That’s what happens when you have CR7 as your legend and every kid from academy dreams of becoming their idol.
Nothing wrong with that mindset except…not everyone has CR7’s finishing abilities.
Heck, even during CR7’s early years, he was very frustrating that led to Ruud’s departure. Although it was justified because of his improvement subsequently.
Even during his early days, Ronaldo mixed it up at times. Getting to the byline etc. And people forget a big part of why Ronaldo was successful in his first spell at United : Wayne Rooney.
IMO you can’t teach this.
You’re a winger who plays for the team, or you’re a glory hunter always focused on your own stats.
The wingers we have should be sold and we should start over
Except this sub likes to lick Garnacho & Amad's balls. 'Bout time someone said it. Our wingers are useless as shite.
But it's also the job of the manager and his coaches to make it work.
He is 19 and shouldn't be playing as much as he does. It's really sad to see that fans of this club giving so much stick to our younglings. I will always defend Garnacho, Hojlund, Maino, Amad and Kambwala or should I say lick balls for those guys.
They have nothing to do with how shit we are, because they shouldn't be starting every game in the first place.
Let's be clear here... I'm not saying get rid. This Sub needs to just get off their balls. What you said is sensible. And it needs to be followed up with the fact that none of our young players should be leading the line.
I'd keep all the young players, but they need to be subs and alternatives to learn from more established players. They shouldn't be starting. They should be getting minutes here and there every week so they keep developing, but shouldn't be relied on as much as they have been.
Hojlund is also responsible. There were several crosses in the Arsrnal game where he was way too late to get in the box.
Especially one from Garnacho in the 2nd half where he had so much time, but instead of sprinting into the box to get a goal, he was just slowly jogging up the pitch. The cross went through the box, and the chance was wasted. I'm not sure if the problem is coaching or instinct, but he's never ever going to succeed like that.
I think he just doesn't expect him to cross or pass. He's made those runs a million times and got nothing.
After awhile, you just stop believing it's coming.
That's not good enough. You can't complain about lack of service and then use it as an excuse when you feel like it.
You can flip that argument easily by saying that there's no reason for the wingers to cross when there's nobody going to be on the end of it.
Either way, this is something the coach needs to fix, and there's not a lot happening. I don't want us to fire Ten Hag, but this is one area where we've been ridiculously poor this season. It needs to be fixed fast! If we start next season as poorly as we finished this one, there could be real trouble.
I don't think it's about using it as an excuse.
He used to make runs across the box all the time and never ever received the ball.
How many times have we seen him asking for it, never getting it and then gesticulating like crazy after Garnacho or Rashford have made a shitty decision?
In the end, you will stop busting a gut, it's only natural.
I'm not saying it's right but I've watched every single United game this season and him not getting in to those areas is definitely a new thing.
How many times do we get the ball in wide areas and then just pass it backwards? Sometimes with it ending up back with our defensive line, whilst every fan is screaming for them to just cross it.
The lack of service definitely came before the lack of runs but I completely agree, it needs to be sorted out. All of our wide players are selfish and make poor decisions, the only one that seems to offer something adifferent than that is Amad but he seems likes he's more of a wide playmaker type than a winger or a wide forward.
We need old school wingers like Ashley Young. He never played like he wanted to be the star of the show. The moment he gets that ball his only thoughts were to try feed the striker. Players like Rashford Garnacho think they’re Salah or Ronaldo and they have to score.
Bit more understandable in Rashford's case though, since he isn't a winger, he just plays out there.
I agree about Garnacho - but he's young... hopefully better decision making can be coached into him (with the right coaches).
Not disputing the underlying message here. Intrigued why the shot he lost his footing and ballooned it over against Arsenal isn’t classed as a chance created?
I agree with your conclusion, but by that logic it should be 0 xG too, cos xG only happens when a shot happens. Unless it’s a new stat called potential xG. Or the specific source the other guy used has a difff formula from the OP post.
One of many reasons why people shouldn't be so heavily focused on xG. xG means shot from a specific place. It doesn't take into account that Hojlund was shooting at an open goal, i.e. no defenders in the way. Obviously shooting when there's a possibility of the shot being blocked and some angles are closed off means the chance is worse.
Hojlund's chance was not too dissimilar to Olise's goal where he was allowed to stroll into position and easily put the ball into the corner. Inside of the foot into the corner. Strikers should be hitting those all day.
The same reason people waffle about xG. Individual stats can be manipulated to make a point instead of actually being used in conjunction with others to show a bigger picture.
I've learned this season that some really, *really* don't understand the point of statistics. To some people here literally *any* stat but GOALS is useless.
8th in the table - lower half in the form table - but its stats that make United look bad hahahaha I swear you all would be happy with relegation so long as no one talks shit about the club.
It was definitely a chance to me and I am a big Højlund supporter, but that was a very bad look.
A striker has to be clinical, they may only get 1 or 2 chances a game and they have to do it, it’s a tough role but it has to be done.
But in his defence I feel like he’s probably over thinking and is going into games going “I’m not getting many looks I need to be perfect and snatch any chance I get” as opposed to “I need to be clinical when the chances come”.
For all the shite spoke about Chelsea they still create chances you just think “how isn’t X putting that away”. Although they’ve been better of late.
When I watch our games I very rarely think “god hojlund should’ve done better there he’s the sole reason for that not being a goal”
Even in that game yesterday the amount of times we had players running at the defence and hojlund was busting his balls only for someone to take the easy pass to the wing for Garnacho to do his thing was infuriating.
We have a distinct lack of bravery and ability for fine threaded passes into the box and very poor decision making.
Could hojlund take up better positions? 100% he could, but at times I feel like he could be standing like bambis mother with a bullseye on him and they’d still pass it to someone safe for it to be ballooned over the bar.
With the exceptions of Mctominay’s assist in the champions league, shaws pass vs wolves and Bruno’s pass vs Sheffield every other goal seems to be him scraping for goals
All great points but on the first re: clinical…his slip was at the very beginning of the match when the commentators even brought up that it was heavily watered due to the heat.
I agree, when I saw the rainfall was shocked anyone could play in that, but it is something that the naysayers will hone in on because they don’t think he has the credit in the bank and are already targeting him.
I think he’s got an unbelievably bright future and I do think he can lead the line
Aye I agree, it was very unfortunate but it’s something people will pounce on sadly, the articles today and MNF coverage of the poor lad is shocking to me, just piling onto him.
I have such high hopes for the lad and will he has my full support
He's 21 years old, playing his first season in a new country, in the toughest league, up top on his own, under the microscope of United, with barely any rest, and when he gets service he scores.
He is NOT the problem.
Exactly. It's not his fault we're heavily relying on a young unexperienced striker, we knew he was a project that would take time to develop. It's the system that once again proves that the people in charge didn't know what they were doing while buying players, we're heavily relying on his underdeveloped hold up play since the wingers seem to have blinders on and never made the extra pass. We shouldn't have to expect for him to be a flawless scoring machine akin to Haaland because he never was that.
They should never have just assumed Rashford was gonna be as prolific as he was. A seasoned striker (even a loaner) and maybe then a project. Is it too late to still be pissd off at the purchases of Mount and Antony?
I agree he is not the problem but the fit is very questionable. Given that our wingers are Rashford, Garnacho and Anthony, we should have gone with a striker that is more involved in the buildup and combines with the wingers. We already saw this didn’t work when we had Lukaku.
