Rasmus Hojlund image 9

Rasmus Hojlund Denmark flag

2024-25 Performances


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5.1 Season Average Rating
Appearances
12
Goals
2
Assists
0
Yellow cards
0
Tell me you didnt watch a player before he joined us without telling me

What percentage of United supporters have time or means to watch games from other leagues let alone other teams in the PL on a regular basis?

Prior to his United signing, Hojlund only had one season in a top 5 league under his belt, and it wasn't anything special and he was just a goal short of reaching double figures. It's all about his potential, not his actual productivity.

Zirkzee had larger goal and assist numbers in his final season at Bologna in the same league for instance
 
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Great post, and yeah I totally agree. Yeah in terms of his movement, the worrying thing is it's the type of thing you just have or you don't. It's not something that can be coached into a player per se as it's more a natural kind of instinct. We'll see what Amorim can do with him, but I suspect he won't be part of our squad in 2 years.
There is no such thing as either you have it or you don't in football. Every skill or trait can be improved.

I wonder if you looked at a 21 year old Gyokeres and thought "Damn, he has world class movement!".

I do agree that we should sign him, though. He has taken massive steps, and hopefully it's not just a case of fitting in perfectly in a certain system.
 
People mentioning his first touch, but same first touch was also great at times last season scoring solo goals, so it's still early days to conclude anything. Keep an open mind, he's still young and has been part of a team that deprived him of chances + there's just been a depressing aura around Ten Hag. Also making mistakes is part of learning for a young guy.

What is mind boggling to me is that we know we need to develop players to get to the top. Yet people have zero patience. Same thing will probably happen when Yoro is ready. Or just even when we buy another new big talent. When you take a look of the players in Premier League who are capable players, it's extremely rare to see any of the good strikers to just have taken off from the get-go.

Watkins - Took many years to develop
Toney - Took many years to develop
Mbeumo - Took many years to develop
Darwin - Will take more years, if he makes it
Jota - Took many years to develop
Solanke - Took many years to develop

Then you got the likes of Isak who is 25 now, and the unicorn Haaland. When a hyped fella like Gyokeres was around 21 he was failing big time in Swansea scoring 0 goals in 11 games. (in the Championship).

I'm not writing off Hojlund yet but when you rely on developing players it's natural to have a few doubts and that it could go either way. We said Ronaldo and Rooney were the future back when they were teenagers and they certainly repaid our faith. Rashford and Martial on the other hand, not so much. I remember Arsenal having a similar situation with players like Wilshere, Walcott, Hleb and many more. A lot of them had talent but just never really became the players Arsenal needed them to be.

Personally i'm still hoping Rasmus will come good eventually but i can't blame people for having doubts.
 
Concern over both Hojlund and Zirkzee is warranted but let's see what Amorim can do with them before rendering a final verdict.
 
The expectations on this kid are ridiculous. He has previously shown more than enough to believe he will be a very good no.9 but he’s still developing, and he’s having to do it in an underperforming team, surrounded by inconsistent team mates and off the back of injury troubles. I think if Amorim has the effect he had on Gyokeres who we are all spunking over, then Rasmus will become a beast!
If you spend £72million on a striker you're entitled to expect better than we have seen so far. Now obviously the price tag is not his fault, but he looked out of his depth last night against the Greeks who themselves didn't look great.

I hope you're right because there's something to work with in Hojlund but the major thing for me is how unbelievably selfish him, Rashford and Garnacho are, and how little a footballing brain the three of them manage to muster up when they are all together. Amorim's biggest challenge is sorting the three of them out, because there's opportunities for goals in our team if any of our players stop panicking and start thinking when they are in the box.
 
If you spend £72million on a striker you're entitled to expect better than we have seen so far. Now obviously the price tag is not his fault
I don’t agree that players should be judged by transfer fee. The market is so inflated and out of control it’s not really a valid measurement of anything, other than possibly how much a club wants a player. It certainly has no relation to how well a player plays.

