[Ekeke]

Weird examples to give. Mbeumo was bought 5 years ago when Brentford were in the Championship. Brentford just have a competent scouting department.

£36.5m is maybe too much to spend on a punt, but this is Manchester United. We spent more than twice that on Hojlund in the hope that he might be good.

No we didnt. We bought him because we fully thought he was going to be a top striker ala Haaland. You dont pay half of that for someone you are just hoping will be good.

Yes Mbeumo was bought cheap and is a proven premier league goalscorer now. Thats a punt

 

[Rex Banner]

No we didnt. We bought him because we fully thought he was going to be a top striker ala Haaland. You dont pay half of that for someone you are just hoping will be good.

Yes Mbeumo was bought cheap and is a proven premier league goalscorer now. Thats a punt

There was no evidence to suggest that Hojlund would be as good as Haaland. It was pure hope. Most clubs wouldn't pay that for a punt, you're right, but we did because we were run by incompetent clowns.

Mbeumo was Brentford's record transfer at the time, he was not bought cheap.

 

[marcus agrippa]

Yeah, the guy who's played a grand total of 3 games for Everton and hasn't scored a league goal for 2 years offers more than him.

Yeah, getting injured and playing for relegation fodder as a young inexperienced player will do that.

But he can hold up the ball better, can run the channels, can occupy defenders. Given as much time as Hojlund has in this team, and he'd do better I wager.

Hojlund isn't it.

 

[Lentwood]

He literally needs, and I mean this, someone to attach a device to his body in training which delivers a moderate electric shock and have Amorim zap him every single time he takes a 3rd touch of the ball.

His job is to bring the #10s and midfield into play. One touch to control, one touch to lay it off, spin and go for the return.

 

[Godfather]

He literally needs, and I mean this, someone to attach a device to his body in training which delivers a moderate electric shock and have Amorim zap him every single time he takes a 3rd touch of the ball.

His job is to bring the #10s and midfield into play. One touch to control, one touch to lay it off, spin and go for the return.

Plus whenever he is late to a cross

 

[marcus agrippa]

He literally needs, and I mean this, someone to attach a device to his body in training which delivers a moderate electric shock and have Amorim zap him every single time he takes a 3rd touch of the ball.

Forget the ball. His first instinct is to look for the defender and grapple.

 

[Lentwood]

Plus whenever he is late to a cross

To be fair, whilst I do agree, our crosses are so rare and so sporadic / unpredictable, its no wonder he's not expecting them

 

[Borussia Teeth]

he is so raw that you would think he is a 30m at most, but we paid 72m, let that sink in.

there are at least 12-15 strikers in the PL that are objectively better than him, yes he is young, but he was not ready at all to be brought in for 72m as the main striker for any club in the league, let alone for us.

his link up play, intelligence, positioning, and holdup are all severely lacking, he would need a season long loan to work it out and get better.

Edit: the bolded part I said it in jest, but when I thought about it, it could be true

Haaland, Isak, Solanke, Watkins, Duran, Evanilson, Jackson, Mateta, Wood, Jota, Pedro, Wissa, Delap.

Delap & Duran are the same age as Hojlund

My brother is a Fulham fan. Their strikers: Jiminez and Muniz are both better than him too

 

[Isotope]

He literally needs, and I mean this, someone to attach a device to his body in training which delivers a moderate electric shock and have Amorim zap him every single time he takes a 3rd touch of the ball.

His job is to bring the #10s and midfield into play. One touch to control, one touch to lay it off, spin and go for the return.

He also need to train his going down move when fouled. Not many ref would buy his lousy theatrical style.

 

[criticalanalysis]

For a players who is apparently pacey, he never ever runs in behind. Wolves pushed up with a high line today there was ample opportunity to run in behind and stretch them/turn them round, but no just stands Infront of his defender demanding everything to feet so he can 'control it' straight into trouble.

The players even played a few through balls and balls over the top for him and he wasn't even attempting to move for them.

