Why Manchester United fans must now get behind Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Højlund

One of the big discussion points this season at Manchester United has surrounded misfiring forwards, with Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee having respective periods of struggle.

Joshua Zirkzee, 23, and Rasmus Højlund, 22, are United’s only two real options up front, especially with Marcus Rashford now out on loan at Aston Villa, and both have had good periods in the season but it has largely been a struggle with just 13 goals between them in all competitions.

As a Manchester United striker, the weight of the world is often on your shoulders and the two youngsters have shown this weight getting to them at times. But fans have often turned to blame them, when in reality they have no relief.

This latter point has been publicly acknowledged by new boss Rúben Amorim as well as more senior teammates, and there has been a call to get behind the two strikers and support them better.

United’s poor squad building letting them down

In successful football teams, contrary to the incredibly young-centric mindset surrounding football these days, you need experience and quality to win.

So when United’s most senior striker is 23-year-old Zirkzee, who only joined last summer, then there is an issue, and it is not at all the fault of the player himself.

United’s striker department was already thin, with Højlund – a new signing himself – the leading man in that department aged 20 due to Anthony Martial’s injury problems and Rashford being a winger rather than a striker.

No senior striker had been signed despite then-boss Erik ten Hag requesting more experienced options. Someone who had top-level experience and could give you some guarantee in terms of output and performance whilst also serving as a mentor to the talented younger players in that department.

Not every young player is going to be like Kylian Mbappé. Mostly, there will be ups and downs, and we have seen that this season. For some, the solution is to get rid of and bring in the latest popular name, another new toy on United’s conveyor belt of doom.

But these are gifted players, and they have shown it during their time at Old Trafford; that is undeniable. United need an experienced head to shoulder the weight of the position and give the younger attackers some room to breathe. More opportunities to grow and develop.

Confidence is key for both players

Whilst the general theme of this article has been somewhat negative, Zirkzee has been in excellent form lately and has perhaps found his calling playing as a No. 10 for Amorim.

Zirkzee has been playing with renewed confidence ever since the low point of his first-half hooking against Newcastle and looks like a completely different player as a result. He is playing much more like the footballer United signed, with this confidence flowing through him.

For a lot of the season it felt like he was playing within himself. There were a few other factors such as urgency, being on a different wavelength to teammates, but fundamentally he just seemed to think too much about what he was doing.

Playing in flow state now.

— Yusuf 🇵🇸 (@bey0ndthem4sk) March 13, 2025

Thursday night’s game was another brilliant performance for the Dutchman, a standout player in United’s 4-1 win, and it feels like he makes something good happen quite often when the ball comes to him right now.

Højlund, however, is now 20 games without a goal after scoring five goals in Amorim’s first five games in charge at Old Trafford, and can’t seem to buy a goal despite looking absolutely desperate for one. Amorim himself has said that the Danish striker is down on confidence.

Højlund took a while to get his first Premier League goal last season. Still, when he did score it, an explosion occurred, which saw a run of seven straight games with at least one goal and really strong performances before unfortunately succumbing to injury.

The five goals in as many when Amorim first came in was another example of confidence-boosting him.

The Dane had an impressive performance last night and was perhaps unfortunate not to score, although did get an assist for Diogo Dalot’s goal after impressive play. Hat-trick hero Bruno Fernandes came out and publicly backed him after the game had ended.

🎙️ | Bruno Fernandes on Rasmus Højlund:

"Strikers are all about goals and they will be criticised. We want Rasmus to score but he got the penalty for the first goal and made so many movements. A lot of things he does, the outside world cannot see it but we see it."

[TNT] pic.twitter.com/XYMicUiUf5

— UtdDistrict (@UtdDistrict) March 13, 2025

Confidence plays a huge role in football, and can be especially relevant for younger players who haven’t experienced the game in the same way as more senior ones have, and the varying form levels of United’s two young forwards has been a huge example of how key this is.

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But rather than get on their backs and further add to the pressure they already face, it is key that United fans get behind the struggling stars.

They have their issues, but fundamentally they are not the problem and with the right support the talent will shine through, which Amorim and their teammates seem to be confident in too.

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