Jaap Stam has given his verdict on one Manchester United player who he feels is currently being held back by Ruben Amorim’s setup at the moment.
Manchester United have been steadily improving under Ruben Amorim in recent weeks, and there are clear signs of some of the work the manager is trying to do on the training ground. United’s defeat against Nottingham Forest on Tuesday was a bitter pill to swallow, but the performance was nothing to be ashamed of, with the Reds dominating large parts.
One area the manager will be desperate to improve is his side’s quality in the final third. The attack is yet to click, with the two strikers in particular having huge trouble impacting games.
This was further rubber-stamped by Harry Maguire’s impact when he came on against Forest, with the United defender unlucky to not have scored two good opportunities, which he carved out for himself due to his persistence and physicality.
Jaap Stam has been speaking recently, and the United treble winner believes there is more at play than just the strikers underperforming and believes the tactics from the manager need to click with the players before we see improvements from the side.
The United legend believes one player in particular is struggling from the way the team is set up and is struggling to adapt to the system.
Stam believes Amorim’s tactics are holding back Hojlund
Jaap Stam has been speaking about Rasmus Hojlund and Ruben Amorim recently during an interview, and he has stated he believes Amorim’s tactics are holding back the Danish striker.
“I think that it’s the style of play that is holding Rasmus Hojlund back,” Stam told Makthavare.se. “We don’t know how the manager is trying to use him in matches, and I think he doesn’t get a lot of chances to touch the ball and get into games.”
“It becomes a very difficult situation for a striker because you don’t see crosses coming into the box, and the emphasis should be on creating chances for him. If you don’t get chances, you can’t prove how good a striker you are.”
Hojlund broke his goal-scoring drought against Leicester City just before the international break and also managed to score for his country against Portugal during the break too, earning them a late win against Cristiano Ronaldo’s side.
After 16 goals last season in his debut campaign, many felt the former Atalanta man would kick on this season. But a collective amount of issues have meant he has not been at his best, and it has led to many questioning whether the boyhood United fan is the right man to lead the club forward
More confidence than tactics with Hojlund
Hojlund’s issues this season come down to confidence more than anything else, but also from United’s reluctance to create chances for their strikers, which goes far beyond Amorim’s tactics and predates the Portuguese coach.
United had issues with creating chances under Erik ten Hag, with Wout Weghorst also struggling in the past to score regular goals for the club. Marcus Rashford had some joy at times but also quite often cut a lonely figure at the top end of the pitch during games, in a similar manner to Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee at times this season.
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Hojlund’s low confidence also means that he is doing things he wouldn’t have last season to try and compensate for his form and snatching at chances he would easily score if he were amongst the goals.
A signing to learn from this summer and take the burden off will be the best thing that could happen to Rasmus Hojlund at this stage, and it looks like Manchester United are already trying to bring in some reinforcements, with Liam Delap said to be one of the names high up on the list.
Amorim’s tactics made Victor Gyökeres thrive at Sporting CP, and it will be sooner rather than later until Hojlund starts to have the same effect on games within this system.
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