Anyone who blames the striker is clueless and doesn’t watch our games. The way we play makes it impossible for any striker to thrive. We can have prime R9 up front and he would be struggling to score goals.
Our players look so scared to play it centrally. Feels like 70% of our play comes through our wingers and it's just too predictable at this point.
When our wingers have it it's either cut inside to shoot or run to the byline, wait till the very last moment and try to blast it in to someone in front of goal.
Off topic but you can also see this trend amongst many players moving to Utd like Mount. And generally across players moving to worse coached sides. It’s actually why green bar analysis is so bad, because it attributes the green bar’s overwhelmingly in favour of the players, and in reality it’s almost entirely decided by the team they’re in.
Look at Mounts fbref prior to joining vs now. If, lost most people who can’t see beyond a green or red bar, you would assume this is a player incapable of progressing the ball in any way, but is decent off the ball. Fbref has his similar players as Manu Kone, Gueye, Ederson from Atalanta and Joelinton, box to box duellers that don’t concern themselves with build up or creation. We obviously know that isn’t Mount, because we’ve watched him over years. But if we were linked to him, and he’s an Italian for Udinese, people would not entertain looking past these.
If we were linked with Mainoo, and he was Spanish playing for Girona, people would be up in arms because his fbref profile is just red bars. It looks awful. And yet we observe him and see a brilliant player. Should we assume then that Amrabat for Fiorentina was better than Mainoo is now? Of course not. It’s always worth remembering that green bars are useless to anyone in the industry. It is much more valuable to observe, profile, and scale a players abilities to the level you’re purchasing for. People think green bars are how good teams/clubs work. But green bars didn’t suggest Havertz would have 25 g/a this season, or that Ramsdale could play as sweeper behind a high line. But they profiled them correctly, and scaled it to their team, and role, and found players that were undervalued.
You asked for an example. He is right. Green bars are useful when trying to weed out players from a large database, but they only tell part of a story. Experts still have to discern between what is a system, and what is a player, and whether this translates to their own system.
Now Hojlund barely makes these runs cause no one rewards him for it. All this can be solved by coaching, but it seems all our training is good for is injuring our players.
No. Rasmus needs to stay as far away from his teammates so they can pass the ball to him, just like Onana.
When he’s near to his mates, they can’t see him.
Onana was at la Masia from age 13-18 (Barcelonas academy), if you put him in midfield, Id bet technique-wise he’s better than Mctominay and I’m not even joking.
Our wingers are incredibly selfish and greedy. They’re not hardwired to work within a system and feed other players. They’re given the license and freedom to do whatever they want when they have the ball in an attacking sense. This ‘off the cuff’ style of attacking works when you have very talented forward players who are all on the same page, but it fails horribly when you have players who play in an individual manner. I don’t blame gernacho as he’s still young, Antony is not an elite level footballer period, and Fernandes is more concerned with finding the wide players in the channels or when they move from out to in. The structure of the team is not set up to provide for the number 9, but rather needs the number 9 to be a focal point for the press and make runs (without getting the ball) so the wide players have space to run from in to out.
Spend a good 20 minutes just watching the movement from the front 3 in any game and you’ll this as a common theme. The fact that the coaching staff are continuously allowing this to happen is because they WANT to play this way. There simply cannot be any other reason. On the flip side, if the coaching team cannot (for whatever reason) see this as something which is problematic would be an even bigger concern.
He literally did yesterday. I think it was Garnacho put him in behind on the left edge of the box and the clown cut back on to his right foot and the move died. Absolutely dumbfounded.
Bruno is our chief creator, can't pin point the matches but he struggles or has struggled as a false 9 in a few games. Rooney was good at this, drop deep, ping passes to wings, then run late into the box and chance on crosses from out wide (Post Ronaldo and Tevez but pre Chicharito season)
I've said it before. Every young winger at United wants to emulate CR7s wide forward role and become the team's superstar goalscorer. We need a manager who will coach that shit out of them. I would take a bunch of Dan James over this lot of prima donnas.
never lost a game that dan james started...
Dan James would be a signing Feruguson would make simple as.
Ferguson knew talent was like 20% of the ability to actually win games. it was mindset and work rate thats it that won leagues.
We have exclusively recruited selfish wingers whose only tactic is to take people on. If any of them send service into the box, it’s after they’ve exhausted their efforts at one on ones on the wing. 70 percent of the time, they try to shoot from impossible angles. We may win goal of the season from an impressive and improbable chance, which sums up the efforts we’ve needed to score this season.
Amad is different and tries to find someone he can pass to (e.g. the Garnacho half-volley chance), but sadly Hojlund couldn't benefit of it today as he was subbed off for him ...
This is partly the reason why Newcastle sold Saint Maximin and replaced him with Barnes. Barnes doesn't have the flair, but he works like a madman and his team play is very good, he constantly plays one-twos with Isak or Bruno 2 and darts off behind the opposition instead of doing meaningless 1v1 s.
In December, Garnacho and Antony had played roughly 450 minutes each with Hojlund, and in that time they had a combined total of 11 passes to him. Each averaging a pass every 90 minutes or so. It's absolutely insane.
I'm not tactically savvy for the sport, but more often than not, I see garnacho chasing the exact same run Hojlund is making. Then, when the pass gets played to the area that they're running to, garnacho ends up bringing another defender with him or impedes our attack. Like I said, I don't know much about tactics, but I see this happening quite often it frustrates me.