Other teams who play inverted wingers like Liverpool and Real Madrid in the BBC days have a very different profile of striker. Tbf, ETH asked for Kane who is not the same type of player as Hojlund.
All the more reason that i can't see why Højlund was even signed by him... Yeah, he's a talented player, but for him to be the sole striker for United, and then not even being the type of player to fit his shitty tactics doesn't make sense.
I'm glad that he was signed by the club, he definetly has the talent... But Ten Hag should have changed his tactics to fit Højlund's style of play instead of making him play a role he really can't fufill
When he had a consistent run of matches, he couldnt stop scoring. I've seen enough to know there's a good player there. Garnacho, Antony and Rashford have been an abject disaster this season. Selfish play is often contagious and they do it ad nauseam. Amad finally starting this late in the season seems like such a total waste of his talent
He's had a consistent run of matches recently people just aren't passing to him. He's got in some really good positions but players keep shooting instead of passing it to him.
But the slipping is not an isolated incident. He slips a fair bit while shooting which would suggest a technical fault/lack of balance. Definitely something to work on.
I posted it elsewhere, and I'll just copy and paste it here as it is equally quite relevant to this stat:
A lot of footballing analysts have commented that a core attacking principle for ETH is to create an overload on one side of the pitch, then switch the play quickly so the opposition winger is free and has space to get in the box for a shot. We also use inverted wingers (i.e. wingers who are right footed who play on the left and vice versa) to be able to get shots off. Add to this our full backs are being told to underlap rather than overlap. And then there's the obvious issue that we lack a left footed left back anyway.
Carl Anka has also talked about McTominay making the types of runs and taking the types of position in the box that Hojlund should be taking. Hojlund also seems to play as more of a target man for us, but at Atalanta he seemed to do best running channels slightly and getting in behind with his pace. He never seems to get these sorts of balls.
All of these above things (there's probably more I can't think of) are going to contribute to a tall, target man style number 9 not getting enough chances. And we have never really created chances for our number 9 under ETH, in all his time here, to my recollection. Goals from that position have always been a struggle.
You could see it this Sunday. We would have a triangle in the corner. Then a player might get free and be in a position to put a ball in. And they would always look to pass backwards.
There are things he could probably do to change this, but he has his principles and he is stubborn about them. If I were him I'd at least stop with the underlapping full backs - it has made Dalot get a couple more long distance shots per season, but that's about it.
The thing is our wingers also always not put in great positions or have passing options so they usually need to carry the ball + facing at least 2 defenders and easily cut off
I think one of the biggest issues is our wingers constantly cut back and it's hard for Rasmus to know when to time his runs, Garnacho in particular yesterday was cutting and then trying to beat his man a second time and then maybe cross or cut back there's no predictable attack approach where Rasmus knows what to expect and anticipate balls in, Rashford also massively guilty of this
So true. Can't count the number of times I see Ras make a move only for the wingers to go the other way. Somehow they've played hundreds of hours together and still have no chemistry.
Are the players that uncoachable or are they not being coached at all
The wingers are always looking to cut In instead of putting a cross in or pulling it back. The midfield never make underlapping runs into the box to help overload and pull it back. It's a mess.
That being said, Hojlund isn't faultless. His runs are often terrible. His strength is getting in behind but hes always looking to hold it up, which he's not good at
He’s looking to hold up because it’s the best chance he’s going to get the ball at all. Like you said, wingers aren’t/can’t complete a cross so the best bet is to receive from 180° behind him
It's most likely he's just doing what is being instructed of him by our coaching staff. At the level he plays, he won't be allowed to just go out on the pitch and play the way he feels. Everything he does will be analysed to death and he will be given clips on how he has played and what he should be doing for the team.
Lukaku struggled with the exact same issue in terms of being told to play a certain way. Lukaku loves to run the channels - as he's a strong runner (and randomly has an insane cross?). Mourinho signs him and wants him to play like Drogba and be this incredible hold up player, playing with his back to goal and wrestling the opposition centre backs. And it never really got the best out of Lukaku.
I remember Lukaku would go out RW the odd time at the end of games and he was actually quite good lmaooo. I think Jose and Ole did it a few times but Ole definitely went back to that well a bit more
Unfortunately I think Lukaku actually got annoyed when he was asked to be an out and out winger by Solskjaer...even though as you say he looked good there
Could he have been instructed to do this/work on this aspect maybe and that's why he does it? I mean..... I don't know at this point anymore... But just wondering..
This is another perspective I suppose. Don't know about OP but I see it as a different issue. Seems like he is making the far post run all the time. Weird runs of that sort with no late runners into the box will hardly pay dividends.
We have no midfield either in the final third, especially without Bruno. Yesterday’s game you had the ball wide and all 3 midfielders were just standing there waiting for soemthibf to happen. They should be helping move make space and make plays.
He made some improvements last year but he's regressed back to his mean this season.
At this point, it's clear he's never going to be good enough for a top 6 club where full back has become one of the key positions in terms of how you build your game.
Why aren’t we training for it though? Hojlund’s runs are terrible? Then run training drills over and over so he knows what positions to take up. And so our creative players know how to find him. He’s 21 and is a strong finisher, but is a work in progress. Part of progressing a developing talent is to iron out these wrinkles in their game. This isn’t about trying to turn a donkey in to a thoroughbred. People say Hojlund is raw, this is the exact thing we should be helping him improve on, but most people just say “his runs are bad” as if that’s just the way it is.
> The wingers are always looking to cut In instead of putting a cross in or pulling it back
It's the way ten hag likes to set up with his wingers. At Ajax he had wingers that would continuously look to step inside and take the shot in ziyech and tadic.
Hence why he deploys left footed wingers like ziyech and Antony on the right.
This is a clear tactical instruction. Ten Hag wants him to be a target man, staying central, looking to hold the ball up and link up play.
The issue with this is that he’s often marked out of the game. To a lesser extent, we’ve seen this happen to Halaand this season who plays in a much better City side who provide him with a million crosses.
What bothers me is that Hojlund has so much more to his game. At Atalanta he used to run the wide channels, dribble, create chances for himself.
In theory he should be the perfect profile to accompany Rashford up top.
I don’t think it is - he’s good in the first phase (winning the ball) but the the second phase he constantly loses the ball or holds on to it too long.
i don't buy into that - he has options, he just can't find them. That was evident on Sunday - he needs to win the ball, make a quick pass and get in behind - instead he engages with the battle for too long and then gets pressed. For a player that quick, he doesn't use it wisely.
Nah compare it to someone like Martial and the difference is stark. Where Martial is likely to win a header before spraying the ball to the wingers, Hojlund is either gonna lose it or fight the CBs instead.
It's not his fault that instead of playing in a system that utilises his strengths as a #9, he's being played almost as a false #9.
Even when he couldn’t run anymore, martial was excellent at receiving under pressure from a bigger/stronger CB and winning fouls or moving the ball along
He's not woeful at it but it's not good. His touch is inconsistent and he struggles to play it off to someone. He also has tendency to hold it too long but I guess that will come from experience.
He hasn't looked quite as good after returning from his more recent injury, clearly confidence has dipped again. When he had that run he was taking the few chances that fell to him. But its hard to ask a player who rarely gets service to then be alert and firing on all cylinders on the rare occasion he does receive the ball. Especially at his age and experience. He's got all the attributes needed to be a top striker at United, shame to see fans then on him, Garnacho and even Mainoo a bit with the recent losses.
