He simple answer: That depends.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 19
- Goals
- 7
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 1
The point is that some posters here keep banging about some (invisible?) potential while ignoring actual performances.
If you want to talk about his amazing potential then make a thread "how awesome will Hojlund be" and then we can debate about his flaws and strengths.
This is performance thread where we talk about performances of our first choice striker. And those performances (and numbers) are way, way bellow standard which United first 11 player should have.
That is not what you said. You said he played like a little developed youth player, which is not the same as struggling in some aspects of the game. Most players have clear flaws in their game.
No, I don't. But there is a difference in acknowledging a young player's talent and potential and shitting on a young player when he clearly isn't ready to lead the line for us. Omorodion couldn't play for Atletico, Duran isn't Villa's starter, Ferguson can't get ahead of Welbeck etc. Young strikers aren't ready to lead a top team's forward line unless you're Agüero, Haaland or Ronaldo. It is not his fault we're a terribly run club who put unrealistic expectations to our players.
In that case then we should all bash Mainoo in his performance thread. It is about his performances after all, not his qualities or potential.
Ok. Tell me then where exactly is that big potential and talent in him. Seriously, that "potential and talent" is repeated 100 times already. And please, please, don't start with quick and strong.
You really picked wrong example.
Kid in his first season (with only 18 years old) bossed in midfield last year. And in every game you could see amazing talent which that kid has.
How did he play tonight ?
And we could say that about the entire squad so what do we do?
He is a very good finisher for one. He has a powerful shot, and can finish with both feet. He is actually pretty decent at using his weaker foot too, not just for finishing. Then you have his instincts for attacking low crosses into the box, which is kind of his specialty. Sadly, we have three wingers that are on the lower percentile for crossing into the box, as they are more interested in cutting in to shoot.
His hold-up play is good for his age, and showed last season he can hold off some of the best defenders in the league, he just has to learn to use his body more consistently. He is a pretty good passer for a striker, with a great weight of pass, which should have resulted in more assists last season. And then, his dribbling for someone with his size isn't too bad. He isn't a nimble striker with excellent agility or technique, but he has created chances for himself with his dribbling and scored from that as well.
And of course, his pace (dribbling and beating van de Ven isn't something a lot of strikers can do) is a strong asset. He is strong, but in PL, it doesn't matter much if you use your body incorrectly at the situations where you need to use it right, and that's something he needs to improve, and most strikers adapt to that in PL with experience, like Watkins, Solanke and even Kane had to learn.
It is actually hard not to see the potential unless you really don't want to, which seems to be the case for you. You want another striker type, and that is fine, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have potential. His set of skills is clear to everyone, but he also has weaknesses. If he can hone those skills and learn to use them combined and consistently, then he will be a very, very good striker.
I mean, that was the whole point and you're literally making my argument for me. You said it is a performance thread, so we should discuss his performances, so why are you talking about what he did last season? Or his qualities? What use have they been this season? He has been poor this season and quite invisible, and the only quality he has really shown in these games so far are press resistance. What about passing, creating chances, defensive work rate, pace and controlling the game? A 32 year old past it Eriksen has been much better with a significantly greater impact. To me, he looks slow and a bit careless these days.You really picked wrong example.
Kid in his first season (with only 18 years old) bossed in midfield last year. And in every game you could see amazing talent which that kid has.
Even still, that doesn't mean I go into his performance thread and criticise him. He is young, learning and adapting, and shouldn't be playing as much as he does.
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Yes, he does often play like a little developed player, which doesn't mean he's incapable of scoring every now and then. He's weak in the air, weak on the ground (his duel success rate is generally sub 40%), is usually flat footed, is nowhere to be seen in the box (McTominay was much better at attacking balls in the box and I never thought he was good enough for us) etc.
Twitter seems to suggest he had another stinker tonight and was pulled before the hour mark. 4 touches apparently….but that was a report in Twitter.
Thought you didn’t want to discuss potential here?
Also, you don’t ask because you genuinely want to listen, cause many of us have told you all about it for a year. You just ignore it as is evident by your quotes in bold. What you want is to be right so you keep cherry picking and doubling down on your hardened beliefs.
That’s moronic. I saw the match and he played well. Held the ball, won duels, created space and made a brilliant pass that could’ve gotten him an assist.
That’s Twitter for you. Good to hear as we need the lad in some form of groove for this weekend. He wasn’t hooked because of injury was he?
He'll score on Saturday
He is 21. He is developing. There are weak aspects in every young player. Do you honestly believe he should be good at everything? If that are your expectations of our players, then you can't be satisfied with any of them.
The whole point of buying young players is for them to develop, and not be played as our main players, especially not strikers. It is not his fault that our board were amateurs. Putting unrealistic expectations on a player because our club decided to pay big money for him is on the club, not him, and demanding him to deliver equivalent to that fee is quite frankly idiotic.
Yes, this is the situation we're in. It's as fine to talk about his strengths and whatever you consider his ceiling to be as it is to discuss his limitations. This is the performance thread. His shortcomings cannot be ignored.
