Despite not playing too well, Manchester United ground out a 2-0 win over PAOK on Thursday at Old Trafford, their first win of the current Europa League campaign.
A second-half brace from Amad Diallo proved to be the difference on the night with the Ivorian re-acquiring his mojo under interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy after some baffling treatment by former manager Erik ten Hag.
While incoming manager Ruben Amorim might have found himself his right-sided forward, the rest of team’s performance was quite poor as they kept running out of ideas in the final third.
The players seemed lethargic and hardly showed any real urgency against the Greek champions with the team’s mentality in need of change once the new boss walks in.
At least, the interim manager has got the team back on the winning track but the form of his No 9 will be a concern even though he publicly backed him in his pre-match press conference.
Rasmus Hojlund is young and with that inexperience, performances are bound to be inconsistent but United need more from their main striker.
Under the lights, the Dane struggled to hold on to the ball under pressure and often took it too casual when trying to pass to a teammate.
He only had 16 touches of the ball and completed four out of six passes in 89 minutes, shocking numbers which highlight the huge task on Amorim’s hands.
The 21-year-old missed one big chance and failed to attempt a single dribble. He also lost four out of five ground duels while winning three aerial battles.
The Denmark international managed zero crosses and long balls and also did not have a solitary key pass while losing possession seven times (all stats via sofascore).
Unfortunately, Van Nistelrooy was forced to retain Hojlund for as long as he did due to the performance of summer recruit Joshua Zirkzee.
Viktor Gyokeres, who moved from being a Championship striker with Coventry City to being one of Europe’s best at Sporting Lisbon, is an example that Amorim has to replicate.
Unfortunately, United has a fairly youthful attacking line that is prone to terrible days because of their poor recruitment. Whether INEOS is compelled to assist in January or how the new head coach organizes his house this season will be interesting to see.