Yeah this is the thing that jumped out to me watching it in the stadium. Lyon actually played into our hands and left acres of space in behind and he just... never ran into it.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 49
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 2
-
Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
Was a good game from him yesterday his hold and link up was pretty good. Now some goals please.
Probably his best game, lots of flick ons and good passes, should have had an assists for Garnacho, arguably for Bruno as well. Constantly on the move and pulling people around. Still looks quite heavy to me.
I think what we see in the Europa is a lot of our younger players are actually good, much better than this forum thinks, and you have to have a bit of faith given there is clearly a gap between Europa and the PL, all the guys who are early twenties or under likely have a very good chance to develop to the required level with coaching, guidance and hard work.
I think what we see in the Europa is a lot of our younger players are actually good, much better than this forum thinks, and you have to have a bit of faith given there is clearly a gap between Europa and the PL, all the guys who are early twenties or under likely have a very good chance to develop to the required level with coaching, guidance and hard work.
Hasnt scored as much as he did last season but is a better 9 than last season.
In what way? He's declined in pretty much every single attribute this season. He's scoring less, his movement is worse, his passing is worse, his finishing is worse, his hold-up play is worse, his defensive work is worse, his touch is worse, he seems slower, he's easier for defenders to bully, etc. It's not an exaggeration to say that for a good three or so month period in the middle of the season he was probably the worst regular starter in the entire league. Thankfully he's improved a little recently so he's contributing a bit more, but he's still struggling at pretty much every aspect that we need a #9 to provide.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a United player fighting the ball as much as this lad. Everything just looks like such a complete struggle, nothing comes naturally at all. He’s an athlete first and a footballer second.
Nice kid, tries his best, but needs to be offloaded in the summer ASAP.
Nice kid, tries his best, but needs to be offloaded in the summer ASAP.
I have criticised his movement a lot this season when people have made out it's the fault of the other players that he's not getting any chances, but there's some truth to it this game. There were a few times where his movement was good and it just didn't come to him.
Sometimes it worked out, such as for the first goal where Hojlund's movement was actually quite good firstly to run into space for a first time Bruno pass, then when Bruno's first touch let him down Hojlund reset and made another good front post run ahead of a defender only for Garnacho to find Ugarte behind him instead (and part of the reason Ugarte had so much space was Hojlund dragging that defender away). There was at least one other time that he made the right run only for Garnacho to ignore him (this time incorrectly).
Sometimes it worked out, such as for the first goal where Hojlund's movement was actually quite good firstly to run into space for a first time Bruno pass, then when Bruno's first touch let him down Hojlund reset and made another good front post run ahead of a defender only for Garnacho to find Ugarte behind him instead (and part of the reason Ugarte had so much space was Hojlund dragging that defender away). There was at least one other time that he made the right run only for Garnacho to ignore him (this time incorrectly).
Disagree. I think overall hes regressed.
His link up play was pretty good at times last season, and he was threatening in behind/on the counter
Ah I didn't catch that game.
@chris123 you're right, didn't really make those runs. Wonder if he's been instructed to come deeper and leave the space for the two 10s to run into.
Maguire is a better striker than him. De Ligt might well be too 
I genuinely wouldn't mind seeing one of them up top instead when MDL returns. They're just as comfortable in dribbling, they can shoot and they're a big threat in the air. It's really not hard to be an improvement on Hojlund this season.
I genuinely wouldn't mind seeing one of them up top instead when MDL returns. They're just as comfortable in dribbling, they can shoot and they're a big threat in the air. It's really not hard to be an improvement on Hojlund this season.
I genuinely believe I would do a better job than Hojlund at the moment and I'm knocking 40 and a borderline alcoholic.Maguire is a better striker than him. De Ligt might well be too
I genuinely wouldn't mind seeing one of them up top instead when MDL returns. They're just as comfortable in dribbling, they can shoot and they're a big threat in the air. It's really not hard to be an improvement on Hojlund this season.
He seems the player that needs to play off a partner - he needs an old school CF that can hold up and get knock downs off - he needs to be running onto the ball - he clearly isn’t someone that can play with his back to goal.
Plenty of endeavour but Zirkzee is a better option for this team currently, now that he is injured we are limited until next season. Until then looks like it’s Maguire!
Plenty of endeavour but Zirkzee is a better option for this team currently, now that he is injured we are limited until next season. Until then looks like it’s Maguire!
