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Rasmus Hojlund Denmark flag

2024-25 Performances


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5.1 Season Average Rating
Appearances
26
Goals
7
Assists
1
Yellow cards
1
Our problem is that Zirkzee is not positionally the right player for the #9 position in this formation, but Hojlund's skillset doesn't match it.

I reckon if you play them both together, Zirkzee as one of the #10s and Hojlund as #9, it could be effective. Hojlund can keep the CBs busy, but the long ball forward always needs to be aimed at Kirkzee. Then Hojlund gets to do what he's actually good at - make the run off the ball - and Zirkzee gets to do what he's good at - hold the ball, turn, pick the pass.

Obviously in the end we just need to replace both with a top-quality CF who can do both. But for now, that would be my approach. Garnacho doesn't earn his starting role and continues to be better used as an impact sub anyway.
 
Our problem is that Zirkzee is not positionally the right player for the #9 position in this formation, but Hojlund's skillset doesn't match it.

I reckon if you play them both together, Zirkzee as one of the #10s and Hojlund as #9, it could be effective. Hojlund can keep the CBs busy, but the long ball forward always needs to be aimed at Kirkzee. Then Hojlund gets to do what he's actually good at - make the run off the ball - and Zirkzee gets to do what he's good at - hold the ball, turn, pick the pass.

Obviously in the end we just need to replace both with a top-quality CF who can do both. But for now, that would be my approach. Garnacho doesn't earn his starting role and continues to be better used as an impact sub anyway.

It seems like we've stumbled onto this and it might work. Rasmus was poor again last night even though he should have had an assist. Zirkzee was much better at holding up the play and getting others beyond him. The ball just bounces off Rasmus. To be fair Zirkzee had a lot more runners around him and players coming forward to force the issue. Mainoo kept losing the ball too in the first half. Really frustrating stuff
 
I've defended him to the death on here for a while, and whilst I still think there could be a player in there that we saw glimpses of last year and this, I cannot excuse the recent performances, which I also think was Amorim's message today, Ugarte looked mad to be coming off but Hojlund looked really disappointed. He should be taken out of the firing line for a bit, Zirkzee has earned his place starting for a while, get Rasmus back on the training pitch and maybe some sub appearences. But unless Zirkzee turns dog Rasmus shouldn't start for a while. He needs to sort himself out now or there will come a time soon where he won't be at United much longer. Considering he's cheap I would imagine we'd still keep him into next season but he needs to start turning a corner.
One option for him could be, in next match just get the ball and whack it on goal, from 30 yards. Then start reducing the distance. Movements can come later. First he has to just shoot. He doesn't shoot at all!
 
To be fair Zirkzee had a lot more runners around him and players coming forward to force the issue

Tbf this could also be because the players trust him.

If you were any of the forwards, would you make a run if the ball goes to Hojlund? Knowing that 96% chance the ball is bounces of him and you have to sprint back?

Compared to a 50% chance it may stick with Zirkzee, which allows players to gamble.

Hojlund is a big issue in this team, sooner we get rid the better.
 
We need to bring in Chicharito to teach him how to move off the ball. Seriously I like Rasmus, but he needs to improve that bit of his game.
 
Tbf this could also be because the players trust him.

If you were any of the forwards, would you make a run if the ball goes to Hojlund? Knowing that 96% chance the ball is bounces of him and you have to sprint back?

Compared to a 50% chance it may stick with Zirkzee, which allows players to gamble.

Hojlund is a big issue in this team, sooner we get rid the better.

That makes no sense. They expect him to have trouble so they move away, making it even more difficult?? I really hope our players arent that dumb.
 
I think he is better than what we have seen recently. He obviously isn't a striker to play with his back to goal type. However he has to bring a lot more fight to the attack. You can't just get dominated by every CB you play against.
 
You have to say it as you see it, Hojlund is awful. Willing him to do well but he just doesnt have the ability to play at this level.

Ive seen people on this thread talk about his positive attributes, but you can only judge him on what you see and for many weeks now he has been hopeless.

A good striker has great movement, links up play well and can get themselves into goalscoring positions--i see none of this from him, he offers no goal threat.

Absolute car crash of a signing for 72 million. Option off the bench at best.
 
It's not a battle of wits if only one side knows how to play.

