[Devil_forever]

Nunez has been so bad this season, it looks like he's being sold this summer and somehow comparing Hojlund to him proves he's had a good season?

 

[evil_geko]

Nunez has been so bad this season, it looks like he's being sold this summer and somehow comparing Hojlund to him proves he's had a good season?

Because comparison is to his first season, also Nunez was playing in a much better team and was older and already established goalscorer and much more experienced than Hojlund. Context is important.

 

[Jordan_mufc]

That’s just not true- ask a manager whether he’d like his striker to get into loads of good positions and miss, or not get into those positions at all. You know what they’ll say. Unless you think that Hojlund’s lack of goals is entirely down to the rest of the team, in which case it might be different, but I’d disagree with that assessment. He doesn’t look like he’s learned where to position himself yet.

Its less about the positioning and more about the service. If you've watched United game's you'd know that our play in the attacking 3rd is woeful, we saw the exact same thing last season with Ronaldo, Weghorst or whoever played up front struggling to get involved.

Jackson gets plenty of chances and gets a whole bunch of service from full backs and wingers. He misses most of them.

I'd much rather my striker is clinical when feeding off scraps, than a massive waster of big chances

 

[Mike Smalling]

Context and nuance is dead, when people seriously just say "10 PL goals, not good enough".

It's a decent start considering the team he has played in, and that his form has been disrupted by injury as well. Of course he needs to kick on next season. He needs to individually improve his performances, and we need to use him more intelligently. But clearly there is something to build on.

 

[Red Royal]

IMHO Hojlund has had a decent season, not great but given the poor performance of the team as a whole he has plugged away and come out well. Does he need to improve? Yes of course, like most young strikers do. If he can get someone to rotate with next year, and hopefully learn from he could end up leading our line well for a good few seasons.

 

[Schmeichels pinky]

@Andycoleno9
This is a forum for football debate so I like that you keep trying to make one out of this thread.

It is, however, an increasingly difficult task as the evidence will just keep stacking up showing that Hojlund is indeed a very good striker already and potentially world class in a couple of years. For me it was obvious already at Atalanta that he has a rare combination of skills that will get him very far. They’ve been described by many here, so I won’t bother to repeat. On top of that he has the mentality to deal with adversity and keep his confidence even when faced with a first season this difficult.

You keep trying though - I’m sure you already know that he’s very good and just want some fun in here, cause if not it must be cognitive dissonance that makes you double down on your obviously flawed judgment.

 

[L1nk]

Not many clips but his first touch and technique look okay to me here? Maybe we should try getting him involved more on the wings

 

[evil_geko]

Not many clips but his first touch and technique look okay to me here? Maybe we should try getting him involved more on the wings

Of course his touch and technique is ok, it looked off when his confidence was low, it happens. But many on here seem convinced that is something fixed on a player, like on a FIFA game.

 

[NLunited]

10 PL goals and 2 assists in 30 games. If you think that it is a good season for Man Utd first choice striker then fine. With that expectations, we finished exactly where we deserve.

First PL season for a young striker: he did well. You are a disgrace.

 

[NicolaSacco]

Its less about the positioning and more about the service. If you've watched United game's you'd know that our play in the attacking 3rd is woeful, we saw the exact same thing last season with Ronaldo, Weghorst or whoever played up front struggling to get involved.

Jackson gets plenty of chances and gets a whole bunch of service from full backs and wingers. He misses most of them.

I'd much rather my striker is clinical when feeding off scraps, than a massive waster of big chances

I guess the only way we’ll know is when and if Utd start creating more genuine chances for him. As I say I’m not sure that the lack of chances can be explained away as being someone else’s fault. It’s probably a bit of both. Either way if I was Utd manager there are a lot more players I’d be looking at getting rid of than Hojlund. What he should get credit for is not letting his head drop like certain other players when things aren’t going ok. He’ll still run through a brick wall, and should get credit for that.

Do you think in 10 years time you’ll look back on him as a genuine key player for Utd? I’m not quite sure he will, but I may be completely wrong.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Context and nuance is dead, when people seriously just say "10 PL goals, not good enough".

