zero issues playing with Rashford, Martial and Cavani. He even supplied Weghorst pretty well but he was shite.

Ronaldo is the only one Bruno has had problems with and that was more from Bruno deferring too much because in the Portugal NT he has no such problems.

For all his faults, Bruno is a strikers dream but there’s been nothing between him and Rasmus so far and I put it mainly on Hojlund.

I’m not sure if this is true to be honest. It’s one of those things that sounds right but then I went and checked and in the PL Bruno assisted Cavani only twice in all his time here.

I always wonder about quality of chances, Bruno chucks the ball into the box a lot but we don’t really score that many from it because it’s relatively easy to defend. He does, to his credit, generally see passes he should make versus some of our other attacking players who put the blinkers on as soon as they get near the opponents goal.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Exacty. Every match it seems to be the other way round. He cant hold the ball, lay offs are limited, rarely wins headers. Other than running onto through balls what exactly are his strengths mean to be

Have to agree with this.

 

[FrankDrebin]

He's got decent attributes for a forward which we all hope he improves upon but, without doing him a disservice, I don't think he's a particularly special talent.

Edit. His lack of competiting for headers is frustrating. And it was one of the question marks put forward when analysing his game before he had joined.

 

[ROFLUTION]

He's got decent attributes for a forward which we all hope he improves upon but, without doing him a disservice, I don't think he's a particularly special talent.

Edit. His lack of competiting for headers is frustrating. And it was one of the question marks put forward when analysing his game before he had joined.

How do you compete with next to no crosses? Genuine question, he literally gets no crosses.

 

[FrankDrebin]

How do you compete with next to no crosses? Genuine question, he literally gets no crosses.

Not specifically talking about crosses into the box, more in general play. He's flat footed competiting for headers all over the pitch.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Exacty. Every match it seems to be the other way round. He cant hold the ball, lay offs are limited, rarely wins headers. Other than running onto through balls what exactly are his strengths mean to be

I think people are making the error of seeing a big unit of a player and deciding he should play in a certain way i.e. hold up the ball, little lay offs, dominate in the air. Whereas I'm not sure that's his game, he seems much more of a poacher, he likes to play off the shoulder and split the CBs, picks up scraps in the box and when you watch his runs and then his subsequent frustration it's because a lot of his energy goes on making sure he's there for tap ins from our breakaway wide attacks which almost always end in a shot from the left (Rashford/Garnacho) or cutting in from the right (Antony).

Dare I say it but he's actually quite like Lukaku when he was here, doesn't have great acceleration but is rapid when he gets going, rocket of a left foot, poor in the air for his size, hold up isn't where it should be for someone of his build. Difference being he doesn't have the ego of Lukaku, looks to work hard and is in better shape so I can see him developing into a well rounded 9.

 

[ShinjiNinja26]

The lack of service he’s getting is very frustrating. ETH should be screaming at our wide players to get the ball into him, especially Antony because he does feck all else with the ball so getting down the wing and feeding Højlund should be his only job when going forward.

 

[Adamsk7]

Our wingers are some of the worst passers and crossers of a ball in the league.

 

[El Jefe]

I’m not sure if this is true to be honest. It’s one of those things that sounds right but then I went and checked and in the PL Bruno assisted Cavani only twice in all his time here.

I always wonder about quality of chances, Bruno chucks the ball into the box a lot but we don’t really score that many from it because it’s relatively easy to defend. He does, to his credit, generally see passes he should make versus some of our other attacking players who put the blinkers on as soon as they get near the opponents goal.

That isn’t a good way of determining if they had a good partnership especially when Cavani only scored 12 PL goals. Our best attack post SAF was 20/21 where Bruno was starting with Cavani upfront.

Again I’m one of the biggest critics of Bruno but he creates quality chances for strikers it’s the one thing he’s really good at.

 

[FrankDrebin]

The thinking is likely down to the fact we only have one individual in the box, so its probably better to work the ball better in possession and centrally.
We tend to go more direct when McTom is brought on to compliment Hojlund.

Our whole attacking game is pretty pants either way.

 

[SER19]

Nothing particularly concerns me about Hojlund. I think he'll develop into a quality player. The problem is how ridiculous it is to have a 20 year old all but alone and unserviced.