Where traditionally we have seen the best players fetch the most money, now a days young prospects also fetch high fees with clubs willing to pay for potential in an attempt to get ahead. This is what we did with Rasmus, rightly or wrongly.

Before the window he was quoted as a £30m prospect to sign and develop along side an established top striker (which is what we were actually desperate for) but Atalanta saw us coming and jacked up the price, and as ever our idiots were willing to pay through the nose. Having then run out of money he has unfairly been tasked with being the starting no.9 long before he’s ready for that pressure and responsibility.

None of this is his fault, he deserves patience annd support, and I’m confident he’ll come good under Amorim.
 
I'm not writing off Hojlund yet but when you rely on developing players it's natural to have a few doubts and that it could go either way. We said Ronaldo and Rooney were the future back when they were teenagers and they certainly repaid our faith. Rashford and Martial on the other hand, not so much. I remember Arsenal having a similar situation with players like Wilshere, Walcott, Hleb and many more. A lot of them had talent but just never really became the players Arsenal needed them to be.

Personally i'm still hoping Rasmus will come good eventually but i can't blame people for having doubts.

Most of those players were clearly very talented though. This is the equivalent of paying £70m for a 20 year old Nicklas Bendtner. Sure there’s some talent there but there’s a lot of raw edges and problems. He isn’t close to being generational or a sure thing.
 
There is no such thing as either you have it or you don't in football. Every skill or trait can be improved.

I wonder if you looked at a 21 year old Gyokeres and thought "Damn, he has world class movement!".

I do agree that we should sign him, though. He has taken massive steps, and hopefully it's not just a case of fitting in perfectly in a certain system.
We're going to have to agree to disagree. Some traits are much harder to coach into a player than others in my opinion, movement and off the ball runs being one of them. A lot of naturally talented young strikers have the movement and that's where people see the potential. They are usually lacking in other areas such as decision making, physicality, finishing etc which is easier to develop over time.
 
To be fair to him he managed 16 goals all competitions last season. That's not £70m worthy but it's not a bad return for a 20 year old either.

He desperately needs to match that this season and ideally better it. 20 goals all competition should be the aim but he's well off that pace currently. I think he might come good still but it's far from a guarantee.
 
If you spend £72million on a striker you're entitled to expect better than we have seen so far. Now obviously the price tag is not his fault, but he looked out of his depth last night against the Greeks who themselves didn't look great.

I hope you're right because there's something to work with in Hojlund but the major thing for me is how unbelievably selfish him, Rashford and Garnacho are, and how little a footballing brain the three of them manage to muster up when they are all together. Amorim's biggest challenge is sorting the three of them out, because there's opportunities for goals in our team if any of our players stop panicking and start thinking when they are in the box.
Sorry but how is Hojlund at all selfish when he barely touches the ball?
 
This backlash was always going to happen, some of it fair, but the bulk of incredibly naive and downright childish posts was always going to happen, when the club decided that an obviously raw 20 odd year old would be enough to lead the line for United. Do I think he's good enough right now to lead the line? No. Do I think he needs time to develop alongside a striker who can take the responsibility and pressure? Of course. There should be somebody better up front, that's an undeniable claim, but don't take it out on a promising striker still obviously learning his trade.
 
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I think he is a very promising striker, he is raw and he does need to improve in a lot of aspects but he does things and has physical attributes that makes me think he could be decent. He’s also shown that he has a variety of finishing techniques. Do also think the criticism in here is OTT, people don’t use any context for his situation and grade him against finished articles.

However on Thursday he was just plain bad. He did make some good runs and maybe he has been asked to play like a target man but there were so many opportunities where he should have been on the last shoulder and just scaring the life out of those defenders. He has the pace and power to do it so I don’t know why we don’t play to that strength.

If they are scared of him going inbehind it’s going to allow room for an Amad or Bruno to do damage. Anyway hopefully that is something that changes when Amorin comes in.
 