It's a decent start considering the team he has played in, and that his form has been disrupted by injury as well. Of course he needs to kick on next season. He needs to individually improve his performances, and we need to use him more intelligently. But clearly there is something to build on.

Yep, that's a very relevant context as well.

He's young, and new to the PL. He's also been playing in a struggling team that create few chances for him. All of that is hard enough. But then you've got to add the fact that he arrived injured and so had a delayed start to the season and had to play catch up physically after everyone else had got their match fitness and sharpness. That's also very difficult, and was a contributory factor to his èarly struggle for PL goals.

However he then worked through that, and went on a very good run of scoring - showing what he'd be like when match fit and sharp and up to speed with the PL. Only to get injured again and have to do the same again - and he's now getting back into a scoring run, unfortunately just as the season is ending.

It's been a difficult, stop-start first season for him injury wise, and with the added factors of his age, new league, and in a struggling team. However he's still managed a perfectly acceptable return given all those factors. Of course it would have been much better had we had a senior striker than was fit and sharing the responsibility with him, rather than Martial.

Hopefully next season many of the above won't be as big factors. He'll have more experience of the league and the club. He'll hopefully have a full pre-season and be fit from game one. And if we have a good transfer window he'll hopefully be playing in a stronger team, and with an available senior striker to share the work load.

 

[Who's Kissing Cameras?]

Your namesake in his first full season for United scored 11 league goals in 34 games, having already played half a season for us before and was already premier league proven.

Boom!

 

[Mike Smalling]

Your namesake in his first full season for United scored 11 league goals in 34 games, having already played half a season for us before and was already premier league proven.

Yeah, and he followed it up with 6 goals in 20 PL games the next season. Complete bust.

 

[Shinjch]

Seems like he has been well managed the last couple of games, hope those goals help his confidence.

 

[Jordan_mufc]

I guess the only way we’ll know is when and if Utd start creating more genuine chances for him. As I say I’m not sure that the lack of chances can be explained away as being someone else’s fault. It’s probably a bit of both. Either way if I was Utd manager there are a lot more players I’d be looking at getting rid of than Hojlund. What he should get credit for is not letting his head drop like certain other players when things aren’t going ok. He’ll still run through a brick wall, and should get credit for that.

Do you think in 10 years time you’ll look back on him as a genuine key player for Utd? I’m not quite sure he will, but I may be completely wrong.

Yeah I agree, it's not all 100% down to service. He's also young and getting used to the league. Movement isn't perfect and he isn't great in the air which doesn't help.

I see a lot of good in him, some of the goals he's scored this season have been brilliant and his hold up play looks very good at times. I also think it's telling that now that he's been afforded some bench time, his cameos have been very impressive.

I can see him, Garnacho and Mainoo being the focal point of our rebuild if I'm honest, especially as the striker market is poor ATM.

 

[next_number_seven]

Yeah I agree, it's not all 100% down to service. He's also young and getting used to the league. Movement isn't perfect and he isn't great in the air which doesn't help.

I see a lot of good in him, some of the goals he's scored this season have been brilliant and his hold up play looks very good at times. I also think it's telling that now that he's been afforded some bench time, his cameos have been very impressive.

I can see him, Garnacho and Mainoo being the focal point of our rebuild if I'm honest, especially as the striker market is poor ATM.

One important thing to remember is that he's played for 4 different clubs in 4 different countries by the age of 20.

He didn't have a proper preseason this year and twice before he moved clubs midseason.

So we need to be patient with him.

The jury's still out on him but I've seen enough to know he's worth persevering with.

I played centre back and players like him were difficult as they can do everything. It's unusual to be that big but also quick and agile. If you look at his body, he has a long torso relative to his legs, so that gives him a bit more agility, balance, acceleration for his height.

He's not as silky as Benzema but he's quicker. I think he can be a Benzema or Giroud type striker. So not racking up huge numbers, but good all-round play.

Really what we want from him is to come short to receive the ball, dragging CBs with him, release the ball and this opens up space for Garnacho, Rashford etc to run into. Then he must run to the back post or front post again.

As well as that his pace and physicality is useful against high lines.

 

[Woziak]

One important thing to remember is that he's played for 4 different clubs in 4 different countries by the age of 20.

He didn't have a proper preseason this year and twice before he moved clubs midseason.