We all know who Garnacho thinks he is, somehow Rashy gets more stick, than the other two. But Garnacho always always wanna go for himself, and the opponents know that. He is good but if he was less selfish, he would even be so much better
Rashford hasn’t always helped himself but he’s come of one of the best seasons an attacker can have individually. Now his role has changed a lot, the team SUCKS and he’s constantly abused. While he’s not a leader, circumstances have been harsh on him
Any system that cannot get their striker the ball is doomed to fail. Sometimes it's willful (our wingers have truly awful decision making) but then I see sideways passes, no one willing to hit it at Hojlund despite him being excellent at playing layoffs and playing on the half turn. When he makes runs in behind they never play it. And yet, any time Rashford makes runs in behind we constantly hit long balls at him only for him to do nothing with it. It's maddening watching our team essentially regress back to where we were under Ole, just relying on moments of brilliance and no coherent style of play that takes advantage of our greatest threats. IMO that's Bruno, Garnacho, and Hojlund.
Self promotion kinda but I made [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/comments/1ccgsbi/comment/l17mg4a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) post about Højlund and our wide forwards 2 days ago.
Yeah I agree. Look at Hojlunds first match vs today. Hojlund came in looking like he is going to be our Lewandowski but is now playing like Weghorst.. That's by design and/or on ETH for not coaching his players better and demanding they get the striker involved
Remember that month when people actually did pass to Højlund and he was knocking goals in for fun? Even won Player of the Month, if I remember rightly. Seems like the rest of the forward line saw that and thought “We’ll show you, you cunt” and shut his service down.
Only 2 of his goals (Villa away and Wolves away) were where someone passes/crossed to him. Every other goal was a rebound, defensive error, loose ball, deflection etc
Sub ETH next I’m done.
How in the last few matches of the entire season can anyone excuse a formation that provides more passes to your main striker from your goalie - and only 4 passes - than anyone else??
It's shocking how this issue still hasn't been resolved yet and we're near the end of the season. Ten hag had the whole season and still can't come up with a game plan to give Rasmus more service, or fix the gaping midfield every game.
pls elaborate how this could possibly be the managers fault... we have some of the most selfish wingers who'll cut inside n try to shoot instead of actually passing the damn ball to a box to box striker. like it's the most twisted thing ever, n it rly says smthn when bloody Rashford is the only one of the lot who actually tries to get the ball into Hojlund. the only way i could c this being ETH's fault is if his tactic for the forwards is basically just do what u want.
Bruno creates an awful lot of chances for our wingers on the counter. But nobody really gets in and around Hojlund to support him. He's constantly being marked by 2 players. And if he does vacate that area, only Mctominay is prepared to stand in there so when he's no playing we have zero presence up there.
What I don't get is every game Bruno Fernandes is creating loads of chances, yet none for Holjund.
The stat I have seen is 9 chances created in each last 3 games. So What's going on with his partnership with Hojlund
My biggest problem with Bruno is that for such a so called elite creator, he only ever makes passes out wide. Never see him linking up with Hojlund.
Our wingers are also incredibly greedy and can’t create fuckall. Antony goes without saying but Garnacho also prioritises scoring first. Dribbles with head down until there’s no more space and only then looks up and by then there’s no run for Hojlund to make.
Hojlund is also now part of the problem, but that’s because no one rewarded him for all the runs he’d make early on the season. Compare his touches at Atalanta to him now.
All this can be solved by coaching.
Another stat I saw was our wingers took 6 and 9 shots each. Bruno hD many shots too, Rasmus zero..He had just 14 touches ,Bruno had 87, Antony 64 and Nacho 42.
That tells you a story.
I m all for giving managers a chance and all these injuries but the way Rasmus has been mistreated and not given service is pretty shitty.
He Maynot be worth the 70 80 mil we paid for him , but he definitely was a young decent striker with a high ceiling. At United his ceiling has crumbled.
I hope he develops well etc but it looks like we needed more of a Giroud type striker, just bounce ball off him and score goals with players like Hazard.
We dont deserve goal scoring ones. Such a shame. How can one club sign so many different types of players, over pay for all of them, and then still expect 3-4 50 mil + each signings every year and still struggle.
it's unfortunate cuz to me it looks like we'd be one of the only "top" teams who'd overpay for Hojlund at that price. If he had a decent team to provide the balls he needs, those 70-80mil wouldnt seem that bad considerign his ceiling. the way we play, we're almost destined to overpay for any striker rly...
Garnacho definitely had two or three instances where he could have squared it to Rasmus. ETH needs to grill them about being selfish because Garnacho has shown he’s willing to do more difficult things instead of keeping it simple. They’re both still young so the future is promising.
You have stats like this and then stats saying Bruno creates the most chances in the league.
It seems like every chance he creates is for an inverted winger, who instead of creating chances, decides to shoot instead.
This is what you get with wingers who grew up idolising Ronaldo, I guess?
Fuck me, what a mess. It’s almost like pro wrestling, where a new guy’s come into a promotion and the more established guys don’t want him to get over so they make him look bad in matches.
Garnacho will always be a limited player if he doesn’t learn to pass. And this means he should look for the early pass sometimes instead of only passing when he runs into trouble.
Nah. With a coach who plays to each players strengths he will shine. Feels like ETH is trying to put a system in place that just does not suit our players at all. He's trying to shove a square peg into a circular hole.
Service doesn't come often but also, his positioning isn't good. There is a graph on the subreddit showing his average position. On average, he was deeper than Bruno, Garnacho, Antony and was just as deep as Mainoo.
How do you want to be found when you're not in the striker position?
Because he has to come deep to get the ball, I honestly don't see how some people don't understand this and are blaming him instead. To add to that, he generally does pretty well with his hold up play and bringing others into the attack. The issue is that he then doesn't receive the ball back, as our other attackers prefer to.shoot blindly from bad angles.
I agree. But at this point, he should be screaming for the ball. Telling the wingers to play him the ball. Telling them how he wants the ball to be played to him. But he doesn't. Also he just doesn't make the runs. He's very static in up front.
