Rasmus Hojlund image 9

Rasmus Hojlund Denmark flag

2024-25 Performances


View full 2024-25 profile

5.0 Season Average Rating
Appearances
28
Goals
7
Assists
1
Yellow cards
1
I think he's been managed poorly. He simply doesnt understand how important a good touch and layoff is in his role. He's backheel controls and touches that would set him away for dribbles. No, he needs to do the absolute simple things. Receive the pass with a good first touch, give the ball to someone else and get yourself up front
 
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.
 
There are two things that scare more than anything else with Rasmus:
1. He is still fighting two giant centre backs all match, initiating contact and then being unable to deal with it. When what he should be doing is scaring the living sh*t out of them because he will absolutely outrun them with anything in behind or in the channels. He should actually be leaving a yard of space and daring them to square up, because he is seriously rapid.

2. As a team, we're still choosing to ask him to 'post-up' with his back to goal, pinging balls into him at pace. When it's not working, week after week, we keep doing it anyway.

I can only blame Rasmus so far. If you have a Berbatov up top you wouldn't constantly ping it into space and ask him to use his non-existent pace. But we're always playing to Rasmus' weaknesses. I don't get what Amorim has in mind here, to me it speaks of being overly wed to one type of striker with one type of role, when we have don't have that actualy player.
The thing is he doesn’t believe it’s a weakness that’s how he plays football. If he was to go to a less physical league or lower tier league he would play the same way and would look a lot better using that style.

Look at his build, I’d guess he was playing like that as a youth team striker in Denmark. The problem for him here is he’s stepped up to a level where the speed and physicality of the play is at a level that makes his previous strengths redundant.

His very first game here or second maybe he came off the bench against Arsenal and was pretty much wrestling with Gabriel the whole way. I think that’s just how he is. It’s just that in the PL he is easily nullified.
 
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.
If you want to objectively assess that, you would need to look at each club who we see as rivals for place contention and see what the data says about their #9 deputies. Another issue is that last season is last season. A whole year ago - there are no guarantees on anyone who has underperformed for an extended period of time. The data from last year has a very hot streak for Rasmus and then a sliding scale that was suggesting this was more likely to be on the cards than him going in the other direction, no?

There’s a reason why clubs give a finite amount of time before cutting their losses and I would genuinely say things are getting precarious for Højlund in that regard now - if he’s like this through to May, I seriously doubt he gets another term here in any capacity.
 
If you want to objectively assess that, you would need to look at each club who we see as rivals for place contention and see what the data says about their #9 deputies. Another issue is that last season is last season. A whole year ago - there are no guarantees on anyone who has underperformed for an extended period of time. The data from last year has a very hot streak for Rasmus and then a sliding scale that was suggesting this was more likely to be on the cards than him going in the other direction, no?

There’s a reason why clubs give a finite amount of time before cutting their losses and I would genuinely say things are getting precarious for Højlund in that regard now - if he’s like this through to May, I seriously doubt he gets another term here in any capacity.

Does ability just disappear though? He showed he had far greater attributes than are on display this season.

You just have to take one look at him to see his confidence is on the floor. That will affect the performance of any player. Then consider the external circumstances, new manager, struggling team. Then the fact that he's only 21.

He is undeniably playing badly, awfully even - but this isn't a case where a player has never shown what he is capable of, or where he is clearly performing to the best of his ability and that clearly isn't good enough. As mostly everyone has said since he was signed he needs to not be our sole focal point and needs to play the 'understudy' role. Unfortunately we're not in a financial position where that's even possible.

I expect we very may well see him leave end of the season, and I do generally agree we should learn from the mistakes of the last decade and move players on quickly if they're not good enough - but the odds have been stacked against him this season.
 
Hes had a few very rough games this season. I think people are downplaying how promising he looked last season, even his touch didnt look this bad. He scored different types of goals and when he was through I at least thought hed score. But at the moment, I really dont think Paul Mullin would be doing worse. We need to forget about the fee now, thats not on Hojlund. If we was a 20m young striker we'd be all for letting him develop but in the shadow of a senior striker. Thats what we, and Hojlund needs, and trying to force him into being a regular starter right now, when he clearly isnt ready, just because we overpaid, isnt helping. His confidence right now is about zero out of 10, and its a far cry from the direct striker we saw smashing in against west ham in march or so.
 
Does ability just disappear though? He showed he had far greater attributes than are on display this season.

You just have to take one look at him to see his confidence is on the floor. That will affect the performance of any player. Then consider the external circumstances, new manager, struggling team. Then the fact that he's only 21.

He is undeniably playing badly, awfully even - but this isn't a case where a player has never shown what he is capable of, or where he is clearly performing to the best of his ability and that clearly isn't good enough. As mostly everyone has said since he was signed he needs to not be our sole focal point and needs to play the 'understudy' role. Unfortunately we're not in a financial position where that's even possible.