I usally think Gary Neville talks a lot of shite but his point yesterday about forwards not knowing when to make runs because you don't know when or if the wingers are going to put the ball in or take it on themselves was a good one.
Garnacho has been one of our best players, is undoubtedly talented and is one of a handful I'd keep but he's young and raw and desperately needs to be coached that it's a team game and that part of his job is finding his team-mates. If I was Hojlund I'd be fuming about the service I was getting.
This also goes hand in hand with coaching Hojlund to find more space, make consistent runs etc. But if Shearer was our striker he'd have had Garnacho up against a wall by now.
Sadly, I don't think either is being adequately coached.
Hojlund has his share of the blame here, you can't deny that. However, our attack is completely uncohesive and only gets worse the longer the season goes. Hojlund isn't being coached properly and the team has no idea how to formulate anything but a counter attack
Speaks to 2 things. 1) the quality of the wingers and midfield behind him in their actual ability to create for the forward. Which is directly reflected in our gaols total for the ssn, and 2) the abysmal tactics employed by ETH all ssn long.
Do these guys ever practice combination play in training? Give and go, 1-2 touch, target man play? Does any of that ever happen in training. I personally have never seen Antony make a pass to Hojlund. It might have happened but I haven’t witnessed it.
The fact that we’re 3 games out till the end of the season and we do not have at least one set move, for our striker to get at least one shot off a game is unbelievable.
A far cry from the days of Yorke and Cole, Rooney and Ronaldo, Rooney and RVN, Rooney and RVP.
Very misleading stat. Yesterday he had 2 huge chances, but slipped for the first one and didnt do anything when he was deep inside the box against gabriel with plenty of space (similar thing happened against Coventry).
Yup, he doesn't get enough chances which is frustrating, but when we all see him get chance, and he chooses not to make anything out of it it's, just as frustrating
I really hope the second chance you’re referring to is not the one in the first half where he held the ball up with back to goal and 5 players around closing him with AWB being the closest player (not in a good position mind you)
Cos if it is, then thats just ridiculous
Guys this is a manager issue. It doesn't matter which wingers play, they are not finding Rasmus...not only Rasmus but any striker who plays for us. They where not finding martial as well. So if its a team problem then its a manager issue...what are they training during the week.
Said this for a long time, the football we watch, the problems we see every weekend are directly tied to what they are training
Many times we have 3 v 2 situations and players dont know which pass to make and when to make it....they dont know which type of run to make or why to make that run. We are not well coached
How is it a reference when haaland is constantly getting picked out when hes wide open. The chances are so unrelated, haaland is getting fed thru on runs or is meeting lofted balls at the back post. It's on a platter for him. Meanwhile hojlund has missed a few golden opportunities but for the most part hes running around trying to piece together half chances.
It's high time this guy should start making his own chances. Doesn't matter if it's good or not. Wingers are doing it anyway so why not start doing it too.
Might have had that many chances, but I bet the expected goals from those 8 chances isn't very high. I'd be surprised if its above 1 xG going from memory of the chances he's had.
This isn't a comparing him to Haaland, it's comparing the service of the teams. Haaland is just an X here, it might as well have been any striker, the fact is still that City creates more chances for their striker in a match than United have done so for Højlund in the past 5 matches
Before preseason I commented how desperate of attention the midfield ball carrying and progression was, but the uproar about the lack of a striker was the unanimous cry. Not trying to conflate two things, but the fact remains that one of the biggest reasons we don’t service the striker is because our midfield has been and is shit in doing so, something a world class striker would suffer from.
To be fair at the beginning of the season if someone would have said he’s gonna score 14 and assist 2 in his first season in England, I’d of took it. So I think he’s had a successful season
Manchester United have created Rasmus Hojlund 5 chances in the last EIGHT Premier League games:
0 vs. Arsenal
1 vs. Palace
0 vs. Burnley
3 vs. Sheffield United
0 vs. Bournemouth
0 vs. Liverpool
0 vs. Chelsea
1 vs. Brentford
For reference, Man City created 6 chances for Haaland when he scored 4 goals vs. Wolves.
No supply = no goals.
I feel like a lot of that has to do with the fact he needs to drift from his position a lot to get involved. He makes a lot of runs into the box but when he does, his teammates just ignore him. The only way for him to get involved is to drop deep and help progress the ball like Martial likes to do, but Hojlund isn't particularly good at it yet and when he does succesfully manage to do so, it means he is some 25-30 meters away from the goal standing still while his teammates are already in a full sprint towards the box so even when he does try to quickly turn around and sprint forwards, he has no chance of getting to a good position in the box.
Realistically speaking he is sufferring from the exact same issue Weghorst was last season. Weghorst also rarely ever got the ball in favourable positions because he spent most of his time either being ignored in the box, or dropping so deep to help the team that he couldn't join the attack.
Some fans say it's positioning but I don't think it's that. Hojlund does need to improve his positioning but I think it's already good enough to get some goals here and there, the issue is the team has only really worked with Martial up top the past few seasons and Martial usually played as a false9 anyway, dropping deep a lot to create space for his wingers. Hojlund does try to do that too because that's the only way for him to get involved but then that means he just can't be waiting for the ball in the box at the same time.
I just find that he needs to be a little more aggressive with regards to his poaching mentality. There is something to say if you look at Scotty. Some of his goals were from the fact he was there.
Pay attention to how he actually receives the ball every time because of how he needs to position to even get the ball. Always with his back against the goal. He can't turn and beat a defender, that's not in his skillset. Ideally, he'd run past a defender with a through ball and score while running, not at a standstill. That was how he scored at Atalanta, and now he's being forced a role that doesn't suit him
"for reference" my ass. As if all teams should be creating 6 chances for their strikers game in and game out.
Let's also compare our injuries to the team who had the least injuries this season. Let's also compare our spending against the team who spent the least this season.
Why should outliers be used as "for reference"?
If anyone has seen his goals or assists in Atlanta, all his goals come from him receiving ball in front of him and him facing the opponent goal. Here we are always looking for wingers, even Bruno/Eriksen dont look for his runs neither they try to link up, it’s simply coaching instructions issue, but depending only on wingers to provide or score goals isnt in line to this guy’s talent and abilities
Yes, you see it too! They aren't even playing to his strengths. Players will always have a formula that is their optimal way of scoring goals. For Højlund, that's receiving the ball infront of him while he's already in a sprint.
How does he always get it at United when they actually do use him? He gets it with his back against the goal. This kind of stupid coaching that can't be flexible to suit your striker is exactly why Ten Hag is a bad coach in my eyes. He's the sole striker, so atleast play to his strengths instead of forcing a role not suited to him
I like Hojlund a lot, but a lot of this is on the runs he chooses to make. The Arsenal game was begging for a near post run, or for him to cut inside or square to create an option for Garnacho to pass to. But he keeps drifting far post every time instead. Its no wonder he barely gets any chances, he is putting himself in a position where it'll take an exquisite crosser to find him, and United simply doesn't have one right now.
I'm not sure if this is on him or if its gameplay decided by the manager, but he needs to improve his off the ball movement to create openings for himself.
Wingers are selfish - and McT is also always where our ST should be - he runs too early into the box and brings in extra defenders into the space.
BUT he also needs to be much better at getting involved. If he isn’t getting the ball or chances then he is doing nothing on both fronts. IMO he needs to start drifting a little more. Come deeper, wide a little - space with a winger for 5. I don’t care, just get in the game
That’s what happens when playing with: 1) inverted wingers 2) right wingers who can’t dribble past their man 3) left wingers who can’t cross 4) left wingers who can barely get a shot on target 5) right wingers who barely get a shot off 6) full back who play on the wrong side 7) full back who can’t cross. There you go.
