20 Jul 2023 13:08:42
If we sign Hojlund this summer for a purported €50-55m what should our expectations be for an inexperienced 20 year old CF with only 9 senior league goals on his CV?!

I don't expect him to be an immediate starter so if he scored anywhere north of 10 league goals I think that would represent an excellent debut season.

Utd's biggest problem last season was putting the ball in the net and whilst I don't necessarily believe you need an out and out goal scorer to be successful is there enough goals in Rashford, Martial, Hojlund, Garnacho, Anthony, Sancho, Bruno and Mount?!

I think you can almost predict with a decent amount of accuracy how many league goals each player will score next season.

Rashford - 15 (conservative estimate his best season is 17 league goals)
Hojlund -8
Bruno - 8 (expect him to play a touch deeper as a No 8)
Martial - 8 (he'll score more if fit less if not)
Garnacho - 6
Mount - 6
Anthony - 6
Sancho - 6

Casemiro and Eriksen might chip in with a couple each so I think we'll score somewhere between 65-70 league goals next season. I think we're probably an attacker short capable of hitting 15 league plus to support Rashford to make us serious contenders. Martial is capable but he just won't be fit. Thoughts.

1.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 13:22:55
A lot of bold statements in there DLIB! Will be interesting to revisit to see how close you were come next May.
The go-to goal tally for a club's 'main' striker at this level is often touted at 20+ per season. Maybe ambitious as things stand, as it's been a long time since we blew sides away with 3+ goals. Maybe it will go up with this revolutionary new approach we'll be taking with Mount and Onana.
But if we get him (tide seems to be shifting against? ) I don't think Hojlund will be considered our main man. I think around 10 goals as you suggest would be fair for a very good upcoming striker in an attacking team.

2.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 13:38:18
I’d love for Hojlund to hit the ground running, but I’d be worried if we start the season with him as our only striker. Imo, Darwin Nunez was a much more complete forward when he joined Liverpool, not to mention a more well established player, yet just look at how much trouble he’s had adapting to the league. He also had several established goal scorers playing around him to help lighten the load, which is something that Hojlund won’t really have. The pressure the young lad would be under would be immense, especially if he ends up costing us £70m+ as some of the reports would have you believe.

3.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 13:39:43
Bit optimistic with Martials return aren’t you or is that how many appearances?

4.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 14:12:57
discountdave ????.

5.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 14:57:16
Rashford seems to be improving, with only one season being really bad - I think he is ready for close to 20 goals.
Hojlund could go to 10, if he gets used to the league quickly and gets enough minutes, but I don't think he will be our main treat this season.
Bruno plays almost every minute, is on penalties and can score. I still think he will score close to 10 goals. He might be playing a bit deeper when Mount is in, but I guess Mount will share some minutes with Ericksen, and Bruno will then play more offensive.
Martial probably won't play much, but I expect for him to score here or there.
Garnacho could have even more minutes and has a really great impact off the bench, wouldn't be surprised if he scored even more.
Mount has close to 10 goals per season in him, he has them in Chelsea, why not with us.
Sancho and Antony is toughest to predict. It could go either way, depending who gets more minutes.
Casemiro a serious treat from set pieces and knows when to join the attack, I expect at least 5 from him.
And others will contribute some goals.

I expect us to score a lot more than last season. Creativity was there, finishing wasn't. But that could and should change. Team is more experienced and had one year together and we seem to strenghten in key positions.
But hey, maybe I'm just being too optimistic :)

6.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 15:18:27
I thinks that's how many minutes Martial will play.

7.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 15:51:32
I think Hojlund should hit between 10-15 premier league goals maybe more.
We created a hell of a lot of chances last season which we didn't take to kill off games.
He is also playing with better players at United.
I really hope that they get this kid, i think he's going to be a top player. I think he would fit right in with the way we play.

8.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 16:23:29
I could eat my words but I expect Rashford to score 20plus PL goals this season. I think something seems to have clicked with him - probably Ten Hag's coaching - and having signed a new contract he'll be so confident.

9.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 16:30:55
I expect a player like Hojlund to take a little while to get used to the step up and the new league. That said there is no reason why he couldn't hit the ground running and do better than most expect.