So we need to be patient with him.

The jury's still out on him but I've seen enough to know he's worth persevering with.

I played centre back and players like him were difficult as they can do everything. It's unusual to be that big but also quick and agile. If you look at his body, he has a long torso relative to his legs, so that gives him a bit more agility, balance, acceleration for his height.

He's not as silky as Benzema but he's quicker. I think he can be a Benzema or Giroud type striker. So not racking up huge numbers, but good all-round play.

He will be fine as long as we buy another striker to share the work load, buying Toney is suicide as he’s an egotistical self centred aging prima dona who will stunt his growth, buying Sesco even for €65m(£55m) is the perfect partner in crime allowing you to play 442 or 3412 in some games one natural favours the left inside channel, the other the right.

 

[next_number_seven]

He will be fine as long as we buy another striker to share the work load, buying Toney is suicide as he’s an egotistical self centred aging prima dona who will stunt his growth, buying Sesco even for €65m(£55m) is the perfect partner in crime allowing you to play 442 or 3412 in some games one natural favours the left inside channel, the other the right.

I think we could pick up a fairly cheap young quick striker to rotate with him but who can also partner with him.
Maybe Jao Pedro from Brighton.
Unless we've a youth player who can step up.

 

[Lu Tze]

I enjoy that he seems to try to belt it regularly, rather than gently guide it. Hopefully he can score some real Shearer-esque stunners next season.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

 

[OldTrevil]

For his age and the team's situation, he has had a good season especially looking at output. Performances he can improve on but that goes for the whole team. He definitely needs better service and also another striker to share the load with and compete. I think a front 3 of him, Amad and Garnacho has big potential.

 

[Schmeichels pinky]

I guess the only way we’ll know is when and if Utd start creating more genuine chances for him. As I say I’m not sure that the lack of chances can be explained away as being someone else’s fault. It’s probably a bit of both. Either way if I was Utd manager there are a lot more players I’d be looking at getting rid of than Hojlund. What he should get credit for is not letting his head drop like certain other players when things aren’t going ok. He’ll still run through a brick wall, and should get credit for that.

Do you think in 10 years time you’ll look back on him as a genuine key player for Utd? I’m not quite sure he will, but I may be completely wrong.

If he doesn’t get serious injuries and the whole team improves then most certainly yes. I’m baffled at how some fans cannot see what he brings - his finishing alone is elite, though underrated, and many other aspects of his game are much better than people give him credit for. His passing and eye for his teammates for example - he hasn’t had many chances to do it, but he’s shown several times that his passing is very clever and accurate by playing Garnacho and Bruno through on goal. It’s just that you probably haven’t noticed or maybe just forgotten because our general play overshadows his contribution. His first touch is fine as well, especially considering his age, but when you’re only played long balls with two defenders on your back you don’t really get into the flow of the game.
His positioning - well, he made so many runs making himself available for a pass the first months without ever getting the ball that I think he was at a loss in the end and didn’t know what to do - the same with his pressing which weren’t backed up by the others.

He will become a great player for us given we improve as a team.

Nikolas Jackson got 14 goals and 5 assists and from what I've seen Chelsea fans think he's nowhere good enough or ready to start. Plus they got him and Nkunku for round about the same price as Hojlund.

Read the thread. Then please tell me what the point of your post is.

 

[Vidyoyo]

One thing I really like about him is that he doesn't age beyond his natural cycle. We bought him at age 20 and so far his genetic age appears to have match what you'd expect from the Gregorian calendar.

Hopefully he continues on this trajectory and ends up improving over time as young professional footballers commonly do.

 

[Ali Dia]

He needs fullbacks who hold width, stretch the play and can fire a ball across the 6 yard area. Rasmus is a bull in these situations and we aren’t utilising it nearly enough. He’s really good off either foot if he gets a yard and he can play on the shoulder if the service is there. I’m saying here and now. As far as young strikers go we have a gem on our hands. I would buy Sesko too and rotate them for the next few years. A very nice problem for any manager to have

 

[DWelbz19]

One thing I really like about him is that he doesn't age beyond his natural cycle. We bought him at age 20 and so far his genetic age appears to have match what you'd expect from the Gregorian calendar.