I expect we very may well see him leave end of the season, and I do generally agree we should learn from the mistakes of the last decade and move players on quickly if they're not good enough - but the odds have been stacked against him this season.
But we’re a football club not a creche - we’re a football club in dire straits and that means grace periods shorten even more. After a prolonged period of time, the patch looks more anomalous than mean, which is a very serious problem for any player, let alone Rasmus. The period of good form buys credit to be paid forward - the longer the good form, the more credit (see the tolerance for Rashford as opposed to Martial before he left) and pretty much all of that purple patch is dust now, which means that their needs to be a top up that keeps the club invested and not looking to move on.

The above is not at all unique to Rasmus. It’s just football and players constantly have to justify their worth lest they be moved on. Imo, Højlund is at the stage now where the club might just skip the loaning notion and go straight to offloading because there is so much he is way below the bar on.

Being very serious, you have to look at the bar to be X, Y or Z. What is the bar to be a PL-surviving #9? We’d have to look at the numbers for the bottom 5 or 6 teams; what is the bar for a middling PL striker? Same thing with team from 12th to 7th; what is the bar for a team trying to break into the CL qualifying spots, and finally the measure for those in the CL spots. Equally, it’s a quick draw to find out what strikers for relegated clubs do, and the measure of them is whether another PL comes along and takes them on, as will happen with the likes of Liam Delap. Removing emotion and eye tests, the raw data will state what the bars are and I am pretty sure that you don’t need to run them to know Højlund is going to be in the lowest percentile for this season up to this point in time. We can also see that he is regressing and that is where, should it continue through to May, I personally cannot see the club not getting rid entirely in the summer. You need the baseline metrics of a PL striker to be kept on, otherwise what is the club gaining from investing even more time with a loan?
 
Seems to have regressed massively - alongside having absolute no confidence in himself.

I don't understand his constant battles to try duel with CB's. There's been time where he's been played in over the top this season, and instead of going for the ball, he cuts across to make contact with the defender unnecessarily.

You can tell that he doesn't trust his first touch - when he does manage to get hold of it, he gives it away because he's been concentrating on his touch too much rather than acknowledging what is around him and thinking of his next move. That comes with confidence so hopefully he has the mentality to snap out of it.

I think his off the ball movement will always be a concern, he doesn't have the nose for a goal and his movement in and around the box is terrible.
 
Looking like a dud overall but I think there is no point worrying about the striker until we sort out the WBs. If we get him service in the right place he will score goals. We aren't getting anywhere near the opposition goal in the ways he would want at the moment. Look at so many of Gyorkores' goals and they are crosses or cut backs right in front of goal.

Hes got a lot of issues with his game especially when he is playing with his back to goal and receiving the ball near the half way line.
 
Does change in scenery help improve a player's first touch?
It will probably help him regain his confidence, refocus and get out of this negative spiral. To be honest, his change of scenery is needed so he revitalize his career and to see if United can get some money back from this ordeal. He's a bad fit here and not good enough for PL standards. There are plenty of players who made it after being terrible in the PL. Moving to the Bundesliga or back to Serie A would probably save his career.
 
Was better last season and he struggled in league last season as well (except for that period in February where he scored in 4/5 games before getting injured). Still, 5 goals and an assist in 7 Europa League games this season so I'd start him there.
 
I don’t understand why he tries the full WWE manoeuvre every time we are playing the ball up in the field. Be smart, let go of your defender and create space instead. All good strikers do that. Trying to wrestle with your CB every time is pointless. They either just shove him ways, cling to him or stick a leg in front. He looses the ball every time. Our attacks get broken up and we need to take care of a counter.

Either he lacks the ability to do this, or he is trying to prove something for someone.

And no, Guykuers doesn’t play like this at all. He is smart and moves away from his defenders.
 
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!).
 
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Seems to have regressed massively - alongside having absolute no confidence in himself.

I don't understand his constant battles to try duel with CB's. There's been time where he's been played in over the top this season, and instead of going for the ball, he cuts across to make contact with the defender unnecessarily.

You can tell that he doesn't trust his first touch - when he does manage to get hold of it, he gives it away because he's been concentrating on his touch too much rather than acknowledging what is around him and thinking of his next move. That comes with confidence so hopefully he has the mentality to snap out of it.

I think his off the ball movement will always be a concern, he doesn't have the nose for a goal and his movement in and around the box is terrible.
Not to start this debate again but surely this part you guys are seeing much less of an issue compared to the actual touch?

