[Bobski]

I have no concerns with Rasmus, seeing him live this season I think he's got all the technical attributes. He can hold the ball and release it, good feet, power and acceleration, can keep calm when striking the ball, it's the absolute disgusting service. We play as if he's not there, if fans can't see this I don't know honestly. Tell me a striker in world football who could perform with this shite team. No service, no balls played in, no crosses or good balls played in behind. He barely gets a sniff, you can't be annoyed at a young player who barely gets a chance to touch the ball in the opposition box in 90 minutes.

No-one denies the service has been poor but multiple Sheff Utd, Luton and Burnley strikers are getting more shots off than Hojlund, are they getting better service?. It is not only service, often his movement is late or he is trailing the play or when a ball comes across he is nowhere to be seen. He needs to show more of the play that led to those excellent goals against Spurs and West Ham, quick decisive shifts of the ball and the early shot.

His erratic touch under physical pressure loses him situations were a better touch would have give him an opportunity. That can change quickly for a young striker, it will need to for him to still be starting at this stage next season.

 

[sebsheep]

Hes been very underwhelming and it's nothing to do with service. I actually think McTominay would be a better forward.

Would be top scorer in the league no doubt

 

[Solius]

Hes been very underwhelming and it's nothing to do with service. I actually think McTominay would be a better forward.

Almost every time McTom scores I assume it's Hojlund before realising it's just McTominay in the area Hojlund should've been.

Hopefully comes with time.

 

[NicolaSacco]

He’s got something about him up front, I’d hesitate to say he’s a natural, but some of his finishes seem, well, natural.
I wouldn’t trust him if he was facing a centre back with the ball at his feet, he doesn’t have the close control or speed of footwork. But a cross coming, or a ball falling loose in the box and he’s actually pretty effective.

 

[VP89]

He’s got something about him up front, I’d hesitate to say he’s a natural, but some of his finishes seem, well, natural.
I wouldn’t trust him if he was facing a centre back with the ball at his feet, he doesn’t have the close control or speed of footwork. But a cross coming, or a ball falling loose in the box and he’s actually pretty effective.

Such low standards I feel. There are probably hundreds of strikers like these.

I can't believe we threw £70m at him for potential thats not uncommon

 

[V.O.]

Almost every time McTom scores I assume it's Hojlund before realising it's just McTominay in the area Hojlund should've been.

Hopefully comes with time.

Hojlund's movement is inconsistent for now of course, but this idea that people have been pushing that McTominay would somehow be a better striker because he finds himself in more space in the box with his runs from deep is way off. It's by design, and assisted by Hojlund's movement a lot of the time.

Hojlund has said himself in interviews that he's under instructions to make a near post run most times to take defenders away and create space for runners from deep (around 1 min in if the timestamp doesn't work):

 

[Solius]

Hojlund's movement is inconsistent for now of course, but this idea that people have been pushing that McTominay would somehow be a better striker because he finds himself in more space in the box with his runs from deep is way off. It's by design, and assisted by Hojlund's movement a lot of the time.

Hojlund has said himself in interviews that he's under instructions to make a near post run most times to take defenders away and create space for runners from deep (around 1 min in if the timestamp doesn't work):

Yeah I actually had that thought yesterday and completely forgot that when writing what I said tbf Runs from deep are much harder to track.

 

[lex talionis]

Still a bit too raw at this late stage in the season.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He massively outperformed his xG during his scoring run this season. He scored on something like 60% of the shots he took in 8-9 consecutive games.

He wasn't getting the chances even in scoring run. He most definitely isn't getting the chances as of late.

It's that simple. They just don't feed him the ball in the box.

He needs to do more to increase his xG as well. As usual, we need to pick sides. ETH vs the players. Hojlund vs wingers. The creative hub of the team is lacking but in some ways so he is. Needs to improve in how much he does as an individual. The goal vs Fulham at home (I think) where he beats a defender to score, need to see more of that kind of play.

 

[Melville Red]

His ball control is next to useless, he ought to watch some videos of Mark Hughes in how to control a ball and protect it and then either lay it off or turn and shoot at goal. Yesterday he got himself into a right tangle trying to sought the ball out and in the end passed tamely to their keeper, if it was an opposing player I’d have laughed as it was I shook my head in despair.
I can’t see him improving and it’s another signing from ETH which has flop written all over it.