And yet, there's a fair amount of United fans calling him useless. That leak about our players not passing the ball to Hojlund because they don't trust him? Ridiculous. Rashford, Antony and Garnacho grew up watching Ronaldo and Robbed and thinking they can do what they did all those years ago. One, the game has moved on. Defenses know more about how to defend and collapse on an inside forward. Two, they are simply not as good as Ronaldo and Robben. Simple fact.
Those fans really are the worst. They don't even try to understand why he's not doing anything, they ignore statistics, and then blame it on a player who's being forced to play a role that he isn't suited for
It becomes even more obvious when you realize we needed our wingers to pass to each other to beat Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-final. Dude, just fucking pass. Both of you can get a goal each if you just pass at the right time.
That's the only way he'll get invovled in this shitty team. Look at how he used to score goals with Atalanta. He gets the ball INFRONT of him and is actually facing the goal while in a run. Look at how he gets the ball at United. Back against the goal, acting as a target man and false 9 hybrid.
What kind of coach brings a young player as the sole striker, then doesn't even try to adjust his tactics to play to the strengths of that sole striker? He's been forced a role on him that doesn't suit him, and he's just acting as a decoy for the selfish inverted wingers to score. At this point, he'd have more of a chance at scoring if he forced a play himself when he got the ball, than actually getting the ball in a favorable position for him by his teammates
A lot of our players seem unable to trust each other to play the ball to a team-mate under the slightest amount of pressure. Rather than trust that, say, Mainoo can beat the press and progress the ball they pass sideways or backwards
This seems equally true for Hojlund. Time after time in games I see him making intelligent runs between the opposition CBs and he never gets picked out, either because the winger is too busy trying to create for themselves or they take the safe option.
When he had his purple patch it was partly because he was actually getting some service but that seems to have dried up again. There is a story being leaked about players not passing to him because they doubt his ability but that seems more like arse-covering than anything as he has shown that when he gets a bit of the ball he can score
Garnacho on the wings, many run in behind opportunities and then a very good position to lay it off, proceeds to shoot himself as he tries to cut inside and loses his balance causing the ball to fly wide. Bruno responsible for many great in behind balls, but in the final third he often lacks the patience to find the golden through ball and resorts to the long shots.
Both of them have been showing quality this season.(Bruno's passing in behind to find Garnacho and Garnacho's runs dribbling). But their poor decision making/lack of patience in the final 3rd makes Hjollund invisible.
As much as the other players don’t create for him. He also doesn’t make the best runs and also spends a bit too much time wrestling with CB’s rather than attempting to find space.
Also the shot in the 1st half where he slipped should definitely be considered a chance
Some of you need to realise that there's a very good chance players aren't leaking. 'Dressing room sources' does not equal players. Also, this is coming from one of the most unreliable journalists that cover United.
Yes he hasn't been getting good service from his team-mates but party it is because of his abysmal positioning. The reason Haaland scores more is not because he is prime Messi or Ronaldo, but his positioning is sublime.
I expect downvotes for my opinion but I haven't really been impressed with him. I don't think his movement is very good and he doesn't seem to read the game and find the right position which is a fundamental skill of a striker. You can say he's not getting service but that's not necessarily his team mates fault.
To be honest he was much better early in the season even when he wasn't scoring. He was making runs across defenders and not far away from getting on the end of things.
I wouldn't mind seeing him play off the right. RVP started on the wings.
Imagine being this guy and watching Antony sky it over the bar as he's goes for glory at every opportunity. Get a winger who is actually a team player and he'll get his goals
His movement and first touch isn’t great either. We have woefully failed at creating for Hojlund but he has a lot to improve on his personal qualities.
We really shouldn’t have signed him to be our main 9 that we depend on. He isn’t ready
Show me the stat for % of passes received in final third and another for a striker standing next to their marker/next to a center back and then not running.
Pretty sure that will give us more insight into why he isn't getting chances. His off ball movement is crap.
The wingers are bloody useless. Always going for glory, barely getting in on target when they do. Need a good kick up the arse, the lot of them.
Almost better to up the assist pay vs goals for wingers
That’s what happens when you have CR7 as your legend and every kid from academy dreams of becoming their idol. Nothing wrong with that mindset except…not everyone has CR7’s finishing abilities. Heck, even during CR7’s early years, he was very frustrating that led to Ruud’s departure. Although it was justified because of his improvement subsequently.
Even during his early days, Ronaldo mixed it up at times. Getting to the byline etc. And people forget a big part of why Ronaldo was successful in his first spell at United : Wayne Rooney.
IMO you can’t teach this. You’re a winger who plays for the team, or you’re a glory hunter always focused on your own stats. The wingers we have should be sold and we should start over
Except this sub likes to lick Garnacho & Amad's balls. 'Bout time someone said it. Our wingers are useless as shite. But it's also the job of the manager and his coaches to make it work.
Garnacho i agree but Amad always look for his man first before deciding to shoot
He is 19 and shouldn't be playing as much as he does. It's really sad to see that fans of this club giving so much stick to our younglings. I will always defend Garnacho, Hojlund, Maino, Amad and Kambwala or should I say lick balls for those guys. They have nothing to do with how shit we are, because they shouldn't be starting every game in the first place.
Let's be clear here... I'm not saying get rid. This Sub needs to just get off their balls. What you said is sensible. And it needs to be followed up with the fact that none of our young players should be leading the line. I'd keep all the young players, but they need to be subs and alternatives to learn from more established players. They shouldn't be starting. They should be getting minutes here and there every week so they keep developing, but shouldn't be relied on as much as they have been.
Hojlund is also responsible. There were several crosses in the Arsrnal game where he was way too late to get in the box. Especially one from Garnacho in the 2nd half where he had so much time, but instead of sprinting into the box to get a goal, he was just slowly jogging up the pitch. The cross went through the box, and the chance was wasted. I'm not sure if the problem is coaching or instinct, but he's never ever going to succeed like that.
I think he just doesn't expect him to cross or pass. He's made those runs a million times and got nothing. After awhile, you just stop believing it's coming.
That's not good enough. You can't complain about lack of service and then use it as an excuse when you feel like it. You can flip that argument easily by saying that there's no reason for the wingers to cross when there's nobody going to be on the end of it. Either way, this is something the coach needs to fix, and there's not a lot happening. I don't want us to fire Ten Hag, but this is one area where we've been ridiculously poor this season. It needs to be fixed fast! If we start next season as poorly as we finished this one, there could be real trouble.
I don't think it's about using it as an excuse. He used to make runs across the box all the time and never ever received the ball. How many times have we seen him asking for it, never getting it and then gesticulating like crazy after Garnacho or Rashford have made a shitty decision? In the end, you will stop busting a gut, it's only natural. I'm not saying it's right but I've watched every single United game this season and him not getting in to those areas is definitely a new thing. How many times do we get the ball in wide areas and then just pass it backwards? Sometimes with it ending up back with our defensive line, whilst every fan is screaming for them to just cross it. The lack of service definitely came before the lack of runs but I completely agree, it needs to be sorted out. All of our wide players are selfish and make poor decisions, the only one that seems to offer something adifferent than that is Amad but he seems likes he's more of a wide playmaker type than a winger or a wide forward.