The worry is not his movement it is the technical ability, he actually creates space for himself very regularly. Last night was a great example, he gets into good positions for us to build the play, it's not like he's always losing out on the race to get to the ball or simply not showing, he grafts and buys a bit of space but his touch, which was never immaculate anyway and is now awful under the increased scrutiny, is so hit and miss. He lost the ball 12(!) times, that is not an issue with creating space for himself. If you look at where he receives (or tries to receive) the ball it's extremely varied, he's doing a lot of good stuff with off the ball but it's the on the ball stuff that is the huige concern. Doing that kind of pure CF hold up play just is not in the arsenal for him, he needs to play off the CBs and be a threat in behind for higher lines pushing up.
 
Always thought there was a player there that could be harnessed, maybe not top class, but that could contribute to a squad.

But he's in terrible form, shocking. It's doing us nor him any good trying to play him back into form as it's not happening. Not sure what the answer is as we only have two forwards so he still needs to be playing some minutes.
 
Always thought there was a player there that could be harnessed, maybe not top class, but that could contribute to a squad.

But he's in terrible form, shocking. It's doing us nor him any good trying to play him back into form as it's not happening. Not sure what the answer is as we only have two forwards so he still needs to be playing some minutes.
Beginning to think Chido Obi should be a bench option. I know the argument is that it might interfere with his development, but Rasmus is offering very little not making the right runs and losing all his duels. We are effectively carrying him for most of the game at the moment, and so having Chido with fresh energy on for 10-15 mins might not be a bad thing. It's how Rashford got his break although he was a year older (bad example!)
 
I do think his lack of shots have a lot to do with how little we create either through our CMs, or through our WBs.

Still Zirkzee is slowing slightly more, and if this continues till the end of the season, I would be inclined to loan him out with intention to sell. Get a proper #9 in, who can hold on to the ball AND finish.
 
His first touch is awful also seems to misjudge the flight of the ball regularly, often nowhere near the ball when Onana boots it long, instead opts for wrestling with the defenders.

Also rarely gets into good positions in the penalty box. Maybe it's a confidence thing, but when the floor is so low, questions need to be asked.
 
Looking like a dud overall but I think there is no point worrying about the striker until we sort out the WBs. If we get him service in the right place he will score goals. We aren't getting anywhere near the opposition goal in the ways he would want at the moment. Look at so many of Gyorkores' goals and they are crosses or cut backs right in front of goal.

Hes got a lot of issues with his game especially when he is playing with his back to goal and receiving the ball near the half way line.

Of course there is a point worrying about a striker, that is one of the most important positions on the pitch. Hojlund is a big reason why we can't get anywhere near the opposition goal because soon as the ball gets to him it is a surrender of possession.

Our number 9 should help the ball stick up there to enable others to get close in those areas or help create sustained pressure. It is impossible to create pressure when your focal point is unable to keep the ball, nor does he make any moves that trouble defenders as they always know exactly where he is - grinding up against them. People talk about how Hojlund can finish, but what is the point of having great finishing if you don't know how to find space to get a shot off.
 
Does ability just disappear though? He showed he had far greater attributes than are on display this season.

You just have to take one look at him to see his confidence is on the floor. That will affect the performance of any player. Then consider the external circumstances, new manager, struggling team. Then the fact that he's only 21.

He is undeniably playing badly, awfully even - but this isn't a case where a player has never shown what he is capable of, or where he is clearly performing to the best of his ability and that clearly isn't good enough. As mostly everyone has said since he was signed he needs to not be our sole focal point and needs to play the 'understudy' role. Unfortunately we're not in a financial position where that's even possible.

I expect we very may well see him leave end of the season, and I do generally agree we should learn from the mistakes of the last decade and move players on quickly if they're not good enough - but the odds have been stacked against him this season.

You can’t be using a 6/7 game spell to make ‘are you saying ability just disappears?’ argument I don’t think. These arguments can apply to players like Martial in the past, or perhaps Foden/Grealish over the first half of the season/last 12 months. Or Marcus Rashford even, who has had a lot more than a good 6 games yet people have still given up on him. But where does it stop? Hojlund has not proven anything that needs to be referenced as evidence that he’s capable of being a top player. There is nothing to suggest that that was his level, and the fact is - he’s played poorly in the vast majority of his games as a United player. He’s failed to score in about 80% of them in the league, and failed to even shoot in a similar amount I imagine.

There’s far more evidence to suggest any brief spell of looking remotely like the level required is the anomaly here, as opposed to his continued poor form meaning he just needs to get back to his levels. If he’d had a whole season playing well then I think it would be more fair to think he’s just going through a spell. But there was no prior evidence that he would ever be good enough before he joined us, and has been extremely fleeting evidence that he could be good enough since he joined. I’d say, the chances are that he’s just not good enough. He’s not like Nunes who hates a 20+ goal season at Benfica which highlights his potential. Hojlund has never done anything of note.
 
