[Dearg hÉireann]

The more I see him play, the more I see a Lukaku regen. Good pace, terrible touch, not that great in the air. Even then, I'm not sure he'll be half the fox in the box that Lukaku is. There was a period where he was in the right places at the right time, but now it's gone again.

Let's see if his all round game improves next year. It has to be better.

Have to admit I'm very unsure of his actual ability or potential. As you say his touch isn't good, can't create chances himself and although he's playing in a highly dysfunctional team he has been very average at best.

Hard to gauge I suppose, time will tell all.

 

[lex talionis]

Atalanta. And Ajax. And Inter. And Dortmund. And Real Madrid.

Clubs around Europe must be laughing any time we come calling.

We got some big signings wrong before ETH, but since his arrival we’ve gotten them all wrong.

 

[simplyared]

I don't want to believe it, but the development which we all expected, seems to have come to a halt. Tbf Wout, during the time he was with us, in terms of all round play, contributed more than Höjlund.

 

[Sylar]

He gets a bit of a free pass from me. He just turned 21 a few months ago. His usage has been baffling (and he missed the first part of the season through injury and got a second injury whilst not even playing, after a great run).

Hes got 11 goals this season. With no context, and you look at 11 goals in 40 games, for that price, it would look bad. But its just a mess that we dont have any other attackers there with him. Hes come into a stinky situation where i think only the elite would be able to drag us through it.

We are a dysfunctional team and it seems like were asking him to do a few things (seems like were asking him to be Kane) instead of helping him develop. You also notice some of the bad habits come in (compare him now to when he made his debut and was making the runs expecting the ball, etc).

Hes one you buy at that age when youve already got an established striker or two and you want to use him off the bench to develop to get minutes to get better. Hes going to have 40+ appearances despite two big-ish injuries keeping him out for some spells. Thats mad. Weve at least seen some glimpses of what he can do.

 

[dutchred]

Time to give Wheatley a try/ He looked ready last night

 

[FerociousCorgis]

Time to give Wheatley a try/ He looked ready last night

i saw nothing special from him. only thing that stood out was him not slipping garnacho thru on the most obvious thru ball ever. Instead he just held on to it while doing nothing really and lost it.

 

[Its all gone Shane Long]

Folks this thread is embarrassing I’m sorry, he’s not being coached properly and the team around him are utter useless…I’m in no doubt once this is resolved we have a world class player in the making. His confidence is shot to hell and that’s understandable giving the climate he’s in.

 

[Sunny Jim]

He gets a bit of a free pass from me. He just turned 21 a few months ago. His usage has been baffling (and he missed the first part of the season through injury and got a second injury whilst not even playing, after a great run).

Hes got 11 goals this season. With no context, and you look at 11 goals in 40 games, for that price, it would look bad. But its just a mess that we dont have any other attackers there with him. Hes come into a stinky situation where i think only the elite would be able to drag us through it.

We are a dysfunctional team and it seems like were asking him to do a few things (seems like were asking him to be Kane) instead of helping him develop. You also notice some of the bad habits come in (compare him now to when he made his debut and was making the runs expecting the ball, etc).

Hes one you buy at that age when youve already got an established striker or two and you want to use him off the bench to develop to get minutes to get better. Hes going to have 40+ appearances despite two big-ish injuries keeping him out for some spells. Thats mad. Weve at least seen some glimpses of what he can do.

The context is simple, he has scored 11 goals out of which maybe 4 have been scored after receiving a pass from a teammate. Other goals were a result of him finding a loose Ball in the box.

 

[Wing Attack Plan R]

I didn't expect much from his first season, he mostly obliged. The entire first team was a shambles with a manager who couldn't come up with a consistent playing style. Give him another season.

 

[Shark]

I don't want to believe it, but the development which we all expected, seems to have come to a halt. Tbf Wout, during the time he was with us, in terms of all round play, contributed more than Höjlund.