 

[matherto]

That isn’t a good way of determining if they had a good partnership especially when Cavani only scored 12 PL goals. Our best attack post SAF was 20/21 where Bruno was starting with Cavani upfront.

Again I’m one of the biggest critics of Bruno but he creates quality chances for strikers it’s the one thing he’s really good at.

So why isn’t he doing it for Hojlund?

 

[Gordon Godot]

I think people are making the error of seeing a big unit of a player and deciding he should play in a certain way i.e. hold up the ball, little lay offs, dominate in the air. Whereas I'm not sure that's his game, he seems much more of a poacher, he likes to play off the shoulder and split the CBs, picks up scraps in the box and when you watch his runs and then his subsequent frustration it's because a lot of his energy goes on making sure he's there for tap ins from our breakaway wide attacks which almost always end in a shot from the left (Rashford/Garnacho) or cutting in from the right (Antony).

Dare I say it but he's actually quite like Lukaku when he was here, doesn't have great acceleration but is rapid when he gets going, rocket of a left foot, poor in the air for his size, hold up isn't where it should be for someone of his build. Difference being he doesn't have the ego of Lukaku, looks to work hard and is in better shape so I can see him developing into a well rounded 9.

Two problems. First, the evidence of him being a poacher is thin. He scores the odd goal like this but misses plenty, and doesnt seem to have the knack of being in the right place or instinctive finishes on a consistent basis. Second, we cant afford to carry a poacher, few teams can especially if we ultimately want to dominate the ball. Pep benched Aguero for a while until he delivered more, and he was far more than just a poacher.

 

[eire-red]

Hojlund is on track to break double figures this season. All things considered, the issue isn't really Hojlund, but the fact that a club our size is relying on a 20 year old still learning the ropes in a dysfunctional team to lead the line.

I've seen nothing to suggest he won't turn into a quality striker.

 

[El Jefe]

So why isn’t he doing it for Hojlund?

That question has to be asked of Hojlund too.

 

[Rojofiam]

Two problems. First, the evidence of him being a poacher is thin. He scores the odd goal like this but misses plenty, and doesnt seem to have the knack of being in the right place or instinctive finishes on a consistent basis. Second, we cant afford to carry a poacher, few teams can especially if we ultimately want to dominate the ball. Pep benched Aguero for a while until he delivered more, and he was far more than just a poacher.

Every striker misses plenty of opportunities, unless you mean Hojlund is worse than average in this regard, which is not true.

Also, big strikers whose main objective is getting onto the end of chances has come into fashion again recently. Haaland, Hojlund, Ferguson, Osimhen, Núnez, Vlahovic. Every one of them has more in their locker than just being able to find good attacking positions, but that's their main focus, being a poacher.

 

[Ady87]

He is starting to do well poaching for scraps which is nice to see, confidence clearly on the rise. Let’s see where his ceiling is.

 

[tomaldinho1]

That isn’t a good way of determining if they had a good partnership especially when Cavani only scored 12 PL goals. Our best attack post SAF was 20/21 where Bruno was starting with Cavani upfront.

Again I’m one of the biggest critics of Bruno but he creates quality chances for strikers it’s the one thing he’s really good at.

Depends on how you assess chances. Bruno's role allows him complete creative freedom, most of our attacks go through him, it's very hard to compare him to anyone else because the volume of passes he's making compared to our team average total. It's probably true that we don't have elite finishers but Bruno also isn't creating loads of great opportunities.

His xA is 0.27 per game (88th percentile) but he's also got a 78% pass completion rate (38th percentile!). Compare that to the following:
Maddison: 0.5 per game (99th) with 84% (69th)
Odegaard: 0.3 per game (90th) with 86% (77th)
JWP: 0.34 per game (96th) with 89 % (88th)
Pereira: 0.34 (96th) with 80% (45th)

 

[sugar_kane]

While in general I agree with the fact that our players aren't creating enough for him, I also don't buy the idea that it's the main reason for his lack of chances thus far.

There's no logical reason why the likes of Bruno/Garnacho (who seem to get on with Hojlund) would overlook him. Yes there's an element of them playing with his head down for Garnacho but Bruno is a high quality creator, it just doesn't add up.

