Hojlund's next steps to evolve - THREAD Great piece below on Hojlund. Nuanced & insightful. Matches my thoughts from the article I did on him + threads on him since move to Man Utd. Have comments on issues raised & solutions to help him evolve & reach his potential. Short 🧵

Firstly, point on shooting less is valid. I hyped his shooting efficiency & goals/shot from Atalanta time. He was scoring a goal every 6 shots & only an in-form Osimhen fared better. But that came while shooting less. Trend of high conversion but low volume continues at Man Utd.

In fact, it can be argued that shooting a lot with avg or slightly above avg conversion rates is probably better than shooting less with high conversion rate. You'd rather be an elite shot-generator than have elite efficiency. In the long run, CFs who shoot a lot score a lot.

Left-side bias in shooting that @JakeEntwistle mentions was something I noticed at Atalanta too. And with shot opportunities reducing due to poor creation at Man Utd, both volume & bias issues have become worse - he takes much lesser shots & much more from preferred left-side.

In a sense, he's gone further into his comfort zones instead of breaking out of them. The ideal development was for him to add variety in shooting & find more ways to generate shots. We rarely see awkward or odd-position or dirty shots from Hojlund - a trait good scorers have.

So, what are the solutions? 1) Team building: Amorim's ideal 3-4-3 has 1 AM who joins CF like a SS often forming a front 2 & splitting striker runs (like far post & near post). My hope was Rashford could split run-and-finish work with Hojlund, but his exile has hurt this plan.

Hojlund had this with Lookman, who profiles close to Rashford. Even as AM Lookman would make opposing channel & box runs to Hojlund so that one of them could be the foil to the other at a given time. Rashford was being played RAM before the exile & I think LF-RF split was idea.

With Rashford's (& maybe Zirkzee's) future in doubt, it would be wise to recruit an off-ball threat SS type profile who can play both AM & CF. Would help Hojlund when both are on pitch & rotate at CF to reduce goal burden. Would compliment Bruno, Amad, Mount & Garnacho too.

2) Tactical: Team not being able to generate space & enter final 3rd with patience has been a long-standing issue. Service & more importantly right type of service impacts CF the most. As we progress as a team & work more on final 3rd, that should improve https://x.com/TheDevilsDNA/sta...

3) Coaching: Hojlund's ability to generate shots can improve. Some potentia areas: - Right foot usage - Shots from non comfort zone positions (RHS, distance) - Use of (his good) carrying to create separation for shot - Aerial threat (Hojlund's run-and-jump timing can be better)

Overall, I still stand by the idea that Hojlund can become an elite CF at his peak. His physical & technical profile enables him to be a good mover & efficient shooter. If he can scale up his shot numbers as United improve under Amorim, he can enjoy a great peak. That's the hope

Dropping the articles from which the screenshots were taken. First up, my Hojlund article covering his Atalanta days. https://thedevilsdna.com/?p=27...

My Amorim system article on how Hojlund-Rashford could have worked & still holds vaid for a Rashford-type to play at AM. https://thedevilsdna.com/?p=27...

This excellent piece by @rwohan on shooting and what the data says about conversion and volume of shots. The rest of the piece is great too. https://www.espn.in/football/i...