He doesn't clearly have the strength. I don't know what you are basing that on.

Of course it is, a one sided mental battle is still a mental battle.

We'll have to agree to disagree about his strength, just by virtue of his size and weight he should be more difficult to move than he is, that he isn't is down to his inability to use his physique rather than his physique not actually existing.
 
He’s very raw which is not ideal for how much we spent, I would have expected a more ready player for the price we paid, but that’s more on us than him.

His reading of the game is really lacking, he’s constantly lagging behind where he’s supposed to be. We were begging for him to stretch the defence yesterday which he should be doing with his speed but he was more interested in dropping deep, clogging up midfield and losing every duel with the CB, he had a couple decent runs in the channel which he should be doing a lot more.

Hopefully Zirkzee gets a few starts now as we looked a lot better with him on.
 
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Of course it is, a one sided mental battle is still a mental battle.

We'll have to agree to disagree about his strength, just by virtue of his size and weight he should be more difficult to move than he is, that he isn't is down to his inability to use his physique rather than his physique not actually existing.
His physical strength is, if anything, sub-par for his height and weight. He is constantly losing physical battles to all and sundry he comes up against. That's one of the reasons he needs to stop inviting physical engagement; he's terrible at it.

This is like saying because he's over a certain height he should be good in the air. He's non-existent there, too.

This guy should be trying to create separation, not engaging in something that sees him on the floor far more often than not.
 
His physical strength is, if anything, sub-par for his height and weight. He is constantly losing physical battles to all and sundry he comes up against. That's one of the reasons he needs to stop inviting physical engagement; he's terrible at it.

This is like saying because he's over a certain height he should be good in the air. He's non-existent there, too.

This guy should be trying to create separation, not engaging in something that sees him on the floor far more often than not.

I think you're conflating strength, which I'm saying he possesses physically, with the ability to use said strength, which I agree he lacks.

Your example of his being bad in the air is perfect. He does have the height to be good in the air, the fact that he isn't good in the air doesn't make him short, it means he isn't able to use his height despite possessing it. The same goes for his strength.
 
You have to say it as you see it, Hojlund is awful. Willing him to do well but he just doesnt have the ability to play at this level.

Ive seen people on this thread talk about his positive attributes, but you can only judge him on what you see and for many weeks now he has been hopeless.

A good striker has great movement, links up play well and can get themselves into goalscoring positions--i see none of this from him, he offers no goal threat.

Absolute car crash of a signing for 72 million. Option off the bench at best.

I haven't completely written him off yet but I agree we should start Zirkzee and use Hojlund off the bench when the game opens up a bit.

He can drag defenders around and create space for our no 10s.
 
I think you're conflating strength, which I'm saying he possesses physically, with the ability to use said strength, which I agree he lacks.

Your example of his being bad in the air is perfect. He does have the height to be good in the air, the fact that he isn't good in the air doesn't make him short, it means he isn't able to use his height despite possessing it. The same goes for his strength.
You're either strong or not strong... looking the part doesn't mean anything. Perhaps there's physical measures of his strength feats or some other kind of tangible gauge, but the observable, he is below par in terms of appearance vis-a-vis expectation.

We can see - every PL game - that he loses out in contests of strength, constantly. Be it body to body or in terms of pushing his man off to break free. If he has some kind of innate strength, he has absolutely no idea how to use it, and to that end, that may well be about balance as I referred to previously.

I guess this is an agree to disagree because there's nothing about Hojlund that has indicated "strength" to me to this point in his United career.
 
That makes no sense. They expect him to have trouble so they move away, making it even more difficult?? I really hope our players arent that dumb.

There is a difference between runners and moving towards the player.
Do you know what runners mean? meaning players running in behind.

So for instance, if a CM / CB plays the ball into Hojlund, Bruno, Amad, Garnacho make movement so if he gets the ball in control, he can find them.

When the ball goes to Hojlund, players cannot risk making runs because Hojlund cannot control a football and instead of us keeping the ball, he starts an attack for the opposition, meaning the players who make runs are out of position.

When Zirkzee was on the pitch, when players CM/CB played him the ball, he kept it, turned and found runners, which is why we created so much more when he was on the pitch.

I dont understand why you struggle to understand that.
 
