[romufc]

Excactly. What I can’t understand is why it’s not glaringly obvious to people that he’s an extremely talented player with, maybe most importantly, a very strong and resilient mindset coupled with a positive and likable personality. Unless he gets injured a lot there’s every chance he’ll become elite with the right manager.

Agreed. I think people just like to hate on players they have whilst wax lyrical about ones we dont have. It happens all the time.

The reason I think is, most United fans will watch 90 mins of a United game where you dont see much happening, whilst only watching clips / highlights of players from other clubs, which shows the best bits.

You do a 10 min youtube of Rashford, show it to people who have never watched him play 90 mins, will tell you he is a 100m player.

Hojlund just needs a consistent run of games under a manager where chances are created for him.

 

[Doracle]

He can pass accurately and intelligently and his hold up play is promising if a bit inconsistent. The only thing he needs to improve “massively” is heading.

His passing is definitely one of his main weaknesses. The areas he needs to substantially improve are first touch, passing/vision, link up play, off the ball movement and heading. It’s the first two which are the main concern as those aren’t really things that can be coached at this stage. I’d expect the others to improve, which will make him a decent option, but I worry the first two issues will stop him being genuinely good enough to be the main man for a top team.

Just to balance that, as I don’t like to be overly negative, he is a very natural finisher, which is another area which doesn’t often improve with age and a key asset to have. There’s definitely a lot to work with but I do think saying heading is his only current significant area for improvement is a long way from accurate. He’s still very very raw.

 

[ROFLUTION]

His passing is definitely one of his main weaknesses. The areas he needs to substantially improve are first touch, passing/vision, link up play, off the ball movement and heading. It’s the first two which are the main concern as those aren’t really things that can be coached at this stage. I’d expect the others to improve, which will make him a decent option, but I worry the first two issues will stop him being genuinely good enough to be the main man for a top team.

Just to balance that, as I don’t like to be overly negative, he is a very natural finisher, which is another area which doesn’t often improve with age and a key asset to have. There’s definitely a lot to work with but I do think saying heading is his only current significant area for improvement is a long way from accurate. He’s still very very raw.

When he first came through with Denmark I thought vision and understanding/IQ was one of his stronger sides - also he dropped deep with more succes albeit against lesser opponents. Maybe it’s just a matter of just adjusting to the league and speed plus growing as a footballer. Still only 21 years old. Still a good way to go.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

His passing is definitely one of his main weaknesses. The areas he needs to substantially improve are first touch, passing/vision, link up play, off the ball movement and heading. It’s the first two which are the main concern as those aren’t really things that can be coached at this stage. I’d expect the others to improve, which will make him a decent option, but I worry the first two issues will stop him being genuinely good enough to be the main man for a top team.

Just to balance that, as I don’t like to be overly negative, he is a very natural finisher, which is another area which doesn’t often improve with age and a key asset to have. There’s definitely a lot to work with but I do think saying heading is his only current significant area for improvement is a long way from accurate. He’s still very very raw.

I think that's all fair. Although he he played some incisive passes at times. So I think you might be being a bit harsh about passing/vision.

The other, slightly less tangible, issue is how few shots he takes per game. I remember last season when there were stats knocking around about how Bruno was creating chances for everyone apart from Hojlund (prompting daft conspiracy theories about this being a deliberate strategy by Bruno because he doesn't rate him!) so there's definitely something going wrong in terms of getting himself into situations where he can get a shot off. That's basically the art of being a goalscorer. So something he really needs to start showing soon if he's ever going to be one of our more prolific attackers.

 

[bgoodall]

I like him but its funny how much scrutiny Garnacho receives in comparison despite producing far more.

 

[Doracle]

When he first came through with Denmark I thought vision and understanding/IQ was one of his stronger sides - also he dropped deep with more succes albeit against lesser opponents. Maybe it’s just a matter of just adjusting to the league and speed plus growing as a footballer. Still only 21 years old. Still a good way to go.

