[Lay]

Yeah calling someone Lukaku definitely isn't the insult some people think it is. Nearly any side in the league would be falling over themselves to sign the Lukaku we brought from Everton right now.

Indeed. He also is only second to Cristiano Ronaldo in goals for international teams in Europe. He has his flaws but Hojlund is a million miles off Lukaku.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

Indeed. He also is only second to Cristiano Ronaldo in goals for international teams in Europe. He has his flaws but Hojlund is a million miles off Lukaku.

To be fair, every striker in the league is a mile off a prime Lukaku apart from Haaland.

 

[DarkXaero]

First choice striker must be a priority next summer, not even sure if this guy would be a good backup, his off ball movement sucks, before getting into his technical ability.

 

[DWelbz19]

We've scored 11 goals in 4 games under Ruud and Hojlund hasn't even looked like he's threatening a shot never mind an actual goal.

Really hope Amorim sorts him out, he's been really poor this season.

This is the biggest issue. Over the past 365 days, Hojlund averages 1.46 shots per 90 minutes. That puts him in the bottom one percentile across Europe’s top five leagues. The absolute dead last “forward” according to their records is Abodoulaye Doucoure, a central midfielder turned second striker under a Sean Dyche team at 1.27 per 90. (Shoutout @SilentWitness)

How can you score when you’re not even shooting? He has no goalscoring instincts about him. He plays as if he was a player only recently retrained to be a striker.

 

[L1nk]

This is the biggest issue. Over the past 365 days, Hojlund averages 1.46 shots per 90 minutes. That puts him in the bottom one percentile across Europe’s top five leagues. The absolute dead last “forward” according to their records is Abodoulaye Doucoure, a central midfielder turned second striker under a Sean Dyche team at 1.27 per 90. (Shoutout @SilentWitness)

How can you score when you’re not even shooting? He has no goalscoring instincts about him. He plays as if he was a player only recently retrained to be a striker.

So why is it he had goalscoring instincts at Atalanta (often scoring in the box from cutbacks) and co but all of a sudden this has absolutely vanished at United despite him being one of our top scorers last season? Did the ability just dribble out of his body when he touched down in Manchester or something

 

[Beachryan]

No reason to write off a player with his attributes at his age, but it's definitely not working at the moment. He's barely involved, other than having Onana bounce balls off him to the opposition. He's not even pressing as energetically as when he arrived.

Slight bit of mitigation - whether it's Garnacho or Rashford, the left-side of the field simply does not look for him.

 

[pocco]

So why is it he had goalscoring instincts at Atalanta (often scoring in the box from cutbacks) and co but all of a sudden this has absolutely vanished at United despite him being one of our top scorers last season? Did the ability just dribble out of his body when he touched down in Manchester or something

Atalanta have been quite well coached over the last few years and have a clear style of playing. I didn't see him for them, but i imagine things are a lot better coordinated in their play, better coached and therefore it's easier for strikers to know where to be. We're just off the cuff in everything we do it seems. One minute we're swinging crosses in, or Bruno is throwing balls over the top to our right back running through the middle, our wingers cutting in and shooting from all over etc. It's definitely not easy being a CF for us right now.

 

[MiceOnMeth]

I'll reserve judgement until he plays a season under the new manager

 

[Donut]

His best quality is supposed to be his pace, but he doesn't really have rapid acceleration, he's fast only when running long lengths. His finishing is quite good, but he doesn't get into any goalscoring opportunities (even though service is admittedly lacking). His strength and height are average, and he doesn't know how to use them anyway, I'm not sure he can actually head the ball and I can't remember him outjumping an opposition defender ever. His technical ability is sadly poor, he can't dribble and his first touch is so inconsistent. So basically he's a decent finisher and that's about it. I hope he proves me wrong, but I'm really not seeing it at all. I guess he's still young, but if he keeps playing like this we can't afford to start him and will need to buy someone.

 

[DWelbz19]

So why is it he had goalscoring instincts at Atalanta (often scoring in the box from cutbacks) and co but all of a sudden this has absolutely vanished at United despite him being one of our top scorers last season? Did the ability just dribble out of his body when he touched down in Manchester or something

He scored fewer goals for Atalanta than he did in his first season here. He was hardly some gunslinging prodigy there.