There is a difference between runners and moving towards the player.
Do you know what runners mean? meaning players running in behind.

So for instance, if a CM / CB plays the ball into Hojlund, Bruno, Amad, Garnacho make movement so if he gets the ball in control, he can find them.

When the ball goes to Hojlund, players cannot risk making runs because Hojlund cannot control a football and instead of us keeping the ball, he starts an attack for the opposition, meaning the players who make runs are out of position.

When Zirkzee was on the pitch, when players CM/CB played him the ball, he kept it, turned and found runners, which is why we created so much more when he was on the pitch.

I dont understand why you struggle to understand that.

First that depends on the ball. Hoofing high balls then yes he will lose it, but even if that happens I would expect Ugarte and Maino0 to pick that up, and not expect Bruno and Amad to just stand there and wait. He is also better when being able to flick it on rather than having to control it, so even then the movement should happen as they should know waiting for him to control it makes it less of a chance to work out.

That having been said, one thing annoyed me yesterday. Only once did we actually play it flat in to the channel, which is the one time we actually ended up with the chance for Garnacho.
It seems incredible daft to keep hoofing high balls when you have Højlund as the striker. Equally it would be meaningless to play balls in the channels to run on for Zirkzee as he would never get there first.
 
One of the worst strikers to have played upfront at United. He has all physical attributes but has zero idea on how to use them. We cannot build any attacks with him up front.
 
First that depends on the ball. Hoofing high balls then yes he will lose it, but even if that happens I would expect Ugarte and Maino0 to pick that up, and not expect Bruno and Amad to just stand there and wait. He is also better when being able to flick it on rather than having to control it, so even then the movement should happen as they should know waiting for him to control it makes it less of a chance to work out.

That having been said, one thing annoyed me yesterday. Only once did we actually play it flat in to the channel, which is the one time we actually ended up with the chance for Garnacho.
It seems incredible daft to keep hoofing high balls when you have Højlund as the striker. Equally it would be meaningless to play balls in the channels to run on for Zirkzee as he would never get there first.

Clearly you dont watch the games, if you think we hoof the ball to Hojlund all the time. With respect to the flick, that is also incorrect, he loses almost every ariel duel too.

There is a reason we cant build properly with Hojlund, he is one of the worst footballers on the ball. He struggles to control the football, with /without pressure. When he does have it.. he holds on too long or his pass is always off.

There is no point blaming other players when Hojlund cant hold onto the ball.
 
Clearly you dont watch the games, if you think we hoof the ball to Hojlund all the time. With respect to the flick, that is also incorrect, he loses almost every ariel duel too.

There is a reason we cant build properly with Hojlund, he is one of the worst footballers on the ball. He struggles to control the football, with /without pressure. When he does have it.. he holds on too long or his pass is always off.

There is no point blaming other players when Hojlund cant hold onto the ball.

I watch all our games. And if you dont see us hoofing the ball high to him constantly you need glasses.
The flick I meant when he receives it to his feet.
He is utterly useless when receiving it even an inch higher than his foot.
 
What's been up with his attitude lately as well? Absolutely berated Garnacho for his miss, as if he hasn't been the worst player on the pitch week after week. Has recently had loads of moments where he's been moaning or throwing his arms up at teammates.

Saw it as well and it’s worrying. There was a part in the game where he lost the ball and just walked himself back into position and really made little effort to get it back. I’ll back him and continue backing him if he keeps trying and working hard - but the recent weeks and months I’ve not been a fan.

I'm generally fine with his rare outbursts and displays of frustrations because most of the time, he has a right to be annoyed. He's been shit but again most of the time, he is trying to do the right thing and play the right pass.

The times he moans is generally when he should have been played through or teammates have been selfish etc.

Needs some time on the bench. Amorim and the coaches have a lot of work to do to improve his all around game.

I’d agree with this, during his first season, or first months of his time here, where he was making runs and Rashford and Garnacho were simply not giving him the ball. Throughout the recent weeks, where he has thrown tantrums at the likes of Amad and Garnacho, I’d put the blame on him rather than the wingers. He’s very rarely in a good position to receive the pass - and if he is, he’s surrounded and you just wouldn’t bet on him getting to them.