Put this thread on ignore for a few days and return when people have let off steam.
His worst game for us, I think. Looking forward to seeing him under Amorim.
So has it cooled bit in here?

This is how I see it. When a 20 yo striker comes here we need to give him time as long as he shows some promise - even if he doesn’t deliver for a season.
Now, Hojlund actually did deliver. If we had been a better team 10 goals in 30 games (not starts) and 6 in Europe would still be fine for a young striker new to the league. I’d say very good, actually.
As it was, we were not playing well. We were a team in crisis and it’s likely that Hojlund would’ve been better off staying at Atalanta for another season increasing the hype about him and his value even more. Nevertheless he chose to come here, understandably since he’s always been a fan of the club.

He showed promise from day 1 when he bullied Salina and should’ve had a penalty. In his first games before his injury he was very unlucky with a couple of canceled goals that were very well taken and showed his versatility - he positioned himself perfectly for a tap in from Rashfords cutback that were doubtfully canceled for being over the line, and he showed composure, calmness and clinical finishing when he waited for the right moment in the box and then hammered the ball into the top of the net for a goal that where ruled offside.

He played with wingers who didn’t pass to him in a team with a playing style that doesn’t suit him - ETH asked him to fall down to create space for the wingers and hold the ball to play it on. He did do that reasonably well and gave examples of his passing ability. His hold up play was inconsistent, but not at all bad as some claim. He also showed that he can turn on defenders and outrun them (he did that on Van de Veen).
The verdict on his first season must be that he showed promise and scored at least what you could reasonably expect from a new, young forward. People say he went missing in games, but we never set him up - often he didn’t get the ball more than a few times a game because our general play didn’t click. And when he got it it was up through the middle with his back to goal. He made loads of good runs without Bruno and the wingers even trying to find him and he was free in the box many times without getting the ball. Yes, there has been times where he could’ve positioned himself better or made a better run, but when you come to a new club and never get a pass from your teammates when in the right position you begin to doubt whether you actually were in the right position - second guessing yourself. That’s poisonous for a forward. Still, he managed to get 10 PL goals many of which be created himself. He has a positive mindset, wonderful attitude and a broad skill set excelling in the most important skill for a striker: finishing.

He hasn’t played more than a few games this season due to injury. He’s scored. And yes, he had a bad game vs PAOK. Now, the only sensible thing to do would be to give him a season under a manager that will play him to his strengths. There’s a reason for his career trajectory coming from Denmark to Austria, on to Atalanta after just 6 months and then to us after a season. It’s the same reason Gasperini called him one of the best emerging talents in Europe.
 
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Tell me you didnt watch a player before he joined us without telling me
There are basics of striker's qualities. If player has them then they demonstrate regardless of structure, manager, teammates. If you don't see it then he just don't have it in him....yet.
 
Hojlund needs to know when to release the ball. If he just dribbles in a straight line, this is pretty easy to defend against.
 
The simplest way to get a lot more out of him would be if we actually played his strengths.

He is fast and direct at getting into the box, our current play is slow, laboured and predictable.

Imagine if our wide players just headed for the by-line and crossed the ball into the box early? Maybe our centre forward would know where to make his runs and would get on the end of a lot more?

But no, our wide players check back inside onto their other foot, slow down momentum, let the opposition get back into shape and then pass square or back.

Speed and directness would radically improve our goal scoring so let’s hope Amorim gets us playing with a higher tempo and more direct wing play with some actual output.
 
There are basics of striker's qualities. If player has them then they demonstrate regardless of structure, manager, teammates. If you don't see it then he just don't have it in him....yet.

So your claim is a player always works regardless of setup etc?
 
So your claim is a player always works regardless of setup etc?
They show what they have regardless of setup. Output efficiency may vary. You know a player is not good when you start adding condition he needs X Y Z to perform. That's not how it works. If he doesn't know how to make runs, show hunger to get ball in his feet or be in the right position then he just doesn't have it in him...as of now... regardless of team manager. That said he is young and there is always a chance of improvement.
 
