It's worth watching the compilation from last season to remember what he's capable of
https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/comments/1dunl3s/rasmus_højlund_best_of_2324/
There are deficiencies in his game, but he's nowhere near as bad as what he's showing this season. He just seems completely shot in terms of confidence, and like a different player entirely.
It could just be a very bad case of second season slump, or him struggling to get to grips with a new system/manager, maybe both.
He's almost certainly not good enough to be our starting striker, but he is certainly good enough to deputise and be a strong rotation option.
Amorim seems to be trying to play him into form, but he needs some proper physical and mental rest to refocus.
I'd question if he was really all that good last season either.
If you take out the full fbref player report for the
24/25 season, Premier League only, this gives him a percentile rating -
compared to other strikers in the top 5 European leagues, and on a per 90 minutes basis. This provides a useful picture of what he does well (or often), and what he does badly (or rarely).
There are only 10 stats in that report where he's at least 70th percentile (meaning better/higher than 70% of strikers). Those are Yellow cards, shots on target %, npxg/shot, pass completion %, pass completion % (short), pass completion % (long), dead ball passes, (own) passes blocked, goal-creating actions through fouls drawn, fouls committed and penalties won.
Not many of those can be described as core areas for a striker, and most of those who can look worse when put in context: While it's good to have quality shots and high pass completion, you have to take into consideration that he has VERY few shots, and not a lot of passes either.
On the negative side, he's in the bottom 30 percentiles (meaning worse/lower than 70% of strikers) for a whopping 54 stats: Goals, assists, goals+assists, np goals, penalties attempted, xg, npxg, progressive passes, shots, shots on target, passes attempted, passing distance, progressive passing distance, passes completed (medium), passes attempted (medium), passes into final third, passes into penalty area, crosses into penalty area, switches, throw-ins taken, shot-creating actions, shot-creating actions through defensive actions, goal-creating actions, goal-creating actions through live-ball passes, goal-creating actions through shots, goal-creating actions through shots, tackles, tackles won, tackles in the defensive third, tackles in the mid third, tackles in the attacking third, dribblers tackled, dribblers challenged, % of dribblers tackled, blocks, shots blocked, passes blocked, interceptions, tackles + interceptions, clearances, touches, touches in the defensive third, touches in the defensive penalty area, touches in the attacking third, touches in the attacking penalty area, live-ball touches, successful take-on %, tackled during take-on %, total carrying distance, progressive parrying distance, miscontrols, aerials lost, aerials won %
And worse, those encompass most of the core areas for an effective striker, and also span most areas of the game. What emerges from that picture is a striker who doesn't really shoot or score, and who also don't have the ball, don't pass, don't tackle, don't do take-ons and contributes pretty much nothing in terms of defensive actions. I'd note that one thing that isn't covered here is pressing actions, where I suspect he'd do well. But all things considered, this is a horribly grim picture. If you go more deeply into it it just looks even worse: For quite a few categories, he's 5th percentile or worse (meaning practically every striker in Europe/top 5 leagues is doing better than he is). Those include g+a, xg, touches in the attacking penalty area, non-penalty xg, shots and % of aerials won.
This IS a bit worse than last season, but not hugely. For 23/24, it looked like this:
70th percentile or above: 16 (shots on target%, goals/shot, goals/shot on target, average shot distance, npxg/shot, goals-xg, npg-npxg, pass completion % (long), shot-creating actions through defensive action, goal-creating actions through take-ons, challenges lost, successful take-on%, times tackled during take-ons, miscontrols, dispossessed, fouls committed)
30th percentile or below: 48 (% of aerials won, penalty kicks conceded, interceptions, crosses, progressive passes received, passes received, carries into pa, total carrying distance, carries, take-ons attempted, touches (live ball), touches (attacking pa), touches (attacking third), touches (mid third), touches (defensive third), touches, passes blocked, shots blocked, blocks, dribbles challenged, tackles (mid third), tackles (defensive third), tackles won, tackles, goal-creating actions, gca through live passes, gca through shots, gca through fouls drawn, Shot-creating actions through shots, passes completed, switches, through balls, passes from free kicks, live ball passes, passes attempted, progressive passes, passes into the final third, xa, xag, passes attempted (long), passes attempted (medium), passes completed (medium), total passing distance, npxg, xg, penalty kicks attempted, shots on target, shots)
He needs to score goals. If he doesn't, he doesn't justify being on the pitch, because he basically does not contribute enough of other things, and is a liability or non-factor across wide areas of the game.
One interesting thing: Last season, Miscontrols was a strength (above 70th percentile). This season, it's a big weakness (3.8 per 90, which is 8th percentile!).