He's a good wrestler who can kick the ball quite hard with his left foot, and that's about the sum of his talent.

Really really poor signing who would struggle in the championship.

That's not what I remembered in the first half as he made at least 3-4 good runs, that were missed/messed up by Mainoo and Amad. Wasn't paying much attention in the second half after Bruno's red card; it was always going to be an uphill battle to get on the ball and catch them out as they were sat deeper and had the extra man.

When did the examples you remember happen?

 

[Oscar Bonavena]

He’s not good in the air and never has been. It’s his one obvious weakness and it was known when we bought him.

He has more than one obvious weakness! He has at least 3 or 4.

- Heading like you'd mentioned.
- First touch and close control is very bad.
- Movement is bad (although as you mentioned, that could be down to having no idea what his teammates are going to do!)
- Goalscorer's instincts although this is probably linked to movement. When crosses do go into the box he's often on his heels and not in a position to attack them. Saw it again v Wolves.

His main strengths are finishing (when he does get the chances) and he's moderately fast (not lightning) but we rarely see it because he spends most of the time on his arse trying to hold up the ball!

I don't know why we don't try to get him to make more runs in behind to get on the end of, because the lad can't play with his back to goal, that's for sure!

 

[Litch]

My biggest issue is his movement is poor which makes him hard to find. I've noticed he's always a split second too late arriving to the chance and why Scott use to beat him to the ball all the time when he scored.

 

[Bondi77]

What coaching did RVN give to him when he was there?
He looks worse than he did last season!

 

[Hester_manc]

It was not long ago fans were sure that the young talents were our bright future, and we never should sell any of them. But fans seem to forget that young players have ups and downs and it would be stupid to sell players like Højlund, Garnacho or Mainoo. It was always made clear that Højlund was one for the future, and it is not his fault that we do not have or buy a striker he could learn from and Højlund could be back-up for.

 

[Schmeichels pinky]

He has more than one obvious weakness! He has at least 3 or 4.

- Heading like you'd mentioned.
- First touch and close control is very bad.
- Movement is bad (although as you mentioned, that could be down to having no idea what his teammates are going to do!)
- Goalscorer's instincts although this is probably linked to movement. When crosses do go into the box he's often on his heels and not in a position to attack them. Saw it again v Wolves.

His main strengths are finishing (when he does get the chances) and he's moderately fast (not lightning) but we rarely see it because he spends most of the time on his arse trying to hold up the ball!

I don't know why we don't try to get him to make more runs in behind to get on the end of, because the lad can't play with his back to goal, that's for sure!

I’ve been following him since Austria and in Italy and heading was his only obvious shortcoming as a talent. His hold up play was unknown when we signed him, his movement was good and his “instinct” perfectly tuned. So yes, heading was his only apparent weakness.

I don’t think his hold up play has turned out to be bad, but it is inconsistent. He’s played many games for us where he held the ball well and laid it off to teammates, he has even created quite a few open chances for them by holding the ball and playing a killer pass afterwards. Just think people tend to forget all the good stuff when he has a bad game. In a functioning team Hojlund would’ve continued his progression and touted as one of the most promising young strikers in the Prem by now, no doubt. As it is, he suffers from lack of confidence which is a real killer for a young forward especially. Still, he shows his skills in glimpses like the through pass for Garnacho when he came on vs Bournemouth.

 

[VP89]

So far I prefer Zirkzee to Hojlund. I want both to succeed in a United shirt and dont really want to rule either one out. I do feel in many games Hojlund does nothing though, whilst trying to run about.

 

[UnitedSofa]

 

[Ekeke]

There was no evidence to suggest that Hojlund would be as good as Haaland. It was pure hope. Most clubs wouldn't pay that for a punt, you're right, but we did because we were run by incompetent clowns.

Mbeumo was Brentford's record transfer at the time, he was not bought cheap.

Of course there was no evidence, just a decent scoring record for a young player. But when you're asked to then pay 73.90 million euros for the player, thats what is expected. A top striker. Nobody pays that on hope. They pay it on belief that hes going to be a top striker.