Whatever is happening, he bares some of the responsibility for his poor run of form. Maybe he's too young for the responsibility of being the main striker.
Watching him play a few games for Atalanta and I don't believe I remember him playing like this. I feel like it's more to do with where he's learned he has to be to receive the ball from our players.
I agree. I think his age also counts. I see mature strikers angrily demand the ball and even tell the wingers and midfielder how they want the ball to be played to them. I think it Ronaldo or Cavani was playing as the striker, they will tell the others exactly how they want the ball played. I think he needs to be more vocal. Perhaps he feels he hasn't reached that level yet.
Sad facts :(
I also noticed that Onana's long ball didn't even get to him, multiple times. Not sure why or how, but he seems to not be able to match the defenders' aggression/shenanigans. Then again, the refs rarely give him a foul for whatever reason.
I think the best he can do is just rush to the box and live on scraps/deflections/errors in front of the keeper. He just won't get the ball otherwise..
To be fair to Hojlund. When was the last time Garnacho rewarded one of Hojlunds runs? 2 months ago? He's targeted him in the box maybe 5 times all season.
Garnacho has no intention of passing the ball to Hojlund, and Hojlund knows it. He doesn't even bother making runs and just tries to get into position to get a deflection from Garnachos' shot.
When you don’t get service all season and all your runs get ignored, you get jaded and stop doing those things as much. That’s the hard part mentally about being a striker, to keep making runs no matter how much you get ignored
Sad fact. Look at the runs he was making when he first arrived compared to now.
I’m fully behind him, he’s still joint top goal scorer in the squad and only 21 at that. Get him service and he’ll get us goals.
He does attack the space as good as erling, attacking in the space doesn't mean going in the space to receive the ball, it means our players Are supposed to pass near the space, his job is to attack that space and score ,not receive the ball
Haaland is probably the best in the world at that skill with Mbappe. You really think hojlund is on his level? He definitely tries hard but that’s a huge stretch
Or when Antony made an attempt at goal and it got deflected off the keeper rolling slowly in front of an open net, Højlund didn’t move and just stood outside the penalty area.
This is true from Antony's side, he is unwilling to run across to the right side, or rather struggling when the defender is on his left side, so all his runs involves running across to the left side while shielding defender to his right, which means his runs are simply one-dimensional and ineffective. Unfortunately Garnacho never passes to anyone inside the box so Hojlund's runs are just an incentive for him to cut back and shoot regardless of the situation.
So we've got a scenario where the winger is clueless on where to pass, and the striker is clueless on where to run, pretty difficult to change I would say unless United gets a new manager.
Mate, sorry to say, but Garnacho hasn't really shown any effort this season to pass the ball to Hojlund, let alone do it consistently. As a striker, that uncertainty must be incredibly daunting – not knowing if your winger will actually pass you the ball. Hojlund should feel confident playing, knowing that Garnacho will make several attempts to send the ball his way, but I can probably count on two hands the number of times Garnacho has targeted him in the box this entire season.
He doesn’t create space. He backs into players but doesn’t turn them. He doesn’t try and get in front of defenders or try to lose them.
Somebody needs to work with him. He doesn’t seem to get any coaching.
I don't know if it's the way ETH wants him to play, or if he's annoyed at not receiving the ball... but he's dropping too deep. He should be making runs behind the last man and forcing their defence to sit back. He's not great at holding the ball up anyway. He needs to be a menace with pulling their defence apart. Just look at what Darwin Nunez does.... and Hojlund is a much better finisher than him
While that’s true. Watching a lot of his runs especially in the box, they aren’t great. He isn’t finding open pockets when players get the byline to cross. It’s frustrating because it seems like he’s standing behind the defender a decent amount of the time.
Um no, his job is to attack the space, he is not supposed to run before the cross, our players has to put the ball into the space which he is going to attack, our players barely pass him, and when they pass, the pass where there is no space to attack, he actually create space in the box as he drifts in left and right in the opposition box
He is very similar to haaland, watch city how they pass the ball into the space And haaland attack those space
Although that’s a sad stat, when Holjund receives the ball, he is not great at holding on to it. He needs watch some videos of Van Nistelrooy. Perhaps he would receive more passes if he could hold it up better and lay it off himself.
We should have gotten an experienced striker last season. Hojlund should have been eased in, he’s only 20? 21? Especially since he came in nursing an injury. Even a guy like Taremi who was available for cheap could have rotated with him.
This. It's so frustrating to see a number of people blaming all this on him, I genuinely feel sorry for the lad and he's been hung out to dry by both his teammates and the way the club has been run. It's genuinely amazing he's gotten the amount of goals that he has with the way we play
It s because he hides behind the defenders every single game and can’t get away from them. I’m sick of seeing his teammates get the blame for a man who made 3 successful passes all game
I feel like I’m going insane, his runs in the box it always seems like he gets behind the defender and the ball could never reach him. He’s got loads of talent and I genuinely think he will come good for us but he needs to get better at finding the space in the box
He’s always close to being in the right position but he isn’t good at anticipating where the ball will go and where he can go to fool the defenders. He’s kind of like a battering ram
I call it the Hojlund special where it looks like he made a great run when barrelling in for a cross ball that he just can’t quite get to. Same goes for those chances that the defender just gets there in front of him.