Rasmus Hojlund is a talented, inconsistent young forward who has enough to like — and some level of his weaknesses can be justified against our inability to consistently create and hold pressure in the final third, but I don’t know how it can be denied that there is a real lack of that natural instinct forward play to his game.

Let’s hope Amorim and coaches can get something out of him.

 

[11101]

When he receives the ball he has one touch to set himself before a shot. Never any more than that. It's not good enough. He should be making more intelligent moves but mostly his teammates should be learning to find him by now. Rashford and Garnacho never look to do anything but shoot and Bruno likes the cute passes rather than playing down the channels as Hojlund wants. He's totally exposed up front.

 

[RedRocket9908]

He has scored zero goals in 10 games for Denmark so far in 2024 yet we are led to believe its his team mates that at at fault for him not scoring for us.

 

[Devil_forever]

He has so many weaknesses to his game, how on earth did we end up spending close to £70m on this guy?

 

[Lyng]

He has scored zero goals in 10 games for Denmark so far in 2024 yet we are led to believe its his team mates that at at fault for him not scoring for us.

Its partly him but also partly the tactics. Much like United for Denmark he is asked to play with his back to goal. And thats not something he is any good at.

 

[Andycoleno9]

So why is it he had goalscoring instincts at Atalanta (often scoring in the box from cutbacks) and co but all of a sudden this has absolutely vanished at United despite him being one of our top scorers last season? Did the ability just dribble out of his body when he touched down in Manchester or something

He scored 10 goals for Atalanta. Hardly a numbers to present him as some kind of goal maschine and use "often" for certain type of goals.

 

[Betson]

We all want him to do well and realize he is still young and has potential but lead striker for Man Utd should not be learn on the job position , also not fair to him that he has this responsibility when he is clearly not ready for it. It is obvious the club needs to get in a more experienced and proven striker to take the responsibility off Rasmus.

 

[CasaStreets]

I actually thought he ended up with quite a decent first season, but definitely struggling this season. Areas of concern for me:

- poor agility means he can’t create a yard and goals from a standing start. Only fast over long distances
- bad balance. This is really concerning - he simply can’t stay on his feet in high-contact situations
- extremely inconsistent first touch so ball doesn’t stick to him even in promising situations.

The service to him is bad, but he also can’t create chances for himself - the greats have both. Young enough to improve a lot, but will really need to put in the work

 

[Denis79]

So why is it he had goalscoring instincts at Atalanta (often scoring in the box from cutbacks) and co but all of a sudden this has absolutely vanished at United despite him being one of our top scorers last season? Did the ability just dribble out of his body when he touched down in Manchester or something

He has a better goals/game ratio with us than he did with Atalanta? But I just did a lazy quick check, could be wrong.

 

[Zed is not dead]

Can we just say he's going through a rough period rather than completely writing him off? He's proven he can perform against the likes of Leicester, he's struggling now. We need another striker for sure, but I didn't agree with completely shitting on the one young, and promising striker we currently have, who shouldn't even be featuring as much as he is if we had somebody more experienced.

No we’re not allowed nuance.

A player is either utter shite or world class based on the scouting expertise of the Caf.
Amad was shite until thursday evening and might become shite again.
James Garner was the answer to all our midfield problems. Evan Ferguson was the striker we should’ve absolutely bought.
Same as Bissouma or any other flavor of the month

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Yeah once upon a time the current flavour, Gyokeres, scored 11 goals over 3 loan spells over 2 seasons, and now he’s the most potent striker in Europe’s top 10 leagues.

Rasmus has been awful this season without a doubt, but I can’t knock younger players whilst the club is in disarray. Our attacking unit and patterns are disorganised and even during Ruud’s spell, most goals have relied on some form of magic or luck, as opposed to us walking the ball in with clearly practiced patterns of play.

I look at Hojlund, Garnacho, Mainoo and Amad and I can’t bring myself to be overly critical of any of them, even though at various points of this season, each player has had a poor run of form. Garnacho is our most potent attacking threat when it comes to goals and assists and he’s got clickbaiters shoving a camera in his face telling him to be better ffs.

I don’t doubt the view that Hojlund might not be the one, but I’d like to see how it goes with Amorim after a couple of months given his record with Gyokeres who was not the player he is today when he first signed for Sporting.

