Manchester United legend Jaap Stam has faith in £72million striker Rasmus Hojlund to turn things around due to his “great physique”, pace and work rate.
Speaking exclusively to Football365 (via CasinoScout.nl), former centre-back Stam discussed Hojlund, head coach Ruben Amorim’s tactics and the form of out-on-loan players like Jadon Sancho, Antony and Marcus Rashford.
Hojlund has been in abysmal form for Man Utd this season, scoring two goals in 28 domestic matches.
Asked if the 22-year-old Dane can turn things around to become the club’s long-term first-choice striker, Stam praised his physical attributes and passed some of the blame onto the creative players around him.
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“It’s a difficult one to say if he’s the long-term solution,” he said. “But I think we sometimes forget that he’s very young as well. I think he is a very good player.
“Sometimes if I was him, I would be very annoyed to be on the pitch because as a striker you need to have the delivery as well. So people need to give you the ball at the right times as well.
“They need to have a look at him, what his position is to put those crosses in as well. And there’s a lot of games that we’ve played that sometimes he’s in the right position, he’s in good positions and they’re not crossing these balls into the box as well for him to have the opportunity to score.
“Then, like I said before, there’s always people talking about him that he’s not scoring. But it’s very difficult for him at times as well, that if you’re in a good position, you don’t get it, then you can’t score.
“So as a number nine, it’s very important that the wingers or the wingbacks put that delivery in the box and then they know where you are. So you eventually have the opportunity to create a chance yourself or to score a goal as well. And I think that makes it difficult for a striker.
“What a lot of people do is they all look at him and they say, ‘Okay, we’ve got a number nine and he is working very hard because he’s putting all the energy into it. But he’s not scoring goals.’ No. But if you don’t get the ball, then it’s very difficult to score goals isn’t it?
“But that’s the same for other strikers too. If you look at Joshua Zirkzee, he found it very difficult in that position as well. You know, because then he gets that long ball and then he needs to fight with Gabriel or [William] Saliba and it’s very difficult to win these battles. And that’s the same with Hojlund at times as well.
“Because they play that ball up to him and then he needs to battle with the big centre backs and sometimes he wins, but there’s a big possibility that he’s gonna be losing these battles as well. And that’s what you see. And it’s difficult to hold that ball up if there’s no support. If people are not supporting him or coming underneath so he can play that one-two.
“So it’s a difficult job to be a number nine now for United. And I think I still have the confidence because when I see him, I see he’s got great physique, he’s got pace as well and he’s working very hard. He’s putting all the effort in there as well. And that’s normal of course, for a player in every position to work very hard.
“I think he’s got the ability to score as well, and he’s proven that in other games as well. When Ten Hag was there, he showed that he can score goals. But I think for him and for the other players, it’s trying to find a way to get the best out of all the forwards, more or less.”
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Man Utd boss Amorim has been criticised for persisting with his three-at-the-back formation but Stam insists it looked pretty successful against Arsenal on Sunday.
“It worked quite well (against Arsenal). In the second half, United played better compared to the first half. In the first half, Arsenal were dominant and they pushed United back and Arsenal didn’t create a lot of opportunities, but they were the better side.
“In terms of possession, they were by far the better team. And in the second half, it changed. I think the 1-0 lead gave United a bit of confidence as well, which was good.
“In the second half they pushed forward, they were more on the front foot as well, going forward and they created some good chances. But If you look at the second half, it looked promising for United.
“That’s the thing with this United team, we spoke about that several times because sometimes when United needs to play big teams and important games, then they can get themselves into a certain focus that they can do well.
“It’s about being consistent throughout the whole season and that’s very important and they still have some difficulty in doing that, but Amorim is very persistent in his set up playing three at the back, while a lot of these players came when Erik ten Hag was still the manager, playing in a 4-3-3 system, which is of course different in build-up and also in putting pressure on the opposition at times as well.
“You can see that some of the players find it difficult at times to find their position to be creative at times and to use their strengths. And they need to get used to this system. And I think that’s normal because that comes with a new manager that arrives with a new system as well.
“Sometimes as a manager you also need to look at the team, you also need to look at the players that you have and how to use them in the best way. So eventually you can get as many points as you need to eventually make certain changes to fit the system that you want to play.
“He’s very persistent in keeping this system up and playing this system. You can see that sometimes they find it very difficult in games that other teams aren’t even dominating against United in possession. That’s what most of the fans and pundits/analysts are not used to seeing where the opposition is dominating.
“We always want to have United going forward and putting the pressure on the opposition and being dominant themselves to eventually score goals and win as many games as you can.”
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Man Utd’s transfer business over the years has been notoriously poor and it has been made worst by big-money flops leaving Old Trafford to thrive elsewhere.
Antony and Rashford are two players shining after securing a loan departure in January and Stam thinks their failure at United could be down to pressure.
“Well, the reason can be that there’s too much pressure on them. Because the demands for playing for United is too much at times, it’s too hard and they want to prove themselves and that’s why they make it difficult at times for themselves to not get everything out of it.
“Having said that, I think joining a club like United must be a privilege as well for a player. If you get into certain situations, for instance, for the wingers, if you have the opportunity to take players on, in a 1v1, then you need to do that as well.
“Sometimes you see with Rashford and Antony – they have that ball, there’s big spaces and they don’t take the defender on. They go back, cut it back, play that ball into midfield players. [Jadon] Sancho as well and then they’re leaving the club.
“They go to a different team now and for a couple of games they do well, but they perform for like three, four games they’re doing well, man of the match or scoring goals or assisting or whatever. But they need to keep it up for several seasons.
“It’s hard to judge players now for like a couple of games. Because in the beginning it’s new for every player. As you go somewhere they’re all willing to run, cover the pitch to defend, track back and create maybe, and it’s all new, but after a while things will settle down.
“Then the manager’s going to be making choices and then you need to wait and see in six months, how the situation is then, and are the players then still stepping up and still delivering. Then after a while, because the opposition then is learning how these new players are playing as well.
“So they’re going to be treated differently, they’re going to defend differently against them as well after a while. And then you need to have a look. Okay, what’s the real situation with them?”
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