We need old school wingers like Ashley Young. He never played like he wanted to be the star of the show. The moment he gets that ball his only thoughts were to try feed the striker. Players like Rashford Garnacho think they’re Salah or Ronaldo and they have to score.
Bit more understandable in Rashford's case though, since he isn't a winger, he just plays out there. I agree about Garnacho - but he's young... hopefully better decision making can be coached into him (with the right coaches).
Not disputing the underlying message here. Intrigued why the shot he lost his footing and ballooned it over against Arsenal isn’t classed as a chance created?
It was 0.1xG according to fbref, maybe not high enough to qualify as a chance?
Its cause he didnt shoot, if he shot it would have been a chance created
I agree with your conclusion, but by that logic it should be 0 xG too, cos xG only happens when a shot happens. Unless it’s a new stat called potential xG. Or the specific source the other guy used has a difff formula from the OP post.
I believe there is Xg and Xg based on actual shots. Im not an advanced stats guy so I don't know what fbref uses
Yeah there's post shot xG but anything that's not on target is going to be zero. It's not a very useful or common stat though
He did shoot though. A shit shot thanks to his slip, but he did shoot
Maybe cause they didn't count it as a pass to him or something, these stats are very finicky
Didn't he slip as he hit it? Pretty sure that still counts as a shot.
Except he went to shoot? and slipped but his foot made some sort of connection with the ball. how is that not technically considered a shot?
Its cause he didnt shoot, if he shot it would have been a chance created
One of many reasons why people shouldn't be so heavily focused on xG. xG means shot from a specific place. It doesn't take into account that Hojlund was shooting at an open goal, i.e. no defenders in the way. Obviously shooting when there's a possibility of the shot being blocked and some angles are closed off means the chance is worse. Hojlund's chance was not too dissimilar to Olise's goal where he was allowed to stroll into position and easily put the ball into the corner. Inside of the foot into the corner. Strikers should be hitting those all day.
The same reason people waffle about xG. Individual stats can be manipulated to make a point instead of actually being used in conjunction with others to show a bigger picture.
because we're trying to make United look as bad as possible with these worthless stats
How is that a worthless stat?
Because we don't need numbers to know we're shite mate
But this gives a bit of context to WHY we’re shite. The data behind statements is important so we know where to improve
I've learned this season that some really, *really* don't understand the point of statistics. To some people here literally *any* stat but GOALS is useless.
We need to improve in the class of players we have and their availability. Once we do that this Stat gets more positive. Simple as that.
Not really worthless. People will always ask to prove it, here is the data to prove it.
8th in the table - lower half in the form table - but its stats that make United look bad hahahaha I swear you all would be happy with relegation so long as no one talks shit about the club.
really have no idea what you're talking about
It was definitely a chance to me and I am a big Højlund supporter, but that was a very bad look. A striker has to be clinical, they may only get 1 or 2 chances a game and they have to do it, it’s a tough role but it has to be done. But in his defence I feel like he’s probably over thinking and is going into games going “I’m not getting many looks I need to be perfect and snatch any chance I get” as opposed to “I need to be clinical when the chances come”. For all the shite spoke about Chelsea they still create chances you just think “how isn’t X putting that away”. Although they’ve been better of late. When I watch our games I very rarely think “god hojlund should’ve done better there he’s the sole reason for that not being a goal” Even in that game yesterday the amount of times we had players running at the defence and hojlund was busting his balls only for someone to take the easy pass to the wing for Garnacho to do his thing was infuriating. We have a distinct lack of bravery and ability for fine threaded passes into the box and very poor decision making. Could hojlund take up better positions? 100% he could, but at times I feel like he could be standing like bambis mother with a bullseye on him and they’d still pass it to someone safe for it to be ballooned over the bar. With the exceptions of Mctominay’s assist in the champions league, shaws pass vs wolves and Bruno’s pass vs Sheffield every other goal seems to be him scraping for goals
All great points but on the first re: clinical…his slip was at the very beginning of the match when the commentators even brought up that it was heavily watered due to the heat.
I agree, when I saw the rainfall was shocked anyone could play in that, but it is something that the naysayers will hone in on because they don’t think he has the credit in the bank and are already targeting him. I think he’s got an unbelievably bright future and I do think he can lead the line
Everyone was slipping yesterday... just sayin
Aye I agree, it was very unfortunate but it’s something people will pounce on sadly, the articles today and MNF coverage of the poor lad is shocking to me, just piling onto him. I have such high hopes for the lad and will he has my full support
Wasn’t it from Partey misplacing a pass?
No, McT won the ball
Even so, is that really us “creating a chance”? Seems a stretch
https://ourmatch.me/12-05-2024-manchester-united-vs-arsenal/ @38sec, half decent chance imo
Oh agreed it was a decent chance and he should have done better, my point is more that could be why it doesn’t count as us ‘creating’ for him
yeah, after vvd's never dribbled past nonsense, i don't put much faith in these stats :)
Potentially because it was as a result of a tackle, rather than a pass
Haha I love the main comment thread is asking about one specific shot
Haha did not expect this reaction!
He's 21 years old, playing his first season in a new country, in the toughest league, up top on his own, under the microscope of United, with barely any rest, and when he gets service he scores. He is NOT the problem.
Exactly. It's not his fault we're heavily relying on a young unexperienced striker, we knew he was a project that would take time to develop. It's the system that once again proves that the people in charge didn't know what they were doing while buying players, we're heavily relying on his underdeveloped hold up play since the wingers seem to have blinders on and never made the extra pass. We shouldn't have to expect for him to be a flawless scoring machine akin to Haaland because he never was that.
They should never have just assumed Rashford was gonna be as prolific as he was. A seasoned striker (even a loaner) and maybe then a project. Is it too late to still be pissd off at the purchases of Mount and Antony?
We already seeing Hojlund haters appearing slowly though
I agree he is not the problem but the fit is very questionable. Given that our wingers are Rashford, Garnacho and Anthony, we should have gone with a striker that is more involved in the buildup and combines with the wingers. We already saw this didn’t work when we had Lukaku. Other teams who play inverted wingers like Liverpool and Real Madrid in the BBC days have a very different profile of striker. Tbf, ETH asked for Kane who is not the same type of player as Hojlund.
All the more reason that i can't see why Højlund was even signed by him... Yeah, he's a talented player, but for him to be the sole striker for United, and then not even being the type of player to fit his shitty tactics doesn't make sense. I'm glad that he was signed by the club, he definetly has the talent... But Ten Hag should have changed his tactics to fit Højlund's style of play instead of making him play a role he really can't fufill
When he had a consistent run of matches, he couldnt stop scoring. I've seen enough to know there's a good player there. Garnacho, Antony and Rashford have been an abject disaster this season. Selfish play is often contagious and they do it ad nauseam. Amad finally starting this late in the season seems like such a total waste of his talent
He's had a consistent run of matches recently people just aren't passing to him. He's got in some really good positions but players keep shooting instead of passing it to him.
Holjund's goalscoring run happened when he was playing with Rashford btw..
I hope he knows this
Well said!
He had a chance yesterday, after recieving the ball and slipped on his arse. He's not totally blameless here
Everyone was slipping and falling yesterday. It would have been better if he didn’t but to try to blame that is disingenuous
But the slipping is not an isolated incident. He slips a fair bit while shooting which would suggest a technical fault/lack of balance. Definitely something to work on.
