The struggle of Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee during the 1-0 victory of Manchester United over Fulham is uncovered by a series of destructive statistics.
United achieved a meager victory in Craven Cottage last night thanks to the deviated attack by Lisandro Martinez, giving it four points ahead of the upper half of the ranking.
But Ruben Amorim's team again provided a blunt action for the goal, in which Hojlund and Zirkzee, the two number 9s of the club, did not succeed in putting Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno to the test.
United as a whole only registered one shot on goal, and four shots in total, during the entire 90 minutes, while they also gave less passes than the hosts.
Hojlund got the wink from the start, but could not make an attempt on goal. He succeeded in touching the ball only seventeen times, one of which is within the Fulham area.
And after he had only completed six of his eight passes, the Dane was not surprisingly crocheted by an not impressed Amorim, just before the hour.
Damn enough, Hojlund has not scored in 36 of his 48 Premier League matches for United since he came over from Atalanta in a deal worth £ 72 million.
Hojlund was replaced by Zirkzee, a summer acquisition of £ 36.5 million under Erik ten Hag.
Zirkzee did not succeed in making a good start at Old Trafford in the same way, after he had scored only three league goals, and he also registered zero shots on Craven Cottage.
In contrast to Hojlund, however, Zirkzee did not get any ball contact in the sixteen -meter of Fulham. He also managed to give only five passes in the entire game during a disappointing cameo in the second half.
But during a speech for TNT Sports, Rio Ferdinand Hojlund called criticism and suggested that his teammates would have been angry because he had not succeeded in keeping the ball up.
“It would surprise me if Hojlund was not pointed to him with a few fingers,” Ferdinand said. 'Hold the ball up. For them, Hojlund is the platform to get on the field.
“Manchester United cannot get a good possession around the last third if the number nine cannot keep the ball high.”
The goal problems of Hojlund and Zirkzee have led to suggestions that Marcus Rashford could be taken back from the cold.
Rashford did not take action in the past eleven games and has so far not managed to get a transfer on a rental basis this month, despite conversations with various interested clubs.
But Amorim is convinced that the attacker is still not available and last night the head coach of United claimed that he would rather choose his 63-year-old goalkeeper coach.
“It is always the same reason: the training, the way in which I think a football player should do in life,” said Amorim. 'It's every day, every detail.
'If things don't change, I'll not change. It is the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum and the right things, we can use every player.
“On the couch you see that we are missing some speed on the couch, but I would put Vital before a player who does not give the maximum every day.”
When asked whether the situation will change if Rashford is still at United next week after the deadline day, Amorim added: 'It is the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum, if you do the right things, we can use every player. “
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