Manchester United Thread 25/26 - Teamtalk/Transfers/Gossip Mod Note in OP 26.09.24

Going over for the game on Friday with my 12 year old son and his best mate and his mates dad. As bad as we are it's always great to be at OT. I'd never take for granted how special that place is. It's my sons mates first visit to OT so I'm looking forward to experiencing all of his excitement for it.

FA Cup game at OT under the lights. Can't wait

Rashfordesque double on the debut please and thanks!

Which Friday squad is the question, from this link it seems he is being rested for the u21 game on Friday.

https://www.unitedinfocus.com/academy/man-utd-u18-vs-west-ham-live-team-news-latest-updates-and-kick-off-time/

"The big absentee in the team is Chido Obi with the 17-year-old likely set to face Spurs for the U21s on Friday. Amir Ibragimov is absent again too leaving United slightly light up top.

Huge chance for some younger U18s here such as James Bailey and Louie Bradbury who is on the bench."

Was listening to Muppetiers last night. He is generally very critical of how Hojlund plays (basketball screening/wrestling) but made a possibly interesting point on him.

Rasmus looked quicker at Atalanta, and when he signed for us. He looks to have lost a step in his pace.
But so does Garnacho - looked quicker when he came through.
And so does Mainoo - he was never a speed deamon but he looks slow now.

So his question was did the training plans we put the players under for the last 2 years impact their physical abilities in a negative way? (and is that something we could reverse)

Could be something that is true, but kjust needs to be accepted as a consequnce of the players needing to be bigger/stronger to cope with the physicality and that increased size/strength comes at the cost of speed and acceleration.

Because the summer work and training until November would have been the same. and IF there has been a negative impact it would take time to adjust.

But as always, lets just take the end result (hojlund is rubbish) and not consider if there is anything at all that the club have done that could have contributed to him, and if any lessons could be learned.

We are considering what the contribution was.

The issue is that you surmised that his struggles are due to training from the past 2 years, when for all his faults Hojlund never looked like this during those 2 years. I was never a big fan of his because he didn't score goals but he never looked as awkward, clueless and disjointed as he does right now.

And just so we aren't beating around the bush, you are saying that it was Ten Hags training that is the cause.

I know I'll get accused of just blaming Amorim again but genuinely, pretend it isn't me asking this, what does Occams Razor say about Hojlunds form?

As per the man city last court case wasn't the only part of that case that they won was that an owner couldn't loan to a club at a cheap rate to avoid interest payments or something? It's something they had a huge issue with.

But would you not have expected to see signs of that last season? Towards the end of the season? I'm no physio but I'm not aware of such a delayed reaction to increasing muscle mass, the performance would change as the muscle mass changes, no?

In my opinion all those players looked sharper last season than they do now.

And I think your opinion is correct. the cause of that is up for grabs, I would not attempt to analyse it.

However in the case of Rasmus , the lad does his best, but he seems to be in the wrong place in the right time.

When did you see him contest a header from a corner, win a physical contest with a centre half, break free to go one on one with a keeper? Be first to react in the six yard box?

Doesn’t happen and I wish it would for the lads sake.

I'd try to fix him by

1. Tell the players to play to the space in front of him - not to his chest, head or direct to feet - over distances.
   1. He tries to wrestle all the time so he will have a defender up his bum if you try to ping it directly too him - and he WILL lose it.
   2. Pretend you are playing to Michael Owen ( though Owen's link play was underrated - I just mean don't play like hes a target man).
2. Tell him to create seperation from the defenders.
   1. STOP ACTIVELY LOOKING TO WRESTLE THEM
   2. Look to run into space/channels and receive the ball in motion
3. Use your pace - not your physicality - as your primary method to unsettle the defence.

And then I would try to encourage him to shoot more - he waits for the perfect opportunity too much.

Sporting used Gyokeres as an out ball on the run into channels and space, not just as a battering ram. of all styles it should suit him the most imo

Pet pieve of mine - a striker not following the ball across the pitch. When the LCB or LWB have the ball, Hojlund should be in the left channel. Ditto right. The striker should be the same side of the pitch as the ball when the ball is in the defensive third.

I would definitely put it down to mental more than anything. The main physical change for me this season would be the absolute battering he is getting from CBs. Both ETH, and now Amorim, seem to want to use him as a target man, and he's getting destroyed all season.

I can't understand how / why Amorim is playing him (or Zirkzee) as a target man. It doesn't seem to have been something he did in Portugal, and neither player is good at it.

He started Mainoo as a "false 9" on Sunday. I didn't mind seeing that at all, as it seemed fairly obvious that we wouldn't be launching balls into Mainoo.

If I was Hojlund, I would be scratching my head wondering why I can't get a chance to play a less combative role.

Can you explain how that works. The 10m loan equating 100m ?

Genuinely curious