£85k a week supposedly. I dont even dislike hojlund and think he'd be a promising sub. has been another dreadful signing for a mind boggling fee.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 47
- Goals
- 9
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 2
-
Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
£85k a week supposedly. I dont even dislike hojlund and think he'd be a promising sub. has been another dreadful signing for a mind boggling fee.
I’ve always thought he’d come good, that it was just the service, that he has all the raw materials and whilst I do think there’s still an element of that it’s becoming very hard to defend him. He is just no good on the ball.
Part of the problem is the fee and the position in the team. If he was a £20m punt on an up and coming striker who got game here or there we would be far more forgiving and I think that’s where he is in his career, not the first choice striker for Manchester United. I don’t think we should give up on him and having an actual class striker to take the burden would allow us to see him blossom a bit more but also, if we can get a decent fee from Italy or somewhere then I wouldn’t be against it either. We simply have to reinvest in better players
Part of the problem is the fee and the position in the team. If he was a £20m punt on an up and coming striker who got game here or there we would be far more forgiving and I think that’s where he is in his career, not the first choice striker for Manchester United. I don’t think we should give up on him and having an actual class striker to take the burden would allow us to see him blossom a bit more but also, if we can get a decent fee from Italy or somewhere then I wouldn’t be against it either. We simply have to reinvest in better players
Agree, think he did ok today. We still need a better starting 9 but today he contributed to the play.
There is a player in there somewhere, but in a United shirt it’s gone. His confidence, his constant irritating way of battling defenders (and losing), first touch like he’s got anvils for feet, seemingly fast but never actually fast when it’s needed and some sort of sixth sense ability to never be in the right place at the right time.
Dealt a bad hand by being required to start as our focal point of attack in a truly terrible United team but no excuses, if he’s a starter next season we are bang in trouble.
Dealt a bad hand by being required to start as our focal point of attack in a truly terrible United team but no excuses, if he’s a starter next season we are bang in trouble.
We should send him on loan to championship at least. There are lot of physical demands in that competition so it’s not an easy competition to play. If he passes the championship test then at least we can take him as backup the next following season. Absolutely terrible striker right now.
Nowhere near good enough for a club which aspires to be in the top half of the table, which is where United are at this time.
How can any professional centre forward quite literally never ever be in the right place at the right time. He has the situational awareness of one of those wildebeest you see in reels on FB which jump straight into a river crossing right in front of a crocodile.
The lad is utterly wank
The lad is utterly wank
How many minutes of PL football since he's last scored?
He made few good runs into the channel but i dont understand why they are so rare and few? Every time he made those runs it stretched the defense and we looked threatning.
Was better today, actually had a few shots and make some decent runs. Hold up play was better too, still not great but better.
I don't think there is a player in there at all.
I can't think of a team in the league where he would be a good option, he just isn't technically sound enough for the top level.
Strikes me as a player who will be playing for a mid to lower half of the table French or German side in a couple of years.
If it wasn't for his fee, he wouldn't be persevered with.
Actually thought it was one of his better games this season which is a bit like praising Netanyahu for only killing 10 kids last week.
Zero tekkers this guy.
The lowest amount of touches for any player on the pitch today with 23, still lost possession 5 times.
Abysmal footballer.
Abysmal footballer.
I thought it was a decent performance. He had 2 attempts on target and created that opportunity in the first half. Channel runs and helping team progress was good too.
Last edited:
Agreed. I saw more promise in the likes of Ashley Fletcher, DJ Buffonge, Dimitri Mitchell, Josh Harrop etc than Hojlund. What possessed this club to take such a huge gamble on him? I almost feel bad for the guy, he's far off the level required.
Thought he was better yesterday & I got to see him being a channel running striker after a long time.
However, alot of teams don't give us space with a high line like Spurs do so his ability to play as a channel running striker with not much variety to his game ie very problematic.
How does someone play as a channel running striker against a team all set up in their own half? If he had other attributes to his game then he wouldn't be so heavily reliant on being a channel running striker and only a channel running striker.
However, alot of teams don't give us space with a high line like Spurs do so his ability to play as a channel running striker with not much variety to his game ie very problematic.
How does someone play as a channel running striker against a team all set up in their own half? If he had other attributes to his game then he wouldn't be so heavily reliant on being a channel running striker and only a channel running striker.
He always looks at his best when he's running into channels.
That he then decides to only do so once or twice a game is baffling to me.
That he then decides to only do so once or twice a game is baffling to me.
Tbf to Rasmus we rarely seem to want to play the ball in behind. Not that I'd count on him to do much with it if we did.