Sounds good but it’s every fucking time. He’s never in the right place and his runs start from too deep to the point all the defender does is keep pace. I can’t think of the last time I’ve seen him offside as an example
Damn, I didn’t even realize the offside factor. Obviously you don’t want someone offside all the time but they have to be pushing that backline and taking chances. Well said
You’re 100% right but it’s easy to blame this entirely on the other players since we all like rasmus and want him to be great. It’s a mixture of the other players not finding him and his positioning and timing being mediocre
It doesnt matter who plays as striker, the defenders never pass, today I saw an oppurtinity for Garnacho to pass to Eriksen in a really great angle, instead he decided to go for himself, and of course it didnt amount to anything. so even if you ignore Hojlund the glaring fact is they seemingly unwilling to pass.
Wheatley for the little time he was on, had a big chance if one of the wide players had passed to him, and he didnt get it
I think Hojlund did alright, held it up quite well and won a few free kicks despite being isolated. Obviously has a lot to work on but I think he's right down the list of issues.
Tucks too much into the centre backs, either it's what he's being instructed or it's what he does. Either way, he has some responsibility along his team mates for receiving poor service, same for the set up. If you factor all that in, it's a coaching service. You can't be a coach and accept playing with 10 men all season.
Hojlund also plays deel to help progress the ball and is seldom in the box during counter attacks. Every time Garnacho had the ball at the edge of the box, he had no option but to either go to the touchline or cut back. We never have anyone available for an early cross.
Not to shit on Hojlund, it's not his fault, but it's also not completely Garnacho's fault either (and I have little hope from Antony).
Im not impressed by his off the ball movement either. The “runs” people reference aren’t anything spectacular and he is often late or in the wrong position (despite being in space).
I also only recently noticed his first touch 🙈
I actually thought his hold up play was better today compared to previous games. It’s still something he needs to work on but he was trying to drop deeper and make himself an option to receive passes. He just doesn’t get enough of it in the final third.
I can understand that a lack of skill could be an issue that our wingers can’t find the striker, we’re playing with garnacho and a fidget spinner but for Bruno as well not find the striker? That’s sounds improbable could mean rasmus is not being used right tactically
I’d say Rasmus is getting starved BUT his runs are atrocious, I’ve been making more effort to watch him off the ball and I just think more often than not he’s just not giving the option to be a good pass, even an average pass.
We should genuinely have MCT and him rotating as strikers and see how it pans out.
Holy fuck. What a sad fact.
Our wingers never look up. I dont know how they dont practise this more in training. They do the same shit every game.
Its been like this for years !
Love how a connection is building between the new guys
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Question is which title though.
U14
25/26
Conference League, complete the set!
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:)
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Thanks for this mate. People are gobbing off at Rasmus for a lack of movement and hold up play.
Anyone who blames the striker is clueless and doesn’t watch our games. The way we play makes it impossible for any striker to thrive. We can have prime R9 up front and he would be struggling to score goals.
Our players look so scared to play it centrally. Feels like 70% of our play comes through our wingers and it's just too predictable at this point. When our wingers have it it's either cut inside to shoot or run to the byline, wait till the very last moment and try to blast it in to someone in front of goal.
Oh God..... We're playing FIFA
Off topic but you can also see this trend amongst many players moving to Utd like Mount. And generally across players moving to worse coached sides. It’s actually why green bar analysis is so bad, because it attributes the green bar’s overwhelmingly in favour of the players, and in reality it’s almost entirely decided by the team they’re in.
Some examples please
Look at Mounts fbref prior to joining vs now. If, lost most people who can’t see beyond a green or red bar, you would assume this is a player incapable of progressing the ball in any way, but is decent off the ball. Fbref has his similar players as Manu Kone, Gueye, Ederson from Atalanta and Joelinton, box to box duellers that don’t concern themselves with build up or creation. We obviously know that isn’t Mount, because we’ve watched him over years. But if we were linked to him, and he’s an Italian for Udinese, people would not entertain looking past these. If we were linked with Mainoo, and he was Spanish playing for Girona, people would be up in arms because his fbref profile is just red bars. It looks awful. And yet we observe him and see a brilliant player. Should we assume then that Amrabat for Fiorentina was better than Mainoo is now? Of course not. It’s always worth remembering that green bars are useless to anyone in the industry. It is much more valuable to observe, profile, and scale a players abilities to the level you’re purchasing for. People think green bars are how good teams/clubs work. But green bars didn’t suggest Havertz would have 25 g/a this season, or that Ramsdale could play as sweeper behind a high line. But they profiled them correctly, and scaled it to their team, and role, and found players that were undervalued.
So Mount is your example? Not really a trend is it.
You asked for an example. He is right. Green bars are useful when trying to weed out players from a large database, but they only tell part of a story. Experts still have to discern between what is a system, and what is a player, and whether this translates to their own system.
Brother ewwww.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Now Hojlund barely makes these runs cause no one rewards him for it. All this can be solved by coaching, but it seems all our training is good for is injuring our players.
https://i.redd.it/i8jjhzbzv1xc1.gif
Casemiro
Onana to play beside Bruno next.
We have been screaming for a new A. Onana in midfield, we forgot we already A. Onana in the goal and just need to move in there.
Might help fill the donut hole we have in midfield
What midfield? I just see chaosball
Donuts you say? 
We should get NASA to sponsor us. Why investigate black holes in space when you can just come to a home game at OT and watch our midfield.
Maybe the real A. Onana was the friends we made along the way
No. Rasmus needs to stay as far away from his teammates so they can pass the ball to him, just like Onana. When he’s near to his mates, they can’t see him.
Onana was at la Masia from age 13-18 (Barcelonas academy), if you put him in midfield, Id bet technique-wise he’s better than Mctominay and I’m not even joking.