I can forgive his poor technique, but his striker instincts are probably the worst I’ve seen at United. Really needs to study the likes of Ruud, Ole, Cavani, Hernandez etc on how to make space and runs for passes
 
I was willing to give him the benefit of doubt seeing as we played liverpool and arsenal away which would be tough for any striker, but, he needs to be benched. Not sure if he's low on confidence or just not good enough (possibly both!), Zirkzee simply has to start and be given a run in the side.
 
You have to say it as you see it, Hojlund is awful. Willing him to do well but he just doesnt have the ability to play at this level.

Ive seen people on this thread talk about his positive attributes, but you can only judge him on what you see and for many weeks now he has been hopeless.

A good striker has great movement, links up play well and can get themselves into goalscoring positions--i see none of this from him, he offers no goal threat.

Absolute car crash of a signing for 72 million. Option off the bench at best.
I’d say his confidence is on the floor. He’s been here 18 months , moving up a league after only starting his first serie A. Most agree a player his age and experience should be an under study to a more experienced striker to take pressure off him and help his development.

The stage he is at now as moreso down to the dysfunctional way United have managed him. Bit like Rashford growing up in a toxic environment and how many top players we sign (Casemiro being current one) simply find it hard to do their thing with us.

For me, the most objective stance to have on Rasmus is that while he’s really not looking like a top quality striker there have been glimpses of quality. Whether it’s that he will never be good enough or the circus environment at United , it’s not really possible to make a call on that.

Some players thrive under different managers or different teams or different tactics. My feeling is that being a striker for United has probably been the hardest position for the last couple of years because we have been crying out for a real world class player in that position which puts too much pressure on the ones we’ve had (who aren’t either good enough or ready to take on that responsibility).

So for me, Rasmus is a question mark. In the same way idiots were booing Zirks last week; people are now shifting to a different target based on which way the wind is blowing. If you stand back and look at how things have been overall , it’s not entirely surprising that he’s struggling. The question im wondering moreso is whether Rasmus will be a striker who can thrive with the tactics the manager wants.
 
I wouldn't waste your time, just let it play out , it's obvious to anyone who's watched football long enough to know Hojlund is a basic run of the mill striker who lacks any elite qualities. The Hojlund fans are like the Ten Hag supporters, they will dig and look for any small evidence of quality to claim it's evidence of world potential elite quality due to the time, money and emotional energy they invested into the player.

Only when we get a real talented striker in will people realise how much we are being held back in attack by having this guy as our main striker just like now it's only now we have a proper man manager to realise you don't need 3 years to implement a style of play. You don't need to wait until a player turns 25 to know if they have the ingredients to be a world class player

I regularly watch true wonder kid potential talent like Samu, Sesko and Carmada for Milan and I've never read on their supporters forum, reading long winded excuses and praise for imaginary decoy runs or ''occupying defenders'' and them needing a more experienced striker to learn how to control a football.

Looks like what I said is aging like fine wine sooner than I realised. People are finally waking up to the fact Hojlund has no business being here and we should be doing everything to get in someone like Sesko before he gets poached by Arsenal

I've had to get pelters from Hojlund FC and being told I know nothing when I said the likes of Chris Wood, Andy Caroll would offer more. I have to hear the likes of Cole, Lewandoski, Ruud and Charito compared to this donkey. Legendary strikers having their history rewritten to try and justify this guy being our number 9 who offers absolutely nothing that any striker in the Championship couldn't replicate

I couldn't believe he started last night it seems a never ending run of poor form won't get him dropped. Zirkee puts in a performance like that last night and he gets booed jeered and dropped indefinitely the next game no doubt. I do not know what Amorim is doing with him giving him endless chances, because make no mistake had he not been taken off we are not coming back and winning that game.

The guy constantly ruins any rhyme in attack due to his terrible ball control and retention and we for 70 minutes we look absolutely toothless in attack. In a formation Amorim uses it's pivotal the striker in the system can act as focal point to link others and be on the end of chances . When we are defending a attack and one of a defenders or midfielders releases the ball to initiate a counter into his feet, 7 times out 10 the ball will bounce off him or he will fall over. He is so easy to defend against it's almost comical, the defenders must think they on are the training ground having a light warm up session when they play against him all they have to do is stay close to him they don't have to be weary of him making any unpredictable runs so just stay close nick the ball when it's fed into him with pace or beat him to ariel balls because he can't head the ball or just physically overpower him since he has no core strength and looks like he's been doign too much weight training, when I agree with another poster he need to be doing some kind of yoga, or martial arts to loosen himself up and be more flexible and develop core strength.
 