Putting aside the ridiculous notion that a striker that has 1 goal in 27 games is a better number 9 than he was last season, he isn’t.
He hardly holds onto the ball, he rarely wins his duels against the defender, he’s never in the right position and his goalscoring has fallen off a cliff. He’s better than last season though apparently.
Please tell me where he’s improved since last season.
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Must be kind of frustrating seeing everyone and their nan get a goal vs. Lyon and then not being close at all. We've had seven different goalscorers over these two legs including three defenders and three midfielders. Says something about his ability to sniff out chances.
Decent last night imo and probably right to be frustrated with Garnacho and his decision making. Still when you're a striker you have to score and remaining games this season will surely be huge for him.
I was thinking this myself this morning. It would be worth a shot, as Hoijlund offers absolutely nothing at all.Maguire is a better striker than him. De Ligt might well be too
I genuinely wouldn't mind seeing one of them up top instead when MDL returns. They're just as comfortable in dribbling, they can shoot and they're a big threat in the air. It's really not hard to be an improvement on Hojlund this season.
I'm just not seeing what Rasmus wants to do, or have done for him, to create chances. He is a hard worker, but concerns about his viability at Old Trafford are warranted.
Despite being frustrating Garnacho was getting in behind constantly especially the first half. Also you could see him making runs. Fernandes also did the same on a few occasions and he's not even quick, made the goal.
Why does Hojlund never make a run?
Why does Hojlund never make a run?
He was painfully uninvolved last season. His link up play has went through lips and bounds even if its nothing to write home about. Last season he doesnt give that pass to Garnacho.
I think there was more than one moment of nice play. The commentators even mentioned his performance in a positive manner.
What I would say is that more confidence in his own game would do him the world of good. He's so bogged down in the basics of hold up play he's stopped turning his defender and running with the ball. Which is a shame because he's a handful when he does.
Thought he had a decent game by his usual standards. Didn't expect him to score (sad given he's a striker!), but he did manage to make himself useful in some of the buildups.
The whole thing with Hojlund makes no sense to me, its like he's forgotten how to play as a striker. He wasn't prolific in his first season but he showed striker instincts. I don't know if he's just stopped doing certain things because he doesn't believe this team will play him in, but the regression has been horrific.
What makes it worse is that he's big, relatively strong, and has good pace. He's just misusing his body when it comes to centre forward play. Feels like he just needs to sit down with someone like Andy Cole, sit there, and listen.
What makes it worse is that he's big, relatively strong, and has good pace. He's just misusing his body when it comes to centre forward play. Feels like he just needs to sit down with someone like Andy Cole, sit there, and listen.
I think he just hasn't got a footballing brain, like at all. I'm not meaning he is thick obviously. But the oppoisite to how some players just see everything before it happens.
I just don't think he can read the game, predict where the pass is coming from, pre-empt the movement of other players.
I'm not sure about that. He may be even worse this season but he went very long stretches last season where he didn't have a sniff of goal, not even half a chance. We theorised it may just be a lack of service but this season shows it can't just be service, he just doesn't have the right instincts, movement, positioning and timing to get on the end of chances. I've never seen any striker look less likely to score, and it's nothing to do with his finishing either, because he doesn't even get any chances to miss.
He also can't create anything for himself - good strikers can pick up the ball in limited space and buy themselves half a yard to get a shot away - you basically never see him do that.
The 7 goals in 7 games run last season is an anomaly from everything else we've seen from him.
Well he did make runs. For the first goal he made the exact near post run that he has been repeatedly slated for not making and was in front of the defender for the ball across the face of goal. No criticism of Garnacho as the pull back to Ugarte worked but it did so in part because of the intelligent run Rasmus made. Good run on the second goal as well when again he pulled the defenders with him and was in the right spot if Dalot had crossed or to profit from a rebound and he could also have had a couple of assists.
His movement and his link up play were better than they have been in most games this season and he can consider himself a little unlucky that he was not found on a couple of occasions when he was in space. I am still baffled by his complete lack of ability in the air as he is a unit and has the physique that makes you think it would be a strength but he seems to have no idea at all of how to time a jump, he is also still naive in his wrestling with defenders who are using his size against him although he has been blatantly fouled numerous times and never gets the decision.
That's it, the old excuse of service seems to have cropped up from some but others get chances. It's his own play that limits his opportunities.