 

[Bobski]

I am not bothered by the goals total, I just wish he was a better footballer. Occasionally he shows a nice touch, lovely back heel flick at the start of the second half today, but then he will have 30 mins of tripping over the ball and it bouncing off him from not particularly difficult balls to control.

That technical level is concerning because while we can expect improvement in terms of physicality, how he reads the game and his decision making you don't tend to see huge technical improvements at this stage of a players development, that base should be already there.

If he is a striker who can only be effective running onto balls behind he isn't going to have a long career here as a starter, unless you are a Haaland level freak you can't be that one dimensional.

 

[In Absentia]

He’s starting to worry me. Looks like even he thinks he might be out of his depth, but let’s see how he does under Amorim. He’s going to have to step up quickly. Atalanta got a very good deal on him, that’s for sure.

 

[Lay]

So why is it he had goalscoring instincts at Atalanta (often scoring in the box from cutbacks) and co but all of a sudden this has absolutely vanished at United despite him being one of our top scorers last season? Did the ability just dribble out of his body when he touched down in Manchester or something

People have already answered but it's also worth noting that Hojlund only became a regular at Atalanta half way through the season due to injuries.

Can't remember now but his first 90 mins in the league came in January or February for Atalanta. Few months later we have signed him for an extortionate amount.

 

[Vidooq]

I'm really starting to get worried about him. He can't even do the basics right. Simple pass and hold the ball. Too slow to release the ball, and completely out of the game.

 

[Sky1981]

I dont blame him for not being ready. But why on earth do we spunk 70m on a player that's far from ready and not looks like he's gonna be a finished article in 3-4 years time.

It's not like we have the luxury to groom him. We should be spending for the Main Striker first then think of developing youngster after

 

[bosnian_red]

So why is it he had goalscoring instincts at Atalanta (often scoring in the box from cutbacks) and co but all of a sudden this has absolutely vanished at United despite him being one of our top scorers last season? Did the ability just dribble out of his body when he touched down in Manchester or something

Always the chance it could have been just a half season burst of form, but also the Premier League is just a tougher league than the serie a. I mean Darmian is still a regular for Inter FFS who have dominated that league for years now.

 

[L1nk]

He scored fewer goals for Atalanta than he did in his first season here. He was hardly some gunslinging prodigy there.

Rasmus Hojlund is a talented, inconsistent young forward who has enough to like — and some level of his weaknesses can be justified against our inability to consistently create and hold pressure in the final third, but I don’t know how it can be denied that there is a real lack of that natural instinct forward play to his game.

Let’s hope Amorim and coaches can get something out of him.

He scored 10 goals for Atalanta. Hardly a numbers to present him as some kind of goal maschine and use "often" for certain type of goals.

He has a better goals/game ratio with us than he did with Atalanta? But I just did a lazy quick check, could be wrong.

That wasn't the point that was being made, if you wanna state he has no movement or no striker instinct then it isn't about the amount of goals he scored but the kinds of goals, if you wanna complain about his lack of movement and instincts but then you watch his goals for Atalanta and see that the majority of them came from being found in the box or from cutbacks then where has that gone, it's just disappeared? He was one of our top scorers last season and has seen a dip in form like most of our attack and you're on his backs already, for a young striker.

Perhaps if, just how it was at Atalanta, people tried to find him in the box or actually made cutbacks a lot of the time we could add more goals to the majority of goals he scored last season which were mostly of his own making. Now he isn't currently making everything happen on his own his goals have dried up because nobody is looking for his ass. Just watch the YouTube video above and watch the game where he is constantly in good positions but nobody passes, mainly because the wingers want to cut inside and shoot or Bruno doesn't wanna pass into the channels.

Sick and tired of constantly arguing these very obvious points when the reality is some people on this forum just want to shit on a young player as much as possible because they are pissed we didn't get Harry Kane or some similar forward. Even though Harry Kane wouldn't exactly be lighting the place up either with Garncho and Rashford barely giving him anything.

If Amorim can't get anything out of him considering how he uses Gyokeres go nuts and let's sign someone who will do the business. But until then I refuse to slag a young player off in a system meant to draw goals from the wingers and not the forward though especially when everything that's required out of Hojlund in this system just does not play to his strengths at all. Why do you think we originally signed Zirkzee? So the lad can lay it off to the wingers constantly.