How is he supposed to develop in this catastrophic mess we're going through both on and off the field. It's like asking a swimmer to develop in a pool filled with sludge.

 

[simplyared]

How is he supposed to develop in this catastrophic mess we're going through both on and off the field. It's like asking a swimmer to develop in a pool filled with sludge.

Or a shark maybe!

 

[simonhch]

Or a shark maybe!

I reckon a shark would make everyone swim faster.

Højlund, like all the players, will take a lot of learning from a season like this. Adversity builds character. That’s my silver lining take.

I like what I see in the player, in terms of what I think he can become. I am less concerned with whether he’s technically good enough to make it at the top level, I think he almost certainly is. And more concerned with whether he’ll work hard enough to achieve it. Form, both individually and as part of the team, will wax and wane in his early years; so I don’t read too much into droughts or purple patches. What I am most concerned about is whether, long term, he is in the right environment to develop properly.

With him, Garnacho and Mainoo all coming through at the same time, there couldn’t be a better time for us to be undergoing to major overhaul of executive and coaching leadership expected under Ineos. Hopefully those young players will have the environment around them to flourish, and encourage them to give everything they have to their development.

 

[Amar__]

He might turn out to be good 7/10 striker in future years, but he looks more like Mandzukic than Negredo for me. Altough I am not sure if he even reached Mandzukic level too this year as he was important part of title winning teams at times.

Looks like we have thrown lot of money again for average talent.

 

[city-puma]

Nunez has 31 G/A this season and looks way more dangerous than Hojlund.

You are better not to say this. Last time I did it, they called me pool fan here.

 

[Leftback99]

He might turn out to be good 7/10 striker in future years, but he looks more like Mandzukic than Negredo for me. Altough I am not sure if he even reached Mandzukic level too this year as he was important part of title winning teams at times.

Looks like we have thrown lot of money again for average talent.

Weren't them two good in the air?

 

[city-puma]

We should play him on left or right.

 

[Shark]

Nunez has 31 G/A this season and looks way more dangerous than Hojlund.

Nunez is also three years older which means a good deal when we're talking about 21 and 24 year olds, and is playing in a team that's light years ahead of United in terms of coaching.

 

[Amar__]

Weren't them two good in the air?

I mean, he is not thaaat much better than Rashford in the air, not even sure it's fair to compare him with those two in the air.

 

[Frank Grimes]

He gets a bit of a free pass from me. He just turned 21 a few months ago. His usage has been baffling (and he missed the first part of the season through injury and got a second injury whilst not even playing, after a great run).

Hes got 11 goals this season. With no context, and you look at 11 goals in 40 games, for that price, it would look bad. But its just a mess that we dont have any other attackers there with him. Hes come into a stinky situation where i think only the elite would be able to drag us through it.

We are a dysfunctional team and it seems like were asking him to do a few things (seems like were asking him to be Kane) instead of helping him develop. You also notice some of the bad habits come in (compare him now to when he made his debut and was making the runs expecting the ball, etc).

Hes one you buy at that age when youve already got an established striker or two and you want to use him off the bench to develop to get minutes to get better. Hes going to have 40+ appearances despite two big-ish injuries keeping him out for some spells. Thats mad. Weve at least seen some glimpses of what he can do.

He has to be judged by his transfer fee and the ability he has shown in the games he's played
Only a blind man would come to anything buy the conclusion we got shafted again. 21 is old enough if he's good enough, the problem is he clearly isn't good enough and may never be.

 

[L1nk]

He has to be judged by his transfer fee and the ability he has shown in the games he's played
Only a blind man would come to anything buy the conclusion we got shafted again. 21 is old enough if he's good enough, the problem is he clearly isn't good enough and may never be.

14 goals in all competitions meaning he's our second top scorer of the season, was at one point the top scorer of the Champions League too. Kid in a new league in a side that is absolutely dogshit and with team mates that barely pass to him. Again, not really sure what you expected from this? The kid is never gonna be Brazilian Ronaldo or Portugese Ronaldo that just isn't his game, but we don't play to his strengths either.