Mbeumo was very cheap for a player who will score goals in the premier league regardless of records.

 

[Crimson King]

Really? Why are you posting twitter trash like this?

 

[UnitedSofa]

Really? Why are you posting twitter trash like this?

Because it shows that he *may* be more concerned about what people think of him rather than just ignoring it and performing on the pitch.

I don’t even know why I’m fecking justifying myself to you anyway, just ignore it next time.

 

[Longshanks]

That's not what I remembered in the first half as he made at least 3-4 good runs, that were missed/messed up by Mainoo and Amad. Wasn't paying much attention in the second half after Bruno's red card; it was always going to be an uphill battle to get on the ball and catch them out as they were sat deeper and had the extra man.

When did the examples you remember happen?

It's all about his movement, or lack of it. Yes some of passing doesn't always hit the target but more often than not Rasmus isn't even attempting to make the run anyway. He never gambles his movement is reactive rather than proactive, it's why he is nearly always behind crosses or balls across the six yard box. Because he is just reacting to it.

His movement is similar in many ways to the way martial's was. Never quite there nearly always a step behind.

 

[groovyalbert]

Feel for him coming in at the age he did and being tasked with leading the line. Shame on those running the club for putting him in that position. He would be an excellent option playing second fiddle to an established striker. Look at Duran at Villa with Watkins.

 

[DJ_21]

It was not long ago fans were sure that the young talents were our bright future, and we never should sell any of them. But fans seem to forget that young players have ups and downs and it would be stupid to sell players like Højlund, Garnacho or Mainoo. It was always made clear that Højlund was one for the future, and it is not his fault that we do not have or buy a striker he could learn from and Højlund could be back-up for.

Agreed. His only other competition is worse than he is so he’s having to be the main guy which is hard at such a young age. We need a clinical experienced ST to bang in the goals as well as help him out and let him learn from.

 

[Oscar Bonavena]

That's one of the problems with this squad, too many of them are on social media getting butthurt about what some random fan says about them.

Get off social media, do extra hours on the training ground and improve your f**king game!

 

[santeria13]

Another snowflake in our squad who can't handle criticism on twitter. Yeah, the criticism was a bit OTT, but get a grip. You can't be a footballer at this level and let this shit get to you. Especially when you're playing badly.

 

[The Serpent]

Another snowflake in our squad who can't handle criticism on twitter. Yeah, the criticism was a bit OTT, but get a grip. You can't be a footballer at this level and let this shit get to you. Especially when you're playing badly.

I don't think hes a snowflake because he responded to a critic. One thing you can't question about Hojlund is his mentality. He never drops his head during games and always tries for the full 90 minutes or until he's subbed.

The problem I have is his response trying to gaslight the fan, suggesting what he said is disturbing and to stop talking about things he supposedly knows nothing about. When It is a fact he is signed to the same agency as Ten Hag Sports Entertainment group(SEG) and it's known ten hag brother was apart of that agency and getting huge commission from the inflated fees we paid for this transfer and Brian Brobbery even said Ten hag was trying to entice him to join the club by telling him his agent would get millions.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Didn’t realise they share the same agent.

 

[Toshey]

Ffs, I can make a chat like this in 2 minutes, and make it look like he's sending that fan a dick pick.
Are we really falling for that?

 

[criticalanalysis]

It's all about his movement, or lack of it. Yes some of passing doesn't always hit the target but more often than not Rasmus isn't even attempting to make the run anyway. He never gambles his movement is reactive rather than proactive, it's why he is nearly always behind crosses or balls across the six yard box. Because he is just reacting to it.

His movement is similar in many ways to the way martial's was. Never quite there nearly always a step behind.