Absolutely. Posters saying stuff like "he'll never be good enough" or "what is he even good at?" is just silly, though. I'm sure the same posters would be saying that if we had a 20 year old Cavani playing for us as well. After all, he was just some random striker with deficiencies who scored 5 goals in Serie A in his debut season there.
Then he became one of the world's best striker. Not saying Højlund will have the same trajectory or be as good, but it is quite simply impossible to say how good he will be, and far too early to write him off. There are good signs with him, but he will have to work on his weaknesses, of course.
This is pretty simple. Rasmus is still finding back after injury. He is on the right track, but still not at a 100%. Not much to work with yesterday, but made good runs and worked out a decent chance for himself that was saved by Kobel. It was a 5.5 performance.
No, and he was quite puzzled with the substitution himself but I think the truth is he’s about to lose his starting spot for Denmark. It was a typical Højlund performance. He did okay the few times he was involved but he struggled badly to get in the game at all, and he hasn’t scored for Denmark in ages. If he wasn’t a United player, he’d be nowhere near the starting team on merit, been one of our worst players in most of his recent outings.
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He was again among our worst players, like he has been in the last 6-8 games.. He had one good chance, which he made him self, but a good save by the keeper.. The difference betweem yesterday and the last 8-10 games was that we didnt look better when he was taken off.. but thats been the case both in EURO and the last games.. Denmark just look better when he is not playing, partly becaurse our team doesnt play to the things Højland is best at
I don’t think so, he seemed quite displeased being subbed. It wasn’t only him either but the entire frontline, so I think it was tactical to get fresh legs in - Denmark were under pressure in that period.
Don’t think that’s fair. He wasn’t as involved as you would hope but he held the ball well and created both the chance for himself and another with a brilliant pass. Also, he created a lot of space for that winger on the right.
As far as I could see Denmark’s problems were defense and midfield when defending and I’d rate the entire back line lower than Hojlund.
I'm appalled that people on here describe him as an average player. They have clearly forgotten what he did last season after he had recovered from his first injury. He scored again and again for a period, although he received almost no support in the form of assists. I have followed Højlund since his debut for FC Copenhagen, and his strength is usually that he fights and is really optimistic in his game. Much of that attitude I can't recognize this season, but he has also joined a "koas club" which in my eyes is sailing around without any direction. And he has become a part of that. It is no coincidence that we have quite a few good players in the squad who do not function optimally.
And Højlund is a part of that right now - he is flailing his arms and seems much more cautious than I have ever seen him. But of course you also have to remember that he has just had another injury, and we have already learned from last season that Højlund takes a long time to find his form after an injury. But he is far from average, but it is true that he is not functioning optimally right now.
And Højlund is a part of that right now - he is flailing his arms and seems much more cautious than I have ever seen him. But of course you also have to remember that he has just had another injury, and we have already learned from last season that Højlund takes a long time to find his form after an injury. But he is far from average, but it is true that he is not functioning optimally right now.
@Andycoleno9
I think the wide variety of opinions says a lot about his ability to enforce his presence on the pitch.
I notice it at United but I especially notice it more when he plays for Denmark which surprised me at the start because I thought Denmark would utilise him more as this tap in merchant type player/team tactic where everyone's trying to get him on the end of the ball.
He just feels like he's never there on the pitch.
I think the closest comparison I can make is through 90 minutes he feels like Chicharito where he isn't influencing the game at all. Chicharito would however end up scoring a goal nearly every game to compensate for this.
Hojlund at the moment is not influencing the game at all during 90 minutes, doesn't score any goals to compensate for that & we are left with a striker who made one really fast channel run, held two Defenders off for 2-3 seconds & made one good pass to a wingers that could still be better in terms of both accuracy and timing - with just that after every 90 mins.
I can see him as a late bloomer as I said about him scoring goals if the tactics are built to get the best use out of him a bit like Gyokeres ability to score nice tap ins with the occasional self made goal; but do we have the time for that?
How do we help build Hojlund up to improve his game if he is currently not good enough to be our starting Number 9? This is the difference between Mainoo & Hojlund - Mainoo is good enough to be starting at our CM at the age of 18. Hojlund however is not good enough to be our starting ST at the age of 21.
If he is not good enough to start Is he magically going to get better by sitting on the bench & playing as a 2nd half sub?
I don't think so.
His future is heavily dependent on the next manager and whether he decides if the whole system is built to get the best out of Hojlund because they see his potential to become our version of Haaland or Gyokeres because otherwise he himself doesn't help much in getting the best out of his team mates if he doesn't provide the goals.
The only 1% I still have hope is because how he broke through our CL spell and really looking like a great young tap in merchant but honestly the more I watched him in the PL the more unsure I got about him because I found his finishing looked kind of scuffy. The goal vs Wolves on the goal line or the one that bounced of his chest when someone else shot on goal. Even his solo goals kind of is a slow scuffed shot that rolls in to the corner away from the goalkeeper.
