Hojlund finally works out problem after being told to confront Man Utd team-mate
At long last, Rasmus Hojlund is now finding the back of the net at a regular rate for Manchester United - though he is still having to rely on his own instincts.
In an ideal world for the Old Trafford faithful, Hojlund would be reaping the benefits of being flanked by the likes of Antony, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho. Much has been made of how United's attack link-up with their Danish striker, given his £72million fee this summer has placed plenty of pressure on the ex-Atalanta man.
Currently, Hojlund has managed five goals in his last five league games. Not one of them has been assisted by the aforementioned trio of fellow forwards, which suggests that concerns first raised by pundits before the turn of the year are still lingering.
Ex-United assistant coach Rene Meulensteen took aim at both Antony and Garnacho while analysing Hojlund's lack of league goals before Christmas. The Dutchman used the Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich as an example of his argument that neither have any intention to link up with the centre-forward.
"I thought he [Hojlund] was way short [against Bayern]. Against those defenders, he never got a kick," Meulensteen told talkSPORT. "But the problem is he is flanked by two individual players [Antony and Garnacho] who have no intention to give him any kind of service because they want to create things for themselves and not help any striker.
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"So there’s an imbalance, and that imbalance is going forward but also going back in terms of the defensive shape which we’ve seen in so many games."
His sentiments were echoed by pundit Chris Sutton, who also singled out Antony as a reason behind Hojlund's early season struggles. "I don't want to keep going back to Manchester United, but we watched Hojlund the other night, I felt really sorry for him," Sutton explained to Mail Sport's podcast.
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Rasmus Hojlund has five goals in five league games for Man United (Getty Images)"I feel really sorry for him. He looks like a player that is a little bit low on confidence now, but I don't think that he has an understanding of how he can score a goal at Manchester United because the wide players want the ball for themselves. Antony, the other night, never got his head up. Pass, follow, link-up – there aren't combinations. And that's a massive issue."
It wasn't just Hojlund's fellow attackers that came in for scrutiny. He was encouraged by Ian Wright to confront right-back Diogo Dalot for poor service during December's 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth. The Arsenal legend even accused Dalot of lacking respect for United's new striker.
That doesn't seem to be an issue anymore, with Hojlund hitting a rich vein of form at an ideal time as United look to garner some momentum for their Champions League qualification push. If he can prolong this purple patch, the 21-year-old's debut season can be deemed a success.
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