 

[Fortitude]

He has scored zero goals in 10 games for Denmark so far in 2024 yet we are led to believe its his team mates that at at fault for him not scoring for us.

The Australian channel I saw this on were commenting on the Denmark situation and saying it's becoming a bigger concern than it was because he has looked increasingly poor for them. I don't watch Denmark, but it doesn't surprise me to hear that.

A lot of talk in this thread is about service and what not, but if you watch Hojlund, and Hojlund alone, his movement, choices, reading of play, hesitancy and overall game in complete isolation you see these are not the actions of a striker who is doing the right things to suddenly burst into life - he isn't being unlucky; his actions are not conducive to scoring or even being constructive and it is reflected in what can be seen in and of himself.

You can throw in external factors after the above, not before. If a striker is doing the right things, all the negative attention and criticism will go toward those letting him down by not providing, but if the striker isn't doing what he's supposed to, those factors are effectively redundant because other forwards and attack-minded midfielders will simply select another option or go it alone bypassing the poor option who isn't working toward a constructive end.

If a striker is constantly making good-great runs or is open and others ignore him, they'll be benched or severely bollocked. If he isn't, the spotlight turns back on the striker.

Watching Hojlund here and at the Euros, the lack of guile and cunning is a real standout in the way he plays his football. He effectively takes himself out of games so far as being an offensive threat. The wrestling with CB's thing is baffling; he does it more than actual bruiser CF's who were exceptional at it, the likes of Duncan Ferguson, Alan Shearer or Didier Drogba, what's more, it's a style from a bygone era - you don't see CF's doing it to that extent in this day and age as it serves little purpose with the way teams set up these days; slickness and elusiveness is far more valuable. I don't believe anyone is instructing him to do it, in fact, you'd think he's been actively told not to do that as it is a waste of energy and doesn't benefit him or the team as it isn't being done tactically.

You'd hope Amorim sits him down, gets out the footage and goes through the things he shouldn't be doing with a fine-toothed comb. He's harming himself and his opportunity to lockdown the position with the way he is playing his football.

 

[Grand Vizier]

The Australian channel I saw this on were commenting on the Denmark situation and saying it's becoming a bigger concern than it was because he has looked increasingly poor for them. I don't watch Denmark, but it doesn't surprise me to hear that.

A lot of talk in this thread is about service and what not, but if you watch Hojlund, and Hojlund alone, his movement, choices, reading of play, hesitancy and overall game in complete isolation you see these are not the actions of a striker who is doing the right things to suddenly burst into life - he isn't being unlucky; his actions are not conducive to scoring or even being constructive and it is reflected in what can be seen in and of himself.

You can throw in external factors after the above, not before. If a striker is doing the right things, all the negative attention and criticism will go toward those letting him down by not providing, but if the striker isn't doing what he's supposed to, those factors are effectively redundant because other forwards and attack-minded midfielders will simply select another option or go it alone bypassing the poor option who isn't working toward a constructive end.

If a striker is constantly making good-great runs or is open and others ignore him, they'll be benched or severely bollocked. If he isn't, the spotlight turns back on the striker.

Watching Hojlund here and at the Euros, the lack of guile and cunning is a real standout in the way he plays his football. He effectively takes himself out of games so far as being an offensive threat. The wrestling with CB's thing is baffling; he does it more than actual bruiser CF's who were exceptional at it, the likes of Duncan Ferguson, Alan Shearer or Didier Drogba, what's more, it's a style from a bygone era - you don't see CF's doing it to that extent in this day and age as it serves little purpose with the way teams set up these days; slickness and elusiveness is far more valuable. I don't believe anyone is instructing him to do it, in fact, you'd think he's been actively told not to do that as it is a waste of energy and doesn't benefit him or the team as it isn't being done tactically.

You'd hope Amorim sits him down, gets out the footage and goes through the things he shouldn't be doing with a fine-toothed comb. He's harming himself and his opportunity to lockdown the position with the way he is playing his football.

Very good post, but I have to disagree on the movement part. It is glaringly obvious that some of our players are reluctant to pass the ball to him, and while that might be justified in some cases, it is not a healthy approach to our attacking football.

