So that’s why Haaland gets so few chances at City!
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 43
- Goals
- 16
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 2
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Haaland is possibly one of the best strikers to ever live playing in one of the best sides in the last 20 years.
Always a surprise that people don't understand why late attacking midfielders often find space in the box. They do so because the strikers can be the ones going toe-to-toe with the centre backs which creates space for them to play into.
Classic example here is Van Basten in the 1992 Euros. That tournament he finished in the team of the tournament despite only scoring a single goal. His role that year was to drag defenders this way and that, force them to chase him back when he made runs. This created a tonne of space for other players to run into, mostly Bergkamp, who played the shadow striker role and ended up joint top scorer in the tournament.
A more recent example would be Firminho at Liverpool, who (from memory) never scored more than ~10 per season in a very high scoring team, but who was essential for creating space for Salah and Mane. Different teams play different systems of course, some teams set themselves up with lots of creators funnelling chances into 1 or 2 key players. But this approach of overloading defences for late attackers is hardly uncommon,.
McTominay is getting on the ball because our attackers are occupying the defenders and allowing him to create overloads, which ends up with him not being marked. He is not a creative player making chances for Hojland, he's a player who benefits from the space others make. If you played McT as the number 9, he wouldn't be getting as many crucial touches, he'd be the one being marked.
Anyway, I'm happy enough with Hojland. 5 goals in 15 games in all comps for a 20yr old coming into a new league and an underperforming team is fine. Im not happy that we're so reliant on such a young player, but in terms of his own performance, I'm content.
Classic example here is Van Basten in the 1992 Euros. That tournament he finished in the team of the tournament despite only scoring a single goal. His role that year was to drag defenders this way and that, force them to chase him back when he made runs. This created a tonne of space for other players to run into, mostly Bergkamp, who played the shadow striker role and ended up joint top scorer in the tournament.
A more recent example would be Firminho at Liverpool, who (from memory) never scored more than ~10 per season in a very high scoring team, but who was essential for creating space for Salah and Mane. Different teams play different systems of course, some teams set themselves up with lots of creators funnelling chances into 1 or 2 key players. But this approach of overloading defences for late attackers is hardly uncommon,.
McTominay is getting on the ball because our attackers are occupying the defenders and allowing him to create overloads, which ends up with him not being marked. He is not a creative player making chances for Hojland, he's a player who benefits from the space others make. If you played McT as the number 9, he wouldn't be getting as many crucial touches, he'd be the one being marked.
Anyway, I'm happy enough with Hojland. 5 goals in 15 games in all comps for a 20yr old coming into a new league and an underperforming team is fine. Im not happy that we're so reliant on such a young player, but in terms of his own performance, I'm content.
How many teams do you know of where one of the central midfielders routinely gets to more crosses and chances than the attacking spearhead? Højlund at the moment is struggling to get his movement right, like he’s struggling with most aspects of his game. That’s understandable seeing as he’s not close to ready for the role he was signed for, so it’s on the club. But of course it’s concerning that he’s barely in the game in a match where we dominate and create a buckload of chances. The excuses don’t change that.
Call me crazy but he would've scored the second goal had McT not been there? You can see when he makes the run he looks to where there's space but sees McT charging in so he sort of slows down a bit and doesn't jump. Moments later when McT is going for his hat trick there was a clear pass to Højlund that would've been a tap in, but that happens in football and will be forgotten quicker than...I forgot what I was talking about.
He's already scored for us in the Champions League so I'm not remotely worried about him, but he needs to time his runs a little better when those low crosses come in. There's been a few times where he's been inches away from tapping in and yet they're always just out of reach. What he provides in the build up can't be understated though, he's providing a lot for the team in the league even if he's not scoring yet.
He's already scored for us in the Champions League so I'm not remotely worried about him, but he needs to time his runs a little better when those low crosses come in. There's been a few times where he's been inches away from tapping in and yet they're always just out of reach. What he provides in the build up can't be understated though, he's providing a lot for the team in the league even if he's not scoring yet.