Hopefully. To be fair, I seem to have a habit of missing the matches where people say he’s played really well. The issue I have with his passing is he seems to often take ages to decide what to play and then most times seems to underhit or play passes slightly behind runners, even if he spots them in time. Like most of our players, I’m hoping a better structure and confidence will give him the basis to demonstrate his skills more.

 

[Grand Vizier]

His passing is definitely one of his main weaknesses. The areas he needs to substantially improve are first touch, passing/vision, link up play, off the ball movement and heading. It’s the first two which are the main concern as those aren’t really things that can be coached at this stage. I’d expect the others to improve, which will make him a decent option, but I worry the first two issues will stop him being genuinely good enough to be the main man for a top team.

Just to balance that, as I don’t like to be overly negative, he is a very natural finisher, which is another area which doesn’t often improve with age and a key asset to have. There’s definitely a lot to work with but I do think saying heading is his only current significant area for improvement is a long way from accurate. He’s still very very raw.

I'm not seeing that at all. His passing and vision are very, very good. It actually surprised me last season how good he was at it, and he made several passes that led Rashford and Garnacho one-on-one with the keeper and inevitably they missed the chances.

Regarding his heading ability and off-the-ball movement, I completely agree. I think the movement part will come naturally with Amorim and with wingers that look to supply. Right now, it is impossible for him to predict as both Garnacho and Rashford don't really know what they are doing, and mostly look to cut in and shoot. Improving his heading is a must and will give us another dimension in attack.

 

[Doracle]

I'm not seeing that at all. His passing and vision are very, very good. It actually surprised me last season how good he was at it, and he made several passes that led Rashford and Garnacho one-on-one with the keeper and inevitably they missed the chances.

Regarding his heading ability and off-the-ball movement, I completely agree. I think the movement part will come naturally with Amorim and with wingers that look to supply. Right now, it is impossible for him to predict as both Garnacho and Rashford don't really know what they are doing, and mostly look to cut in and shoot. Improving his heading is a must and will give us another dimension in attack.

I’d love to see some clips of him feeding Garnacho and Rashford through one on one as I don’t recall that occurring at all, let alone on multiple occasions. The main issue I had with him last season was that the 9 in the formation we were employing should be feeding the wingers and it just wasn’t happening.

 

[criticalanalysis]

I’d love to see some clips of him feeding Garnacho and Rashford through one on one as I don’t recall that occurring at all, let alone on multiple occasions. The main issue I had with him last season was that the 9 in the formation we were employing should be feeding the wingers and it just wasn’t happening.

Obviously these are highlights so it's not like he was doing these things every game. He definitely deserves a lot of criticism for his own troubles but he absolutely did provide many good through balls or passes to his wide men. One of the big issues is that whilst he was happy to be the focal point (at times too much and naively for his own sake i.e spending time fighting with the CBs) and provide for others, he rarely got back the same service.

His passing much like most of his game is more about inconsistency rather than lack of ability or technique. It's a worry but considering the team structure and absolutely shite coaching, I would say he's a very promising talent and project.

 

[Grand Vizier]

I’d love to see some clips of him feeding Garnacho and Rashford through one on one as I don’t recall that occurring at all, let alone on multiple occasions. The main issue I had with him last season was that the 9 in the formation we were employing should be feeding the wingers and it just wasn’t happening.

I saw you've already been given a highlight video that I was going to post. A couple one-on-one and some other nice passes wide where Garnacho and Rashford are in good positions. Sure, it's not every game, but I just don't see the weakness part of it you're claiming. If he was mispassing a lot or had the wrong weight of pass then sure, but they're usually very solid and with the right weight.

Him feeding the wingers would be a weird way to set up the team when we have Bruno behind who is doing that already.

 

[Doracle]

Obviously these are highlights so it's not like he was doing these things every game. He definitely deserves a lot of criticism for his own troubles but he absolutely did provide many good through balls or passes to his wide men. One of the big issues is that whilst he was happy to be the focal point (at times too much and naively for his own sake i.e spending time fighting with the CBs) and provide for others, he rarely got back the same service.

