It helps when you have a position of strength in the transfer market.
9
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I think at best he will be another Lukaku, they have the same attributes and style of play, and Lukaku at 21 was scoring something like 15 goals for Everton.
The point about him getting touches and service is also a really bad one imo.
Good players that make things happen get the ball often, unless you’re a poacher or play as a striker in Pep’s team.
LVG had one of the worst attacks we’ve seen from a United side but Martial go so much of the ball because he could make things happen so players constantly looked for him. There was never any talk of Martial or Rashford not getting touches that season.
Hojlund does sweet FA with the ball when he gets it or slows the attack down. It’s just like Lukaku, he didn’t get many touches in games because he did little with it when he got it.
Compare how much of the ball Hojlund sees compared to Nicolas Jackson and you’ll see the difference is because one makes things happen and the other doesn’t.
Good players that make things happen get the ball often, unless you’re a poacher or play as a striker in Pep’s team.
LVG had one of the worst attacks we’ve seen from a United side but Martial go so much of the ball because he could make things happen so players constantly looked for him. There was never any talk of Martial or Rashford not getting touches that season.
Hojlund does sweet FA with the ball when he gets it or slows the attack down. It’s just like Lukaku, he didn’t get many touches in games because he did little with it when he got it.
Compare how much of the ball Hojlund sees compared to Nicolas Jackson and you’ll see the difference is because one makes things happen and the other doesn’t.
What a bizarre comparison
It's bit of a reach now because Dalot has almost unequivocally proved himself to be fit, reliable and of a 'good' standard but that wasn't the case earlier this season, where the comments on him was as critical as we see in this thread. However, the parallels are there for me. Selfless player with decent technical and athletic attributes, good mentality and tries to play football the right way/for the team imo. Both have fluctuating high and bottom level but the base is good and with potential. One has had his chance and shown a lot of growth these past 12-18 months after being here 5 years and the other is in his first season playing in statically the worse Utd team in what 50 years (?) in arguably the hardest position.
It'll be interesting to see if Hojlund has a 'successful' season next year presumably under a different manager and set up because it won't be because Hojlund would have suddenly improved many fold in his fundamental abilities.
That doesn't really apply here. Our football under LVG was sterile, methodical and just like this team under ETH couldn't play through the middle and create chances with progressive football.
We gave the ball to Martial because he was talented and could dribble but it was almost exclusively mostly in the wide positions i.e where it's much easier to get the ball to because defending teams will always let you go wide than through them. When Martial moved more centrally, we had trouble getting the ball to him and then Rashford would take be the one to take over from the left flank.
Rinse repeat with Garnacho/Rashford/Antony etc. All wide players who get the ball about 10x time more than Hojlund and do little in comparison to the chances they get with it.
It's a Hojlund, player personnel and coaching issue. If I had to divy it as to whose more at fault, I'd say 25%, 30% and 45% in that order. Nobody is faultless but Hojlund's own involvement is probably the 'least' worrisome because he gets so little ball use to feck up anything.
We also could have bought Kane last summer for the price of the bang-average Mason Mount and potentially-average Rasmus Hojlund. Bayern wouldn't have matched our fee.
The fact we didn't buy the best English striker of his generation when available, on the back of the upwards trajectory we were on last season, is simply said, fecking criminal.
Toney or any half-decent competent first-team striker has to be brought in this summer to fix this self-inflicted shite of a mess.
Unted can't just click their fingers and players come running, Kane was never joining United and Spurs were never selling him to us
I just don't see any hunger from him wanting to score goals.
We should play him from the bench in the last few games. ETH can play a team without CF. But I guess he won’t do it no matter what.
Second highest goal scorer for us this season in the wankest team in many years and at one point highest scorer in the CL before our defense couldn’t stop shipping goals and these are the kind of posts your apparent “supporters” post about you.
Absolute joke of a braindead fanbase I swear
Is Kane better than Hojlund? Of course. But those who think signing Kane last summer would have been the answer to all our prayers are living in absolute fairy land. The team is absolute dog shit from top to bottom and whilst Hojlund isn’t totally blameless we are setup in a way that barely involves him in the game. He’s getting a fraction of the touches and the chances the likes of a Haaland get. His conversation rate is actually quite high considering but you’re all pissing in his chips if he misses 1 chance despite it being maybe the only chance he gets all game. Where as the likes of Haaland and Kane last season and this season miss multiple chances a game but get so many provided to them they usually score, their conversion rate is pretty crap but they get so much service it doesn’t matter.