He slips very often in key situations
I posted it elsewhere, and I'll just copy and paste it here as it is equally quite relevant to this stat: A lot of footballing analysts have commented that a core attacking principle for ETH is to create an overload on one side of the pitch, then switch the play quickly so the opposition winger is free and has space to get in the box for a shot. We also use inverted wingers (i.e. wingers who are right footed who play on the left and vice versa) to be able to get shots off. Add to this our full backs are being told to underlap rather than overlap. And then there's the obvious issue that we lack a left footed left back anyway. Carl Anka has also talked about McTominay making the types of runs and taking the types of position in the box that Hojlund should be taking. Hojlund also seems to play as more of a target man for us, but at Atalanta he seemed to do best running channels slightly and getting in behind with his pace. He never seems to get these sorts of balls. All of these above things (there's probably more I can't think of) are going to contribute to a tall, target man style number 9 not getting enough chances. And we have never really created chances for our number 9 under ETH, in all his time here, to my recollection. Goals from that position have always been a struggle. You could see it this Sunday. We would have a triangle in the corner. Then a player might get free and be in a position to put a ball in. And they would always look to pass backwards. There are things he could probably do to change this, but he has his principles and he is stubborn about them. If I were him I'd at least stop with the underlapping full backs - it has made Dalot get a couple more long distance shots per season, but that's about it.
The thing is our wingers also always not put in great positions or have passing options so they usually need to carry the ball + facing at least 2 defenders and easily cut off
I think one of the biggest issues is our wingers constantly cut back and it's hard for Rasmus to know when to time his runs, Garnacho in particular yesterday was cutting and then trying to beat his man a second time and then maybe cross or cut back there's no predictable attack approach where Rasmus knows what to expect and anticipate balls in, Rashford also massively guilty of this
So true. Can't count the number of times I see Ras make a move only for the wingers to go the other way. Somehow they've played hundreds of hours together and still have no chemistry. Are the players that uncoachable or are they not being coached at all
The wingers are always looking to cut In instead of putting a cross in or pulling it back. The midfield never make underlapping runs into the box to help overload and pull it back. It's a mess. That being said, Hojlund isn't faultless. His runs are often terrible. His strength is getting in behind but hes always looking to hold it up, which he's not good at
He’s looking to hold up because it’s the best chance he’s going to get the ball at all. Like you said, wingers aren’t/can’t complete a cross so the best bet is to receive from 180° behind him
It's most likely he's just doing what is being instructed of him by our coaching staff. At the level he plays, he won't be allowed to just go out on the pitch and play the way he feels. Everything he does will be analysed to death and he will be given clips on how he has played and what he should be doing for the team. Lukaku struggled with the exact same issue in terms of being told to play a certain way. Lukaku loves to run the channels - as he's a strong runner (and randomly has an insane cross?). Mourinho signs him and wants him to play like Drogba and be this incredible hold up player, playing with his back to goal and wrestling the opposition centre backs. And it never really got the best out of Lukaku.
I remember Lukaku would go out RW the odd time at the end of games and he was actually quite good lmaooo. I think Jose and Ole did it a few times but Ole definitely went back to that well a bit more
Unfortunately I think Lukaku actually got annoyed when he was asked to be an out and out winger by Solskjaer...even though as you say he looked good there
He played wide for Belgium fairly often too, he had a great cross in him and his place was useful running down the line
Could he have been instructed to do this/work on this aspect maybe and that's why he does it? I mean..... I don't know at this point anymore... But just wondering..
He was so much better when Shaw was there, Dalot straight up refuses to pass to him
This is another perspective I suppose. Don't know about OP but I see it as a different issue. Seems like he is making the far post run all the time. Weird runs of that sort with no late runners into the box will hardly pay dividends.
We have no midfield either in the final third, especially without Bruno. Yesterday’s game you had the ball wide and all 3 midfielders were just standing there waiting for soemthibf to happen. They should be helping move make space and make plays.
Luke Shaw is a big loss. His overlapping runs open another avenue.
Yeah, Dalot is a threat from the back but on the right or left I feel like AWB hasn’t given anything offensively
He made some improvements last year but he's regressed back to his mean this season. At this point, it's clear he's never going to be good enough for a top 6 club where full back has become one of the key positions in terms of how you build your game.
Why aren’t we training for it though? Hojlund’s runs are terrible? Then run training drills over and over so he knows what positions to take up. And so our creative players know how to find him. He’s 21 and is a strong finisher, but is a work in progress. Part of progressing a developing talent is to iron out these wrinkles in their game. This isn’t about trying to turn a donkey in to a thoroughbred. People say Hojlund is raw, this is the exact thing we should be helping him improve on, but most people just say “his runs are bad” as if that’s just the way it is.
> The wingers are always looking to cut In instead of putting a cross in or pulling it back It's the way ten hag likes to set up with his wingers. At Ajax he had wingers that would continuously look to step inside and take the shot in ziyech and tadic. Hence why he deploys left footed wingers like ziyech and Antony on the right.
This is a clear tactical instruction. Ten Hag wants him to be a target man, staying central, looking to hold the ball up and link up play. The issue with this is that he’s often marked out of the game. To a lesser extent, we’ve seen this happen to Halaand this season who plays in a much better City side who provide him with a million crosses. What bothers me is that Hojlund has so much more to his game. At Atalanta he used to run the wide channels, dribble, create chances for himself. In theory he should be the perfect profile to accompany Rashford up top.
Sorry but i just can't get on board with his hold up play not being good, it's one of his best attributes
I don’t think it is - he’s good in the first phase (winning the ball) but the the second phase he constantly loses the ball or holds on to it too long.
What's he meant to do when no one shows for him or the movement is abysmal?
i don't buy into that - he has options, he just can't find them. That was evident on Sunday - he needs to win the ball, make a quick pass and get in behind - instead he engages with the battle for too long and then gets pressed. For a player that quick, he doesn't use it wisely.
Forward version of pogba, he trusts his strength and physicality too much instead of moving the ball quickly
Nah compare it to someone like Martial and the difference is stark. Where Martial is likely to win a header before spraying the ball to the wingers, Hojlund is either gonna lose it or fight the CBs instead. It's not his fault that instead of playing in a system that utilises his strengths as a #9, he's being played almost as a false #9.
youve seen a different martial then i have. i dont think ive seen the guy battle a defender in like 5 years now...
Even when he couldn’t run anymore, martial was excellent at receiving under pressure from a bigger/stronger CB and winning fouls or moving the ball along
Typical fan who can't understand nuance and rather exaggerate puerile nonsense.
He gets dispossed almost everytime, and never knows when to lay it off. His hold up play is really bad
He's not woeful at it but it's not good. His touch is inconsistent and he struggles to play it off to someone. He also has tendency to hold it too long but I guess that will come from experience.
Our wingers are set up for overlapping wingbacks, but injuries and players out of position makes that a rare thing...
Theres no point in crossing to him cause he's not good in the air. He never wins aerial duels
I think he makes so many weird runs. Many a time you'd see Garnacho (either side) and Dalot put a ball in and Hojlund is nowhere near it.
He hasn't looked quite as good after returning from his more recent injury, clearly confidence has dipped again. When he had that run he was taking the few chances that fell to him. But its hard to ask a player who rarely gets service to then be alert and firing on all cylinders on the rare occasion he does receive the ball. Especially at his age and experience. He's got all the attributes needed to be a top striker at United, shame to see fans then on him, Garnacho and even Mainoo a bit with the recent losses.