 

[Solius]

His ball control is next to useless, he ought to watch some videos of Mark Hughes in how to control a ball and protect it and then either lay it off or turn and shoot at goal. Yesterday he got himself into a right tangle trying to sought the ball out and in the end passed tamely to their keeper, if it was an opposing player I’d have laughed as it was I shook my head in despair.
I can’t see him improving and it’s another signing from ETH which has flop written all over it.

You were last in this thread trashing him in October. Didn't feel like posting about him Dec-March?

 

[Melville Red]

You were last in this thread trashing him in October. Didn't feel like posting about him Dec-March?

Just thought you needed a reminder, and he hasn’t improved has he?

 

[Solius]

Just thought you needed a reminder and he hasn’t improved has he?

Or, hear me out... he showed for a brief period what he will be capable of when he's given time and not carrying the striking burden of a team like Utd aged 20/21.

To only post in here when he's played bad and completely ghost when he does well is the definition of agenda posting.

 

[SATA]

Felt for him when he looked up and saw there was none of his teammates running towards him to celebrate or even congratulate him after scoring the winning pen. He looked genuinely taken aback by it. Nice of Eriksen to walk towards him to do that for his fellow countryman. But i’m sure Rasmus now knows why

 

[Yagami]

I'm still of the opinion that, even though he's had a rough season for the most part, I've seen enough positives to believe there's potential there. We just need to see him under a good manager that plays an actual coherent system.

 

[AndyMUFC]

He’s a striker that needs service. Look how invisible Haaland looks in the best team in the world at times. Think he’s the least of our problems.

 

[DWelbz19]

We keep hearing he gets no service. Even Wout Weghorst used to get shots off in a game.

Nah. Weghorst actually averaged fewer shots than Hojlund is -- 1.58 per 90 vs 1.87 in Rasmus' favour. Both massively in the bottom 10 percentile, though -- so it's definitely not a positive stat for Hojlund.

Weghorst's issue was he was too slow (in body and mind) to get shots off. I also think he used to Traveller himself running about literally everywhere so when he actually got in the box he hadn't the quick feet to ever gets shots off.

Rasmus' issue I think is more positional, he never seems to be in the right areas. I also think he is struggling with the intensity of the league. He's been overused a bit, he's been forced back earlier than ideal because of a lack of options elsewhere.

 

[Keanes Magic Hat]

I love him hes going to be great

 

[Cassidy]

Yeah I actually had that thought yesterday and completely forgot that when writing what I said tbf Runs from deep are much harder to track.

Falls down when you realise McT isn't always running from deep and when they are both in the box and making movements, McT always seems to end up in the right position over Hojlund
He can learn all that though and he's got good potential, but people should stop making excuses. Martial who is shite showed far more awareness and movement than him

 

[Tony247]

Forson had more attempts than Hojlund.

 

[L1nk]

 

[Martial'sEmergingSmile]

From the above:

Ten Hag and his coaching staff were presented with a tricky issue within the squad when new £72million signing Rasmus Hojlund complained that captain Bruno Fernandes wasn’t passing to him enough.

Hojlund also fell out with teammate Diogo Dalot during United’s 4-3 Champions League defeat to FC Copenhagen in November after Lukas Lerager scored a late equaliser, and Fernandes sided with his Portuguese compatriot.

When Hojlund raised his concerns with the coaches, he was told to address it directly with Dalot. It was only later, when the two men eventually shook hands and put it behind them that Fernandes also made his peace with Hojlund.

 

[Cassidy]

From the above:

The captain....

 

[Irwin99]

We're a struggling team and although there are some reasonable comments that Hojlund might not be at the right level yet, you would think players would be trying to help his confidence by setting him up more often. There's an argument that his movement isn't good enough and maybe there's some truth in that but he's a 70 million striker, probably low on confidence, struggling for goals, young, new league...might need a bit of help, for our benefit as much as his. Sometimes it feels like our wingers and our system seems to want the goals to come more from the wingers who prefer to score goals than create them.