I'm not saying he has no culpability but you lot are expecting way to much, you'd have snatched the hand off for 15 goals this season. It's not his fault we needed a second forward and it's not his fault we decided to pursue him despite an obvious overpay.

All things considered I think he's done well, some of the older players could certainly learn a thing or two from his attitude.

 

[city-puma]

The issue is the transfer fee. It’s not his fault for overpaying so much. But no one can ignore that amount of money when judging him. It’s the situation created by the clowns decided to buy him by so much. It’s not fair to him really.

 

[Isotope]

The MAIN issue is he is our main striker. As the main striker, he fails.

But that's not the kid's fault. He's new to the League and country, had never been experienced a full season as main man before, and now playing as target man instead of to his main strength in a struggling team, with unreliable teammates in attack. He may or may not a good CF, but those are a setup to fail.

 

[LDUred]

I don't want to believe it, but the development which we all expected, seems to have come to a halt. Tbf Wout, during the time he was with us, in terms of all round play, contributed more than Höjlund.

Hojlund's got like 14 goals this season. You can't seriously compare him to Wout, even when mentioning all round play. He's proven during the course of the season that he's got something worth perservering with, and he's essentially still developing as player.

Weghorst was absolute bobbins for us. It's a bit reactionary to start comparing Weghorst to Hojlund just because Rasmus has been a bit crap lately.

 

[Sylar]

He has to be judged by his transfer fee and the ability he has shown in the games he's played
Only a blind man would come to anything buy the conclusion we got shafted again. 21 is old enough if he's good enough, the problem is he clearly isn't good enough and may never be.

Transfer fee works only if you have no context or are judging the business side of it. It's the same situation with mount.

For hoijlund in his first season you judge based on what he's done and shown. Taking the money out the equation you look to see if there's something there. For me there is if we work to his strengths and develop him.

How many 21 year old strikers are the finished article anyway? If we sold him now, then yes, a flop. If we get 5-10 years out of him and his goal scoring and overall play improves year upon year that it's been a good investment. But time will tell on that.

For now we judge based on the season and it was ok so far. Context is always key in situations like this

 

[Berbasbullet]

My main worry is that he has been slowly declining, he looked more dangerous in his debut v Arsenal than he does now.

 

[Oldyella]

My main worry is that he has been slowly declining, he looked more dangerous in his debut v Arsenal than he does now.

Most of the team has looked worse the longer the season has gone on. He is just caught up in the malaise effecting everyone.

 

[D. Grayson]

14 goals in all competitions meaning he's our second top scorer of the season, was at one point the top scorer of the Champions League too. Kid in a new league in a side that is absolutely dogshit and with team mates that barely pass to him. Again, not really sure what you expected from this? The kid is never gonna be Brazilian Ronaldo or Portugese Ronaldo that just isn't his game, but we don't play to his strengths either.

I'm not saying he has no culpability but you lot are expecting way to much, you'd have snatched the hand off for 15 goals this season. It's not his fault we needed a second forward and it's not his fault we decided to pursue him despite an obvious overpay.

All things considered I think he's done well, some of the older players could certainly learn a thing or two from his attitude.

We don't have players who play to Højlund's strengths. Bruno and Rashford perform best when linking up with a technically talented number nine. Mount had difficulty forming a connection with Lukaku at Chelsea, and Garnacho's best performances at the youth level were when playing alongside McNeill, who is a technically sound player.

The fact that not one person in our scouting department could see that he would struggle to link up with our other attacking players is mind-boggling.

 

[DanNistelrooy]

My main worry is that he has been slowly declining, he looked more dangerous in his debut v Arsenal than he does now.