Thanks for responding to a point I never made. Very helpful.
Okey your striker makes you better as a unit
Hold your horses Højlund been starting all season and we’ve been bad and suddenly a win vs Chelsea makes Højlund instrumental for us the win has more to do with Rashford being benched which people has been calling for , for ages.
Sorry but it shouldn't have cost us 75 million for a striker to just occupy the centre backs, you can get a striker for a lot, lot less than 75 million to do that and not score or assist goals, probably could have even got a player on loan to that.
I liek the look of him, has all the tools. He seems so far to have a knack of just being a yard or split second away, may just be bad luck. He has snatched at a few chances too, last night for example shoul dhave buried the rebound from penalty miss.
TOo early to judge, but people sayin ggive him time he will definately come good......Diego Forlan, he came good....once he left
The club has a pretty big history of the strikers curse
TOo early to judge, but people sayin ggive him time he will definately come good......Diego Forlan, he came good....once he left
The club has a pretty big history of the strikers curse
https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/s/NleV1fVLA8
Watching the highlights of all our chances. There is more than a few incidents he could have got a good chance if he wasn't ignored or if the pass was better.
Watching the highlights of all our chances. There is more than a few incidents he could have got a good chance if he wasn't ignored or if the pass was better.
It’s a bit worrying that our 75m striker still hasn’t scored a PL goal approaching Christmas there’s no getting around it.
We need another striker in if we want to progress he’s not ready yet.
We need another striker in if we want to progress he’s not ready yet.
What good would a new striker do if we don't put any effort into creating chance for them? The guy isn't missing bucket loads of chances, that's the point to get a bit worried.
Would we have got this win with Martial as the striker....
Interesting, what I saw last night was a striker making a lot of good runs and not being picked out. Almost like because we’ve been playing with mannequin’s up front for so long, they’ve forgotten what to do with a striker who’s actually in the box.
I'm sure that once he starts scoring, he'll get a load. He brings more energy to the team, creates space for others. He gets in good positions but doesn't get the right pass. He has missed a few but I've got more faith in him than Martial.
Made some great moves towards the near post and was ignored for a back post cross to no one.
Hell no.
You can tell he's starting to get more frustrated with the team not picking out his runs, or ignoring him to go for goal.
Understandably too.
It'll come, and I'm happy that he's with us - soon the goals will flow for him.
Understandably too.
It'll come, and I'm happy that he's with us - soon the goals will flow for him.
This is very harsh.
I think hes been really good, the goals will come like in CL. Put in a shift yesterday for us.
People are judging him off what he's done or more importantly not done for almost a decade at this stage. Not what he didn't do against Newcastle in 2 games.
If in 10 years time Hojlund is walking round scoring the odd tap in here and there. Then there'll be a comparison to be made.
If you noticed how the win vs Chelsea came, yes, certainly he was instrumental, and so was Garnacho and Antony. It was their off the ball movement tigether that made it possible for Amrabat, Dalot and Shaw/Reguilon to intercept or win so many balls high up the pitch, which was what lead to most of our flourish of chances.
You know how high press works, if one is half hearted or doesn’t get the principles fully,, it may not work, if two are - it’s a death trap.
A combo of Rashford Martial is very good on max form if you want to counter from a mid block. Unfortunately they haven’t both been on song simultaneously since July 2020, and if we want to be able to dominate games by winning the ball early,, Højlund is a much better shout than Martial already. And Rashford is a risk we are able to afford when he’s at his best, which he isn’t atm. But then we need a Højlund.
I’m sure you get that Højlund alone will not be the difference of us playing bad or good, that would be ridiculously simplistic. The point is more that yesterday’s attacking performance simply wouldn’t have been happening with Martial starting. We’d have to play a different way.
