Kure Raian - The Rasmus Højlund Thread

He seems like good money spent. He is showing his speed today his commitment and focus with that header and he's also shown his power previously.

I also vote for razzmatazz as the title

 

Aged 20 years and 362 days, Rasmus Hojlund is now the youngest player to score and assist in consecutive games in the Premier League, beating Cristiano Ronaldo’s longstanding record, who was 21.

Not a bad record to hold. 🤩 pic.twitter.com/SVFHNcgdIF

— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) February 1, 2024

 

This kid was running all game and literally gets nothing. Rashford could have given him a tap in, iirc.

Feel bad for this kid.

 

I don't remember the tap in but he is with wingers that don't believe in crossing.

 

Agreed. Hes flanked by two “wingers” that play for themselves first. That’s why I mentioned playing Antony at LW. At worst he would just feed crosses to Hojlund because he’ll never go right.

 

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...hester-united-players-reluctant-pass-29157013

Got this from my Man U WhatsApp group. The poster did make this comment.

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Luckhurst is one of the reporters that annoys me, and Manchester Evening News is one of the media that was banned by TenHag, so take this with a grain of salt.

But independently, what do you think about the way we use Rasmus? I meant to mention this . Total lack of service or any attempt to involve him. We rather force everything to Ganacho than make one simple pass to Rasmus.
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For me the problem is not him but the wingers. You don't give a forward enough touches to get into the game and be dangerous but then people are questioning his finishing.

And this is where I mean I wish we had a stronger Admin because this is where we need somebody to come in find out who's talking to the press fine him and bench him.

 

IMO it's on Rasmus, too. Meek as a mouse when launching a long ball at him. Easily beaten. Looks afraid of the ball and the man. Doesn't demand the ball enough from his teammates. He needs to develop a more forceful personality.

 

Anyone blaming Hojlund needs a dose of context. If you just look at the stats, it looks like he's been poor. At times the eye test tells the same. But the story is...he is literally the most isolated, starved for service striker in the PL by a mile. He's flank by shoot first wing forwards and a shoot first 10. He has nobody deep in midfield capable of playing through balls or accurate balls over the top.

When we play to his feet, he's usually dealing with two CBs and no outlets so he has to settle and protect the ball for way too long. And he goes long periods of the game where he makes run after run without getting the ball. Eventually, anyone would stop making those runs if they always come to nothing. If you look at his finishing, he's actually fairly clinical when given a decent xG chance. Add to that he's a 21 yo in a new league and playing every minute by default without rest. As we've done again and again, we've set a new player up to fail. Nobody should be surprised. Harry Kane wouldn't crack 20 goals in this team.

 

Don't get me wrong, the others are doing him no favors, but he has to speak up for himself to his teammates.

 

Good write up today on the Athletic regarding Hojlund's issues in front of goal. Clear he is not having enough shots or touches - some of the stat comparisons there are quite surprising, but it also notes that other strikers (like Kane and Gyokeres) also having issues at his age

The suffering of Rasmus Hojlund

There is a paywall - but reader view often works in safari or chrome

 

I hope they never fix that Javascript hack.

 

I've bitched about him, but he's one of Europa's top scorers on 5.

 

Hope he doesnt leave and that we dont give up on him too early.

For sure he has been bad but then so has the whole team including the support play.

Feel the same as this twitter user (copying text given how effed linking is)

Freddy Quinne O @FreddyQuinne

Hojlund is 21 years old.

When Gyokeres was his age, he was on loan at Swansea scoring 0 in 11.

Lewandowski scored 8 in 33 for Dortmund.

Ibrahimovic was scoring 13 a season at Ajax.

Just cause Mbappe and Haaland are freaks doesn't mean everyone else has to be. Most players need time to develop.

 

I would like him to stay, stated many times. He is a united fans and shown pure professionalism despite being forced out.

 

Was just coming to report that. So Napoli have Hojlund and McT.

I think Hojlund would have thrived under Carrick. I am really coming to see how bad a git Amorin was.

 

On the owners too. If we really were a 'big club' in terms of finances too then we keep Hojlund and sign Sesko. Is what City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea would have done.

The constraints put on us by our owners though meant it was either or. If we wanted a new more prolific striker we had to ditch our current main striker rather than have them compete and have proper depth on the bench.

 

True. Having them battle for it. I mean Pool got Wirtz, Isaac and Etikite all can play CF

 

Yep, our striker depth is Zirkzee who is a Serie A level #10 (so miles from being an EPL #9) and Mbeumo who is a wing forward (as he demonstrated today by blasting his right-footed chances today miles over the bar).

Having a top #9 on the bench can win you the league, think Dzeko / Jesus / Alvarez at City, Jota at Liverpool, OGS / Chicharito / Sheringham etc. in the past for us.

Even more short-sighted when you consider we need depth now we are back in the CL Especially with all the former academy players we sold who would have given us some much needed depth.

 

Exactly. Going into next season, we need to buy a veteran 9. Someone affordable like maybe a Welbeck or the former forest guy Tiwo whatever. But it should go Benji, Vet Striker, Obi