His finishing hasn't wowed me I guess is the simple way of saying it.
I think the wide variety of opinions says a lot about his ability to enforce his presence on the pitch.
I notice it at United but I especially notice it more when he plays for Denmark which surprised me at the start because I thought Denmark would utilise him more as this tap in merchant type player/team tactic where everyone's trying to get him on the end of the ball.
He just feels like he's never there on the pitch.
I think the closest comparison I can make is through 90 minutes he feels like Chicharito where he isn't influencing the game at all. Chicharito would however end up scoring a goal nearly every game to compensate for this.
Hojlund at the moment is not influencing the game at all during 90 minutes, doesn't score any goals to compensate for that & we are left with a striker who made one really fast channel run, held two Defenders off for 2-3 seconds & made one good pass to a wingers that could still be better in terms of both accuracy and timing - with just that after every 90 mins.
I can see him as a late bloomer as I said about him scoring goals if the tactics are built to get the best use out of him a bit like Gyokeres ability to score nice tap ins with the occasional self made goal; but do we have the time for that?
How do we help build Hojlund up to improve his game if he is currently not good enough to be our starting Number 9? This is the difference between Mainoo & Hojlund - Mainoo is good enough to be starting at our CM at the age of 18. Hojlund however is not good enough to be our starting ST at the age of 21.
If he is not good enough to start Is he magically going to get better by sitting on the bench & playing as a 2nd half sub?
I don't think so.
His future is heavily dependent on the next manager and whether he decides if the whole system is built to get the best out of Hojlund because they see his potential to become our version of Haaland or Gyokeres because otherwise he himself doesn't help much in getting the best out of his team mates if he doesn't provide the goals.
The only 1% I still have hope is because how he broke through our CL spell and really looking like a great young tap in merchant but honestly the more I watched him in the PL the more unsure I got about him because I found his finishing looked kind of scuffy. The goal vs Wolves on the goal line or the one that bounced of his chest when someone else shot on goal. Even his solo goals kind of is a slow scuffed shot that rolls in to the corner away from the goalkeeper.
His finishing hasn't wowed me I guess is the simple way of saying it.
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You've referenced what he does over 90mins a few times there.
When was the last time he played 90 mins for United?
The fact he doesn't play 90 mins for Denmark probably says alot.
I’d like to see us use him the way I think he needs to be used and feed him balls to run onto, I think I could count on one hand the amount of times we’ve slid these types of balls through for him.
I think he’s doing ok at the minute but he’s not doing enough to be a first choice striker for us. We desperately need another striker so he can rotate and learn his craft more.
I think he’s doing ok at the minute but he’s not doing enough to be a first choice striker for us. We desperately need another striker so he can rotate and learn his craft more.
So why are you saying he does nothing in the space of 90 minutes? Which is it?
Statistically speaking, 15 goals at the age of 20/21 after a ridiculous price tag was slapped on him and at a club of this size is pretty darn good in my opinion. Also add in all the uncertainty, injuries, useless players around him, I think it was a honourable first season from the young man. Let's also mention his high conversion rate, it was also clear he lacked any service in a lot of games and often played the graveyard shift.
I'm not saying he is perfect, I'm not saying he will be the best number 9, but using a small bit of logic, he did well considering all factors. He now needs to progress further but I'd say it's difficult under this manager / random playing styles.
A short trip back to memory lane would tell you that age is on his side, if you see glimpses then he can improve. Harry kane at 20 was playing in the championship as a second fiddle for Leicester. It was only at the age of 22 / 23 where he broke out. Not every player is messi or ronaldo, youngsters need time.
It's not his fault he happens to be our first choice striker, in reality, he should be back up to a more experienced player but Martial completely flopped in the last few years, Rashford is not interested in playing there.
Hojlund is shaping up to be a potentially decent substitute striker, but we clearly needs a better option up front for our starting XI.
He's our best striker. Which tells how tragic our situation is. He's an average footballer, he gives you a target but he snatches at chances like an unnatural finisher.
One thing I will say is he is feeding on scraps at United, that said though I've never seen a striker who has so little efforts on goal. He barely ever produces a touch into space to have a go from anywhere. I find myself screaming to myself for him to just have the confidence to be selfish and have a go from 30 yards or from a tight angle. He may as well as he doesn't really create anything either.
One thing I will say is he is feeding on scraps at United, that said though I've never seen a striker who has so little efforts on goal. He barely ever produces a touch into space to have a go from anywhere. I find myself screaming to myself for him to just have the confidence to be selfish and have a go from 30 yards or from a tight angle. He may as well as he doesn't really create anything either.
Man Utd 2:1 Brentford
Nice.
Potential
Really pleased with that, that's a really good Premier League centre forward performance with a lovely goal to cap it off.
Played like a proper CF, great hold up, great touch, great linking up and flawless finish.
Those turns.
Maybe his best game so far
Looked like a proper number 9 today. Fantastic.
That second half is the player I thought he was. A real handful. Great finish. Let's hope that's him up and running now.