So why is it McTominay is able to get multiple free runs into the box with plenty of space in order to be scoring these goals? Couldn't possibly have anything to do with Hojlund continually pressing and making his presence known to the defenders so they have to cover him, leaving a lot of space for McTominay to exploit?
This is also what I find hilarious, but doesn't fit the agenda so let's ignore it.
Absolutely solid point, the club needs to lighten his load and Rashford and Martial won’t help at all ?
We didn't buy him just to occupy the centre backs though, we're still hoping he will come good on the goals front too. But since he's only 20, in his first season in the EPL, while playing for one of the worst attacking sides in the league (13th in goals)... we're willing to cut him some slack and give him time.
It's just good to see someone do the bare minimum (work tirelessly for the team, that is) after having to watch Martial, Rashford and Ronaldo in the last couple of years.
That's an exaggeration. He was right there when McT scored his second (probably would have scored if McT hadn't got there first) and was inches away from another couple of tap ins. Plus his early shot was probably the best save Sanchez had to make all night. Considering we created a load of chances, I don't remember any other member of our front three making Sanchez work any harder.
He was never going to get to the one McTominay scored, it would have gone straight over his head.
He missed 2 or 3 tap-ins last night as well.
I disagree about the header. If he didn’t hear the shout from McT he was getting on the end of that cross IMO. I know about the tap ins. I mentioned them. He didn’t “miss”. The cross was just slightly beyond him.
What?
It probably is an exaggeration, yes. Even so, he really should be more involved in a game like yesterday’s. He should be getting to more crosses and loose balls. Coupled with severe technical limitations and a hold-up play that leaves a lot to be desired, I’ve seen enough now to conclude, as I believed before, that he’s simply not ready for such a high-profile role yet. I think some time out of the spotlight would do him, and the team, good.
C'mon dude. That's more exaggeration!
Yeah. Right now Hojlund is basically Chris Wood, a physical striker who occupies CBs. But he's also 20.
Totally agree with this.
He is almost getting on the end of lots of crosses, and he will certainly time his runs better, and anticipate quicker as he plays more games.
I have faith in this young man, and we may not see the best of him until 2025.
You could hear McTominay screaming for Hojlund to leave the header, which is fair enough as Scott obviously has a lot of confidence in front of goal at the minute.
It pisses me off that his goal was ruled out against Brighton as it would’ve taken the pressure off him, as it’ll only grow the more league games he plays without scoring.
He just needs some help. It’s too early for him to be relied upon in the way we are. A bit of time and patience and he’ll be a fantastic player for us.
It's not crazy, it's very clearly true.
Anyone who doesn't think Hojlund is playing well is simply not watching. Yes, it looks bad not to have scored some PL goals by December. But in a performance like his against Chelsea, it's just a statistical freak. It will happen. There's nothing fundamentally different about CL games and PL games, so it's a selective stat anyway.
He's getting very close, again and again and again. If McT hadn't scored that chance, Hojlund 100% would have. And only the rub of the green stopped him getting another couple. The same has been true in a few games. We've seen in the CL similar chances have just fallen better for him. Meanwhile, his running is intelligent and tireless, he's brave trying to get on the end of chances, he links up play well both on the run and when bringing down and holding up long balls forward. You can just see it, it's obvious.
The only thing I would actually tell him to do to start scoring is be a little more willing to shoot. He's so committed to link-up play that sometimes when he manages to get on the half turn about 15/20 yards out, he's then slipping dangerous passes to the wings when he could just be bashing it at goal. A balance is important of course, but a striker should be a little selfish sometimes.
I'm excited that we've got him. He and Garnacho are starting to link up better and better now Rashford's out of the way, and both are going to start getting goals out of it. That's a promising young forward partnership we should be happy to have.
Lot of potential there. I love how both are tireless, hard working, never give up. And Garnacho naturally is a better provider than Rashford.
Today is the day....where he has more than 1 shot on target in a PL game
On the bench 
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