CHRIS SUTTON: Hojlund looks lack of confidence & is second-guessing himself now

I’ve been where Rasmus Hojlund is right now at various points in my career where there is that slight hesitation in all aspects of his game.

Not scoring against Real Sociedad on Thursday means it’s 19 games without a goal now and I do feel sorry for him because I don’t really see how he has had service and opportunities created for him. Diogo Dalot not crossing for him is a case-in-point.

People can say it doesn’t affect you, but it does. I remember at Chelsea when I was out of form I would tell myself there is nothing wrong but that hesitation is what kills you. This isn’t lower-level football, you’re playing against some of the best players in the world and if you are slightly off you can’t afford that.

Look at when 17-year-old Chido Obi came on against Fulham and everything was so natural for him and he wasn’t overthinking things; he was playing as if he would normally for the youth sides and with a freedom he shows with his own age group. For Hojlund, he’s hesitating and looks unsure out there.

Looking back when, in terms of my mindset as an upcoming player, I was young, full of s***, and had such confidence and everything was so free and I was fearless, even if I was raw.

But when my form tailed off as it did at Chelsea, my thing was practice, practice, practice.

I remember at Chelsea I spent a lot of time on the training pitch doing extra one-on-one shooting drills with Gianluca Vialli, who I liked very much and was a great help for me.

We would practice volleying techniques, just hearing the ball cleanly hit the back of the net, left foot, right foot, one-touch, two-touch finishes, that sort of thing. That was my thing which I did regularly.

For me it was a numbers game, just hearing the ball go in repeatedly to try and get me back on stride. One of the best goals I ever scored was a volley against Juventus in the Champions League which was all down to Vialli and his time helping mastering that technique.

No doubt Hojlund is trying out different ways to try and get that freedom and confidence back. He seems like a good honest type who works his tail off in training.

But he’s in a team that is struggling to create opportunities and when you don’t know how those chances are going to come it’s a number of things in the mix. He’s hesitating, he’s low on confidence, he’s not sure when someone is going to make a pass to him, so that understanding isn’t there.

There will also be an element of him being aware that Obi is on the scene now and people want him to play and do well, too.

For him, and it was similar for me at Chelsea going for big money, there is a weight with that and a millstone around my neck at times.

It does feel like he is in that same boat right now with his £72million tag. Manchester United is a huge club and when you think of the great strikers they have had over the years and he was brought in to emulate them. It was a huge ask.

Unfortunately, he was brought in as a development player and I’m afraid you go for an astronomical amount of money and people just forget that.

He’s having to develop in the most uncomfortable of circumstances and it’s there for everybody to see right now.

His numbers before coming to the club do matter. They didn’t sign someone who had ever been prolific at Atalanta and the expectation at Manchester United is always around 20 goals a season. That’s an issue.

Hojlund looked brighter against Real Sociedad without getting the service to test the goalkeeper. Right now it’s all about getting his instincts back.

I always remember Martin O’Neill up at Celtic repeatedly telling players that if they have a bad touch, always show for the ball. I feel that that is part of what has happened to Hojlund now. He is being hesitant and it kills you.

When you start missing a few chances and then aren’t even getting chances, there is that doubt to make a certain movement or even hesitate to make the run you would have previously.

There have been many occasions where Hojlund will make a run and the ball doesn’t come and then he’s at a point where he probably still wants to make that run but he’s reluctant to do it because team-mates aren’t feeding him.

My advice to him right now would be to stay off social media. That’s absolute madness using that right now. As a player I couldn’t think of anything worse as he’ll be getting criticism from all directions.

He will no doubt tell people that he’s fine and he’s confident, but how can you be fine and confident?

I was like Pinocchio at times at Chelsea. People would ask me when I was on a goal drought and I’d always say “I’m fine, I’m feeling confident” but I was lying. You’re human after all. He’s a young player with that price tag and some people are better at bluffing than others. It’s tough.