They show what they have regardless of setup. Output efficiency may vary. You know a player is not good when you start adding condition he needs X Y Z to perform. That's not how it works. If he doesn't know how to make runs, show hunger to get ball in his feet or be in the right position then he just doesn't have it in him...as of now... regardless of team manager. That said he is young and there is always a chance of improvement.
He has shown all of that. Many times. That’s how he managed to score 10 in 30 PL games for a team struggling to create chances
 
They show what they have regardless of setup. Output efficiency may vary. You know a player is not good when you start adding condition he needs X Y Z to perform. That's not how it works. If he doesn't know how to make runs, show hunger to get ball in his feet or be in the right position then he just doesn't have it in him...as of now... regardless of team manager. That said he is young and there is always a chance of improvement.
If he didn't have any of that, how did he score 15 non-penalty goals in his PL and CL debut season at the age of 20?
 
He has shown all of that. Many times. That’s how he managed to score 10 in 30 PL games for a team struggling to create chances
No he didn't. Most of the goals he scored during a purple patch around Feb last year. Lingard had a purple patch too. You can't judge a player based on a patch. Need consistency. Otherwise one can also claim teams found him out and now his weaknesses are exposed.
 
If he didn't have any of that, how did he score 15 non-penalty goals in his PL and CL debut season at the age of 20?
What happened then? Why he stopped scoring consistently? Same players same set up same manager. Why he needs different set up to score again?

Teams are well read these days due to advanced analytics. As a striker if you are not cunning enough to shake off defender's traps, make sneaky runs then you can't succeed. He may still score here and there. But that won't be enough for a team like United to rely upon him to lead the line.
 
No he didn't. Most of the goals he scored during a purple patch around Feb last year. Lingard had a purple patch too. You can't judge a player based on a patch. Need consistency. Otherwise one can also claim teams found him out and now his weaknesses are exposed.
So what you are saying that he scored most of his goals during a period we were actually a good team..? Who would have thought a striker could benefit from that? Truly shocking.

What happened then? Why he stopped scoring consistently? Same players same set up same manager. Why he needs different set up to score again?

Teams are well read these days due to advanced analytics. As a striker if you are not cunning enough to shake off defender's traps, make sneaky runs then you can't succeed. He may still score here and there. But that won't be enough for a team like United to rely upon him to lead the line.
He has been injured, and only recently came back. Lack of match sharpness affects players, you know. He is also playing for a team with wingers that don't supply him with chances. Look at Rashford and Garnacho's statistics for chances created and their crosses/passes into the box. They are close to bottom percentiles for wingers/attacking midfielders. It is laughable how the blame is only put on Højlund when he barely gets chances to score.

He is young so obviously he will be inconsistent and have patches, exactly the same as nearly every other young player. He shouldn't be in this position in the first place where we are reliant on him scoring every week. He should be on the bench and coming on for a main striker.
 
Looking at the CBs he is up against today and with Amad’s confidence high, Rasmus surely has a decent chance to score today.
 
some on here keep saying Zirkzee isn't forward because of the way he plays... this guy has more in common with Kurt Angle than with other strikers.
 
Højlund is either being coached horribly, or he doesn't take in what the coaches are telling him. I cannot understand why he always backs into defenders when getting the ball played to his feet. He constantly loses those physical battles. Why not come towards the ball to either claim turn with it, or quickly lay it off if he's under pressure?

Time to start Zirkzee.
 
We desperately need a first choice striker. Holjund is still young, maybe a in A few years he will be ready but he is a million miles away at the moment
 
I think he's shocking quality player, but maybe it's just a confidence thing... He actually seems to run away from where the football is being played.
At some point he was about to receive a pass back to goal, and he figured out he'll back up to the defender waiting for the ball, and then was put off balance easily. He has weird instincts or zero belief in his on the ball ability.
 
I’ve been a big defender of Hojlund but he was absolutely horrendous today. Needs dropped until he sorts it out, he was anonymous.