In the last few games, I've been actively watching Højlund and trying to understand what is going on about him and his attacking colleagues, and in each and every one of these games, he made at least one run/move that could have easily been a goal.
Against PAOK, it was a sprint he made immediately as Bruno made that excellent pass to Amad who had Højlund free in the box for a tap-in, but decided to shoot himself. There was not a single mention of this that I remember or that I've seen in this thread.
Against Chelsea, he made a move that could have been a cutback goal if Garnacho had lifted his head. Instead, he basically passed it into Sanchez. I will never understand why wingers don't look up, or why they even decide to "cross" directly where the keeper is standing.

Now, these are very small samples, and I'm not saying his movement is world class, but these could have been goals if he had been passed to, and he would not have received as much criticism in here. I don't necessarily think that your point on the negative attention being redirected to the ones not supplying him is correct, because I seldom see it mentioned no matter what kind of runs Højlund makes. He doesn't make them enough, though, I agree 100% with that. I'd just like to see the passes being made when he does it, as it is more likely to lead to a goal.

On the other hand - like you've pointed out before - he never should have been a starting striker for us to begin with, but I thought he showed some nice qualities initially, particularly for someone his age. These - other than his hold-up play - seem to have regressed. I don't know if it is coaching, lack of confidence or him just being raw, but the fact that even his movement has become worse probably has something to do with playing with Garnacho who simply hates giving the ball to him. At times, they genuinely seem to dislike each other on the pitch, and it is a bit reminiscent of a younger Vinicius and Benzema.

Let's hope Amorim can get more out of them both, but one thing is a certainty, and that is that we need a much better main striker.

 

[Fortitude]

Very good post, but I have to disagree on the movement part. It is glaringly obvious that some of our players are reluctant to pass the ball to him, and while that might be justified in some cases, it is not a healthy approach to our attacking football.

In the last few games, I've been actively watching Højlund and trying to understand what is going on about him and his attacking colleagues, and in each and every one of these games, he made at least one run/move that could have easily been a goal.
Against PAOK, it was a sprint he made immediately as Bruno made that excellent pass to Amad who had Højlund free in the box for a tap-in, but decided to shoot himself. There was not a single mention of this that I remember or that I've seen in this thread.
Against Chelsea, he made a move that could have been a cutback goal if Garnacho had lifted his head. Instead, he basically passed it into Sanchez. I will never understand why wingers don't look up, or why they even decide to "cross" directly where the keeper is standing.

Now, these are very small samples, and I'm not saying his movement is world class, but these could have been goals if he had been passed to, and he would not have received as much criticism in here. I don't necessarily think that your point on the negative attention being redirected to the ones not supplying him is correct, because I seldom see it mentioned no matter what kind of runs Højlund makes. He doesn't make them enough, though, I agree 100% with that. I'd just like to see the passes being made when he does it, as it is more likely to lead to a goal.

On the other hand - like you've pointed out before - he never should have been a starting striker for us to begin with, but I thought he showed some nice qualities initially, particularly for someone his age. These - other than his hold-up play - seem to have regressed. I don't know if it is coaching, lack of confidence or him just being raw, but the fact that even his movement has become worse probably has something to do with playing with Garnacho who simply hates giving the ball to him. At times, they genuinely seem to dislike each other on the pitch, and it is a bit reminiscent of a younger Vinicius and Benzema.

Let's hope Amorim can get more out of them both, but one thing is a certainty, and that is that we need a much better main striker.

I personally feel like he has lost his way in terms of identity on the pitch; he came here from a functioning team with a defined role and a clear idea of what he was expected to do - he was in a clear quid pro quo that was mutually beneficial and allowed him to focus on his precise job, taking a lot of the stress out of his game as well as variance that has entered the fray since he moved here to a club struggling to get any synergy going. We also have a lot more ego and self-serving players who are not really used to playing for the benefit of one another.

That’s a difficult environment for a very young striker to come into. Højlund has been hazed some by teammates and not really passed that test. By that I mean he had the ‘new lad who has to prove his credentials to his peers’ thing going on and in a world where Rashford has completely lost his way; Garnacho wants to be the second coming of C.Ronaldo (a me-me wing-forward); Antony is Antony and Bruno is way more erratic in pass selection than he was in his first two seasons, you have a real recipe for someone whose game is not solid and certain to lose themselves and their sense of identity.