He is getting worse it seems, which I did not think was possible. I just don't see that talent in him and a few thing he is missing are very hard to learn, like football intelligence
 
I watch all our games. And if you dont see us hoofing the ball high to him constantly you need glasses.
The flick I meant when he receives it to his feet.
He is utterly useless when receiving it even an inch higher than his foot.

He is useless even if the ball is played on the ground, lets not act as if he is competent at that.

So many times a simple ball is played to him but his touch takes it back towards our own goal and he is chasing his own touch.

His hold up play must be some of the worst I have seen from a striker.
 
Our problem is that Zirkzee is not positionally the right player for the #9 position in this formation, but Hojlund's skillset doesn't match it.

I reckon if you play them both together, Zirkzee as one of the #10s and Hojlund as #9, it could be effective. Hojlund can keep the CBs busy, but the long ball forward always needs to be aimed at Kirkzee. Then Hojlund gets to do what he's actually good at - make the run off the ball - and Zirkzee gets to do what he's good at - hold the ball, turn, pick the pass.

Obviously in the end we just need to replace both with a top-quality CF who can do both. But for now, that would be my approach. Garnacho doesn't earn his starting role and continues to be better used as an impact sub anyway.
Zirkzee doesn't have the running power to play as an actual #10. We did that combination once I believe (against Newcastle) and it failed horribly.

If anything I'd be tempted to do the opposite if we play them both together again. Have Zirkzee be the #9 who can play with his back to goal, holding off the defenders, moving deeper and making the defenders uncertain whether to follow him or stay in position. Hojlund then plays the deeper role in a similar way as Garnacho or Rashford do, so that instead of playing with his back to goal and constantly fighting with defenders he can get up to speed as he hits the defensive line to get on the end of through-balls (some by Zirkzee as he turns and releases it as he seems good at doing). It's not ideal, but I suspect it'd work better than the opposite.
 
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He is useless even if the ball is played on the ground, lets not act as if he is competent at that.

So many times a simple ball is played to him but his touch takes it back towards our own goal and he is chasing his own touch.

His hold up play must be some of the worst I have seen from a striker.

His hold up play is awful but he is good when it splayed flat into channels. Which we did once and it ended up a great chance. That's not how we play and thus he is useless.
 
As much as I can't stand Brexit Jim, he must be watching some of this stuff and fuming at how the squad was put together.

Never mind the fee, getting Hojlund in and having him be the leading man was criminal and it never took a bunch of casual posters on the internet to see that before the fact.

It's no exaggeration to say he looks worse now than when he got here. His confidence has been stripped from him and there's an obvious frustration and anger to him that wasn't there when he arrived. We can't help but cross examine his game because he affects the whole team and our ability to play, but he shouldn't have been placed in such a precarious position - players far more talented than him weren't and I think this situation is unprecedented for Manchester United.

Every single youngster I can think of came into United teams with superiors/elders to hold their hand and mentor them. Every single one. Even Rooney, the talk of England - if not Europe - had Ruud guiding him along and helping him refine his game, not to mention Ronaldo having Giggs. These are world class players taking a lot of pressure off of promising youngsters and also lighting up a path that they can follow and learn from. Hojlund has been here blind and that's shocking, really shocking. Heads should roll for that because it has been ruinous for club and player.

To my eye, Hojlund is looking more distraught by the game. The pressure is getting to him and it's sad to watch. He came off yesterday looking like he wanted the ground to swallow him up. Unfortunately, he's proving to be a prime example of why you handle youngsters correctly and carefully curate their playing time to fit their needs.
 
I like him BUT he isn’t ever going to be the type of striker you play off, his touch, passing and link up play is nowhere near good enough and I don’t think he can improve all that much in that area.

Hojlund to me is quite clearly supposed to be a 6 yard striker who just finishes off chances but that won’t happen here.

Perhaps if he had a clue how to find space in the 6 yard box, then yea, maybe.
 
