Man Utd: Ten Hag could get rid of Hojlund by releasing ‘real talent’ at £350,000-a-week
Rasmus Hojlund for Manchester United
Manchester United’s season took a turn for the worse last weekend as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace – a team who they had comfortably dispatched 3-0 just a few days before.
Erik ten Hag may be starting to feel the heat as the result means his team have won only three of their opening seven Premier League ties and unless a sudden improvement is made, the pressure will continue to ramp up.
There is a break from league duty as the Champions League takes centre stage this week, with United welcoming Galatasaray to Old Trafford this evening and nothing but three points will be good enough, especially if they hold any ambitions of progressing from their group.
The Dutchman could change up his starting XI for the tie, especially following a few poor displays from several players, including summer arrival Rasmus Hojlund.
How did Rasmus Hojund perform vs Crystal Palace?
The young Dane has struggled to really get going so far at the Red Devils, averaging a Sofascore rating of 6.45 across four matches in the Premier League, managing just 0.5 shots on target per game along with missing four big chances.
He did net against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, yet his display on the weekend was rather underwhelming to say the least.
Hojlund-Man-United-Champions-League
The 20-year-old took three shots during the game yet failed to score while also winning only three of his seven ground duels along with taking just 25 touches of the ball, and it was clear he couldn’t quite get into the game.
With Galatasaray representing a different challenge, Ten Hag should unleash Anthony Martial from the first whistle and drop Hojlund to the bench to see if this makes any difference.
Will Martial start for Man United against Galatasaray?
While it’s safe to say Martial has failed to live up to the vast expectations upon arriving in Manchester back in 2015, he has proven to be a solid option from which Ten Hag could call on this term.
Anthony-Martial-Manchester-United
The £250k-per-week forward has started just twice in the league, averaging only 36 minutes per game across five appearances, but he has managed to make one key pass per game, succeed with 50% of his dribble attempts along with winning 71% of his ground duels per game, indicating that his physical presence is clearly a boost for Ten Hag.
The Frenchman even grabbed an assist in the tie against Bayern a few weeks ago, despite spending just nine minutes on the pitch while he made one key pass and created a big chance, suggesting he could thrive if given a spot against the Turkish side in Europe’s elite competition.
Paul Scholes hailed him last season, saying: “Every United fan knows he has real talent. But we just need to see it more often.
“The lad’s got real ability. He’s been quiet for 18 months, we’re not sure what’s happened to him, injuries, confidence, but the lad has got ability, we need to see more of it. He can score a lot of goals.”
Hojlund may be the future of this United side, but Ten Hag needs goals now and Martial could shine if given the opportunity tonight.
Ross is a freelance writer who has worked for a wide variety of media outlets over the previous couple of years.
Having started at Rangers News, Ross joined Snack Media in April 2022 and has written for Football FanCast ever since. He has also written for Golf Monthly while also contributing to various publications, including the acclaimed Nutmeg magazine along with popular Italian football blog The Gentleman Ultra.
Ross is also a big Rangers fan and has written about the club across fan media sites such as This is Ibrox previously.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic points finger at Erik ten Hag and urges Man Utd to consider his future
Erik ten Hag has overseen an awful start to the season, with Manchester United losing four of their opening seven Premier League games, leading to Zlatan Ibrahimovic questioning the manager’s future
Former Manchester United star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has questioned Erik ten Hag ‘s future at Old Trafford amid the club’s escalating crisis.
Ten Hag has seen United slump to their worst-ever Premier League start, with four defeats in their opening seven games. The Red Devils also lost their opening Champions League game of the season, away at Bayern Munich a fortnight ago.
Before arriving at Old Trafford, Ten Hag spent five years in charge of Ajax, winning three Eredivisie titles and two KNVB Cups. But while he has that silverware success, Ibrahimovic is growing concerned that he is not the right man for United.
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The former striker won the Europa League and the Carabao Cup during his time with the Red Devils. And he is worried that Ten Hag is not able to handle a squad of superstars, rather than the up-and-coming players he dealt with at Ajax.
“Coming from Ajax to United as he did is a big difference — I have been in both clubs. You have a different kind of discipline. Ajax is a talented club. They have the best talents in the club. They don’t have big stars,” Ibrahimovic told TalkTV.
“What is the experience of this coach? Young talents, he comes to United, it is a different mentality. The players there are supposed to be big stars. I don’t think you give the same treatment.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Zlatan Ibrahimovic discussed the situation at Man Utd and Erik ten Hag’s future ( Image: RAI)
“How much time do you give a coach? It depends on the owners, what they want, but if you listen to the fans, you don’t have a lot of time because they want to win, and I understand them because they are used to winning and they want to still win.”
The saga that saw Cristiano Ronaldo leave United last December following an explosive interview and Jadon Sancho’s continuing exile is also raising warning signs in Ibrahimovic’s mind.
The Swedish legend insisted that United ‘have to win’, but that Ten Hag is getting caught between securing immediate success and setting up a long-term project. That has led to him urging club bosses to begin considering if the Dutchman is the right man for the job.
“United has to win, they have to win every title they play for. Now they are being dominated by neighbours Manchester City and it’s a totally different situation there. Everybody has a responsibility to fulfil the demands,” he added.
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“You need to find the right path again and to push for that. You need a plan, you need a project to follow. It feels like you follow a project plan and then it goes wild in a moment because of the results.
“Either you believe in it or you don’t believe in it. But with the situation of the coach, I think he is living two different situations now. Then obviously what happened with Sancho and Cristiano, I don’t know. When things are good, there are still errors and problems, but you don’t see it because we are winning.”
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