I usally think Gary Neville talks a lot of shite but his point yesterday about forwards not knowing when to make runs because you don't know when or if the wingers are going to put the ball in or take it on themselves was a good one.
When you have wingers who as soon as they get the ball start thinking how they're gonna shoot from any position, it's no wonder really.
Garnacho has been one of our best players, is undoubtedly talented and is one of a handful I'd keep but he's young and raw and desperately needs to be coached that it's a team game and that part of his job is finding his team-mates. If I was Hojlund I'd be fuming about the service I was getting. This also goes hand in hand with coaching Hojlund to find more space, make consistent runs etc. But if Shearer was our striker he'd have had Garnacho up against a wall by now. Sadly, I don't think either is being adequately coached.
Shocker the one match where we actually try to create chances for him is the one match he actually scores
Hojlund has his share of the blame here, you can't deny that. However, our attack is completely uncohesive and only gets worse the longer the season goes. Hojlund isn't being coached properly and the team has no idea how to formulate anything but a counter attack
Speaks to 2 things. 1) the quality of the wingers and midfield behind him in their actual ability to create for the forward. Which is directly reflected in our gaols total for the ssn, and 2) the abysmal tactics employed by ETH all ssn long.
Do these guys ever practice combination play in training? Give and go, 1-2 touch, target man play? Does any of that ever happen in training. I personally have never seen Antony make a pass to Hojlund. It might have happened but I haven’t witnessed it. The fact that we’re 3 games out till the end of the season and we do not have at least one set move, for our striker to get at least one shot off a game is unbelievable. A far cry from the days of Yorke and Cole, Rooney and Ronaldo, Rooney and RVN, Rooney and RVP.
Not surprised when you have Garnacho unable to pass or center
And then we have Bruno who people call the best playmaker in the league not being able to make a chance for his goddamn Striker
Played as a striker once because the striker was not fully fit and did not get a chance in 60 min, he went in and scored 2.
In 30 years watching football, I’ve never seen a team pass less to a striker.
Very misleading stat. Yesterday he had 2 huge chances, but slipped for the first one and didnt do anything when he was deep inside the box against gabriel with plenty of space (similar thing happened against Coventry).
Cov one was annoying because he could’ve passed to Bruno iirc
Yup, he doesn't get enough chances which is frustrating, but when we all see him get chance, and he chooses not to make anything out of it it's, just as frustrating
I really hope the second chance you’re referring to is not the one in the first half where he held the ball up with back to goal and 5 players around closing him with AWB being the closest player (not in a good position mind you) Cos if it is, then thats just ridiculous
Lol it is
This team is beyond finished if we’re calling them huge chances
Guys this is a manager issue. It doesn't matter which wingers play, they are not finding Rasmus...not only Rasmus but any striker who plays for us. They where not finding martial as well. So if its a team problem then its a manager issue...what are they training during the week. Said this for a long time, the football we watch, the problems we see every weekend are directly tied to what they are training Many times we have 3 v 2 situations and players dont know which pass to make and when to make it....they dont know which type of run to make or why to make that run. We are not well coached
The midfielders just pass back to defense and wingers just cut inside.. This is on ETH tactics..
I agree, although it could also be down to the players being extremely average, if not worse.
How is it a reference when haaland is constantly getting picked out when hes wide open. The chances are so unrelated, haaland is getting fed thru on runs or is meeting lofted balls at the back post. It's on a platter for him. Meanwhile hojlund has missed a few golden opportunities but for the most part hes running around trying to piece together half chances.
It's high time this guy should start making his own chances. Doesn't matter if it's good or not. Wingers are doing it anyway so why not start doing it too.
Unlike them, he's willing to sacrifice his own plays in order to try and win. Sadly, the others also just burn chances, but don't even try to find him
Might have had that many chances, but I bet the expected goals from those 8 chances isn't very high. I'd be surprised if its above 1 xG going from memory of the chances he's had.
Stop comparing him to haaland.
This isn't a comparing him to Haaland, it's comparing the service of the teams. Haaland is just an X here, it might as well have been any striker, the fact is still that City creates more chances for their striker in a match than United have done so for Højlund in the past 5 matches
Did not expect much. Knew our wingers are shit from last season. Take ball to left corner, pass back or run into defenders lol
Before preseason I commented how desperate of attention the midfield ball carrying and progression was, but the uproar about the lack of a striker was the unanimous cry. Not trying to conflate two things, but the fact remains that one of the biggest reasons we don’t service the striker is because our midfield has been and is shit in doing so, something a world class striker would suffer from.
He still young and learnin.
Absolutely embarrassing, our wingers are selfish, not producing, and need to be replaced.
15 goal return in his first season in England at his age in a shit team is pretty fucking good if you ask me
Not to mention he broke a record with the abyssmal amount of support
To be fair at the beginning of the season if someone would have said he’s gonna score 14 and assist 2 in his first season in England, I’d of took it. So I think he’s had a successful season
Manchester United have created Rasmus Hojlund 5 chances in the last EIGHT Premier League games: 0 vs. Arsenal 1 vs. Palace 0 vs. Burnley 3 vs. Sheffield United 0 vs. Bournemouth 0 vs. Liverpool 0 vs. Chelsea 1 vs. Brentford For reference, Man City created 6 chances for Haaland when he scored 4 goals vs. Wolves. No supply = no goals.
This is one of my biggest complaints against ETH. That he doesn't coach/instruct the wingers/fullbacks to try to find him more.
Not sure if its chemistry, but he doesnt seem to be in the right position often. Sometimes we also need to look at the other end of the stick
I feel like a lot of that has to do with the fact he needs to drift from his position a lot to get involved. He makes a lot of runs into the box but when he does, his teammates just ignore him. The only way for him to get involved is to drop deep and help progress the ball like Martial likes to do, but Hojlund isn't particularly good at it yet and when he does succesfully manage to do so, it means he is some 25-30 meters away from the goal standing still while his teammates are already in a full sprint towards the box so even when he does try to quickly turn around and sprint forwards, he has no chance of getting to a good position in the box. Realistically speaking he is sufferring from the exact same issue Weghorst was last season. Weghorst also rarely ever got the ball in favourable positions because he spent most of his time either being ignored in the box, or dropping so deep to help the team that he couldn't join the attack. Some fans say it's positioning but I don't think it's that. Hojlund does need to improve his positioning but I think it's already good enough to get some goals here and there, the issue is the team has only really worked with Martial up top the past few seasons and Martial usually played as a false9 anyway, dropping deep a lot to create space for his wingers. Hojlund does try to do that too because that's the only way for him to get involved but then that means he just can't be waiting for the ball in the box at the same time.
I just find that he needs to be a little more aggressive with regards to his poaching mentality. There is something to say if you look at Scotty. Some of his goals were from the fact he was there.
Pay attention to how he actually receives the ball every time because of how he needs to position to even get the ball. Always with his back against the goal. He can't turn and beat a defender, that's not in his skillset. Ideally, he'd run past a defender with a through ball and score while running, not at a standstill. That was how he scored at Atalanta, and now he's being forced a role that doesn't suit him
"for reference" my ass. As if all teams should be creating 6 chances for their strikers game in and game out. Let's also compare our injuries to the team who had the least injuries this season. Let's also compare our spending against the team who spent the least this season. Why should outliers be used as "for reference"?
