[Schmeichels pinky]

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.

No, they are not low per se. It depends on how the team set up attacks, how many forwards etc.

 

[The Serpent]

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.

I'm not going to disagree with you buddy, my issue was with the poster suggesting he is a snowflake for responding to a post. Obviously when you are going through a drought you are going to lose confidence. My point was is that he never really gives up he's a trier and that's one reason why so many united fans have blind faith in him and endear themselves to Hojulund. He's got the right angry face and gives it the big un on socials and runs around a lot. This is what a large portion of our fans believes makes up a great player

I don't rate hojlund I think it's a joke he's been giving the no 9 but one thing you can't take away from is his desire but desire without talent and ability will get you nowhere

 

[Lee565]

How is it that wolves can sign strand larsen for 27 million after scoring 13 goals last season in la liga (stronger than serie a) but we coughed up 70 million for a striker the scored 9 goals in serie A before joining us?

Our club scouting is bonkers.

 

[Andycoleno9]

How is it that wolves can sign strand larsen for 27 million after scoring 13 goals last season in la liga (stronger than serie a) but we coughed up 70 million for a striker the scored 9 goals in serie A before joining us?

Our club scouting is bonkers.

The most appalling thing is that club big as Man Utd have starting striker who wouldn't be starting striker in at least 15 clubs in Pl.
In PL era we didn't have worst leading striker than him. And that is one of the reasons why we are where we are.

In PL you can't afford to have bellow average striker. Awful planning.

 

[Bobski]

No, they are not low per se. It depends on how the team set up attacks, how many forwards etc.

Zirkzee is averaging double the amount of shots of Hojlund in the league, 2.13 to 1.01 per 90, which to be fair comes from a small sample size. Given how awfully ill suited Zirkzee looks to the pace of the league, how off the pace he looks, the relative ease with which he gets on the end of things compared to Hojlund is concerning.

 

[Schmeichels pinky]

Zirkzee is averaging double the amount of shots of Hojlund in the league, 2.13 to 1.01 per 90, which to be fair comes from a small sample size. Given how awfully ill suited Zirkzee looks to the pace of the league, how off the pace he looks, the relative ease with which he gets on the end of things compared to Hojlund is concerning.

Yes. I referred to his Atalanta numbers and just pointed out that in itself it doesn’t necessarily mean much

 

[Shaw's Shank Redemption]

No, they are not low per se. It depends on how the team set up attacks, how many forwards etc.

Just asking because of your username, do you happen to be Danish at all?

The biggest stat to Hojlunds name is his chance conversion rate and its not mathematical to know why that would be if so little shots are taken.

 

[santeria13]

Zirkzee is averaging double the amount of shots of Hojlund in the league, 2.13 to 1.01 per 90, which to be fair comes from a small sample size. Given how awfully ill suited Zirkzee looks to the pace of the league, how off the pace he looks, the relative ease with which he gets on the end of things compared to Hojlund is concerning.

Pretty sure Casemiro even gets more shots away than him. Garnacho gets a plethora of chances. Mctominay, when he was here was much better at getting into dangerous positions too.

The problem is absolutely on Hojlunds end.

 

[L1nk]

I am absolutely not surprised to see a forum that basically shits on their own young player in Hojlund constantly, sympathises more with the person shitting on Hojlund beyond just "criticism" - than their own player who's taking the unnecessary abuse, and instead he should just take it unquestioned, weird that. Fanbase doesn't really deserve anything, horrendous attitudes from most people.

"Social media generation" right because levels of abuse didn't and hasn't affected players at any level before even the advent of social media. Besides, I can guarantee most people quoting "social media" grew up in a time where it wasn't a thing, well for these young players it's all they've ever known and grown up in, so of course they are going to be on it. The responses are so generational it hurts.

Tell me, if your own fans are constantly posting abused targetted at you, by the hundreds or thousands, when you're a young man and you're just trying to play your football, lets see you try and ignore it.

 

[Escobar]

Pretty sure Casemiro even gets more shots away than him. Garnacho gets a plethora of chances. Mctominay, when he was here was much better at getting into dangerous positions too.

The problem is absolutely on Hojlunds end.

He is a problem yes and it has been showing. He is just not very good overall and people get blinded if he scores a great odd goal here and there

 

[Fortitude]

I am absolutely not surprised to see a forum that basically shits on their own young player in Hojlund constantly, sympathises more with the person shitting on Hojlund beyond just "criticism" - than their own player who's taking the unnecessary abuse, and instead he should just take it unquestioned, weird that. Fanbase doesn't really deserve anything, horrendous attitudes from most people.