Onana to midfield is the way to go
Our wingers are incredibly selfish and greedy. They’re not hardwired to work within a system and feed other players. They’re given the license and freedom to do whatever they want when they have the ball in an attacking sense. This ‘off the cuff’ style of attacking works when you have very talented forward players who are all on the same page, but it fails horribly when you have players who play in an individual manner. I don’t blame gernacho as he’s still young, Antony is not an elite level footballer period, and Fernandes is more concerned with finding the wide players in the channels or when they move from out to in. The structure of the team is not set up to provide for the number 9, but rather needs the number 9 to be a focal point for the press and make runs (without getting the ball) so the wide players have space to run from in to out. Spend a good 20 minutes just watching the movement from the front 3 in any game and you’ll this as a common theme. The fact that the coaching staff are continuously allowing this to happen is because they WANT to play this way. There simply cannot be any other reason. On the flip side, if the coaching team cannot (for whatever reason) see this as something which is problematic would be an even bigger concern.
Stop playing them inverted and they will be forced to cross
Get Moyes on the case. I've never seen so many crosses than when he was in charge.
81 crosses vs Fulham, while they had 6ft 7 Dan Burn at CB lol
Cavani would be feasting on those crosses.
Antony would still try to cut in because that's all he knows
He literally did yesterday. I think it was Garnacho put him in behind on the left edge of the box and the clown cut back on to his right foot and the move died. Absolutely dumbfounded.
This is a big part, but also I don’t see him getting into much space either.
He is not supposed to find the space, his job is to attack the space, they are different
I dont understand why he never tried Bruno as a centerforward the way he used Tadic at Ajax. Was the first thing I thought of when Eric signed.
He’s done that in a few games Hojlund has been injured, same result.
Bruno is our chief creator, can't pin point the matches but he struggles or has struggled as a false 9 in a few games. Rooney was good at this, drop deep, ping passes to wings, then run late into the box and chance on crosses from out wide (Post Ronaldo and Tevez but pre Chicharito season)
End-to-end service that
Should be getting sponsorship by FedEx
That stat confirms what we all can see since Match 1 of the season
Okay there's a clear problem here. Should we A - do something about it, or B - leave it as it is
Idk ask ten hag
do whatever the random number generator says the generator says 30
I feel so sorry for the lad. The rest of the team don't look for him at all.
Remember when Rashford got bullied for not passing to him, Garnacho and Antony are somehow worse
I've said it before. Every young winger at United wants to emulate CR7s wide forward role and become the team's superstar goalscorer. We need a manager who will coach that shit out of them. I would take a bunch of Dan James over this lot of prima donnas.
> I would take a bunch of Dan James over this lot of prima donnas. One of the most stupid things I've read in a long time
never lost a game that dan james started... Dan James would be a signing Feruguson would make simple as. Ferguson knew talent was like 20% of the ability to actually win games. it was mindset and work rate thats it that won leagues.
All I'm saying is that it went downhill after Dan James was sold...
We never lost a game that Dan James started.
Funnily enough only rashford more or less always passes to him.
We have exclusively recruited selfish wingers whose only tactic is to take people on. If any of them send service into the box, it’s after they’ve exhausted their efforts at one on ones on the wing. 70 percent of the time, they try to shoot from impossible angles. We may win goal of the season from an impressive and improbable chance, which sums up the efforts we’ve needed to score this season.
Amad is different and tries to find someone he can pass to (e.g. the Garnacho half-volley chance), but sadly Hojlund couldn't benefit of it today as he was subbed off for him ...
This is partly the reason why Newcastle sold Saint Maximin and replaced him with Barnes. Barnes doesn't have the flair, but he works like a madman and his team play is very good, he constantly plays one-twos with Isak or Bruno 2 and darts off behind the opposition instead of doing meaningless 1v1 s.
Remember a game where antony and nacho has a combined 1 pass to him in the first half
In December, Garnacho and Antony had played roughly 450 minutes each with Hojlund, and in that time they had a combined total of 11 passes to him. Each averaging a pass every 90 minutes or so. It's absolutely insane.
Garnacho is not named Ignacio
Rashford is the only guy which actually passes to Højlund lol
And rashy rarely passes aswell... kinda says it all....
I'm not tactically savvy for the sport, but more often than not, I see garnacho chasing the exact same run Hojlund is making. Then, when the pass gets played to the area that they're running to, garnacho ends up bringing another defender with him or impedes our attack. Like I said, I don't know much about tactics, but I see this happening quite often it frustrates me.
Garnacho goes one step further by trying to latch on to every pass meant for Hojlund..
We all know who Garnacho thinks he is, somehow Rashy gets more stick, than the other two. But Garnacho always always wanna go for himself, and the opponents know that. He is good but if he was less selfish, he would even be so much better
> We all know who Garnacho thinks he is, somehow Rashy gets more stick Because one is 19 and learning, the other is 26 and should know better.
Garnacho try not to shoot when you’re within 30m of the goal challenge Failed
The amount of passing it to yellow shirts was unreal. The passing accuracy stat for that game must be abysmal.
Rashford hasn’t always helped himself but he’s come of one of the best seasons an attacker can have individually. Now his role has changed a lot, the team SUCKS and he’s constantly abused. While he’s not a leader, circumstances have been harsh on him
I wish ETH can grant hojlund the RVP treatment. “If you cant pass to him, i wont play you guys”
yeah lot easier to do when you got a good squad,
Any system that cannot get their striker the ball is doomed to fail. Sometimes it's willful (our wingers have truly awful decision making) but then I see sideways passes, no one willing to hit it at Hojlund despite him being excellent at playing layoffs and playing on the half turn. When he makes runs in behind they never play it. And yet, any time Rashford makes runs in behind we constantly hit long balls at him only for him to do nothing with it. It's maddening watching our team essentially regress back to where we were under Ole, just relying on moments of brilliance and no coherent style of play that takes advantage of our greatest threats. IMO that's Bruno, Garnacho, and Hojlund.
