Bruno Fernandes will rightly get the plaudits following his captain’s performance.
His two goals and one assist dragged Manchester United back from 2-1 down at home to Sheffield United with an hour played to win 4-2 on Wednesday, relieving some of the pressure engulfing Erik ten Hag and sparing the manager and his players the embarrassment of losing at Old Trafford to the 2023-24 Premier League’s worst team.
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But Rasmus Hojlund, the now 21-year-old striker signed last summer for £74million, should be quietly pleased with his own efforts, scoring his first non-penalty shootout goal since he got two against Luton Town on February 18.
As soon as the final whistle was blown, Hojlund leapt from his seat in the dugout — he had been replaced in the 89th minute by teenager Ethan Wheatley, who made his debut and became the club’s 250th academy graduate to play for the first team — and immediately went to shake Ten Hag’s hand.
Due to a lack of alternatives, coupled with the squad being hurt by injuries throughout the season, Ten Hag has had little option but to stick with Hojlund, who has endured a difficult first year in English football.
The young Dane arrived from Italian club Atalanta carrying a back injury, did not score his first Premier League goal until December 26 and picked up an unspecified muscle issue in February that kept him sidelined for several weeks.
Throughout all of that turbulence, Ten Hag kept persisting with the forward, who was often in the right position to score but was desperately starved of service.
But after going six games in a United shirt without a goal, not counting his winning penalty in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City, Hojlund’s barren run is finally over — and Ten Hag will be hoping this kicks off the sort of form that saw him score seven times in six league appearances from January 14 through that trip to Luton.
“It is the rhythm that is broken after his injury (in February), so his goal is very important for him to return,” Ten Hag said of Hojlund’s finish. “It will give him confidence, and that is what strikers need — they live off goals.”
From the final whistle at Luton to his goal on Wednesday, Hojlund played 612 minutes in all competitions for United but managed only seven shots, with four of them being blocked and just two hitting the target. For much of this season, he has got himself into good positions in the attacking third, yet the ball has seldom found its way to him.
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During the same timeframe, he only touched the ball in the opposition penalty area 23 times, and his expected goals figure (xG), which is a metric that measures the quality of each shot before the player shoots, was 0.49.
You can safely conclude from the graphic below that the seven shots Hojlund took before his goal from close range against Sheffield United were not in particularly great areas.
The one he converted was within six yards of Wes Foderingham’s goal and stemmed from a cute Fernandes pass, while the shots he missed were either half-chances or slight ones.
The majority of United’s goals this season have been spread out among Fernandes (15), Hojlund (14), Scott McTominay (10), Alejandro Garnacho (nine) and Marcus Rashford (eight). The below graphic takes into account all of Hojlund’s non-penalty shots throughout the campaign.
He has scored a goal every 200 minutes from a total of 53 shots, of which 52.8 per cent have been on target with an average distance to goal of 11.7 yards.
Those numbers appear underwhelming compared to the leading strikers at other Premier League clubs, but one of the most significant statistics is his xG. Hojlund may have struggled for long spells this season but, according to his xG, he is actually performing better than expected, based on the quality of chances presented to him.
Hojlund’s overall xG for the campaign is 12.2, which makes his 14 goals good value for the service he’s been provided.
The 12-cap Denmark international has had the backing of United’s fans, who appreciate his hard work and attitude. There is probably an acknowledgement that he has been a victim of a lack of depth up front and has had to learn English football the hard way, as well as the fact that he is still a young player honing his game.
Anthony Martial has spent most of this season injured, playing only 19 times in all competitions and not at all since December, meaning his new team-mate has needed to play through barren spells when the burden on his shoulders was only weighing heavier.
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But as his first season at United reaches its final stages, Ten Hag hopes that Hojlund will continue to make a scoring impact in its final five league matches, as well as their FA Cup final against Manchester City on May 25.
“I am happy for him and the team, because in the coming weeks he will be hugely important to the goals we need as a team,” the manager said. “We need as many scoring players as possible on the pitch.”
For Hojlund to build on Wednesday’s return to scoring form, though, he needs help from his team-mates.
Additional contributor: Jeff Rueter
(Top photo: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)