Evening Standard
·28 de noviembre de 2024
Evening Standard
·28 de noviembre de 2024
The striker netted twice in new manager’s first home game
Rasmus Hojlund has put the manner of Manchester United’s goals against Bodo/Glimt down to Ruben Amorim’s instructions.
The Red Devils made it back-to-back wins in the Europa League after coming from behind to beat the Norwegian outfit 3-2 in the Portuguese tactician’s first home game as head coach.
Just like against Ipswich Town in Amorim’s debut, United made a fast start with Alejandro Garnacho breaking the deadlock as early as the second minute.
But the goal owed a lot to Hojlund as he pressed Bodo/Glimt goalkeeper Nikita Haikin into eventually losing possession which resulted in the Argentina international being presented with a simple tap-in.
Speaking after the game, the Man United number nine had mixed feelings about the performance but praised Amorim instructions which got the team off to a perfect start.
“It was a little bit of a bad start and obviously we came back and showed character, but we want to make sure these games don't get too exciting and yeah, it's all about the three points and we got the job done,” Hojlund told TNT Sport.
"He [Amorim] told me not to think too much about the guys behind me and try to work a little bit more with what I could see in the front, very aggressive, and you saw that with the first goal.”
After equalising on the stroke of half-time with a brilliant effort, Hojlund scored what turned out to be the winning goal early in the second half as he finished off a flowing move involving Mason Mount and Manuel Ugarte.
Again, the goal came about with the Denmark international following instructions from Amorim with regard to his positioning in the box.
“I haven't seen it back [second goal] but I've been told it was a good finish, so I'm going to go home now and watch it,” he added. “I always try to stay inside the 16-yard box and we've worked on these sort of things.
“The manager told me at half-time to stick to the first post and it worked out.
“It's going to take time [getting used to the new tactics], but you can already see now the patterns and it's getting better, but it needs time to get into the season after a difficult start. We just need to build on it and for me, it reminds me of playing with Atalanta where we played 3-4-3 and it suits me very well."