Hojlund, who has been forced to pull out of the Denmark squad for their European Championship qualifiers against Slovenia and Northern Ireland through injury, has scored just five goals since joining the club from Atalanta in August, each of which have come in the Champions League. Last Saturday&aposs 1-0 win over Luton Town marked his ninth blank in the Premier League.
His wait for his first domestic goal in United colours has been greeted with concerns from some quarters, but most are pointing the blame at the Reds&apos wide players for not providing him with enough ammunition. Hojlund is a striker that thrives off crosses into the penalty area from the wide areas.
An increasing number of United fans have been vocal about that issue, and Scholes is the latest big-name star to highlight the issue. He also believes Fernandes needs to assist Hojlund from central areas.
“Fernandes needs to play in that No.10 position more, he needs to get closer to him, he needs to help him, he needs to try and find some kind of partnership while the pressure is on him,” Scholes told the Webby & O&aposNeill YouTube channel. “He [Hojlund] has got wide players around him who don&apost cross the ball.
“He looks to me like he&aposs a centre-forward that wants crosses, he&aposs got clever movement on crosses on Saturday against Luton for his chance, some really good movement, he checked, moved the lad out the way and got in.
“Now you&aposve got Marcus Rashford who just wants to cut inside and shoot, you&aposve got Antony playing at times, Garnacho, they&aposre almost trying to be goalscoring wide players who, at the minute, aren&apost scoring goals. But they don&apost provide crosses either.”
On the expectations weighting on Hojlund&aposs shoulders, Scholes continued: “He&aposs a big strong lad with pace, he looks to me like he has everything to be a top-class centre-forward. I think hes got the movement to do it, he missed a really good chance on Saturday [vs Luton], it was in a little bit of an awkward position for him, but if things are going for you, it does bounce off you and go in.
“There is a lot of pressure on the kid. You think of the teams Manchester United have had, they&aposve always had three or four centre-forwards who can score 25/30 goals.
“They&aposve almost got one now, who is a 20-year-old kid who has come without a real proven goalscoring track record. He needs help.”
United, as everyone knows, have been cursed by bad luck on the injury front so far this season, losing key players at various junctures. Luke Shaw, arguably, has been missed more than anyone, and Hojlund is yet to play in the same team as him.
