Rasmus Hojlund can be the solution to Manchester United’s goalscoring problem — but he needs help
The 21-year-old netted the winner against Brentford with a clinical finish that showed his potential in front of goal
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United brought two Dutch forwards to Old Trafford in the summer. One of them, Joshua Zirkzee, scored on his debut but has since gone 10 games without a goal. The other, Ruud van Nistelrooy, never went 10 matches without scoring as a United player.
As an assistant manager, he has felt an incongruous presence given that Erik ten Hag tends to argue that United’s principal shortcoming is an inability to put the ball in the net. It is an argument that suits Ten Hag, allowing him to insist much else is right, but for the best part of half an hour on Saturday, no Premier League team had fewer goals this season than United. That is no longer the case but, with seven in eight games, the entire team has the kind of return that Van Nistelrooy used to muster on his own during various spells of his five years in Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.
Instead, United have seven goals from 112 shots this season, seven from an xG of 13.02; and if expected goals had not been invented when Van Nistelrooy was at his peak, there was an expectation he would score. He usually did, too. If the numbers indicated he had a negligible impact, there was a moment to indicate otherwise on Saturday, an ice-cool, perfectly-precise finish to turn a point into three. Rasmus Hojlund was the scorer and the Dane, a 21-year-old signed for £72m, a forward with some of the raw materials to become among the world’s best but not, so far, the goalscoring record, would seem the most logical object for Van Nistelrooy’s attention. There have been more rounded footballers, but the Dutchman is arguably the best pure goalscorer United have had in the last half-century.
Hojlund could seem his project player. The assumption is the work in progress is working with the only player in United’s history to average 30 goals a season across his time at the club. “Everybody’s asking me this question,” said the Dane. “Yes, obviously, he’s helping us every day, but he’s also helping the defence and the midfield.
“He’s a very good assistant coach, but obviously, he’s a great striker. You’re trying to learn everything about him. I haven’t had that long time to learn from him yet because I haven’t been back [after injury] for a little more than a month or so. But obviously, he’s given me a lot of good advice.”
In a way, the answer reflected a trend at Old Trafford: to downplay Van Nistelrooy’s return. He could have the makings of a possible caretaker manager if Ten Hag were to be sacked so there are diplomatic reasons not to build him up. But if Rene Hake, Ten Hag’s other new assistant, has more experience in charge, there are rather fewer questions about him. While Ten Hag and Van Nistelrooy did not know each other particularly well before the latter’s summer arrival, the manager insists he is his choice and not a club appointment.
A prolific run for Hojlund would give Van Nistelrooy more credibility as a coach. United seem overly reliant on him. Ten Hag’s other two major attacking signings, Zirkzee and Antony, can have an aversion to scoring. Bruno Fernandes has gone 16 games without a goal. Ten Hag feels Alejandro Garnacho has to set himself a higher goal target and there are signs Marcus Rashford is returning to his best but United have finished both full seasons under the Dutchman with a Premier League tally in the fifties.
Another number signifies Hojlund’s significance. His shirt number has been switched this season, from 11 to 9. “It means a lot, but I’m not trying to put extra pressure on it, because in the end, it’s a number,” he said. “But obviously, it’s great meaning for this football club and also to me.” Amid questions as to what Zirkzee is, Hojlund feels the only pure No 9 at the club.
And if, in turn, that invites queries about the squad construction, his predecessor in the No 9 shirt offers a warning. Anthony Martial scored 17 goals in his first season; he only once topped that tally in tale of diminishing returns. Since Bobby Charlton’s departure, the No 9 shirt has featured fewer United greats than the 10 or the 7. In the Premier League era, perhaps only Andy Cole really qualifies: Brian McClair was being reinvented as a midfielder, Dimitar Berbatov a record signing who was marginalised at times, Romelu Lukaku another expensive buy who proved underwhelming, Zlatan Ibrahimovic terrific for months but a short-term signing, Louis Saha first useful and then injury-hit, Radamel Falcao a failure.
Van Nistelrooy was a true No 9, but in the 10 shirt. For Hojlund, in the quest to become clinical and prolific, the role model may be found in the technical area. However much he learns from Van Nistelrooy the coach, the challenge for Hojlund is to channel Van Nistelrooy the player.
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