Confidence is on the floor. He would really benefit from a loan where he's out of the limelight a little and can work on his game.

It's not even the usual confidence issue with strikers where he's poor in front of goal, I can't even remember the last time he had a shot or two in a game. Just not getting I the right positions at all, and on top of that every pass is bouncing off him. Really needs to rebuild his confidence but I can't see that happening in this pressure cooker.
 
I do think his lack of shots have a lot to do with how little we create either through our CMs, or through our WBs.

Still Zirkzee is slowing slightly more, and if this continues till the end of the season, I would be inclined to loan him out with intention to sell. Get a proper #9 in, who can hold on to the ball AND finish.

Do you often watch our games and see obvious chance creating passes to Hojlund that our players don’t take? We created several chances for Ronaldo, Cavani scored 17 league goals here, Zirkzee manages far more shots, as does just about everyone else in our team all the way back to Onana. He’s a difficult player to create for, because he has terrible movement and also terrible link play to build play and work the team into situations to create shots.

Any striker that feels they can only be judged if presented large amounts of scenarios where the ball is presented to them unchallenged in the 6 yard box is not good enough. Look at any top striker in the league and look at all of their goals this season. I imagine for all of them, no more than 50% of their goals come from ‘service’ anyway. Isak won goal of the month in December for his goal against Liverpool for example. Ball was passed to him, with a defender on him 25 yards from goal, and he shifted it and smashed it in the top corner from 25 yards. That’s where these numbers come from. With Hojlund, that’s not even a shot. Jhon Duran isn’t waiting around bemoaning the lack of back post tap ins he’s being presented with. Hojlund needs to make something happen. Get the ball, lay it off, move into space for the one-two and shoot. Get it, create space against a defender and shoot. He has no ability, if he can only score from high xG he’s not good enough.
 
12 shots is one of the worst starts I can ever remember. Any top level striker should be around 12 goals by now, let alone shots, it's crazy.

I think there is a player in him, but the team is awful and his confidence is shot.

For reference Salah has 19 goals already and players like Wissa / Kluivert have 11 each.
 
He doesnt get involved at all. Its actually quite horrendous. Wout Weghorst was better at getting involved in games than him.
 
Why does he keep trying to post up defenders like he's an NBA centre? You're taking on CBs in the ONE area that they are great at and losing every time. Why not play off the shoulder and use your speed instead? To me this is a coaching deficiency more than anything because a proper striker coach would have forced him to change approach many many games ago. So we have to ask who the striker coach is or if we even have any striker coaches.
 
12 shots is one of the worst starts I can ever remember. Any top level striker should be around 12 goals by now, let alone shots, it's crazy.

I think there is a player in him, but the team is awful and his confidence is shot.

For reference Salah has 19 goals already and players like Wissa / Kluivert have 11 each.

Failing to score in 36 out of 48 games is close competition. Basically, he’s a centre forward who you go into games knowing it is highly unlikely he scores a goal. A Manchester United centre forward at that.

Against any half decent team, that’s would extend to a shot. I’d be surprised if he’s ever had a shot against Manchester City or Liverpool, for example. In his whole career here across league and cups.
 
Im suprised we havent tried to sell him on in this window while he still has some value, we shouldnt be keeping poir players like Rasmus while trying to sell players like Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho.
 
Against any half decent team, that’s would extend to a shot. I’d be surprised if he’s ever had a shot against Manchester City or Liverpool, for example. In his whole career here across league and cups.

He did have that shot at Anfield last season when had the whole goal to shoot at but shot straight at Allison
 
Im suprised we havent tried to sell him on in this window while he still has some value, we shouldnt be keeping poir players like Rasmus while trying to sell players like Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho.
We need to sell Rasmus for around 45m+ to "break even". Do you see anyone paying that in the current climate? Rashford and Garnacho are academy players which represents pure profit in terms of PSR.
 
Why does he keep trying to post up defenders like he's an NBA centre? You're taking on CBs in the ONE area that they are great at and losing every time. Why not play off the shoulder and use your speed instead? To me this is a coaching deficiency more than anything because a proper striker coach would have forced him to change approach many many games ago. So we have to ask who the striker coach is or if we even have any striker coaches.
Loved the idea of Ruud at the club to coach him on this. It seems to be a pretty coachable thing, in the same way Amorim is coaching the WBs where to be.

I'm sure Scholes on one piece of punditry duty said he'd volunteer to go in and help him in training. Hell - Rooneys just been sacked. That would get him out from under Colleen's feet.
 
Only 3 teams have players with fewer league goals than us this season - and that's thanks to Amad's recent burst of form.

He has regressed from last season. I still think he has heaps of talent and potential, but there is just no way in hell he's ready to lead the line for us anytime soon.