Compare that or the Galatasary Home performance (even if you took his goals out he was still MOTM) - and he looks like a completely different player now. I can't recall once in recent months thinking "He's rapid" whereas that was a regular occurrence at the start.

Whatever the injury was in Feb is clearly holding him back, combine that with a lack of confidence and no service from wide and this is what we get. Needs the end of the season (like many of the squad) and to hopefully get that sharpness back for Denmark.

 

[Devil81]

I wish he was more selfish, instead of constantly looking to lay the ball off turn and shoot. I don't care if its from a shit position, just have the confidence to have a go. At the moment we're getting nothing.

 

[E-mal]

I wish he was more selfish, instead of constantly looking to lay the ball off turn and shoot. I don't care if its from a shit position, just have the confidence to have a go. At the moment we're getting nothing.

How many passes is he laying for his teammates? Dude gets dispossessed or hides or makes the wrong run. He is just not of the required quality technically and intelligence.
May be he is not an out an out striker or perhaps he is just young and needs time, in any case we need a starter

 

[Rockets Redglare]

Compare that or the Galatasary Home performance (even if you took his goals out he was still MOTM) - and he looks like a completely different player now. I can't recall once in recent months thinking "He's rapid" whereas that was a regular occurrence at the start.

Whatever the injury was in Feb is clearly holding him back, combine that with a lack of confidence and no service from wide and this is what we get. Needs the end of the season (like many of the squad) and to hopefully get that sharpness back for Denmark.

I agree, although there was a recent game (I forget which) where he really opened up his legs and left the defender for dead and unless I’m mistaken had to be hauled to the floor.
Using him as a big lump up front is a waste, but that’s what our current manager seems to want to do.

 

[yamo123x]

He has to be judged by his transfer fee and the ability he has shown in the games he's played
Only a blind man would come to anything buy the conclusion we got shafted again. 21 is old enough if he's good enough, the problem is he clearly isn't good enough and may never be.

Great Post.

 

[Longshanks]

Compare that or the Galatasary Home performance (even if you took his goals out he was still MOTM) - and he looks like a completely different player now. I can't recall once in recent months thinking "He's rapid" whereas that was a regular occurrence at the start.

Whatever the injury was in Feb is clearly holding him back, combine that with a lack of confidence and no service from wide and this is what we get. Needs the end of the season (like many of the squad) and to hopefully get that sharpness back for Denmark.

Galatassary and Copenhagen are a step below the majority of the PL in all honesty. He hasn't looked rapid or particularly capable in any PL game this season.

He has scored a few goals in some games , but for the most part he has been something of a passenger.

He is young and maybe he will come good, but I'm not really seeing any signs of it just yet. Probably turn into a 15-20goal a season striker who is an decent target man. Not really the required quality for United. Another big miss by ETH and the club I reckon.

 

[Grande]

Galatassary and Copenhagen are a step below the majority of the PL in all honesty. He hasn't looked rapid or particularly capable in any PL game this season.

He has scored a few goals in some games , but for the most part he has been something of a passenger.

He is young and maybe he will come good, but I'm not really seeing any signs of it just yet. Probably turn into a 15-20goal a season striker who is an decent target man. Not really the required quality for United. Another big miss by ETH and the club I reckon.

Maybe you have a too specific idea of what a potential top striker could look like? For most games, Højlund has done a very good job for his age in receiving the ball, retaining it, finding team mates on forward runs. His finishing has been very high class. I struggle to see other players of his age in Europe that betters these attributes. He is strong, he his fast, he has an eye for space and teammates. If you watched Harry Kane at 21, he had similar traits, and you would never bet on him to improve past current Højlund back then.

Højlund has much space for improvement, as has the team around him, particularily in timing runs in the last third. He could stay a useful target striker, or he could improve and become one of the best. It seems silly at this extremely early point in his carreer to reckon anything wether he is a miss or a brilliant business, or a normal buy.