He had a few moments of decent pink up play but it's not enough at this level. I reckon you could play half of the team up front for the remaining PL games and they'd match his output. Hopefully we see the youth grab a few goals.
Dont we have any Academy lads we can put up top? At this pt id just give up on the Hojlund experiment.
I don't dispute this entirely. However, I remember Hojlund making space for himself in a red shirt last season: Galatasaray in the Champions League, West Ham at home, Newcastle at home, Brighton away.
It's just weird how his game has fallen apart. It wasn't even that long ago he scored quite a tough chance at Leicester. But for some reason it's just not reigniting him. It's like every so often we will get a glimpse of who he could be and then he will just go back to looking lost.
He has been horrible at times this season.
But you have give him and any striker in our team a benefit of doubt with the current setup. We are very deep in our own half most of the times with the current setup.
In the opposition box, we dont have many players to score goals. We are setup to defend not to attack. May be next season , Amorim will ask the 5-man defense to move few yards up and then we will see more players in the box.
Right now, its way too easy for opponents to stop/mark him.
I think unless the striker is R9 who can dribble multiple players and score, any striker would struggle.
Not that I am defending Rasmus , he does not seem to be the awesome player we hoped for, but still current setup does not allow him to be average striker either.
But you have give him and any striker in our team a benefit of doubt with the current setup. We are very deep in our own half most of the times with the current setup.
In the opposition box, we dont have many players to score goals. We are setup to defend not to attack. May be next season , Amorim will ask the 5-man defense to move few yards up and then we will see more players in the box.
Right now, its way too easy for opponents to stop/mark him.
I think unless the striker is R9 who can dribble multiple players and score, any striker would struggle.
Not that I am defending Rasmus , he does not seem to be the awesome player we hoped for, but still current setup does not allow him to be average striker either.
He was pathetic last night, no idea what some are saying in that he had a good game etc.
A striker leading the line needs to move...often and quickly...draw defenders out of position, make diagonal runs into & around the box and especially, behind the defenders. He does none of that consistently and some, rarely if ever.
Holding the ball up is also a must - not falling over at the slightest hint of a defender's shadow.
As for his first touch, it is simply not PL standard let alone European competition level.
The service has been poor and at times, players are clearly ignoring him but given how many times he nervously fluffs at the opportunities he has had, it is no wonder.
One thing I was sick of last night was his sulking. United have had too much of that from certain players and that simply cannot be tolerated. His arm waving and kicking posts whilst moaning at Garnacho and others was very poor from a teammate standpoint, regardless of how frustrated he was.
For me, he needs to go...just take the loss and sell him asap. United need a major upgrade at a couple of positions and striker is one of them. If he is not sold or loaned out, he is going to sit on the bench...just how good a teammate will he be then, when he isn't even playing?
A striker leading the line needs to move...often and quickly...draw defenders out of position, make diagonal runs into & around the box and especially, behind the defenders. He does none of that consistently and some, rarely if ever.
Holding the ball up is also a must - not falling over at the slightest hint of a defender's shadow.
As for his first touch, it is simply not PL standard let alone European competition level.
The service has been poor and at times, players are clearly ignoring him but given how many times he nervously fluffs at the opportunities he has had, it is no wonder.
One thing I was sick of last night was his sulking. United have had too much of that from certain players and that simply cannot be tolerated. His arm waving and kicking posts whilst moaning at Garnacho and others was very poor from a teammate standpoint, regardless of how frustrated he was.
For me, he needs to go...just take the loss and sell him asap. United need a major upgrade at a couple of positions and striker is one of them. If he is not sold or loaned out, he is going to sit on the bench...just how good a teammate will he be then, when he isn't even playing?
No, watching him has made you forget what a real, quality, or even decent striker can do and adds to the team. His role is not to just stand around and get given chances, he has to contribute to that by his movement and other attributes.
There is a reason why both this season and last season, he is never the one on the end of chances when we have these comebacks or late goals. We have seen literally every other player pop up in areas for late goals or chances when chasing a game - Martinez, Maguire, Zirkzee, Mainoo, Casemiro, Garnacho, Amad, Bruno, Dalot, etc. Even Chido Obi came on in a game and fashioned chances in a game where Hojlund was anonymous. How is it that every other player seems to be able to get onto the end of chances during desperate times and desperate attacks but yet Hojlund never ends up on the end of one? Players choosing to find other players? No, it is very simple and obvious why and I'm tired of the excuses and "explanations" offered that make it about other players/system/the weather or whatever else other than his ability. He has zero track record so why are we acting as though he is doing anything other than he has shown to date in his career? His purple patch was the anomaly, the rest of his tenure is his norm.