"Social media generation" right because levels of abuse didn't and hasn't affected players at any level before even the advent of social media. Besides, I can guarantee most people quoting "social media" grew up in a time where it wasn't a thing, well for these young players it's all they've ever known and grown up in, so of course they are going to be on it. The responses are so generational it hurts.

Tell me, if your own fans are constantly posting abused targetted at you, by the hundreds or thousands, when you're a young man and you're just trying to play your football, lets see you try and ignore it.

“Social Media” is a massive place and eco system, you go where you go in it because of compulsion and not because it’s what you were raised in. Taking what you have said to its conclusion would have every athlete of the social media age actively defending their name and honour, not a select few. Ask yourself why it’s news in itself when a professional athlete interacts with, and posts against trolls, whether defending their position or not. It is still majority abnormal to see because most pros either have handlers who act as a buffer, or they use aliases to interact with the people in their social circles without a soul knowing who doesn’t need to know. That, or personals are set to private. Basically, it’s extremely difficult to get at them directly with all the mechanisms in place intent on preventing that.

Something has gone wrong when scrotes from the internet are able to get a direct line to the object of their trolling/attacks, and that needs fixing immediately.

 

[Ekeke]

Pretty sure Casemiro even gets more shots away than him. Garnacho gets a plethora of chances. Mctominay, when he was here was much better at getting into dangerous positions too.

The problem is absolutely on Hojlunds end.

It is, but its not quite as simple as you just suggested.

Hojlund occupying defenders in the middle, sometimes with his movement, is one of the reasons why McTominay could arrive later, or Bruno, or that our wingers could get a shot away instead of crossing. He should still be able to get himself involved enough to have more than 1 shot per 90 mins, but hes also involved in other players getting their shots away on top of that.

One main factor I think, especially if we compare him to Zirkzee who has more shots per 90 mins, is that even though Zirkzee has scored just 1 goal with his head... He does get to the ball and averages 1 headed shot every 2 games. Hojlund has hasnt had a single headed shot this season in 802 mins (8.9 full 90s). Its a similar discrepancy for shots from set pieces, so thats probably more where Zirkzee has managed to head the ball.

Hojlund one of our tallest players but is 0 threat in the air. Zirkzee is tiny threat in the air, but that does lead to him having a couple of efforts.

 

[Denis79]

The most appalling thing is that club big as Man Utd have starting striker who wouldn't be starting striker in at least 15 clubs in Pl.
In PL era we didn't have worst leading striker than him. And that is one of the reasons why we are where we are.

In PL you can't afford to have bellow average striker. Awful planning.

The situation isn’t his fault, he shouldn't even be our main striker. I am baffled the decision-makers and ETH believed it was a good idea to keep him as our main striker and only bring in a backup tgis summer, how do you even come to that conclusion after his performances last season?

What we really needed was an experienced striker to guide Hojlund, allowing him to develop gradually. Realistically, his current level seems more suited to occasional appearances, such as the last 15 minutes of a game or a cup match. At this stage, he is far from being Premier League quality, even less so leading the line at a club with our ambitions. The immense pressure being placed on him is undoubtedly hindering his development.

 

[Paul778]

The most appalling thing is that club big as Man Utd have starting striker who wouldn't be starting striker in at least 15 clubs in Pl.
In PL era we didn't have worst leading striker than him. And that is one of the reasons why we are where we are.

In PL you can't afford to have bellow average striker. Awful planning.

If you are going to start comparing Rasmus to all the other PL strikers, it's only fair to do the same for the rest of the squad also.

Our 10s and WBs particularly are lower half of the PL.

 

[SparcMac]

I lot critics over him, but none actually think if it's movement and positioning is actually set up within tactics - I don't recall a single moment neither under ETH or Amorim where the coach as been disgruntled about his actions. I haven't seen that statistics this season yet, but just end of last season he was the most "ignored" striker in the Premier League - under ignores I mean, the ball wasn't passed to him when he made his runs or the crosses didn't find him when he was wide open or ahead of his defender in the box.

Which of all comes down to the point, as much you want to blame the current player, the striker role suffers the most if the squad is suffering the he doesn't get the service he needs to do his thing - it's the loneliest role.

 

[Schmeichels pinky]

He is just not very good overall

Is what people who don’t bother with reasons or nuances say. Plenty of posts here to read if you’re interested in a less black/white view

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Hojlund has 21 goals in 75 league games in the top leagues, just not really good enough for a main striker of this club unless you're doing Drogba-like work in hold-up play, which he doesn't either. Plays like a goalscorer, but he doesn't score.

