Man Utd star Hojlund savaged on Sky Sports – as Liverpool great springs to his defence in wake of horrific stats

The Premier League form of big Manchester United summer signing Rasmus Hojlund has been brutally exposed by Sky Sports – though one former Liverpool attacker reckons the Dane has strong mitigating circumstances for his woeful stats.
Hojlund moved to Old Trafford over the summer after a long-protracted chase, with Manchester United ultimately settling on a fee that will top an eye-watering £72m. However, eyebrows were raised at the huge costs involved in a deal for a player seen as relatively inexperienced and for whom comes in sixth on the list of the Red Devils’ all time record signings.
Indeed, at the time of his signing, the 20-year-old had scored just 27 senior career goals, and only had one season of elite-level football, with Atalanta, under his belt.
To that end, many felt United had badly overpaid for Hojlund and the club were paying for his potential as much as anything else. Nonetheless, the boyhood Manchester United supporter has done relatively well in his outings for Erik ten Hag’s side so far.
As it stands, he has scored three times and has one assist in 13 games, though only 10 of those appearances have been starts.
Surprisingly, all three of those goals have been scored in the Champions League, where Hojlund boasts an impressive tally of a goal a game for United.
But it is in the Premier League where he has struggled, so far failing to register a single strike in a United side that is not only struggling for consistent form, but one in which all their strikers are misfiring.
Now his poor record in the Premier League has been laid bare by Sky Sports’ pundits – and it will not be welcome sight for United supporters.
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Rasmus Hojlund record earns defence from Daniel Sturridge
Reflecting on a damning stat that shows Hojlund ranks 100th for shots on target in the Premier League per 90 minutes played this season.
The 20-year-old manages just 1.7 shots per 90, a figure dwarfed by the Premier League’s top shots maker, Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez, who averages 5.7 shots on goal for every 90 minutes.
However, with presenter David Jones asking if United will have expected more for their money, Hojlund received a strong defence from guest pundit Daniel Sturridge.
And the former Liverpool man reckons much of Hojlund’s issues actually relate to the players around him as opposed his own poor form.
When Jones asked whether Hojlund needs to be more “ruthless” in front goal, Sturridge countered on Sky Sports: “He’s a project, and he’s not the perfect striker.
“He’s not the finished article just yet, so when he gets the opportunities he is trying very hard.
“He wants to score goals, he wants to be in the positions to score. He is desperate to show his capabilities at a club like Manchester United.
“Has he scored the goals that they would have expected him to? Would they have expected him to have more shots at least? I don’t think they are impressed with that.
“But I don’t think he’s getting loads of chances per game that are clear misses.”
Hojlund let down by Man Utd teammates
In all fairness, Sturridge – who put in an enjoyable and well-informed turn as a pundit – makes several valid points.
United’s form this season has been truly woeful by their own high standards and have scored just 12 goals in their 11 Premier League games to date. To that end, he is far from the only United player struggling in front of goal with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho having scored just one goal apiece all season and the likes of Anthony Martial and Antony being yet to score.
As a result, it’s a fair point to express concern at the chances being created and for the form of those players behind Hojlund.
The Dane has also been very big on effort and his lack of goals can not only point to the club’s poor form in general but on the fact that he’s a new player in a new country and is often asked to plough something of a lone furrow up front.
He’s also been a tad unfortunate in that a narrow VAR decision saw a goal at home to Brighton harshly ruled out. That decision looks even more painful in light of Newcastle’s winning goal against Arsenal on the weekend just gone.
The goals will surely come for Hojlund – and his record so far in the Champions League proves he can become a reliable goals source. The player has another chance to add to that tally on Wednesday night when the Red Devils travel to Hojlund’s former club for a must-win clash against FC Copenhagen at Parken Stadium.
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