Rasmus Hojlund, 21, scored twice in the opening seven minutes to help Manchester United defeat Luton 2-1 in the Premier League. Erik ten Hag lauded Hojlund’s character after the match.
The striker, who cost £72 million when he was acquired from Atalanta, had a sluggish start to his Old Trafford career. However, he has now scored in six straight games, giving him 13 goals in his first 30 appearances for United, including seven in his first 20 league games.
In just one minute, United overcame Rob Edwards’ team and took the lead thanks to a mishandled pass by Amari’i Bell. Hojlund raced through, wrapped the ball around goalie Thomas Kaminski, and rolled it into the empty net.
The lead was quickly extended, with Hojlund scoring once more when he used his chest to block Alejandro Garnacho’s attempt that came from outside the box and inside the near post.
In response, Luton cut the deficit in half in the fourteenth minute. After taking the ball from Alfie Doughty, former United player Tahith Chong fired a shot that deflected upward and into the path of captain Carlton Morris, who got his head to the ball before Andre Onana to make it 2-1.
After the break, Ten Hag’s team had more opportunities to increase their lead. Most glaringly, Bruno Fernandes attempted to circumvent Kaminski as the goalkeeper committed himself, but Albert Sambi Lokonga’s incredible recovering block deflected the ball away.
Ten Hag singled out Hojlund for praise as he continues to acclimate to life in England on a day when United extended their winning streak in the league to four games to maintain pressure on Aston Villa and Tottenham in the fight to qualify for the Champions League.
Ten Hag expressed his happiness, saying, “We are very happy with our recruitment; we recruited the right character because he can perform under stress.”
“And we saw when we scouted him that he can have a strong character, to be resilient, to be determined, and to score goals, even when things go against him as in the first half of the season.
“Obviously, at such a young age, it’s not easy, so he needed some support, but overall, he maintained his composure and his abilities are evident.”
Hojlund didn’t score for United in the league until Boxing Day when he scored the game-winning goal in the closing moments of a 3-2 comeback triumph over Villa at Old Trafford.
His only goals up until this point had come in the Champions League when the team finished last in a weak group and went out of Europe before Christmas.
Ten Hag claimed that “he didn’t have so much luck in the beginning.” “He scored a few goals, such as the one in his debut match against Brighton, which was disallowed for an unclear reason.
“In a new club and league, there are crucial moments, particularly for a striker to gain some confidence. It wasn’t granted, but you can see he’s a fighter—he never gives up and has amazing skills when it comes to reaching his objective.
He can still get better in a lot of different areas, but he can score. However, since September, he has shown improvement in some other areas, such as holding up the ball.
Luton manager Edwards thought back on a game where his team gave up a goal after just 37 seconds, leaving them completely stunned.
He said, “It rocked and wobbled us a little bit.” “After roughly six minutes, the score changed from 1-0 to 2-0, and you started to worry a little bit, asking yourself, ‘OK, how are we going to respond to this?’
However, I must give the players a great deal of credit. They exuded confidence and composure, adhered to the strategy, and carried themselves to an excellent performance.