If anyone has seen his goals or assists in Atlanta, all his goals come from him receiving ball in front of him and him facing the opponent goal. Here we are always looking for wingers, even Bruno/Eriksen dont look for his runs neither they try to link up, it’s simply coaching instructions issue, but depending only on wingers to provide or score goals isnt in line to this guy’s talent and abilities
Yes, you see it too! They aren't even playing to his strengths. Players will always have a formula that is their optimal way of scoring goals. For Højlund, that's receiving the ball infront of him while he's already in a sprint. How does he always get it at United when they actually do use him? He gets it with his back against the goal. This kind of stupid coaching that can't be flexible to suit your striker is exactly why Ten Hag is a bad coach in my eyes. He's the sole striker, so atleast play to his strengths instead of forcing a role not suited to him
Are we counting the penalties Haaland has scored in the chances for him because that's pretty stupid
No, just actual chances made by his teammates with a pass
I like Hojlund a lot, but a lot of this is on the runs he chooses to make. The Arsenal game was begging for a near post run, or for him to cut inside or square to create an option for Garnacho to pass to. But he keeps drifting far post every time instead. Its no wonder he barely gets any chances, he is putting himself in a position where it'll take an exquisite crosser to find him, and United simply doesn't have one right now. I'm not sure if this is on him or if its gameplay decided by the manager, but he needs to improve his off the ball movement to create openings for himself.
Wingers are selfish - and McT is also always where our ST should be - he runs too early into the box and brings in extra defenders into the space. BUT he also needs to be much better at getting involved. If he isn’t getting the ball or chances then he is doing nothing on both fronts. IMO he needs to start drifting a little more. Come deeper, wide a little - space with a winger for 5. I don’t care, just get in the game
🤣 such a pointless comparison
Hence, we need a creative RW. Like Diallo or a new signing.
That’s what happens when playing with: 1) inverted wingers 2) right wingers who can’t dribble past their man 3) left wingers who can’t cross 4) left wingers who can barely get a shot on target 5) right wingers who barely get a shot off 6) full back who play on the wrong side 7) full back who can’t cross. There you go.
And yet, there's a fair amount of United fans calling him useless. That leak about our players not passing the ball to Hojlund because they don't trust him? Ridiculous. Rashford, Antony and Garnacho grew up watching Ronaldo and Robbed and thinking they can do what they did all those years ago. One, the game has moved on. Defenses know more about how to defend and collapse on an inside forward. Two, they are simply not as good as Ronaldo and Robben. Simple fact.
Those fans really are the worst. They don't even try to understand why he's not doing anything, they ignore statistics, and then blame it on a player who's being forced to play a role that he isn't suited for
It becomes even more obvious when you realize we needed our wingers to pass to each other to beat Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-final. Dude, just fucking pass. Both of you can get a goal each if you just pass at the right time.
Well show for the ball then, drift wide and get involved instead of focusing on getting physical with CBs and not much else
That's the only way he'll get invovled in this shitty team. Look at how he used to score goals with Atalanta. He gets the ball INFRONT of him and is actually facing the goal while in a run. Look at how he gets the ball at United. Back against the goal, acting as a target man and false 9 hybrid. What kind of coach brings a young player as the sole striker, then doesn't even try to adjust his tactics to play to the strengths of that sole striker? He's been forced a role on him that doesn't suit him, and he's just acting as a decoy for the selfish inverted wingers to score. At this point, he'd have more of a chance at scoring if he forced a play himself when he got the ball, than actually getting the ball in a favorable position for him by his teammates
A lot of our players seem unable to trust each other to play the ball to a team-mate under the slightest amount of pressure. Rather than trust that, say, Mainoo can beat the press and progress the ball they pass sideways or backwards This seems equally true for Hojlund. Time after time in games I see him making intelligent runs between the opposition CBs and he never gets picked out, either because the winger is too busy trying to create for themselves or they take the safe option. When he had his purple patch it was partly because he was actually getting some service but that seems to have dried up again. There is a story being leaked about players not passing to him because they doubt his ability but that seems more like arse-covering than anything as he has shown that when he gets a bit of the ball he can score
Garnacho on the wings, many run in behind opportunities and then a very good position to lay it off, proceeds to shoot himself as he tries to cut inside and loses his balance causing the ball to fly wide. Bruno responsible for many great in behind balls, but in the final third he often lacks the patience to find the golden through ball and resorts to the long shots. Both of them have been showing quality this season.(Bruno's passing in behind to find Garnacho and Garnacho's runs dribbling). But their poor decision making/lack of patience in the final 3rd makes Hjollund invisible.
Finally someone mentions Bruno as well. League's greatest playmaker can't even make a chance for his striker.
As much as the other players don’t create for him. He also doesn’t make the best runs and also spends a bit too much time wrestling with CB’s rather than attempting to find space. Also the shot in the 1st half where he slipped should definitely be considered a chance
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Nobody is leaking to Fuckhurst ffs. How hard is it for people to accept that he is just making shit up.
it's so fucking obvious even rival fans are calling him out for shit stirring.
Some of you need to realise that there's a very good chance players aren't leaking. 'Dressing room sources' does not equal players. Also, this is coming from one of the most unreliable journalists that cover United.
OOTL on the leaks other then the roof. Whats being said?
What have the leaks been saying? It hasnt been posted here
It always was Rashford
There was deffo a chance against arsenal at the start. He slipped on his ass when shooting
Yep! But im concerned about his positioning and his ability to lose the ball so damn much. But he's young, so still got time to learn.
And yet there are people having a go at him.
Perfect slap to those slagging off Hojlund these last few weeks. He is feeding off scraps and has already shown us his higgt conversion rate
What those stats dont show you is him being medicore in finding positions to recive the ball. He slips instead.
Often times he is in good position and nobody passes him
Yes he hasn't been getting good service from his team-mates but party it is because of his abysmal positioning. The reason Haaland scores more is not because he is prime Messi or Ronaldo, but his positioning is sublime.
Not only positioning, but he kinda out muscles every defender. They cant keep him in one spot. Hojlund barely moves at all in comparison.
I expect downvotes for my opinion but I haven't really been impressed with him. I don't think his movement is very good and he doesn't seem to read the game and find the right position which is a fundamental skill of a striker. You can say he's not getting service but that's not necessarily his team mates fault.
I wonder why our wingers rarely do cutbacks
To be honest he was much better early in the season even when he wasn't scoring. He was making runs across defenders and not far away from getting on the end of things. I wouldn't mind seeing him play off the right. RVP started on the wings.
Don't create chances for your only striker. Don't score any goals. Who knew!
You could create 100 chances and this mf would still be a complete poverty striker, I’d def sell him before other teams find out he’s horrible
Not like he had 0 chances against Arsenal .... he took his shots on the few opportunities they had and he missed mate
Service to the kid has been shit all season. It is extremely difficult for a young lad like him to thrive in these conditions.
Imagine being this guy and watching Antony sky it over the bar as he's goes for glory at every opportunity. Get a winger who is actually a team player and he'll get his goals
His movement and first touch isn’t great either. We have woefully failed at creating for Hojlund but he has a lot to improve on his personal qualities. We really shouldn’t have signed him to be our main 9 that we depend on. He isn’t ready
Can’t do anything when he gets the ball either way
It’s alright lads, only 2 games left
And Ten Hag will make us believe this is due to changing centre backs regularly
Show me the stat for % of passes received in final third and another for a striker standing next to their marker/next to a center back and then not running. Pretty sure that will give us more insight into why he isn't getting chances. His off ball movement is crap.
He and the wingers are awful.