What next for Joshua Zirkzee?

Viraj-Nerurkar
By Viraj Nerurkar
9 Min Read

Manchester United’s season has not gotten off to the best of starts, despite a strong summer transfer window. They have won just two out of the seven Premier League games played so far, and more astonishingly, scoring only five goals in the seven games played.

An improvement was expected of Erik ten Hag and the Red Devils after an abysmal 23/24 season saw them finish eighth, their worst finish in PL history. The new regiment of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Co. has shown their ambition by backing the manager heavily in the transfer window, bringing in young talents as well as some established players into the fold, improving the squad quality and depth in the process.

However, the improvements off the pitch have not had the same result, as Manchester United find themselves lying in 14th place in the league table. Their problems have ranged from a lack of goalscoring threat to conceding too many goals, but currently, it is the former that is dominating headlines.

Man United striker Dilemma

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At the start of the season, there was an urgent need for Manchester United to get a striker into the team to primarily provide competition and backup to 21-year-old Rasmus Hojlund, who faced a plethora of injury issues last season.

The young Dane showed a lot of promise and potential in the 23/24 campaign, netting 16 goals, which was seen by many as a decent output for a forward of his age who was playing his very first season in the demanding English football. However, United were often troubled due to the lack of availability of a backup striker to Hojlund, with Anthony Martial also on the treatment table for the majority of last season.

His woes culminated with the club choosing not to renew his contract, and the Frenchman, who once arrived at the hallowed grounds of Old Trafford and promised the world to the Stretford End faithful, ultimately left Manchester without achieving much success in his eight-year stay.

Joshua Zirkzee arrival at United

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The Red Devils, on the lookout for a young and hungry goal-scorer, settled on a name that was making the waves across Europe for a stellar 23/24 season that saw him lead the goalscoring charts for Bologna FC in the Serie A and take his team to the Champions League, 22-year-old striker Joshua Zirkzee, who also had a successful four-year spell at Bayern Munich, playing at various youth levels before making his senior debut in the 19/20 season and featuring briefly in the treble winning season.

Arriving at Old Trafford in the summer, expectations were not sky-high for the young striker, but he was expected to make an impact at the club, raising the quality of play in the final third.

While his link-up play has been good and he has shown glimpses of the talent he displayed in previous years, Zirkzee has not managed to set the Premier League world alight just yet.

He came off the bench to score the winner on his debut against Fulham in the first game of the season and has since started four league games in a row. However, no goals have followed since, and he has been guilty of missing a few easy chances at crucial moments in front of the goal.

The Dutchman has tried to influence proceedings as much as he can, trying to play one-touch passes and attempting to pull tricks to put his teammates through, but it has not had the desired effect yet. The United men do not seem to be on the same wavelength while attempting to move into the final third, which has been their downfall more often than not.

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Life in Manchester has gotten just a little bit more difficult for the Dutch striker with the return of Rasmus Hojlund, who, much like last season, was forced to miss the start through an injury.

Hojlund was introduced to the fold gradually but started the Europa League game against Porto and was on the scoresheet within 20 minutes, scoring from a move he started after winning an aerial duel on the halfway line. His pace and strong striking of the ball were what drew Manchester United to sign him last season, and he caused the Porto defence some problems within the first half, but he too faded away as the game went on.

Goalscoring has been Manchester United’s biggest problem so far this season, but their failure to create clear cut chances has also been highlighted. United’s creator-in-chief Bruno Fernandes has not been at the races at all this season, which has declined the team’s overall creativity and starved the attackers of service.

Christian Eriksen has somewhat stepped up, and in 5 Premier League appearances, only Amad Diallo has more key passes than the Danish midfielder. While the Red Devils do need to prioritise working on their finishing, the underlying numbers paint a picture of not enough chances created, with the club in 9th out of 20 for both total chances and big chances created.

Time for a new tactical approach?

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When Zirkzee’s arrival was imminent, the Dutchman explained in an interview that he was ‘different’ to other strikers and described himself as 9.5 rather than a number 9 or a number 10. This gave rise to the discussion of whether Hojlund and Zirkzee could both start up front for the Red Devils, with the Dutch striker acting at times as a makeshift creator.

Fast forward a couple months, and that could be a real possibility. With United’s midfield not creating enough chances for the forwards and Bruno Fernandes not firing on all cylinders, it might well be time for Erik ten Hag to try a new approach in a desperate bid to save the season as well as his job.

Hojlund has proven his finishing abilities in the last season gone by and has only shown signs of improving. Injury issues have bogged him down, but with the Dane now fit, it may be time for the United coaching staff to try a new tactic and deploy both their forwards together.

Zirkzee has earlier spoken about his penchant for occasionally dropping in to the midfield and playing in what he calls a ‘false striker’ position, helping his team get forward, which seems something that United could use more of right now.

It seems almost a regular occurrence of Erik ten Hag’s reign that his job is under scrutiny, and it is no different this season. With a disastrous start so far, the Dutch coach has more problems and will have to find innovative solutions for them. While it may have been Hojlund vs. Zirkzee at the start of the season, it may very well need to be Hojlund and Zirkzee in the starting 11 if United are to save their season from falling further away.

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