Rasmus Hojlund has revealed that on-field communication with Marcus Rashford has been key to the pair’s budding partnership up top.
Tuesday evening was largely a disastrous one for Manchester United, with Erik ten Hag’s side falling to their sixth defeat of the season already at the hands of Galatasaray despite leading the game on two occasions.
United sit bottom of Group A having also been defeated by Bayern Munich on matchday one, and know they must win their upcoming Champions League double-header with Kobenhavn to have any chance of advancing to the knockout stages.
One positive that United fans will take from the 3-2 loss to Galatasaray was the performance of new striker Rasmus Hojlund. The young number nine bagged his first ever brace for the club in the defeat, with the first coming courtesy of a Rashford assist.
It is the second time that Rashford has teed up Hojlund for a goal – the other being in the defeat to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena – and speaking to MUTV after the game, the Danish striker discussed how on-field communication between the two has helped improve performances.
“If we talk about Marcus, we try to talk to each other and he knows I’m going to be there. He knows I can keep up with his pace when we go on the counter and we saw a glimpse of that today,” Hojlund said.
“It’s about getting in there [the box]. I always try to get into dangerous positions and today I got the ball three times, if you count the offside as well, so yeah, I’ve been bought to score goals and I’m happy to get two more today.”
Erik ten Hag has previously discussed the importance of the pair talking to one another during games, citing that as being a good sign for their long-term partnership up top.
“The two can benefit from each other. But they have to know each other and that process has only just started. At the same time, we need results and so it has to go hand in hand,” Ten Hag remarked.
“But we learn from every training [session] and we learn from every game. Of course, we reflect togetherness and, of course, we lead that as a coaching staff. But we have also seen that Rasmus and Rashy are together, they’re talking about how they can benefit from it.
“So you can see that discussion, that interaction on the pitch is going on, and that is a good sign. I’m sure they will get that connection. I think the connection is already there but I think they will get there.”
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