Hojlund was handed his first start for United during Saturday&aposs 3-1 defeat at home to Brighton and Hove Albion. The Dane had been sidelined for the first month of his Reds career after a stress fracture was flagged during medical tests.
Having stared brightly, Hojlund was unfortunate to see what would have been a first goal for the club chalked off after VAR adjudged Marcus Rashford to have taken the ball out of play. But Cole has urged the youngster to keep working hard and predicted goals to follow.
Hes got loads of energy, hes youthful, he obviously still a bit raw but he will always aim to challenge the centre-backs,” Cole told Betfred. “When I was at Newcastle United, Kevin Keegan used to say that David Kelly, who I played with, would chase a piece of paper and thats what Rasmus does and he works really hard for his team.
“Its a shame for him that his goal was disallowed, but Rasmus just needs to continue to work hard because hes completely different to what weve had for a while. Thats the reason why the Manchester United fans are so on his side because they havent seen a centre forward that gives everything for a long while.
“Fingers crossed he can get off the mark in the next couple of games and he can get himself up and running.
Hojlund&aposs start to life in Manchester has been a rare positive in an otherwise underwhelming start to the season. United have now lost three of their opening five Premier League matches, leaving them in 13th.
Pivotal to that poor start has been a drop in form of key players, namely Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez – two players entering their second season with the club. It&aposs been a tough start for the pair and Cole believes it is a case of second-season syndrome.
The first season for a new signing is a free hit,” Cole added. “The second season is always your toughest season and in Casemiros case, forget that he played for Real Madrid in Spain and won loads of honours because the Premier League is completely different to La Liga.
“The same goes for Lisandro Martnez. Lisandro was excellent last season but now were in a new season, so whatever respect people had for you in the previous campaign is gone now because you need to prove that you can perform in your second year at the club and show that youre consistent.
When you play in your second season of the Premier League, the opposition is going to be more aware of what your capabilities are. Second-season syndrome in the Premier League exists and at this present time, these two players arent playing particularly well.
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