 

[Bobski]

Everything he does with the ball at feet other than finishing looks terribly hard work for him, constantly needs additional touches to get the ball under control. People focus so hard on goals and finishing but the striker needs to be a good footballer as well unless they are Haaland, without an ability to be part of the game in a constructive manner a striker like this is just a roadblock.

Chicarito had a more polished all round game and really it is not even close.

 

[Crackers]

Incredibly frustrating performance. He gets dispossessed very easily, doesn't look very strong and his overall holdup play is crap.
I can't figure out if it's nerves or if his first touch is really that crap.

He did have to drop deep a lot to help recycle possession but I don't think it excuses just how bad he was. Maybe it's just inexperience but I don't see the potential there.
I think we should find a temporary striker and send him off on a loan. The mind boggles wondering how he's our only #9.

 

[dannyrhinos89]

Worst striker in the league........well along with zirkzee.

 

[mavradal]

Simply not ready to be a starter in PL which is not his fault

 

[Ekeke]

Won a few fouls. Rarely able to get the ball under control, on the few occasions he does fend off a CB and control the ball he dwells on it instead of making a simple pass and then has too many touches and loses the ball

 

[Godfather]

Did well I thought

 

[Superunknown]

In any other top team, he's a third choice striker. He is not good enough right now to lead the line for us week in week out. He hasn't got the presence, the mentality, or the talent to do it.

 

[Bojan11]

Zirkzee gets abuse. But let’s be honest this guy isn’t any better, and we should be looking to shift as well. His first touch is worse than Lukaku, but Lukaku wasn’t pushed around by other defenders.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

72m

 

[UnitedRepublic]

Seems be more focused on getting his behind on another mans body parts rather than getting to the ball and cover it properly.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Watching him at one end and watching Isak at the other just depressed me.

Think at this point his ceiling is probably as an impact sub (keyword being CEILING). I don’t ever see him becoming a starting caliber 9 with how terrible he is technically with anything that isn’t shooting the ball

 

[the_cliff]

72m

Was just going to say this. We spent a total of 100 mill on him and Zirkzee, they are easily the worst 2 strikers in the league.

 

[lsd]

Just don't see a striker in him anywhere another shocking buy. Ten Hag left us a terrible squad

 

[AndySmith1990]

If we'd got him for free and he were earning minimum wage I'd say we were getting what we paid for

 

[flameinthesun]

He ain't it unfortunately. Would be a decent backup option maybe but definitely not United starting quality, probably wouldn't start for the majority of the teams in the league which says a lot about us.

 

[Lay]

72m

9 goals. Only 2 against a top 10 team in Serie A.

 

[CannibalSpectre]

Did well I thought

At what specifically? It's embarrassing to even say this when Isak on the other end caused us all kinds of problems and should've had a hattrick before halftime. Hojlund is one of the worst starting CFs in the league

 

[NotChatGPT]

People are being overly harsh on a player that was essentially on his own against Newcastles defense for the vast majority of the match, he wasn’t that bad.

More likely than not he’s not the answer for us, and we might have to work to get rid during the summer

 

[Bobski]

Watching him at one end and watching Isak at the other just depressed me.

Think at this point his ceiling is probably as an impact sub (keyword being CEILING). I don’t ever see him becoming a starting caliber 9 with how terrible he is technically with anything that isn’t shooting the ball

Yep, look how illusive and hard to pin down Isaak is, electric movement, has a bit of magic in him with the ball at feet outside the box. Height of my ambition with Hojlund is that as a £72 million footballer he will actually be able to efficiently control the ball on occasion.

 

[dannyrhinos89]

Was just going to say this. We spent a total of 100 mill on him and Zirkzee, they are easily the worst 2 strikers in the league.

They should both be on the list of players we should be selling.

We'd have to take a loss but no point keeping 2 completly useless players that'll clearly never be good enough around.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

9 goals. Only 2 against a top 10 team in Serie A.

We could have got a 20-30 mil striker from lower half of the league and he would do better than this guy. Has no attribute that stands out. I don’t see the potential everyone keeps talking about

 

[Ghostrider318]

Hes a below avg footballer who would never cost 72m in combined fees over the length of his career if we did not have one of the worst managers in terms of spotting talent in ETH

Just because we already need to replace Antony Zirkzee Rashford, he will survive atleast 1 more season. Hopefuly not more than that

 

[Adz_99]

Has the odd flash of brilliance but I just don't think he's up to it. Offers so very little around the pitch. We need a forward who can dribble past defenders and create chances.