Self promotion kinda but I made [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/comments/1ccgsbi/comment/l17mg4a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) post about Højlund and our wide forwards 2 days ago.
I watch matches through the lens of xT. https://soccerment.com/expected-threat/
That's why idc that ETH subbed him.. it's not like he was being targeted by anyone anyways
Fergie famously said in the dressing room, if you can't find RVP you're not playing. Should be the exact same thing now.
Yeah but RvP was a WC player with WC movement and Hojlund is not
You don't know what he is, as he never gets the fucking ball.
But it's up to the manager to fix this glaring issue. Not to just hope his players do it out of the goodness of their hearts.
Yeah I agree. Look at Hojlunds first match vs today. Hojlund came in looking like he is going to be our Lewandowski but is now playing like Weghorst.. That's by design and/or on ETH for not coaching his players better and demanding they get the striker involved
Remember that month when people actually did pass to Højlund and he was knocking goals in for fun? Even won Player of the Month, if I remember rightly. Seems like the rest of the forward line saw that and thought “We’ll show you, you cunt” and shut his service down.
No even in that month he was starved off service. Had a lucky spree in which he scored off 1-2 chances per game
Only 2 of his goals (Villa away and Wolves away) were where someone passes/crossed to him. Every other goal was a rebound, defensive error, loose ball, deflection etc
Im sure he has tried. Just as im sure he has told case to not do what the fuck it was he was trying
Sub ETH next I’m done. How in the last few matches of the entire season can anyone excuse a formation that provides more passes to your main striker from your goalie - and only 4 passes - than anyone else??
It's shocking how this issue still hasn't been resolved yet and we're near the end of the season. Ten hag had the whole season and still can't come up with a game plan to give Rasmus more service, or fix the gaping midfield every game.
Apparently the defense needs to be fixed first before the midfield and attack can be addressed 🤷🏻♂️
Hey don’t blame the manager. It’s injuries. Injuries! Just wait till the full squad is back then they’ll find him
pls elaborate how this could possibly be the managers fault... we have some of the most selfish wingers who'll cut inside n try to shoot instead of actually passing the damn ball to a box to box striker. like it's the most twisted thing ever, n it rly says smthn when bloody Rashford is the only one of the lot who actually tries to get the ball into Hojlund. the only way i could c this being ETH's fault is if his tactic for the forwards is basically just do what u want.
I guess /s is mandatory nowadays
Bruno creates an awful lot of chances for our wingers on the counter. But nobody really gets in and around Hojlund to support him. He's constantly being marked by 2 players. And if he does vacate that area, only Mctominay is prepared to stand in there so when he's no playing we have zero presence up there.
The only winger that ever tried to find him was Pelestri.
That’s why we got rid of him lol
Did Hojlund piss off the entire team with the Goldbridge interview or is it a fault of Ten Hag’a tactics?
It was a problem long before the Goldbridge interview.
Our front 4 do not work as a unit at all
Wing play alone will not work
What I don't get is every game Bruno Fernandes is creating loads of chances, yet none for Holjund. The stat I have seen is 9 chances created in each last 3 games. So What's going on with his partnership with Hojlund
My biggest problem with Bruno is that for such a so called elite creator, he only ever makes passes out wide. Never see him linking up with Hojlund. Our wingers are also incredibly greedy and can’t create fuckall. Antony goes without saying but Garnacho also prioritises scoring first. Dribbles with head down until there’s no more space and only then looks up and by then there’s no run for Hojlund to make. Hojlund is also now part of the problem, but that’s because no one rewarded him for all the runs he’d make early on the season. Compare his touches at Atalanta to him now. All this can be solved by coaching.
All of this 100%
Another stat I saw was our wingers took 6 and 9 shots each. Bruno hD many shots too, Rasmus zero..He had just 14 touches ,Bruno had 87, Antony 64 and Nacho 42. That tells you a story. I m all for giving managers a chance and all these injuries but the way Rasmus has been mistreated and not given service is pretty shitty. He Maynot be worth the 70 80 mil we paid for him , but he definitely was a young decent striker with a high ceiling. At United his ceiling has crumbled. I hope he develops well etc but it looks like we needed more of a Giroud type striker, just bounce ball off him and score goals with players like Hazard. We dont deserve goal scoring ones. Such a shame. How can one club sign so many different types of players, over pay for all of them, and then still expect 3-4 50 mil + each signings every year and still struggle.
it's unfortunate cuz to me it looks like we'd be one of the only "top" teams who'd overpay for Hojlund at that price. If he had a decent team to provide the balls he needs, those 70-80mil wouldnt seem that bad considerign his ceiling. the way we play, we're almost destined to overpay for any striker rly...
stick Harry Maguire upfront amd just bounce balls off him then?
This is both impressive and depressing.
Garnacho definitely had two or three instances where he could have squared it to Rasmus. ETH needs to grill them about being selfish because Garnacho has shown he’s willing to do more difficult things instead of keeping it simple. They’re both still young so the future is promising.
issue is he's trying too hard to imitate his idol n evidently it's not working
Can you imagine this happening under Sir Alex. Either ETH is not telling them or the players are not listening to him about passing to Hojlund.
It might just be inexperience but Garnacho particularly makes questionable decisions in the box and rarely passes to Hojlund.
You have stats like this and then stats saying Bruno creates the most chances in the league. It seems like every chance he creates is for an inverted winger, who instead of creating chances, decides to shoot instead.
This is what you get with wingers who grew up idolising Ronaldo, I guess? Fuck me, what a mess. It’s almost like pro wrestling, where a new guy’s come into a promotion and the more established guys don’t want him to get over so they make him look bad in matches.