A good striker would score goals in our side because good strikers score goals pretty much everywhere they go. We have seen mid table teams have strikers that are prolific, despite playing for a poor team.
It’s must be embarrassing for him that being the only striker at the club who is not injured or not registered gets hooked off when team needs a goal and the manager trusts the likes of Maino and Maguire more to score than him (Amorim basically confirmed that only Maguire can score headers). What is also concerning is that his team mates have kind of given up on him. The likes of Garnacho, Dalot and even yesterday Dorgu they don’t pass it to him even when he is in plenty of space.
I don’t think he will survive the summer. Clearly the manager and the players don’t rate him.
I don’t think he will survive the summer. Clearly the manager and the players don’t rate him.
And he was spot on, so Hojlund can have no complaints.
It's no joke to say that any opponent we play will be far more worried with Maguire as our striker than they are Hojlund.
When some people are saying they were pleased with him yesterday because he was better than he usually is then you know it's time for him to leave.
I mean, he actually does this a lot, it's how we've scored the cutback goals we've scored. It's how Ugarte found himself free to score the cutback last night actually. There were times again where the runs were fine, but he's kicking the post in frustration because Garnacho elects to have a piss poor shot and so on. I'm not saying Hojlund hasn't played awfully, cause he has, but this thread finds any excuse to shit on him even when he's doing some good things or playing reasonably well, at times.
It can be both true that he often times has played really badly this season - compared to his first - and does himself no favours when it comes down to scoring goals.
At the same time if his team mates elected to pass it to him the times he does make great runs - and they have easy passes to make - instead of taking stupid shots that never hit the target, he'd have a lot more goals for us this season than he currently does. Surely you can understand the frustration? He's under so much scrutiny, more than any player, for not scoring, his career at United is on the line, so why wouldn't you be frustrated at players like Garnacho who decide to be greedy instead of passing the ball for a simple tap in?
Basically it's the perfect storm of why he isn't working out. Should he go? At this point probably, but we're unlikely to get enough for him to cover what we already owe. It would make more sense to make him backup to a better option like Osimhen and see if he kicks on next season. If he doesn't, sell him next and we'll likely make at least 20-30 and recoup the remaining we owe. That seems more sensible to me.
We scored 5 goals, with 5 different scorers - none from our number 9. Of the players that started that DIDN’T score - Dorgu, Garnacho, Casemiro managed shots on goal - but not our number 9.
He’s holding our team back hugely. Out expectations for him have been lowered massively, so a few link passes will constitute a good game to some, but he’s terrible.
He’s holding our team back hugely. Out expectations for him have been lowered massively, so a few link passes will constitute a good game to some, but he’s terrible.
Teams aren't the slightest bit worried about him. He makes poor runs, his box movement is horrible and he's never open for a chance, his technique is shit, he is horrible at fighting for high balls, he never shoots... Seriously, he's just a really bad footballer and so far off the required level. Need to try something different against Bilbao
I feel really bad for him. Us not having a good striker is the biggest problem in our team. Us paying all that money for him when he isn't a good striker at this level isn't his fault.
It's a really toxic situation. Hopefully we can find him a move in the summer for everyone's sake.
It's a really toxic situation. Hopefully we can find him a move in the summer for everyone's sake.
He's open for a chance, I've said this before in this thread. The guy just refuses of isn't confident enough to have a strike on goal. I observed multiple positions in which he could have had a pop at goal over the past months but is terrified of it.
I get he had a good game by his standards but why isn't he ever on the receiving end of one of Bruno or Casemiro's balls. He doesn't show enough that's why, we're all destroying Garnacho every week for lack of supply but Bruno and Casemiro can open a defence with a direct ball to Hojlund, why don't they then.
He doesn't show enough or make the right runs thats why. The only bloody outlet is Garnacho or Amad when fit.
He doesn't show enough or make the right runs thats why. The only bloody outlet is Garnacho or Amad when fit.
I thought his link play was fine, but he doesn’t ever remotely look like scoring.
I said it months ago, Maguire at 9 would outscore Hojlund. He needs to go.
I said it months ago, Maguire at 9 would outscore Hojlund. He needs to go.