The real issue last season wasn't really a lack of players being clinical, but more that the vast majority of our shots were more speculative, from distance or tight angles, or through a crowd of players.

We struggled to create enough high quality chances and as such we were left to take too many pot shots from distance. It's not like our forwards were missing 2-3 sitters every game.

This is why I feel players like Mount and Onana who can change how we play are more important than a clinical striker.

With the chances we created last season a player like Kane for example wouldn't have been hugely prolific, as quite simply he'd have had to score a lot of low quality chances.

There is an argument that a striker with better movement might have created a few more higher quality chances. But at the end of the day it doesn't matter how good you blind side run is when you're waiting for a slide rule pass from Fred in order to get on the ball.

A player like Onana will allow the defence to push up an extra 10-20 yards, while he will also make very hard for teams to press us high. Both those things should enable us to exert more control over games, having more sustained possession higher up the pitch and closer to the opposition goal.

While a player like Mount will give us another hard working intelligent presser of the ball which means we should be able to make it hard for teams to play out once they win the ball, while also opening up more chances for counter pressing. However, Mount is more than just a hard worker who is tactically intelligent. He is also technically gifted and capable of scoring and creating really good goalscoring chances himself.

So with those two new players we should see higher possession of the ball, better territorial advantage (have the ball closer to the oppositions goal), and we should be able to create both more goalscoring chances, and chances of a higher quality.

I'd expect to see everyone score more goals next season pretty much across the whole team. While maybe adding another striker and with Mount chipping in with a fair few goals I don't see goalscoring as being as big an issue next season as it was last.

10.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 17:41:02
I don’t even think we’ll get Hojlund if I’m honest. People are talking as if he’s in the bag, but from what I’ve heard Atalanta are wanting fantasy money and aren’t prepared to budge. They obviously think we’ve got more money than we actually have.

11.) 20 Jul 2023
20 Jul 2023 21:11:42
I think Rash and Hoijlund will rotate the CF spot with Martial limited minutes. Garnacho will get game time also with that rotation.

12.) 21 Jul 2023
21 Jul 2023 00:40:51
I am not so interested in numbers as in hoe he adapts. He is young amd like United far feom the finished article. does he look like he could debelop into leading the line for a team that wamts to win the EVL and EPL.

13.) 21 Jul 2023
21 Jul 2023 07:49:52
Shappy, I don't quite agree, we had a lot of unused great chances. A lot of 1v1 with the goalkeeper, that the likes of Antony, Martial and even Rashford failed to realise.

If you are into stats, and if I remember correctly, you are, our xG was almost 72, while scoring just 58. That would mean we had some real good chances we didn't use.

In comparison, Arsenal had 76.5 xG, but scored 88.

What was supposed to be 4-5 goals advantage for them, ended up being 30.

So, imo, finishing was the main issue, not the quality of chances.

14.) 21 Jul 2023
21 Jul 2023 08:06:15
Over the last 9 seasons we have averaged 60 goals. 70, especially if it comes with a defensive improvement, would suggest things are going in the right direction.

We would all like to see 2 new CFs who can each score regularly but that's highly unlikely. As a result of their high wages both Martial, who's also beset by injuries real or imagined, and Sancho are probably not sellable. ETH is going to have to make do primarily with Garnacho, Rashford, Sancho, Martial, and Antony + 1 CF, which is the most we can realistically hope for, with Amad and Pellestri as back up.

If we can unload Heaton £20m, Maguire £35-£40m, Fred or Mctom £20m, (or both? ), Williams £10m, Elanga £5m, Bailly £0, Donny £10 and Mason out on loan, then maybe we get 1 more CF and/ or 1 top midfielder. Or maybe we can bring Wout Wontscore back on loan!

We won't have a problem with total wages > FFP regulations and if we have a good season and we also make a profit on higher revenues then FFP loss provisions might ease up. We might also see a reduction in total debt. The Glazers aren't going to invest in the club so generating profits is an imperative.

With Estée Lauder now a sponsor who knows what ground we can make up. It will be a good foundation anyway. We might become more Cliniqueal in front of goal.

15.) 21 Jul 2023
21 Jul 2023 20:33:21
We will score 80ish goals next year.