I suspect there's a lot of coaching still required in terms of him getting in the right position and making the right runs. From memory, a lot of his goals at Atalanta were counters and him using his pace & power.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Two problems. First, the evidence of him being a poacher is thin. He scores the odd goal like this but misses plenty, and doesnt seem to have the knack of being in the right place or instinctive finishes on a consistent basis. Second, we cant afford to carry a poacher, few teams can especially if we ultimately want to dominate the ball. Pep benched Aguero for a while until he delivered more, and he was far more than just a poacher.

I don't really get how you'd say evidence is thin, assuming we're talking about his games for United, it's basically how he's played? I think he's generally in good areas for cut backs and crosses and he is decisive with picking a post when he does run, it was almost comical one of the games we had when Reguillon was LB where I swear Reguillon was just doing the opposite of what Hojlund was doing (crossing near when he'd gone far and vice versa). I don't think anyone is saying he is close to the finished article or even that he will make it as our 9 but the post was basically expecting him to play as a target man which I'm not sure he will ever be.

 

[mu4c_20le]

While in general I agree with the fact that our players aren't creating enough for him, I also don't buy the idea that it's the main reason for his lack of chances thus far.

There's no logical reason why the likes of Bruno/Garnacho (who seem to get on with Hojlund) would overlook him. Yes there's an element of them playing with his head down for Garnacho but Bruno is a high quality creator, it just doesn't add up.

I suspect there's a lot of coaching still required in terms of him getting in the right position and making the right runs. From memory, a lot of his goals at Atalanta were counters and him using his pace & power.

Been thinking the same. Geriatrics like Cavani and Ronaldo had no issues scoring with the limited service, and we had Dan James and Sancho back then. It's not black or white like you said, as sometiems there are opportunities where he could've received a pass. But it's not the only factor he's not scoring or getting chances.

 

[Gavinb33]

I feel one of his weaknesses, and perhaps one why he doesn't get much service, is because his movement is pretty poor.

Ruud would do him wonders.

The problem is if the ball doesn't come on the 1st move or maybe even the 2nd move you run out of space to move, I said yesterday in another thread if United are so hell bent on the wingers being the scorers we'd have been better off with a Firmino type striker than a Hojlund

 

[bosnian_red]

The problem is if the ball doesn't come on the 1st move or maybe even the 2nd move you run out of space to move, I said yesterday in another thread if United are so hell bent on the wingers being the scorers we'd have been better off with a Firmino type striker than a Hojlund

Yeah. You need to train your wingers to put the ball in early. One of Garnacho's moments in the first half, if he was on the right, he'd be able to lift his head before he got on the ball and pass it across to Hojlund for an easier chance, first time. Instead, on the left, Garnacho's body angles is not open to the inside pass right away, he has to touch it with his right foot and angle inwards which you then lose that short window for a pass across, and the space then goes away. So he has to then cut back, and the passes that are open are the cut backs to your midfielders or other winger, not your CF who will be making the run closer to goal.

Using inverted wingers makes it harder to play that early pass for your forward and gives more chances to your midfielders and opposite winger, theoretically. Garnacho on the right is far better for Hojlund.

 

[UpWithRivers]

For me he moves like a winger. He will run into the space behind the defenders with fantastic pace all day long He' really good at that. But that's what a winger like Rashford does. The cute movement in the box he just doesn't have. By this I mean things like moving the defender one way then driving into space. Its a bit one dimensional from him and the defense can read him easily. . See how a proper striker moves i.e. Cavani. Hojlund lacks that elite striker movement. Maybe it will come with age

 

[Tony247]

Hojlund needs to start getting involve in the build up. Most of the time he seems to be interested in lurking in and around the box hoping a pass. Even that is fine if his main aim is to shoot. But at times it seems whenever he receives the pass he just passes it to someone else, even when he is in the box.

If you don't shoot, you won't score.

 

[Maagge]

Hojlund needs to start getting involve in the build up. Most of the time he seems to be interested in lurking in and around the box hoping a pass. Even that is fine if his main aim is to shoot. But at times it seems whenever he receives the pass he just passes it to someone else, even when he is in the box.

If you don't shoot, you won't score.

I quite like that he isn't that greedy but actually looks at what the better option is. Twice yesterday he laid it off to Bruno after getting the ball in the box, which I thought was the right choice in both cases.

We're currently criticising other players for shooting too much when it isn't really on. I don't think it would do Højlund any good to start doing the same even when he's mostly starved of the ball in and around the box.