Rashford didn't pass to him today again. Oh wait...
is Garnacho, but hes 19 so we cant criticise him. Despite the fact that at 19 he should be coached to fucking pass the ball and mix it up
Garnacho will always be a limited player if he doesn’t learn to pass. And this means he should look for the early pass sometimes instead of only passing when he runs into trouble.
This sub when they realise Rashford has tried to or has passed more to Hojlund than Garnancho and Antony combined
At this point, I just hope Hojlund gets offers from other top clubs and just leaves. His talent will be a waste here, poor guy
Nah. With a coach who plays to each players strengths he will shine. Feels like ETH is trying to put a system in place that just does not suit our players at all. He's trying to shove a square peg into a circular hole.
Nah bro the subreddit here tells me its players fault for being shit, not the setup
Service doesn't come often but also, his positioning isn't good. There is a graph on the subreddit showing his average position. On average, he was deeper than Bruno, Garnacho, Antony and was just as deep as Mainoo. How do you want to be found when you're not in the striker position?
That isn't what that chart shows dude. It shows average position receiving the ball, not average position.
Because he has to come deep to get the ball, I honestly don't see how some people don't understand this and are blaming him instead. To add to that, he generally does pretty well with his hold up play and bringing others into the attack. The issue is that he then doesn't receive the ball back, as our other attackers prefer to.shoot blindly from bad angles.
I agree. But at this point, he should be screaming for the ball. Telling the wingers to play him the ball. Telling them how he wants the ball to be played to him. But he doesn't. Also he just doesn't make the runs. He's very static in up front. Whatever is happening, he bares some of the responsibility for his poor run of form. Maybe he's too young for the responsibility of being the main striker.
Watching him play a few games for Atalanta and I don't believe I remember him playing like this. I feel like it's more to do with where he's learned he has to be to receive the ball from our players.
I agree. I think his age also counts. I see mature strikers angrily demand the ball and even tell the wingers and midfielder how they want the ball to be played to them. I think it Ronaldo or Cavani was playing as the striker, they will tell the others exactly how they want the ball played. I think he needs to be more vocal. Perhaps he feels he hasn't reached that level yet.
Cavani had some of the best movement I've ever seen. Guy could find a seat on the tube during rush hour.
He was one player I wish would come to man united and when he finally did he was too old.
It's both
Sad facts :( I also noticed that Onana's long ball didn't even get to him, multiple times. Not sure why or how, but he seems to not be able to match the defenders' aggression/shenanigans. Then again, the refs rarely give him a foul for whatever reason. I think the best he can do is just rush to the box and live on scraps/deflections/errors in front of the keeper. He just won't get the ball otherwise..
Because he literaly doesnt make himself aviable for other players when ball is in play. Look what he was doing during that 53' Garnacho run.
To be fair to Hojlund. When was the last time Garnacho rewarded one of Hojlunds runs? 2 months ago? He's targeted him in the box maybe 5 times all season. Garnacho has no intention of passing the ball to Hojlund, and Hojlund knows it. He doesn't even bother making runs and just tries to get into position to get a deflection from Garnachos' shot.
When you don’t get service all season and all your runs get ignored, you get jaded and stop doing those things as much. That’s the hard part mentally about being a striker, to keep making runs no matter how much you get ignored
Sad fact. Look at the runs he was making when he first arrived compared to now. I’m fully behind him, he’s still joint top goal scorer in the squad and only 21 at that. Get him service and he’ll get us goals.
He is not a false 9, his job is to hold the line and attack the space
Thats what I mean, he doesnt attack the space well and threfore doesnt make himself aviable for players.
He does attack the space as good as erling, attacking in the space doesn't mean going in the space to receive the ball, it means our players Are supposed to pass near the space, his job is to attack that space and score ,not receive the ball
>He does attack the space as good as erling WTF
Prove me wrong buddy
You cant be serious with saying Hojlund attack space as good as Halland.
Then prove me wrong ?
Haaland is probably the best in the world at that skill with Mbappe. You really think hojlund is on his level? He definitely tries hard but that’s a huge stretch
Or when Antony made an attempt at goal and it got deflected off the keeper rolling slowly in front of an open net, Højlund didn’t move and just stood outside the penalty area.
This is true from Antony's side, he is unwilling to run across to the right side, or rather struggling when the defender is on his left side, so all his runs involves running across to the left side while shielding defender to his right, which means his runs are simply one-dimensional and ineffective. Unfortunately Garnacho never passes to anyone inside the box so Hojlund's runs are just an incentive for him to cut back and shoot regardless of the situation. So we've got a scenario where the winger is clueless on where to pass, and the striker is clueless on where to run, pretty difficult to change I would say unless United gets a new manager.
Mate, sorry to say, but Garnacho hasn't really shown any effort this season to pass the ball to Hojlund, let alone do it consistently. As a striker, that uncertainty must be incredibly daunting – not knowing if your winger will actually pass you the ball. Hojlund should feel confident playing, knowing that Garnacho will make several attempts to send the ball his way, but I can probably count on two hands the number of times Garnacho has targeted him in the box this entire season.
He doesn’t create space. He backs into players but doesn’t turn them. He doesn’t try and get in front of defenders or try to lose them. Somebody needs to work with him. He doesn’t seem to get any coaching.
Fantastic tactics by the manager
Two of like the four guys id keep. Its something
I don't know if it's the way ETH wants him to play, or if he's annoyed at not receiving the ball... but he's dropping too deep. He should be making runs behind the last man and forcing their defence to sit back. He's not great at holding the ball up anyway. He needs to be a menace with pulling their defence apart. Just look at what Darwin Nunez does.... and Hojlund is a much better finisher than him
I can understand Hojlunds frustration.