Absolute joke of a braindead fanbase I swear
Is Kane better than Hojlund? Of course. But those who think signing Kane last summer would have been the answer to all our prayers are living in absolute fairy land. The team is absolute dog shit from top to bottom and whilst Hojlund isn’t totally blameless we are setup in a way that barely involves him in the game. He’s getting a fraction of the touches and the chances the likes of a Haaland get. His conversation rate is actually quite high considering but you’re all pissing in his chips if he misses 1 chance despite it being maybe the only chance he gets all game. Where as the likes of Haaland and Kane last season and this season miss multiple chances a game but get so many provided to them they usually score, their conversion rate is pretty crap but they get so much service it doesn’t matter.
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Hojlund is the better player btw
He slips a ridiculous amount when trying to shoot, where it goes off his other foot. Not sure why. He's got decent shooting technique otherwise.
Than Alvarez? No chance
As a centre forward, definitely
Otherwise I don't get the original comment mentioning the Argentine
This, his balance needs work and his cleats looking at. Garnacho slips a lot as well.
I think it’s coincidence - the sample size is laughably small. Though it could also be due to the fact that he only receives the ball under pressure and never gets a clear cut chance
Needs a summer of working on his core strength. He struggles to shield the ball and falls over way too much. His technique is very Lukaku-esque, hopefully that improves also.
Ya , I have to agree but our fanbase is as toxic as some of our players nowadays
Garnacho attempted crosses but they were all gash, a few went straight into the defenders a couple went all the way out for throw ins. He wasn't aiming for anyone, just slinging it in there and hoping for the best.
I like Hojlund, think he's got a good attitude and he's got the potential to be a really good player, will he ever become world class? Who knows at this stage, but he's got all the raw skills to be a top striker, comparisons to Lukaku are way off the mark in my opinion.
Just can't understand people writing him off this early, there's barely a striker in the world that would thrive with the supply lines at Utd.
Look at what Glasner has done with Mateta in a short space of time. He’s also evolving Olise to a new level.
It’s on the coaches to unlock hojlunds potential. He’s got a very high ceiling but whether ETH and Benni McCarthy can help him unlock that is a different question
It’s on the coaches to unlock hojlunds potential. He’s got a very high ceiling but whether ETH and Benni McCarthy can help him unlock that is a different question
Why do you think comparisons with Lukaku are off the mark out of interest? They seem to be very similar players to me - good finishing but little contribution to all-around team play and relatively poor first touch.
To be honest, I don’t think Højlund looks as talented as Lukaku at the same age. At a slightly younger age than Hojlund, Lukaku was leading WBA to 8th in the premier league with a goal or an assist per 95 minutes. Hojlund is currently on a goal or assist per 213 minutes playing for Manchester United.
The answer to the question in last line of your comment is in the bolded bit - I don't see raw skills that would make Hojlund anything more than bang average striker. He offers nothing apart from being quite good at finishing chances, what is a terrible combination for a team that doesn't create chances.
People call him strong, but Amad looks stronger than Rasmus as he can hold players off and still actually control the ball.
Is it his fault he's not scoring goals at the moment? No, because the team around him is shit. Is it his fault he can't hold on to the ball and slows down our attacks? Yes.
If he wasn't playing for United we wouldn't be calling him a player with high potential. We should support the players but also call them what they are if they look nothing more than average.
Ironically he held the ball better yesterday, laid it off well, used his chest to lay it off
yet there was barely anyone near him in support
he’s trying but he needs help
Agree with this, his link up play was quite good yesterday, but he just never gets opportunities to score!
He was alright yesterday. He was bad in previous games, overall a bit meh. It's definitely not his strength. He's not a target man like Weghorst and we knew that. The moment he tried to do something more with the ball he just lost it or slowed us down though. I just don't rate his overall game/contribution.
Perfect example, right foot pass is on to the edge of the box. I stead bad touch, bad touch, then passes to an Arsenal player.
I know I've moaned a lot about his balance and falling over, but yesterday he did it again when he had a great opportunity bearing down on goal early in the game 
10 goals in the league is what I expected of him, plus whatever assists he could get. He is still under, but it can be forgiven. The overall quality of the squad is poor and coaching is just terrible. An okay first season for a 21-year-old, all things considered.