I don't disagree. Hojlund is poor in that he's very inconsistent with his movement. If I had to put a number on it, he makes 5 decent runs and 5 poor ones. However, of the 5 decent ones he does make, he'll get the ball about 1-2 times, which then affects the overall perception of his his overall game. I do find some criticism of the 'poor' runs he makes a bit here and there though e.g the two outside of the boot crosses Bruno put in the Spurs game. Some argue he should have been busting a gut to get to the 6 yard box/far post for though but I look at Bruno's technique, timing and the ball's trajectory thinking it's never going to find a striker in that moment. Chicken and egg situation for me.

However, specifically for the games against Wolves, I remember Hojlund making 3-4 good runs in the 1st half.

 

[noodlehair]

Another snowflake in our squad who can't handle criticism on twitter. Yeah, the criticism was a bit OTT, but get a grip. You can't be a footballer at this level and let this shit get to you. Especially when you're playing badly.

It's not criticism it's some numpty claiming him signing for us was some kind of financial scam/corruption.

There's a massive irony in getting annoyed about him harmlessly commenting on rubbish that attacks his integrity and then calling him a snowflake.

 

[CannibalSpectre]

I don't think hes a snowflake because he responded to a critic. One thing you can't question about Hojlund is his mentality. He never drops his head during games and always tries for the full 90 minutes or until he's subbed.

The problem I have is his response trying to gaslight the fan, suggesting what he said is disturbing and to stop talking about things he supposedly knows nothing about. When It is a fact he is signed to the same agency as Ten Hag Sports Entertainment group(SEG) and it's known ten hag brother was apart of that agency and getting huge commission from the inflated fees we paid for this transfer and Brian Brobbery even said Ten hag was trying to entice him to join the club by telling him his agent would get millions.

The first part is not a reflection of reality. Hojlund was all the things you mention in his first few United games, but that didn't last long and he played with his head down more as his goalless drought went on, and he increasingly got frustrated with his teammates. He retained that mentality and application during his goalscoring purple patch, but he's been back to this frustrated wrestler since then.

 

[Sir Marcus]

I think we should cut our losses on this one.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I don't think hes a snowflake because he responded to a critic. One thing you can't question about Hojlund is his mentality. He never drops his head during games and always tries for the full 90 minutes or until he's subbed.

The problem I have is his response trying to gaslight the fan, suggesting what he said is disturbing and to stop talking about things he supposedly knows nothing about. When It is a fact he is signed to the same agency as Ten Hag Sports Entertainment group(SEG) and it's known ten hag brother was apart of that agency and getting huge commission from the inflated fees we paid for this transfer and Brian Brobbery even said Ten hag was trying to entice him to join the club by telling him his agent would get millions.

Won’t someone think of the poor, gaslit fan. Truly the real victim in all of this.

 

[Lord]

I think we should cut our losses on this one.

100% agree with this, it's time to cut our losses with as huge number of players who just arent good enough, not just for Man Utd, but also for the Premier League.

 

[Fortitude]

Nothing good can come of him being on social media and getting into it with those taking swipes at him. It'll just beget more and more negative comments with the awareness that not only does he read them, but there's a chance he'll even respond. That's lighting the flame for the moths to make a beeline for.

I do feel for this kid, but he really needs his handlers to stage an intervention and get him off the e-front lines.

 

[marcus agrippa]

Nothing good can come of him being on social media and getting into it with those taking swipes at him. It'll just beget more and more negative comments with the awareness that not only does he read them, but there's a chance he'll even respond. That's lighting the flame for the moths to make a beeline for.

I do feel for this kid, but he really needs his handlers to stage an intervention and get him off the e-front lines.

Spot on!
Why let people know they can get to you like that? Just ignore it and do your talking on the pitch. Our problem is we have a bunch of players who think (social) media is where they win battles.

 

[Schmeichels pinky]

I don't disagree. Hojlund is poor in that he's very inconsistent with his movement. If I had to put a number on it, he makes 5 decent runs and 5 poor ones. However, of the 5 decent ones he does make, he'll get the ball about 1-2 times, which then affects the overall perception of his his overall game. I do find some criticism of the 'poor' runs he makes a bit here and there though e.g the two outside of the boot crosses Bruno put in the Spurs game. Some argue he should have been busting a gut to get to the 6 yard box/far post for though but I look at Bruno's technique, timing and the ball's trajectory thinking it's never going to find a striker in that moment. Chicken and egg situation for me.