Hopefully he continues on this trajectory and ends up improving over time as young professional footballers commonly do.

Aquarius star sign too. Good omens.

 

[Remember the geese]

He's bang average and hasn't shown the slightest glimpse of being a player we can build around. His performances have been neither here nor there, he doesn't offer anything dangerous or special up front, and often goes missing for lengthy stretches. Not his fault as most young players wouldn't pass up a chance to play for United. This one is 100% on ETH's calamitous decision making in the transfer market.

Bad scout.

 

[elmo]

Honestly he reminds me of Heskey.

Both will shine when played with another partner upfront and can look useless when they’re expected to be the main man upfront.

 

[Remember the geese]

I wouldn't mind too much if he developed into a Lewandowski level player. Lewandowski in his first season at Dortmund as a 22 year old scored 8 goals in 33 league games.

 

[The Corinthian]

Honestly he reminds me of Heskey.

Both will shine when played with another partner upfront and can look useless when they’re expected to be the main man upfront.

That's nonsense.

 

[elmo]

That's nonsense.

Heskey at Leicester was not the joke he ended up looking at the end of his Liverpool stint.

 

[The Corinthian]

Heskey at Leicester was not the joke he ended up looking at the end of his Liverpool stint.

The two players aren't remotely similar stylistically or in technique.

 

[next_number_seven]

One thing I really like about him is that he doesn't age beyond his natural cycle. We bought him at age 20 and so far his genetic age appears to have match what you'd expect from the Gregorian calendar.

Hopefully he continues on this trajectory and ends up improving over time as young professional footballers commonly do.

I've no idea what this means.

 

[whitbyviking]

Højlund looked useful moving out into the right channel yesterday, would imagine he could do the same to the left too with him basically being two footed. Imagine him and another 9 with similar movement plus whoever on the left. Tasty.

 

[Captmfla]

What an incredible signing. The way he pounced on his chances early on in the season and how he created the goals for himself is just beyond wondrous.

 

[Adnan]

A very good post, but I wanted to separate the above and highlight this because I believe this is lost on too many people in this forum.

They will grudgingly accept that our defensive crisis is a contributing factor to our goals conceded column, but nothing to do with our goals scored - because a defensive issue and an attacking issue can never intertwine.

I sincerely hope that we can recruit defensive players to complement Martinez and Shaw (and to a lesser extent Dalot) this summer because I think it will go a long way to unlocking this system, from Onana all the way through to Hojlund.

I can't emphasise enough about the importance of controlling the game from the back ( CBs/midfielders) and how it impacts the most advanced players on the pitch. I've consistently said that the key to having a strong attack is to have strong players in deeper positions who not only provide a high level on the ball, but can also control or contain spaces in a higher defensive line. Our team this season is not good in that regard and the situation got worse with injuries to Martinez and Shaw who were our two best players in possession on the ball from the back.

Our attacking players in the last 5 years have been very good and carried a big goal threat. The issue has never been about the potential of our attack imo, but rather about the guys behind them in deeper positions who just did not have the technical quality in possession or the agility, pace to contain large spaces when the opposition broke forward in transition with pace and numbers. Rasmus Hojlund is a solution to the centre forward position and has done well to score a total of 16 goals in the league and champions league. But it doesn't matter who your striker is, if there's vulnerabilities at the back and in midfield, where your players struggle against pace and power and are also not up to par technically on the ball in comparison to the teams we want to compete against.

If I'm the opposition coach and I'm analysing United, then it's clear to see that the weaknesses reside in the players at the back, which will hamper the system of play and blunt the attack. As a opposition coach you just have to have apply a well coached closing down game on our players at CB and in midfield to make us lose control of the game. And that there will blunt our attack and hence ten Hag decided to experiment by going more direct after injuries to Martinez and Shaw and Mainoo for several months because I believe Ten Hag didn't believe he had the players at the back to build play effectively. To control the game and provide a strong platform to our attackers where they can score goals, sustain attacks and press from the front effectively, you need strong technical and athletic players at the back who will win duels and progress the ball through the lines.