I believe he could be much better in a properly coached team and some more reliability and creativity around him.
I believe he could be much better in a properly coached team and some more reliability and creativity around him.
Watch his movement on every Garnacho run, never gets in a position that the ball can get to him.
He either runs behind all the defenders or drops off. Not one good near post run.
Will never score with this sort of movement.
We aren’t playing to his strengths yet, why isn’t he running the channels to create space for others? He has a great asset in his pace, we don’t set it enough
Said that a couple of months ago. The positions he takes up require the winger to thread a perfect pass to find him. I love Hojlund but he’s definitely got stuff to work on. Not sure that McCarthy is the man to unlock that side. I’d love to see him work with Ruud on his movement and heading.
Literally think his movement is good for most of those? He’s either making a run or delaying a run to be in space, which ones are the issue for you?
More so you can his general isolation, always multiple Arsenal men around him and Garnacho isn’t exactly crossing early, he’s either running past his man (in which case you want more midfielders coming in for headers or cut backs as the defensive line will naturally have become lower) or cutting in a shooting (in which case all he can do is follow up).
Not sure I have seen a striker whose positioning is so terrible playing at this level before.
This is strange indeed, personally I believe ETH has lost his mind and is doing exactly the opposite what is good for players like Mainoo, Hojlund and a couple of others.
My worry is that his pace and power was his strength in Italy (and the reason why we went after him) but not so much in England. I have seen him outpace Copenhagen defenders but that doesn't mean much. I have seen him struggle with the ball at his feet against any level opponent.
I understand people want to focus on his strengths but so far I think the cons outweigh the pros for the type of player Rasmus is. Maybe he does better as a sub for last 20-30 mins, I think wrestling with defenders takes a lot of his energy and he doesn't look that electric these days anymore.
Still think he will make people in this thread look silly in a couple years. He’s nothing like Lukaku and is playing in a terrible side. Yes he has things to improve, but some of that will come with age and experience. The potential is there to be a top player in my opinion. Football fans notoriously have zero patience though.
Won't go through each one. But at 1.09 as an example, there is only one place Garnacho can get the ball with speed he is running at and the angles the Arsenal defenders are cutting off, and that's a near post cut back.
He drops off to the back post. The ball was never gonna reach him there. It's just bad reading of the play and anticipation.
Hojlund has taken 35 shots in 27 pl games this season. This is because he can't get in positions to shoot.
So it's just about having a good first touch and finishing?
Hojlund's conversion rate from shots/chances is on a par with Haaland this season. His ball striking, first touch and movement is better than Lukaku's. What Lukaku had was immense strength from a young age that gave him a distinct advantage over Hojlund in the PL at the same age. What Hojlund lacks now is the strength to hold off defenders when playing with his back to goal. It's an area he has to improve on to become a serious opposition to PL defenders, we've seen Craig Dawson bully him this season, but I also saw Craig Dawson bully Haaland out of a game early on. So it can happen to anyone.
I know how people feel about his lack of supply, but it's not just about his movement the final ball and decision making from Utd's wide players is absolutely dreadful, there's not a striker in the world who would thrive with that supply.
Hopefully he becomes world class but not good enough to lead the lines at United next season if we are looking to get back into top four. Realistically what top eight team does he get into? He is no where near the level of Haaland, Isak, Watkins, Havertz, Son, Alavarez, Jackson. I find his positioning absolutely awful as well. Hoping he comes good but the time it takes him to turn with the ball I could ring Domino's and have a pizza delivered. Also it seems like there's a good delay before he is in full sprint, his immediate acceleration is not the best. Service has not been great to him with sloppy crosses from our wingers and full backs have been awful apart from Dalot. Garnacho needs another year or two to fully develop as well along with Mainoo. I'm not writing him off but he's a player that probably could benefit with a year loan in a bottom 10 club or a year in the championship like Diallo.
Using that picture to slate Højlund is a prime example of why its difficult to have football conversations on here. Where the flying feck are his team mates. He is asked to basically wrestle alone with the entire Arsenal defence while his team mates run around the box like headless chickens.
This team is set up to fail by a manager who clearly has no clue how to use the type of players we have.
Watch the clip of it, the ball goes into him, his touch is poor.
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