We can all see he’s less than the player he came here as. The runs he makes now are far worse than those he used to make and his preoccupation with pointlessly wrestling and fighting with CB’s instead of trying to outfox them is getting worse the more his confidence drops, which I think is understandable because right now that’s probably the time when he feels alive and like he’s contributing to the team. If you actively seek to wrestle with CB’s you at least cannot be ignored and bypassed - without that physical connection he could be feeling like a complete passenger; he absolutely does not like or have that ‘none of it matters so long as I score’ indifference to general play of the Haaland/Gomez/ Hugo Sanchez kind of #9’s who literally couldn’t care less about the game going on around them so long as they get that 1 or 2 touch opportunity to score. At Atalanta he had a clear purpose and it meant he was more involved and what he did benefitted both he and the team. It’s been a 180 on a sliding scale since he got here unfortunately.

You mention the runs he does make that get ignored and you’re not wrong, but a striker who is confident and knows exactly who he is and what will best serve himself and the team will make countless runs of quality and at that time, players ignoring them will be in big trouble. Let me cite the very best off the ball runner in the last cycle of actual #9’s in Cavani. Not only was he renowned for his ability to run lines, but the sheer frequency of his desire to make another and another and another. The thing is, he was already the best at it, but the sheer volume of runs put him into the elite category for runs that you really need to dig deep in the crates for elite runners of the line that come close. Cavani was often ridiculed for his propensity to miss seemingly easy chances and he was regularly getting stick for that, but the sheer number of those chances were forged by his elite movement meant they were his right to miss as barely any other forward would have had the cunning to be in those positions in the first place. Cavani must have made tens of thousands of ignored runs in his career and the forage rate per times found with a pass that put him in/through would be a very interesting one and a bar by which we could even measure expected rate for strikers to be found by teammates. Point here is it’s part and parcel of being a striker and they get ignored a lot more times than they are found, but what their runs do in preamble is set up the chances they do get and that constant foraging is what mentally fatigues their markers. Also, making myriad runs is important in the figuring out of your markers and their habits and tendencies. This is the way elite runners start getting the drop on the defence; they’ve worked them out and that is the time split runs and bended rubs etc. go live and are all potentially lethal. It’s a systematic process and Højlund has no concept of it at the moment. His fighting doesn’t benefit him, in fact it tires him out and makes the likelihood of constantly foraging for space remote - he comes off absolutely exhausted at around 70min most games because of pointless, wasted energy.

I don’t think there’s much point citing his touch or even his shooting because that is bound to be erratic in a distressed player. We’ve seen some very good finishes and touches from him as well as lots of bad ones. I would put forward that there’s a correlation and the less confidence and identity he has, the worse all these things become. For me they are a distant second to his movement and understanding of why he should be doing things and when he should be doing things. Unfortunately for him, he’s also at Manchester United where you have to have nerve and steel with the self belief to believe you belong so that other egos and self-serving players don’t crush you, but instead have you show even more belief in yourself. Amorim may be able to generate a reset where players are in the team to serve the team first and foremost and not their own desires. Højlund would get the chance to completely reframe and rebuild his game then and hopefully rid himself of what are frankly terrible tendencies that are not sustainable at this level.

I do actually feel for him because these onset problems were obvious to many of us remonstrating about the club not protecting the player by having a veteran be the lead so all of these growing pains could have been methodically and quietly worked on. We should not be seeing all of this in real time under the glare of the spotlight from a global audience.

 

[Foolsgold21]

Another poor game yesterday, but it really does feel as though using him as a target man is certainly not playing to his strengths.

He has age on his side, and a fresh start under Amorim who will hopefully get the best out of him

 

[Ayoba]

He's much better and comfortable when he's running through on goal as opposed to playing with his back to goal. With the latter, he always seems to get into a wrestling match with the defender. There is no need for that, when he receives the ball with his back to goal, needs to lay it off quickly to our midfielders or wingers, then make a run into the box or channel.

 

[Denis79]

Harry Kane or some similar forward. Even though Harry Kane wouldn't exactly be lighting the place up either with Garncho and Rashford barely giving him anything.

There’s been a lot of debate about whether we should have bought Kane, and the idea that everyone else is to blame but Hojlund is getting tiring. What we do know is what Hojlund is actually showing us. It seems his development has either slowed down or even gone backwards. This could be due to how we’re using him, the pressure on him, or maybe even coaching, but he hasn’t progressed as hoped. His performance at the Euros was disappointing too, even with different teammates and a different set-up, and he’s been below par for us for almost a year.