With many posters on here the solution to scoring more goals is to buy more and more players who occupy positions closer to the opposition goal. The solution to controlling the game is to buy more and more creative midfielders and the solutions to our defense is to buy better defenders who occupy positions closer to our own goal. But imo the most important factor is always the system of play and how all 11 players come together to create a machine which functions well from back to front in unison with each other. We don't have that right now but I feel a big change could be made in that regard in the summer window where we add the pace and power in midfield and at CB without compromising on technical ability in possession. Get those missing components in the team and I absolutely believe we will score alot more goals due to us as a team then having the capacity to sustain attacks on the back of the strength of the players occupying deeper positions on the pitch.

For a team to have a strong attack they require a strong platform at the back.

 

[yamo123x]

Hojlund needs to knuckle down and work hard to improve his game. Time is on his side and im sure the majority of the fans including me will back him to do this and be the player we all want him to be

But im still to be convinced that he is the long term answer to our striking position based on what ive seen so far. Hope he proves me wrong

 

[Adnan]

Good post I agree. Also noticed Baleba today, he was quite comfortable in the centre of the pitch. Still wonder what we changed that the siege of first half was lifted.

Really liked Hojlunds finish today. I think, the right play would have been to pass but as a striker, it is great to see him making chances for himself. I think he turned 3 or 4 players today with his footwork, which also has been good to see. Who knows whether he'll become some sort of target man for us, being good with the back towards the opposition goal, maybe he doesn't have to and we can just bring another striker who can take over such a role if needed. ( That being said, I thought Pedro looked really good today, also very comfortable on the ball)

I think the second half saw us keep the ball better in the deeper build up phase, we closed off space better and our movement in the final third improved. And with Hojlund also coming off the bench, his pace and movement also troubled Brighton where he was dropping deeper centrally and receiving passes with his back to goal. And he also worked the channels well in the time he was on the pitch, and that extra added movement created more spaces for us to exploit.

I think a established forward who is capable of rotating with Hojlund would be the logical next step. A couple of years ago I mentioned Benjamin Sesko on the forum when he was very raw and I felt he was someone that we should look to develop. But we've since bought Rasmus Hojlund and I don't see the logic in signing another project in the CF position and it would (IMO) be better to sign a more established striker who is more of a facilitator and prioritise the development of Rasmus Hojlund as the long-term option.

I personally like Matheus Cunha who plays for Wolves. I think if he can be bought for a reasonable fee, then he's the type of forward that would facilitate for the players around him. He's a powerful player with the ability to carry the ball forward and I think he would be happy to be part of the rotation.

 

[iHicksy]

Because comparison is to his first season, also Nunez was playing in a much better team and was older and already established goalscorer and much more experienced than Hojlund. Context is important.

Exactly - context.

Nunez is playing in a team that was challenging for the title and who have a system that's been tried/tested and employed for the last 9 years and is stable, functioning, have world class players and are setup for attacking football. He is also 3 years older, playing under less pressure and gets a metric feckton more chances than our boy.

Rasmus is playing with a team being built from the ground up, with unstable tactics, an injury ravaged squad, a manager who siged him and who's job is under threat, with a club under huge amounts of pressure where every failing has media microanalyses.

Let's look at the Prem stats.

Nunez
Shots 108
Big chances missed 27
Accuracy 43%
Goals 11

Rasmus
Shots 38
Big chances missed13
Accuracy 55%
Goals 10

He'd probably bag 20 goals in his debut year if we swapped him and nunez over.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

I think the other thing that is often missed when it comes to us signing another striker is that it would also allow us to be flexible and play Hojland in a 2 up front when chasing games etc. we have seen already that when McTominay is on, Hojland does enough to occupy the central defenders and create space for runners in the box. We could use a second striker type of player that could also play off him if required.

 

[Andycoleno9]

First PL season for a young striker: he did well. You are a disgrace.

I am disgrace?! People want to sell Bruno who is our leader in most of stats and main creator, people abuse Rashford for awful season (finished with 3 goals less in PL than Hojlund), abusing Casemiro despite he is playing out of position and basically every player this year got lots of bashing.
But God forbid questioning Hojlund. And i am not even saying that he is shit or should be sold; i am just saying that (this season) he didn't show qualities what i expect from first choice United striker.

Unbelievable. Everybody, from manager to players got a stick this year but hey, don't touch Hojlund.