How can Manchester United not have a proven goalscorer on our books?
We can say whatever we want about his age and how difficult the situation at United is, but there is no excuse for such poor basic fundamentals in my opinion. His first touch is appalling for a professional footballer and his short range passing is awful.
Had high hopes for him - even at times when he struggled during his first season, it seemed service was an issue. Now to top it off, it also feels like instead of improving, he has regressed even with doing the basics.
Very difficult to see a future here for him.
Very difficult to see a future here for him.
Suppose it's a bit of a chicken and egg thing, but I feel like our defenders and Bruno are always willing to give it a hoof down the line if there's a willing runner.
He looks like a player who would bang in 20 goals in Germany, Italy or Spain. But not here. He just isn't good enough and should be sold. For his own sake.
Yeah, I think we could see something similar to what Antony is showing right now. If he moves to an easier league and a functional team, I think he will show that he isn’t that terrible.
He will never be good enough for United, but that doesn’t mean it’s back to Austria, Denmark or whatever. Probably could have a decent time in the Bundesliga.
This is exactly it, he is really good running the channels but that's about it. Very much a one-trick pony.
I think that Højlund is a symptom of the team problem. As Schmeichel, Stam and Ljundberg said before the day (on Danish TV), they cannot remember the last time the team created an easy scoring chance for the player who plays as number 9. Zirkzee has had easy scoring opportunities, but only when he has played as the number 10 position.
Yesterday, I actually think that Højlund did okay.
Yesterday, I actually think that Højlund did okay.
Frank & grim.Yeah that's his game, his best quality. Get him down the sides more rather than be central. Might happen more now Zirkzee is going to feature.
Promising I suppose plus a couple of shots. Keep that going and a few goals will come.
He has to be in the right positions for those easy scoring opportunities. It as as much on him as his team-mates. Many on here have noticed how poor his positioning is, as a result he is rarely in the right position for that last pass.
We have had games where we have been really good in attack and yet Hojlund was completely invisible the whole game.
People talking about sending him to the Championship or the Bundesliga where he might do better, he'd still be required to control the ball in those leagues!
Another typical ETH signing, Ajax quality on a Manchester United budget. I actually think he'd do a great job for Ajax, would tear up the Dutch League and the odd European game, difference being Ajax wouldn't pay more that 20 million for him unlike our braindead owners.
He'd have much more time than here though. If you watch the leagues, you can see a clear difference. Hence physical players such as Sorloth struggled in England while fast, technical players like Marmoush have no problems to adapt.
The time you get to think and execute in England is by far the shortest window of any league. That’s fine if your technique is assured, but if your deficient, it will quickly snowball into an avalanche of problems and obvious angst, which is what we see with Højlund.
In other leagues, the breathers you get and the speed at which you are swarmed is reduced emphatically, depending on the direction you point. Højlund tends to show more in the Europa League than the PL because the pace of those games allows him more time to breathe and get his feet sorted out, or move how he wants to rather than how he must in the PL to remain steps ahead of markers.
He’s odd on to look like a considerably better player outside of the PL, and particularly in open leagues with plenty of space to run into without being pressured.
Quality notwithstanding, the PL also has by far the most athletic defenders, which also means supposed athletic qualities will be tested more sternly and routinely and that also filters down to technique and time on the ball, in that you’ll simply get much less of it here than elsewhere.
Ajax are actually a functional club with an ability to develop players properly unlike United so yes, he probably would do well there.
10 games ago v Nottingham Forest (although he has only played 664 minutes in those 10 games)
He has a total of 2 PL goals in 20 games this season (1196 minutes) That's the same number of goals as Craig Dawson own goals. This weekend Merino took 6 minutes to match Hojlund's tally and Marmoush took 13 minutes to better it.
0 assists as well. His last league assist for United was now over a year ago.
Just in case, not a pun on you Fortitude (and also leaving Rasmus aside), it gets quite a bit tiring the constant old mighty level of EPL, it gets a bit too over the top for my taste. This is not sthg. just from this period in time (it happened before) and of course nowadays actually EPL it's clearly the most powerful league (while also happened with other Leagues on the past too).
Yet sometimes the sort of praise reaches a level of absurdity, that goes way to far with the suppose walking on water requirements needed to make it in EPL, while like in any period of football, the level of a singular player it's more related to more "micro situations" than the macro one of the League itself.
Last edited:
I know it’s not much but I was pleased to see him running the channels against spurs. That’s one part of Ruben’s ‘system’ that’s essential from the striker.
Scouting issue. 70m should get you one.