 

[Rozay]

We're a struggling team and although there are some reasonable comments that Hojlund might not be at the right level yet, you would think players would be trying to help his confidence by setting him up more often. There's an argument that his movement isn't good enough and maybe there's some truth in that but he's a 70 million striker, probably low on confidence, struggling for goals, young, new league...might need a bit of help, for our benefit as much as his. Sometimes it feels like our wingers and our system seems to want the goals to come more from the wingers who prefer to score goals than create them.

The whole team is conspiring to make McTominay our top scorer, and always look for him but refuse to pass to Hojlund. Cool.

 

[horsechoker]

Hollywood FC

 

[VP89]

I've kept a close eye on his supposed good movement and he doesn't make near enough smart runs at the near post. He's often in the middle of crowded players and I don't get why.

 

[Tony247]

I've kept a close eye on his supposed good movement and he doesn't make near enough smart runs at the near post. He's often in the middle of crowded players and I don't get why.

Yet to learn how to isolate himself, make surprise runs.

 

[Lash]

From the above:

Tifo did a video on this a while ago and born out in the stats as well.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

I'm not Hojlund's biggest fan but he was right on both occasions.

 

[ROFLUTION]

Meh, no one knows if that is reliable or not - Somehow Wheeler then got hold of the news 6 months later from someone? Seems a bit strange

 

[sebsheep]

The whole team is conspiring to make McTominay our top scorer, and always look for him but refuse to pass to Hojlund. Cool.

Did you read the post?

 

[VivaObertan]

I'm generally a positive fan but I'm really struggling with Rasmus. It's not his fault he's our only option at CF, and maybe with better planning he'd be a £25m backup for the next 2-3 seasons, but I really can't get over how bad his off the ball movement is. Every single game, there'll be an instance where one of our players is carrying the ball on a break with Hojlund ahead. His movement always kills the attack.

Making runs and general positioning in counter-attacks is something you learn as a kid and he seems to be completely lacking in that department,. It's the least he should be capable of, for now.

 

[Rozay]

Did you read the post?

More than that, I even responded to it.

 

[sebsheep]

More than that, I even responded to it.

So why are you talking about McTominay?
The idea that our wide players look to score more than create for our strikers, and that we're set up in a way which also works towards this is pretty reasonable when you watch us play.

 

[Rozay]

So why are you talking about McTominay?
The idea that our wide players look to score more than create for our strikers, and that we're set up in a way which also works towards this is pretty reasonable when you watch us play.

Because he was the best example I could think of to demonstrate that our players have no issue in passing to teammates who are in good positions.

 

[sebsheep]

Because he was the best example I could think of to demonstrate that our players have no issue in passing to teammates who are in good positions.

He's playing a different role, one that involves running from deep, maybe they can only see those sorts of runs?
I also don't think the goals he's scored have occurred in quite the way you might think. He's had about 3-4 that have been from loose balls dropping in the box.

 

[NinjaZombie]

Almost every time McTom scores I assume it's Hojlund before realising it's just McTominay in the area Hojlund should've been.

Hopefully comes with time.

Hojlund making a near post run played a big part in how McTominay scored that goal against Coventry.

The commentators never pointed this out. Instead, they went on about his struggles to get involved on the ball, ignoring the fact that on the limited time he had with it, he was bringing his team mates into play with quick first time layoffs.

Rashford was on the ball a lot, didn't do much with it and they were talking about him being a talented player who was threatening to do damage to Coventry whilst making the impression that he's gonna get back into form someday.

Footballing media is all about building up narratives these days and it works.

 

[FootballAI]

Don’t know what you were watching but the Lukaku we had was Mark Henry with the first touch of a trampoline.

You can pick and criticise 1 or 2 of his weaknesses but he is a proven and prolific goalscorers in all clubs that he played. After him, there was only in 1 season when Rashford can surpass him but noone else since.

 

[MiracleInMadrid]

Hojlund's movement is inconsistent for now of course, but this idea that people have been pushing that McTominay would somehow be a better striker because he finds himself in more space in the box with his runs from deep is way off. It's by design, and assisted by Hojlund's movement a lot of the time.

Hojlund has said himself in interviews that he's under instructions to make a near post run most times to take defenders away and create space for runners from deep (around 1 min in if the timestamp doesn't work):

This. Can't believe the notion of McTominay being a better/similar option upfront because of that. You cannot look at it that isolated.