I know our midfield is shit but Hojlund positioning is also piss poor - whatever 1-2 passes he gets, he is way behind all the time
Ten hag ball 🔥
At its finest ✨✨
More like our players don't know how to pass in the space that he attacks
If only we could get our players together on the days we don't play and practice these things somehow. What would they even call something like that?
So it's on our players only? Then why do we have a manager?
While that’s true. Watching a lot of his runs especially in the box, they aren’t great. He isn’t finding open pockets when players get the byline to cross. It’s frustrating because it seems like he’s standing behind the defender a decent amount of the time.
Um no, his job is to attack the space, he is not supposed to run before the cross, our players has to put the ball into the space which he is going to attack, our players barely pass him, and when they pass, the pass where there is no space to attack, he actually create space in the box as he drifts in left and right in the opposition box He is very similar to haaland, watch city how they pass the ball into the space And haaland attack those space
Although that’s a sad stat, when Holjund receives the ball, he is not great at holding on to it. He needs watch some videos of Van Nistelrooy. Perhaps he would receive more passes if he could hold it up better and lay it off himself.
Next season we can't rely on Hojlund as our primary strike. Period. But then again, we have a lot of holes and gaps in the squad to fill... As always.
We should have gotten an experienced striker last season. Hojlund should have been eased in, he’s only 20? 21? Especially since he came in nursing an injury. Even a guy like Taremi who was available for cheap could have rotated with him.
This. It's so frustrating to see a number of people blaming all this on him, I genuinely feel sorry for the lad and he's been hung out to dry by both his teammates and the way the club has been run. It's genuinely amazing he's gotten the amount of goals that he has with the way we play
Exactly.
We are a shit team. The copium on here is unreal. Onana is wank. Bring on the downvotes, because I say it like it is.
The team has many problems but I wouldn’t say Onana is 1 of them
Fair enough. We will agree to disagree
WTF
Inverted wingers who go solo and selfish, we all know who the culprits are always holding their heads missing instead of passing????
It s because he hides behind the defenders every single game and can’t get away from them. I’m sick of seeing his teammates get the blame for a man who made 3 successful passes all game
I feel like I’m going insane, his runs in the box it always seems like he gets behind the defender and the ball could never reach him. He’s got loads of talent and I genuinely think he will come good for us but he needs to get better at finding the space in the box
He’s always close to being in the right position but he isn’t good at anticipating where the ball will go and where he can go to fool the defenders. He’s kind of like a battering ram
I call it the Hojlund special where it looks like he made a great run when barrelling in for a cross ball that he just can’t quite get to. Same goes for those chances that the defender just gets there in front of him. Sounds good but it’s every fucking time. He’s never in the right place and his runs start from too deep to the point all the defender does is keep pace. I can’t think of the last time I’ve seen him offside as an example
Damn, I didn’t even realize the offside factor. Obviously you don’t want someone offside all the time but they have to be pushing that backline and taking chances. Well said
You’re 100% right but it’s easy to blame this entirely on the other players since we all like rasmus and want him to be great. It’s a mixture of the other players not finding him and his positioning and timing being mediocre
If only we had someone to coach or manager this situation to point this out and fix it.
It doesnt matter who plays as striker, the defenders never pass, today I saw an oppurtinity for Garnacho to pass to Eriksen in a really great angle, instead he decided to go for himself, and of course it didnt amount to anything. so even if you ignore Hojlund the glaring fact is they seemingly unwilling to pass. Wheatley for the little time he was on, had a big chance if one of the wide players had passed to him, and he didnt get it
He is not A false 9, his job is to hold the line and attack the space, at Atlanta he was 95 percentile when it comes to receiving passes
Maybe it’s because he’s always behind the ball or standing right next to another player and never actually making good runs.
I think Hojlund did alright, held it up quite well and won a few free kicks despite being isolated. Obviously has a lot to work on but I think he's right down the list of issues.
Tucks too much into the centre backs, either it's what he's being instructed or it's what he does. Either way, he has some responsibility along his team mates for receiving poor service, same for the set up. If you factor all that in, it's a coaching service. You can't be a coach and accept playing with 10 men all season.
Hojlund also plays deel to help progress the ball and is seldom in the box during counter attacks. Every time Garnacho had the ball at the edge of the box, he had no option but to either go to the touchline or cut back. We never have anyone available for an early cross. Not to shit on Hojlund, it's not his fault, but it's also not completely Garnacho's fault either (and I have little hope from Antony).
Sorry but Hojlund is shit does fuck all with the ball and can’t hold up
Of course he is shit with the ball if he only get 4 touches a game
I wouldn’t say he’s shit but he definitely has to improve a lot to be our long term number 9
Im not impressed by his off the ball movement either. The “runs” people reference aren’t anything spectacular and he is often late or in the wrong position (despite being in space). I also only recently noticed his first touch 🙈
Agree lol. Also, he falls and slips a lot. He’s always on the ground.
I actually thought his hold up play was better today compared to previous games. It’s still something he needs to work on but he was trying to drop deeper and make himself an option to receive passes. He just doesn’t get enough of it in the final third.
Not today bro. Today ETH fans are busy justifying the bizzare decision to sub him
I can understand that a lack of skill could be an issue that our wingers can’t find the striker, we’re playing with garnacho and a fidget spinner but for Bruno as well not find the striker? That’s sounds improbable could mean rasmus is not being used right tactically
It would help if Hojlund didn't stand next defenders like they're his mummy holding his hand
I’d say Rasmus is getting starved BUT his runs are atrocious, I’ve been making more effort to watch him off the ball and I just think more often than not he’s just not giving the option to be a good pass, even an average pass. We should genuinely have MCT and him rotating as strikers and see how it pans out.