It’s not just about scoring; it’s more the flaws in his skills that are concerning. Besides his strong work ethic, he’s looks fairly average overall. I really hope Amorim can help him improve, as he’s got a great attitude and works very hard. I hope my view is off, but I just don’t see that “spark” in him. Some players have an obvious potential that just needs time to shine, but with Hojlund, I’m still waiting to see that magic.

 

[evil_geko]

Not worried at all, saw his talent last season. Goals will come with improved confidence. He is still young.

 

[JBG]

Not worried at all, saw his talent last season. Goals will come with improved confidence. He is still young.

I choose to still have faith as well, as I've written earlier in this thread. The way Amorim wants his strikers to play will probably fit Højlund much more than what ETH and to a certain degree RVN wanted.

 

[Møllemanden]

Rasmus Hojlund has taken 4 shots in 7 matches so far in the Premier League 2024/2025 season. Of the 4 shots, 3 shots were on target and the other 1 shots were off target. That means that Hojlund's shooting accuracy is 75.00%. He scores a goal for every 4.00 shots he takes and takes 1.05 shots per 90 minutes on the pitch.

If we continue using him as a target man, we won't get a lot of goals from him. Most finishes from the team comes from wingers or midfielders running into the box. There has been a lack of precision from crosses, and a lot of cutbacks when Rasmus has been where a striker should be. Not saying he's perfect - far from it. But he really isn't getting a lot of service. I think he has a potent left foot. We saw that last season. Feed him and the goals will come. 4 shots in 7 games is just ridiculous when we're talking about a United striker.

 

[Shinjch]

Service is only good as the runs, and runs are only as good as the service - or they can open up space for team mates. It's a team game. At the moment, Hojlund doesn't offer enough for the team.

 

[croadyman]

Can Ruben get a Gyokeres type player out of him

 

[Rex Banner]

I haven't given up, but I can't believe we spent £70 million on him. That money should get you either a guaranteed goalscorer or someone who's clearly gonna be world class, like Haaland was at that age. We're the only club who would spend that much on what is essentially a punt.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

The Australian channel I saw this on were commenting on the Denmark situation and saying it's becoming a bigger concern than it was because he has looked increasingly poor for them. I don't watch Denmark, but it doesn't surprise me to hear that.

A lot of talk in this thread is about service and what not, but if you watch Hojlund, and Hojlund alone, his movement, choices, reading of play, hesitancy and overall game in complete isolation you see these are not the actions of a striker who is doing the right things to suddenly burst into life - he isn't being unlucky; his actions are not conducive to scoring or even being constructive and it is reflected in what can be seen in and of himself.

You can throw in external factors after the above, not before. If a striker is doing the right things, all the negative attention and criticism will go toward those letting him down by not providing, but if the striker isn't doing what he's supposed to, those factors are effectively redundant because other forwards and attack-minded midfielders will simply select another option or go it alone bypassing the poor option who isn't working toward a constructive end.

If a striker is constantly making good-great runs or is open and others ignore him, they'll be benched or severely bollocked. If he isn't, the spotlight turns back on the striker.

Watching Hojlund here and at the Euros, the lack of guile and cunning is a real standout in the way he plays his football. He effectively takes himself out of games so far as being an offensive threat. The wrestling with CB's thing is baffling; he does it more than actual bruiser CF's who were exceptional at it, the likes of Duncan Ferguson, Alan Shearer or Didier Drogba, what's more, it's a style from a bygone era - you don't see CF's doing it to that extent in this day and age as it serves little purpose with the way teams set up these days; slickness and elusiveness is far more valuable. I don't believe anyone is instructing him to do it, in fact, you'd think he's been actively told not to do that as it is a waste of energy and doesn't benefit him or the team as it isn't being done tactically.

You'd hope Amorim sits him down, gets out the footage and goes through the things he shouldn't be doing with a fine-toothed comb. He's harming himself and his opportunity to lockdown the position with the way he is playing his football.

Great post. Agree with all of this. I do think he has the pure ability to be great (pace/strength/good ball striking off either foot/good carrier of the ball) but he’s sorely lacking the intangibles right now and hasn’t looked to have developed that side of his game at all which is discouraging.