Nobody has any hope left from Manchester United’s Premier League season and yet the team managed to disappoint by running back this season’s greatest failures in a span of 90 minutes.
The 0-1 loss to Wolves was a microcosm of their whole season, especially the part under Ruben Amorim.
Man Utd had loads of possession and created great chances to go out of sight before Pablo Sarabia’s knockout blow handed them a defeat.
The common factor remains the presence of a striker devoid of confidence up front, and Amorim’s comments after the game proved that Rasmus Hojlund is stuck in a vicious cycle.
Ruben Amorim on Rasmus Hojlund
When the Man Utd manager walked into the press room after the game, he would have expected the majority of the questions would be directed towards Rasmus Hojlund’s form.
The striker has now scored once in his last 28 appearances for Man Utd which, forget about the size of the club, is not good enough for any club in world football.
Hojlund struggled against Wolves as well and speaking to the press after the game, it looked from Amorim’s face that something had finally broken in him.
He didn’t let it show in his words but the exasperation was palpable, as evidenced by his eight-word comment that showed Hojlund is stuck in a vicious cycle.
He said: “The only way I know [to help Rasmus Hojlund] is to show the videos. He needs to score a goal. He will not score if he is out.”
“He will not score if he is out” seems like a sensible thing to say but, in reality, it is a sign of desperation and the dire situation Hojlund is stuck in.
Rasmus Hojlund’s vicious cycle
While Amorim’s comment makes sense, there’s also a flipside where, with each goalless game for the striker, his confidence reaches new lows.
That translates to an even worse performance, leading to an even more loss of confidence and so the cycle goes.
He needs to take Hojlund out of the firing line for a while because challenging him to play through this patch where it looks like the burden of the world is on his shoulders just isn’t working.
Yes, he does need to play to score goals, but he needs to play without feeling pressured to score goals to be able to do that.
That won’t happen until he gets out of the firing line and resets his mental state. Instead, he’s stuck in a vicious cycle and Amorim has made his mind up to challenge the player to play out of it.
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