His passing much like most of his game is more about inconsistency rather than lack of ability or technique. It's a worry but considering the team structure and absolutely shite coaching, I would say he's a very promising talent and project.

Thanks. There’s a couple of good passes in there and obviously some nice play generally. As you say though, it’s highlights and there aren’t many for a full season. There’s probably more examples of our wingers playing balls into him to create good chances, and we know that wasn’t happening much either!

Anyway, I’m really hoping lots of our players can kick on and my belief that ETH’s tactics were the real problem is correct. I don’t want us to have to start again and Rasmus improving in these areas, with proper tactics and coaching would be fantastic.

 

[spiriticon]

I don't think Hojlund has enough fox in him to be a quality No.9, but let's see what Amorim can do.

Maybe a re-invention.

 

[criticalanalysis]

Thanks. There’s a couple of good passes in there and obviously some nice play generally. As you say though, it’s highlights and there aren’t many for a full season. There’s probably more examples of our wingers playing balls into him to create good chances, and we know that wasn’t happening much either!

Anyway, I’m really hoping lots of our players can kick on and my belief that ETH’s tactics were the real problem is correct. I don’t want us to have to start again and Rasmus improving in these areas, with proper tactics and coaching would be fantastic.

There may be but you're looking at it wrong.

It's not 'oh Garnacho, Rashford and Bruno have provided 30 chances, whilst Hojlund has only provided 10 to them', it's 'oh they have taken about 70 shots collectively (from a lot of wide, narrow and low chance areas) when they could have potentially provided more than 30 to Hojlund', the centre forward of the team usually trying to get in the box. Anyone who has seen our games last season could see the high ball usage rate of our wide players; ETH gave players like Garnacho free reign to run 20 times at the full back, forgetting any semblance of trying to create down the middle.

 

[chay chay okocha]

Obviously these are highlights so it's not like he was doing these things every game. He definitely deserves a lot of criticism for his own troubles but he absolutely did provide many good through balls or passes to his wide men. One of the big issues is that whilst he was happy to be the focal point (at times too much and naively for his own sake i.e spending time fighting with the CBs) and provide for others, he rarely got back the same service.

His passing much like most of his game is more about inconsistency rather than lack of ability or technique. It's a worry but considering the team structure and absolutely shite coaching, I would say he's a very promising talent and project.

Agreed. I think he has demonstrated, inconsistently, that he has the 'tools' - the touch, passing, power, running, finishing. They seem to come and go, and are particularly dependent on how well he is doing when he is engaging a CB in a duel, which is a big part of his game. As a young player in a new league, I am happy to expect inconsistency to be a part of this. I think the area he has not demonstrated a sufficiently high-level of is actually something that was much talked about before we signed him - his intelligence in attacking spaces off the ball. I recall some of the early Denmark / Atalanta games highlighted this as a key strength of his - but I've honestly yet to see much of that at United. It's an area that is highly coachable - so hopefully we see this improve with the right coaching set up.

 

[Schmeichels pinky]

So as I said, the only area where he should improve “massively” is heading. Glad we sorted that out.

 

[ROFLUTION]

Obviously these are highlights so it's not like he was doing these things every game. He definitely deserves a lot of criticism for his own troubles but he absolutely did provide many good through balls or passes to his wide men. One of the big issues is that whilst he was happy to be the focal point (at times too much and naively for his own sake i.e spending time fighting with the CBs) and provide for others, he rarely got back the same service.

His passing much like most of his game is more about inconsistency rather than lack of ability or technique. It's a worry but considering the team structure and absolutely shite coaching, I would say he's a very promising talent and project.

We all know the fallacies of watching a youtube-compilation, but I was actually quite surprised to actually see how much in built up he has been involved in from watching that video. Hopefully Amorim can coach him like Gyokeres.