 

[Maticmaker]

He is a youngster still, honest as the day is long and always looks down cast when replaced, because he knows he isn't making the difference.
The teams set up and style of play(if that's what you call it) doesn't work for him, so over the last few games I've tended to look at the lad personal abilities. For me Ragmus's biggest problem is receiving the ball cleanly, even when not being man marked. It is almost always a 2/3 touch attempt to get it under control. Defenders pick up on this very quickly (even if they have not been briefed) and he finds himself most of the time on the wrong side of the defender, or when he does receive it cleanly, somehow makes the wrong side choice in attempting to shake off the defender. At first I thought this was a bit of bad luck, or poor distribution from team mates, etc. but it occurs fairly regularly and is easier to spot because he doesn't see a lot of the ball anyway.

It worries me that because we are so poor overall that youngsters in key roles like Rasmus, and/or Kobbie in mid-field, will get overwhelmed and overplayed at a stage in their careers when they should be being moved in and out of the team gradually, as City did with Foden.

 

[Captmfla]

Hojlund has so many goals ruled out. Imagine if all the goals count based on old rules, he would be at around 20 goals this season!

 

[Schmeichels pinky]

For every one of these sensible posts…

I reckon a shark would make everyone swim faster.

Højlund, like all the players, will take a lot of learning from a season like this. Adversity builds character. That’s my silver lining take.

I like what I see in the player, in terms of what I think he can become. I am less concerned with whether he’s technically good enough to make it at the top level, I think he almost certainly is. And more concerned with whether he’ll work hard enough to achieve it. Form, both individually and as part of the team, will wax and wane in his early years; so I don’t read too much into droughts or purple patches. What I am most concerned about is whether, long term, he is in the right environment to develop properly.

With him, Garnacho and Mainoo all coming through at the same time, there couldn’t be a better time for us to be undergoing to major overhaul of executive and coaching leadership expected under Ineos. Hopefully those young players will have the environment around them to flourish, and encourage them to give everything they have to their development.

you get three of these:

He might turn out to be good 7/10 striker in future years, but he looks more like Mandzukic than Negredo for me. Altough I am not sure if he even reached Mandzukic level too this year as he was important part of title winning teams at times.

Looks like we have thrown lot of money again for average talent.

How many passes is he laying for his teammates? Dude gets dispossessed or hides or makes the wrong run. He is just not of the required quality technically and intelligence.
May be he is not an out an out striker or perhaps he is just young and needs time, in any case we need a starter

He has shown his all round ability in many games up until his injury and before coming here. The only aspect of the game he’s not at least good at is heading. His hold up play is fine (he actually lays the ball off nicely quite often, to claim otherwise you must be suffering from severe confirmation bias), he can dribble and turn on his man (though it’s hard when you’re mostly totally alone with two CBs), his positioning is good (though he hasn’t been able to really show it lately because the team is in shambles and the players play for themselves mostly), his technique is fine, his pace, drive and finishing all excellent. And maybe most importantly: His mentality is very strong. He seems a very positive guy, and even though his confidence must’ve taken a hit like the rest of the team, he still tries and gives everything. All signs are there that he’ll thrive and quickly in a well organized team playing to his strengths.

Even if he hadn’t shown much at all I’d still not judge him or the other young players. How the hell can anyone expect them to not only carry themselves, but the whole team in this situation?

 

[miked99]

He's not doing much, but it's hard to imagine how the existing team could be doing any less to help him settle in. Apart from the godawful team performances in general, has there ever been a striker that gets less service? Many of the goals he's scored have been where the ball drops to him rather than any actual attempts to set him up. Garnacho/Rashford/Anthony don't do passing.

We need more than one striker but he's done alright considering our absolute ineptitude.

 

[Van Piorsing]

5 Champions League goals already sparked some interest from R.Madrid.

The only transfer that made sense.

 

[jem]

We got some big signings wrong before ETH, but since his arrival we’ve gotten them all wrong.

I think Martinez was a good signing, but after that...