Dimitar Berbatov has offered advice to struggling Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund ahead of the trip to Anfield to face Liverpool.Hojlund, 20, is yet to get off the mark in the Premier League despite scoring five Champions League goals before United’s eventual group-stage exit.The forward has been described as the ‘most starved player in Europe’ as his teammates fail to find him in the box. Most notably, Diogo Dalot ignored the striker for a clear cut-back moments before disaster stuck against Bournemouth.
However, he has also been culpable of missing several chances by meeting the ball half-a-fraction late and also often seems to be too focused on battling the opposition centre-backs.
Hojlund has already displayed his impressive movement in and around the box, and so former United striker Berbatov has told the Dane to focus on being smart and not overcomplicating things in his game.“Go back to the training pitch, train, try to be smart when you train, work on your positioning and get into better positions,” Berbatov told The Manchester Evening News.“When the game comes, try not to overcomplicate things, because that can lead to mistakes that can make you even more angry and then your game will suffer.
“If you’re not scoring, you start to think, ‘If I run like crazy around the pitch to show the fans that I care’, you think that’s the answer to everything. But then you use all your powers in a different area of the pitch where you don’t need to do anything. So when you do get the ball in front of the goal, you’re tired and can’t function properly.
“You also need to be very clever to have the right people around you—the manager, teammates, your environment at home—to give you the right advice. Simple things will change everything. So work smart.”Hojlund still has much to learn at just 20-years-old, but Erik ten Hag has limited options at the moment and will be hoping the young striker will be able to improve quickly and start scoring goals.