This is a personal opinion. I haven't heard anything about the striker and his future nor anything from the manager not wanting him and stuff like that, apart from I suppose what we all hear and see regarding United and their players.
This is just me talking about a player who I had a lot of faith in but after last night, my patience has run out a bit. And it was all due to one moment.
When Rasmus Hojlund joined United last season, he was a young up-and-comer with a lot of potential and a player that many had heard about but not one you would say is the man to lead the line at a club like United let alone one that is in turmoil on and off the pitch.
The then 20 year old came in from Atalanta as a promising prospect but a forward that I personally didn't know much about. With the club spending £72m on him though, there had to be something about him, no?
Or it couldv'e been us just overspending again.
And I am starting to believe the latter more than the former.
Hojlund had a slow start to life at Old Trafford as he even joined with a back injury that caused him to miss some of the beginning of his time at United.
He had a pretty weird goal scoring record once he did get on the pitch though as he somehow was joint-top scorer in the Champions League with 5 goals in six games but hadn't scored in the league for 14 matches.
Weird, right?
When he finally bagged his first against Villa in a 3-2 comeback win, he didn't look back as he went on a six-game scoring run resulting in the Dane becoming the youngest-ever player to achieve such a feat in Premier League history.
More than his ability to score (and score different type of goals) Hojlund displayed a lot of characteristics that could make him a top striker for the future.
He had good hold up play, the link up with teammates was decent, an ability to run into channels and create spaces for others to run into, and he is quite rapid for a guy his size. There was also a period from Christmas of 2023 which showed that out of 191 players to have taken 10 or more shots in the PL, Hojlund had the best conversion rate of close to 50%.
The former Atalanta striker clearly showing the promise many expected.
And then this season...
What the actual fuck happened to him?!
He isn't the first to see his form go from amazing to shit as the likes of Marcus Rashford, Casemiro and Diogo Dalot have all experienced this as well.
Why does that keep hapenning to our players? Someone should look into that.
I feel there's no need to discuss stats with Hojlund this season as all of them are diabolical.
You can still make the arguments that there is very little opportunities created for our no 9, the team around isn't the best and at 22, he is still relatively young but as I've said many times before, in spite of all of this, you can still do your bit as a striker.
That hold play, link up play, running the channels and so on that I mentioned earlier have all disappeared. These don't necessarily have much to do with the team play as this is down to an individual.
Hojlund is also bullied quite easily by opposition defenses as he is muscled off of it whenever the ball is played into him. He's actually become a bit of a meme with the way he tries to hold off centre-backs. Despite being 1.91m tall, he very rarely wins headers and his anticiapation and movement as a centre-forward is non-existent.
He has just 10 goals and 4 assists in 50 appearances this season with just 4 coming in the PL. Last season, in 43 appearances, Hojlund scored 16 which is more than his combined goal contriburtions this season in fewer games. He also had 2 assists.
Even through all of this and the constant criticism towards him (which is fair), I've backed him and backed him. I looked at what he was capable of last season as that potential we bought from Atalanta.
However, that moment...
In the second half at the Bridge, Amad makes a good driving run with the ball on the right and was towards our box. On the edge of it stood both Hojlund and Mason Mount. Amad pulls the ball back and it ends up at the Dane's feet.
In a manner so slow even Harry Maguire would look like roadrunner, Hojlund takes a touch, turns, and then promptly loses possession. That lack of urgency and awareness was just pathetic. Mount was right in front of him to lay the ball off, he could've passed backwards if needed, hell work some space and take the shot.
DO SOMETHING!
But he did nothing instead.
That was the moment I felt so disappointed with him. As a striker, you have to be on your toes all the time and in that instance, the 22 year old did something he very rarely does and took up a good position. And then did what he did.
There's been a lot of talk post this defeat that Ruben Amorim should seriously consider dropping the only striker available for the final against Spurs in favor of a false 9 be it Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo or Harry Maguire.
Okay, they didn't mention Maguire but who says no 😅? It was a great finish from him against Chelsea though 🤷♂️. Proper striker's goal.
A part of me is on board with this. It could also mean that we could have more attacking players on the pitch that actually make a difference instead of one who makes us play with 10 men. And when you have Andre Onana at the back, it could mean playing with 9.
This tactic worked towards the end of last season as Erik ten Hag was wont to use either skipper Fernandes or the now departed Scott McTominay up front. He then brought Hojlund on with the Dane making some sort of an impact off the bench. The last two league games against Newcastle and Brighton last season before the FA Cup final were matches in which he was subbed on and scored in both.
2 of his 10 goals this season came from the bench (Viktoria Plzen). He was a game changer that night. This could point out that perhaps Hojlund is more of an impact player coming on against tired legs and that he is a backup striker, at least at this point in his career.
Maybe off the bench is an option for Amorim?
The Portuguese has also tried this tactic before with Mainoo as striker in a couple of games and it didn't go too badly.
However the manager's comments are one of praise towards Hojlund. After the loss to Chelsea, Amorim came out and said "I'm happy with Hojlund. All the team has to improve. But the way he runs, he fights for every ball.
He loses a lot of duels, wins some duels. He needs to improve the connection, but he's improving. He just needs to continue to work hard."
Very positive from the manager about his underperforming striker.
Yet there was a report from the Manchester Evening News that said "senior figures at United are not having Hojlund. One well-placed source suggested he does not work hard enough. They can cut loose as it is well-established that Hojlund will be replaced in the summer."
Quite contradictory to what Amorim had to say 🤷♂️.
To be honest though, I'm not sure why Hojlund is struggling so much in a system that he knows. He played in a 3-4-3 under Gian Pierro Gasperini at Atalanta so he should be familair with this formation, if this is a problem for his struggles.
In ten Hag's 4-2-3-1, he was flourishing but for some reason, struggles in a formation he was more used to.
Honestly, I don't know what to think about him anymore. There are still reasons like youth and inexperience but he really is playing like he's never seen a football before.
While we are terribly crap as a team and club, you can still do a hell of a lot more as an individual.
I know that this negativity can hamper him in the final should he play but it doesn't make all of this untrue. However, we need to be behind these players (as hard as that is) at least for this final.
What do you make of Hojlund though? Time is up, we should be patient, play me up front instead?
Rasmus Hojlund is a player under immense pressure with current form | Creator: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2025 Getty Images via Goal