Lots of talk here about his build up play. But even bigger problem (for his type of striker) is complete lack of shots. In last two games Zirkzee (as sub) had couple of chances (shots) to score. Hojlund had zero.

I am maybe (probably) wrong here but except missing those two one on one chances against Pool and Bournemouth, i can't even remember some of his chances and shots.
 
As much as I can't stand Brexit Jim, he must be watching some of this stuff and fuming at how the squad was put together.

Never mind the fee, getting Hojlund in and having him be the leading man was criminal and it never took a bunch of casual posters on the internet to see that before the fact.

It's no exaggeration to say he looks worse now than when he got here. His confidence has been stripped from him and there's an obvious frustration and anger to him that wasn't there when he arrived. We can't help but cross examine his game because he affects the whole team and our ability to play, but he shouldn't have been placed in such a precarious position - players far more talented than him weren't and I think this situation is unprecedented for Manchester United.

Every single youngster I can think of came into United teams with superiors/elders to hold their hand and mentor them. Every single one. Even Rooney, the talk of England - if not Europe - had Ruud guiding him along and helping him refine his game, not to mention Ronaldo having Giggs. These are world class players taking a lot of pressure off of promising youngsters and also lighting up a path that they can follow and learn from. Hojlund has been here blind and that's shocking, really shocking. Heads should roll for that because it has been ruinous for club and player.

To my eye, Hojlund is looking more distraught by the game. The pressure is getting to him and it's sad to watch. He came off yesterday looking like he wanted the ground to swallow him up. Unfortunately, he's proving to be a prime example of why you handle youngsters correctly and carefully curate their playing time to fit their needs.

Very well said. This entire disaster looks much much worse for the club and ETH to an extent who's transfer record and overall judgement was a shambles, than it does the player. Anyone saying otherwise is a fool.
 
Much like martial FC we seem to have a hojlund FC building too.

he probably should be playing in the danish league as that’s his level, along with Antony he’s One of the worst signings we’ve ever made.

Take the loss and Just get rid of him.
Him, Mount and Antony are all contenders up there among the worst signings this club has made. Goes to show how terrible this club has been run in recent times.
 
On the plus side, he's absolutely rapid and, when running through on goal, we have seen that he's pretty reliable and composed.

We have also seen him score some good goals, and with both feet. He's been poor this season, but let's not forget he scored in seven consecutive PL games at the age of 21, and has a good goal-to-game ratio in Europe and at International level.

It must also be noted that he's young, and strikers, especially lone strikers, can take longer to mature in the modern game. We all remember the likes of Rooney and Owen bursting onto the scene as teenagers, but how many u23s have scored consistently in the Premier League since 2010? There are some, for sure, but not many. Many lads who have gone on to be reliable PL goalscorers did not become reliable until 25+ (Solanke, Toney, Vardy, Watkins...even Isak only burst into life last season at 24).

Now...however...we must look at the negatives....

His first-touch...wow...he looks incredibly awkward and unnatural at times. It usually takes him about 3 or 4 touches to get the ball under control, by which time the attack has completely broken down or he's had the ball nicked off him.

His priorities seem to be all wrong. Amorim has mentioned that he takes too many touches and tries to turn with the ball for no apparent reason. All he has to do is trap it and lay it off quickly. Something he seems unwilling to do or incapable of doing.

He's not that good in the air for a big lad and he's not on the same wavelength as his teammates. I'm not going to say his movement is poor, because I think we have to give him the benefit of the doubt, given how unpredictable our attackers are, knowing where the ball might be delivered and when is total guesswork

Realistically, he needs to be relegated to 2nd choice, and given time to develop his game without the pressure of being the first choice CF. The game completely changed for the better when he went off yesterday, and I think Zirkzee should be starting this run of 6 or 7 "easier" fixtures vs opponents unlikely to play on the front-foot.
 
Much like martial FC we seem to have a hojlund FC building too.

he probably should be playing in the danish league as that’s his level, along with Antony he’s One of the worst signings we’ve ever made.

Take the loss and Just get rid of him.
At least, Martial in form was joy to watch.

I would take him back this second. :)
 
We need him to come good or he'll be another expensive flop.

Young and all, but he is not progressing, I do not see the potential, which worrying.