REVEALED: Stats show why Man United’s £72m striker Rasmus Hojlund is FINALLY scoring freely under Erik ten Hag – after the Dane netted his fifth goal in five league games at Aston Villa
- Rasmus Hojlund has struggled for service in-front of goal at Manchester United
- However, the Danish international has recently scored five in his last five games
- CHRIS SUTTON: Erik ten Hag is still on trial. He needs more than gradual improvement this season to keep his job – It’s All Kicking Off podcast
Manchester United star Rasmus Hojlund has finally begun finding his form in-front of goal and, after looking at the stats, it’s clear to see why.
The Danish international endured a rough opening period to life in Manchester following his £72million move from Atalanta in the summer.
Despite finding the back of the net in Europe, Hojlund went months without scoring in the league for United – until eventually bagging against Aston Villa in December.
Mail Sport’s Chris Sutton had previously claimed that the Danish striker was suffering from a lack of service at United – which may since changed in recent months.
Here, with the help of SofaScore, Mail Sport takes a look at how the Danish international has managed to turn his goalscoring fortunes around.
Manchester United star Rasmus Hojlund has finally begun finding his form in-front of goal
After scoring against Aston Villa, the forward made it five goals in five games in the league
It’ll be no secret that one of Hojlund’s main issues was the lack of service that he received up-front from his Manchester United team-mates.
In the run up to the Christmas period, thanks to our friends at StatsPerform, we can see that the Danish star received 14.8 passes per 90 minutes from those around him.
However, since December 25th, we can see that the 21-year-old has in fact been receiving more passes during a match than he had previously.
Hojlund now, on average, receives the ball 15.9 times per match from his Red Devils team-mates – having collected 78 passes from 442 minutes of football.
Even though this is an increase on his previous numbers, the Danish forward still sits in the bottom-five strikers in regard to passes received per 90.
Despite receiving the ball more often, there’s little difference in which half of the pitch Hojlund collects the ball – which is understandable given he’s a striker.
The Dane has collected 40 passes in the opposition’s half since Christmas (an average of 8.1 times per match). His average before the Xmas break was 8.2.
Hojlund had previously struggled for service but now seems to be receiving the ball inside the penalty area on a more consistent basis
Stats show that, since Christmas, Hojlund has been receiving the ball inside the box far more
Despite the previous stats, the most important one to understand the change in Hojlund’s goalscoring form is the one that analyses his passes received in the penalty area.
Prior to Christmas, Hojlund received the ball just three times inside the penalty area – marking out an average of 0.3 times per match.
However, in the last couple months, Hojlund now receives the ball inside the box 1.2 times per match – which has helped his upturn in form.
His latest impressive performance came during United’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon, where he opened the scoring with a fine finish.
