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TIME TO HO
Ten Hag said Rasmus Hojlund needed time at Man Utd but that time is up… he has the No9 shirt now and needs to deliver
He follows in the footsteps of several United greats by taking the No9 shirt
ERIK TEN HAG told us to give Rasmus Hojlund time, now that time is up and it is time to deliver.
He has just been given Manchester United’s coveted number nine shirt and needs to emulate, or at least get near, many of the greats who have worn it before him if the club are going to get close to achieving their goals.
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That is something he failed to do last season scoring just ten Premier League goals and 16 in all.
While he found the net early on in the club’s failed bid to get out their Champions League group it took him until Boxing Day of last season to get his first in the league.
That dramatic late winner against Aston Villa began a run of eight goals in as many games but just three more followed the rest of the season.
By the end his team-mates looked to be reticent to even pass to him while he in turn argued for better service.
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Much has been made of him taking on the No9 shirt now that Antony Martial has left.
How Martial had it in the first place is a mystery given some of the esteemed names who have worn it going back to Sir Bobby Charlton.
In fact the last player worthy of the shirt was probably Zlatan Ibrahmovic scoring 28 goals in 46 games back in 2016-17.
The most successful in the Premier League era was Andy Cole with 121 goals between 1995 and 2001 in all competitions.
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Unveiling Hojlund’s change of shirt number the club ran a picture captioned ‘ready to lead the line’.
The decision hinted that he will be the main man upfront again this season.
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Yet by the end of last season and the FA Cup Final in particular, Ten Hag was happier to play with no striker at all than pick Hojlund who was only used as a sub late in the game.
New signing Joshua Zirkzee will inherit Hojlund’s number 11 and provide the support and competition that was needed last season.
Getting the right mix and understanding with the options provided by the pair, Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes will be key for Ten Hag to get United on the goal trail once again.
They posted the joint lowest number of goals in the top half of the Premier League last season, alongside Crystal Palace, with 57.
Much of that was due to Marcus Rashford’s dramatic loss of form having hit career best figures the previous season of 30 goals in all competitions going down to eight last season.
Huge leap
But Hojlund, for whatever reasons, did not provide the focal point up front that United needed.
Moving to United at 20 years old - he turned 21 in February - was undoubtedly a big jump having previously played for Copenhagen, Sturm Graz and then just one season with Atalanta that brought ten goals.
That lack of pedigree made many raise their eyebrows at his £72million transfer fee just a year after Atalanta had paid just £15million for him.
Ten Hag kept reiterating his faith in the player as last season progressed and to be fair to the Danish international there were a couple of injuries.
Ten Hag said: “We bought a player for this season but also for the future.
“He has to develop. He has to progress. He needs time.”
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Ten Hag certainly sees something that the rest of us are yet to on a consistent basis.
But the excuse of getting used to new surroundings and new teammates will no longer wash.
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