No matter Virgil van Dijk considered Manchester United’s efforts at Liverpool, the participant who got here closest to creating the breakthrough was Rasmus Hojlund. Sadly for the younger striker, his await a Premier League objective continues.
Liverpool had 34 photographs, probably the most by a staff within the competitors with out scoring in over seven years. However Hojlund’s double likelihood halfway by way of the second half had a better expected-goals worth than every other participant on the pitch might muster within the match.
The £72m man was on the periphery for a lot of it. The move that preceded these 67th-minute possibilities was solely his second of the afternoon. It encapsulates the Hojlund drawback. This is a matter of poor ending but additionally of poor service. A worrying mixture.
13 appearances within the Premier League have come and gone with out a objective. Erik ten Hag will level to 5 within the Champions League as proof of his credentials, however 4 of these objectives got here towards Galatasaray and Copenhagen, and all of them in defeats.
The Premier League is the measure towards which Hojlund shall be judged and, in response to Opta, he has now missed 9 huge possibilities with out scoring. For context, no different participant within the competitors has missed greater than two with out scoring a objective this season.
In opposition to Liverpool, the chance got here on his weaker proper foot and he was up towards Alisson, maybe the excellent goalkeeper on this planet in one-on-one conditions. However one can not assist however ponder whether the rarity of Hojlund’s touches will not be serving to both.
Within the first half at Anfield, the Dane touched the ball simply 4 occasions. It was barely higher within the second. The quantity rose to 17 earlier than the shut. In opposition to Bayern Munich in his earlier look, he had managed 18 touches. No surprise he’s snatching at possibilities.
Hojlund is averaging the fewest touches per 90 minutes of any common ahead within the Premier League – with only one exception. It’s a notable one. Erling Haaland, the Premier League’s prime scorer, this season and final, is the one participant to the touch the ball much less usually.
When United signed Hojlund in the summertime, Ten Hag described Hojlund as “as a player who is so determined to score goals” and painted an image of a single-minded striker within the Haaland mould. “That is all that is in his mind. He wants to score goals.”
In that context, Haaland’s document exhibits that this is usually a advantage. The distinction is that when the Manchester Metropolis participant touches the ball, these touches are normally coming contained in the opposition penalty field. Hojlund’s restricted involvement is coming a lot farther from objective.
The concern amongst United followers is that Hojlund is being miscast as a goal man, anticipated to carry the ball up and supply the platform to get his staff up the sector. That could be a enormous ask of any younger striker and Hojlund has struggled to try this towards high quality centre-backs.
In opposition to Bayern, he was bullied by Dayot Upamecano and Min-Jae Kim. The duty didn’t get simpler when up towards Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate on the weekend. Hojlund would like to be working channels, discovering house along with his motion, than making it stick.
Hojlund is making these runs. Based on the Second Spectrum information, he averages 24.4 attacking runs per 90 minutes within the Premier League this season. That places him among the many competitors’s prime strikers and is definitely barely greater than Haaland is registering.
It brings us to the second think about his struggles. This isn’t only a ending drawback however a matter of service. It’s true that he’s underperforming anticipated objectives – and by a giant margin. Solely Dominic Calvert-Lewin has an even bigger disparity between possibilities and objectives.
However whereas Calvert-Lewin has scored thrice somewhat than six, Hojlund’s tally would solely be three objectives even when he had been ending in addition to Haaland or any of the opposite prime scorers within the Premier League. That’s nonetheless not ok from 888 minutes of soccer.
Provided that his motion has been encouraging, and he’s a participant with spectacular velocity and energy, that displays poorly on the creativity of these gamers round him. In the intervening time, that is merely not a staff that’s set as much as service their centre-forward.
For now, following Marcus Rashford’s dip in type, Ten Hag seems to have occurred upon Alejandro Garnacho and Antony as his broad forwards. The pair are unpredictable. A problem for full-backs but additionally a frustration for the person ready within the center.
Garnacho is having photographs. Of gamers to have performed 800 minutes or extra this season, solely Haaland and Darwin Nunez are capturing extra usually than {the teenager}. That paid off spectacularly at Everton. Nevertheless it was an outlier. He usually shoots when he ought to move.
Garnacho ranks 67th out of 81 for shot high quality among the many gamers to have had 20 or extra makes an attempt within the Premier League this season. On the opposite flank, there may be Antony. He’s 77th on that listing. Repeatedly he cuts inside to shoot however is but to attain a single objective.
No less than Hojlund obtained three passes from the Brazilian at Anfield. Of their earlier five-and-a-half hours on the pitch collectively within the Premier League, Antony handed to his striker simply twice. Hojlund has obtained 5 passes from Garnacho in seven hours of soccer.
Even the full-backs have been responsible of overlooking him when well-placed. United supporters can have noticed the second, halfway by way of the second half towards Bournemouth, when Diogo Dalot might have squared it to Hojlund however shot wildly as a substitute.
At Liverpool, Scott McTominay did play a neat move to set him up. However the Scot is not any pure No 10. His presence there sums up the paucity of creativity accessible to Ten Hag. All of which is exacerbating the state of affairs, amplifying the stress on a younger participant.
Is Hojlund ok proper now? It’s an intriguing query. Actually, there may be a lot to show. In the beginning of final season, he was nonetheless enjoying for Sturm Graz in Austria. His 16 Serie A appearances for Atalanta towards top-half opposition yielded solely two objectives.
That’s not to denigrate however to contextualise. These are early days for Hojlund in his journey. However the calls for positioned on him by an exorbitant price and the circumstances at Outdated Trafford have inflated expectations past what is cheap given his document to this point.
Thrust into the highlight, Hojlund has began 10 Premier League video games. Evaluate that with Julian Alvarez’s first season at Manchester Metropolis. He was a participant of promise however needed to wait till Might to make that many begins. He was eased in as Haaland’s deputy.
Anthony Martial’s efficiency when coming into the staff as a substitute of Hojlund towards Bournemouth confirmed why Ten Hag can not afford his new signing the identical luxurious. He wants Hojlund and he wants him scoring. However way more assistance is required if that’s to occur.