However, specifically for the games against Wolves, I remember Hojlund making 3-4 good runs in the 1st half.

Agree. Until we get consistent playing patterns and relations between the midfield, wingers and forwards it’s hard to judge the quality of most of his runs.

 

[sullydnl]

From a stats perspective, Hojlund's shots per 90 stats in the league tell a story:

Sturm Gratz - 2.08
Atalanta - 2.65
United Season One - 1.58
United Season Two - 1.01

You can absolutely blame the dysfunction in the team for the amount of shots he gets dropping off so significantly upon arriving here. And you can absolutely believe that those numbers would improve with better service, especially as he should be improving as a player.

But the underlying issue with Hojlund himself is that these are all low shot volume numbers, even at those previous clubs. So even if the service around him improves to the point he is getting chances at the same rate he did in Italy, that still isn't enough. And the rest of the improvement needs to come from his own game changing.

For comparison, someone like Osimhen has averaged between 3.27 and 6.09 shots per 90 each season since he was a 19 year old playing for Charleroi, averaging out around 4 shot per 90 across his entire career. That's a lot more chances from a player who is a lot better at getting chances.

 

[the_cliff]

From a stats perspective, Hojlund's shots per 90 stats in the league tell a story:

Sturm Gratz - 2.08
Atalanta - 2.65
United Season One - 1.58
United Season Two - 1.01

You can absolutely blame the dysfunction in the team for the amount of shots he gets dropping off so significantly upon arriving here. And you can absolutely believe that those numbers would improve with better service, especially as he should be improving as a player.

But the underlying issue with Hojlund himself is that these are all low shot volume numbers, even at those previous clubs. So even if the service around him improves to the point he is getting chances at the same rate he did in Italy, that still isn't enough. And the rest of the improvement needs to come from his own game changing.

For comparison, someone like Osimhen has averaged between 3.27 and 6.09 shots per 90 each season since he was a 19 year old playing for Charleroi, averaging out around 4 shot per 90 across his entire career. That's a lot more chances from a player who is a lot better at getting chances.

The big problem with Hojlund is not his positioning and getting on the end of chances. His overall play is terrible, he can't hold the ball up, takes way too long on the ball killing attacks on the rare occasion he's actually able to control it, he gets bullied way too often spending most of the game on the floor and his pressing is meh.

At least with a players like Jesus and Havertz for example, although not the best goal scorers they can contribute to an overall style of play. For all the shit Martial got here when we were at our best over the last 10 years at least he contributed well to our style of play under Ole in the 9.

 

[bosnian_red]

From a stats perspective, Hojlund's shots per 90 stats in the league tell a story:

Sturm Gratz - 2.08
Atalanta - 2.65
United Season One - 1.58
United Season Two - 1.01

You can absolutely blame the dysfunction in the team for the amount of shots he gets dropping off so significantly upon arriving here. And you can absolutely believe that those numbers would improve with better service, especially as he should be improving as a player.

But the underlying issue with Hojlund himself is that these are all low shot volume numbers, even at those previous clubs. So even if the service around him improves to the point he is getting chances at the same rate he did in Italy, that still isn't enough. And the rest of the improvement needs to come from his own game changing.

For comparison, someone like Osimhen has averaged between 3.27 and 6.09 shots per 90 each season since he was a 19 year old playing for Charleroi, averaging out around 4 shot per 90 across his entire career. That's a lot more chances from a player who is a lot better at getting chances.

What's more is that Zirkzee is averaging 0.5 shots per game more than Hojlund in the league (2.14) and he's never been known as a CF who takes lots of shots but as we know is more focused on link up, is new to the league and has been thoroughly disappointing (but still better than Hojlund)