Manchester United players have been urged to pass the ball to Rasmus Hojlund more often as Ruud Gullit explains how the Red Devils can improve.
Erik ten Hag’s side made it back-to-back wins in the Premier League with a 2-1 away triumph at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United.
Despite the positive result, Man Utd looked unconvincing for large spells of the game and Paul Heckingbottom’s side were unlucky to not snatch a point.
The forward trio of Marcus Rashford, Antony and Hojlund wasn’t quite clicking on the night. However, luckily for Ten Hag, Scott McTominay and Diogo Dalot managed to produce the goods.
Since arriving from Atalanta in the summer for a fee of around £64million, Hojlund is yet to find the back of the net in the Premier League.
Gullit thinks that there’s more to come from the 20-year-old, but he has urged his teammates to pass him the ball more often instead of cutting inside and deciding to shoot from a tight angle.
“I still think you have to get your striker on the scoresheet. Because if he gets on the scoresheet he gets confidence, then also the rest are looking for him all the time,” Gullit told Premier League Productions.
“They don’t look for him as much. And he’s in areas where you can have a look at him. You see too many players too eager to score themselves, they’re coming inside, they want to hit the target all the time.
“I played with [Marco] Van Basten, I always thought if I give it to him it’s a goal, if I hit it then it could be a goal. I’d rather give it to him because it’s a definite goal.
“You know strikers, they’re selfish, they need to score goals. If he’s happy in the team that makes a huge difference for the rest.”
Ten Hag is confident Hojlund will come good
Despite failing to find the back of the net in his first six Premier League matches, Hojlund has looked effective in the Champions League where he has already scored three goals.
Ten Hag is confident that the goals will come for the 20-year-old in the league as the Man Utd boss shared his thoughts on the forward.
“It is not a concern [that Rasmus Hojlund hasn’t scored in the Premier League],” Ten Hag told reporters.
“He is scoring for Denmark, he is scoring for us in the Champions League so he will score for us also in the Premier League. I have no doubts about that. Today he was two or three times in a very good spot. There will come his moment and he will finish.”
Man Utd are back in Champions League action in midweek before they return to the Premier League to face Man City at the weekend.