Lukaku has hit the weights

Loublaze said:
Funny, I haven't seen this mentioned in any matchday threads or in his performance thread. Ole is not alluding the conditioning problem to specific players, its an overall problem at the club, something Mourinho neglected. Its been said that fitness and conditioning drills were decreased under his regime. Moyes and LVG were obsessed with fitness, as Moyes wanted a hard working team and you could see that from his Everton days. LVG also had some very demanding fitness drills that some players complained about, similar to the ones Conte introduced in his time at Chelsea. Pochettino and Klopp are two other managers who are similar in this sense.

Mourinho was more relaxed, and you could see how most of our games under him were tales of two halves, high intensity in the first, lethargic and poor in the second, and its carried over into Solskjaers regime and he's set out to fix it, mentioning it first when the team had a training weekend in Dubai. Phelan's drills are intense, and the players took to it initially but their poor conditioning has caught up with them in this recent slump

https://www.independent.ie/sport/so...mprove-fitness-levels-at-united-37682393.html

“The stats say the workload has been a bit higher in the past five games in terms of sprints and high-intensity runs,"

They are gassed, they are not used to the high intensity Ole has introduced yet, its a work in progress.

https://www.90min.com/posts/6275008...d-fitness-will-help-man-utd-against-liverpool




This is not true, Im rewatching the first half right now, and I know the exact moment you're talking about, in the 27th minute (26:50 exactly) when he collected the ball from deep in his own half and busted a gut for about 60 or so yards to get a through ball to Rashford. That was the longest sprint by any player in the match and he of course had to recover from that as any player would.

I saw others accusing him of not running into the box but Rashford should've done better with the through ball and Mata was already in the box in a central position. He kept up that overall first half intensity and not long after that he outran and out muscled Azpilicueta, shoving him into the camera man.

He bullied Azpilicueta when he moved to the left. His energy levels only drastically dipped in the second half, and the same can be said about the entire team, even the hardworking Herrera looked gassed. Its easy to see how wrongly conceived narratives are formed based on a visual. If the cameras didn't show him right after that move no one would be saying this



Neville is an idiot. 'How is he not overweight'? He gained muscle for the world cup as the conditioning for Belgium required it, but its not the same at United and he's been working on it. You can't make that claim just by looking at him, you have no idea what physical condition he's in. This picture is from last month after the Southampton game, he's getting leaner, he was bulkier when he came back from the world cup.

"I put on a bit of muscle at the World Cup. I just felt great and I played great over there, and then when I came back, it is a different type of style.

"When you are in the Premier League, I cannot play with the same amount of muscle as international football.

"I knew I had to lose muscle so I stayed out of the gym, drank a lot of water, and ate a lot of veg and fish."

https://www.sportsjoe.ie/football/romelu-lukaku-man-united-187397

lukaku.jpg
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You make loads of good points, and it's clear from that quite recent shirtless pic Lukaku isn't 'overweight' in the way some people mean it.

Another interesting question is how much we can improve these magical fitness levels of our players, or Lukaku specifically. What's realistic, a 10 or 20% improvement in stamina? Still would mean he will look gassed out at times during the match. You can't make a player literally twice as fit, yet loads of people are implying we actually can with some 'proper fitness training'. Same goes for the rest of the team, sure they can be fitter, but you can't make them into marathon men in a couple of weeks of preseason.

Then there's the problem that Lukaku is hitting full physical maturity about now aged 25. Look at how players like Ibra or RVP looked when they were 21 compared to their physical prime, they look twice as big at some points of their body. So comparing Lukaku's physique to his Everton days when he was like 22 years old is just silly, it's completely natural for him to be bigger now and there's not much you can do about that.

Another problem with him might be that loads of players actually start playing more economical when they mature. With Lukaku it's probably always going to be difficult and in a way that's fair, because if he had Bernardo Silva's or Wijnaldum's dynamism and running abilities on top of his current qualities, he would truly be an unstoppable force of nature, that's just not realistic.
 
I hope Ole will work their asses off and improve the fitness. I remember Klopps team ran out of gas in his 1 and half season there. So, the supposed high pressing game will take some time to be implemented. Having said that, the likes of Lukaku, Martial and Rashford needs to work on their stamina.
 
Roger777 said:
He's overweight.

Simple.
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He's overweight in the sense of just mass. The problem is his mass is made up of muscle and not necessarily fat. 5kg of muscle and 5kg of fat means he's carrying around 5 extra kg no matter where it's from. This sort of stuff matters in football where being light but explosive is more important than sheer size.

As a guy who's studied exercise physiology this is a keen interest of mine. He really needs to eat only vegetables and fats. Drop all protein from his diet for a good 2-3 months in the off season so he can get muscle wasting. Him at Everton size was as good as it's going to get for him in terms of size for football
 
I think he needs his eyes tested also as he couldn't see the defensive line that chelsea were holding at all.
 
He was absolutely knackered in the second half.
I couldn´t be bothered about that because the rest of his game is even worse.
 
He could never fix his physique during the season. From previous interviews it sounds like he's tried and he is a bit leaner but thats got to take it's toll on you in terms of fatigue.
 
He looked like the bloke from The Green Mile out there yesterday......in the part where he has the ball and chain locked to his feet in the movie
 
Full bodied red said:
Certainly don't see Rashford doubled up desperate for breath after a 60 yeard flat-out sprint.

Or any of the others for that matter
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Can't remember the last time Rashford made a 60 yard flat-out sprint.

Lukaku us just very big. He's not a Utd striker, he's lazy and as braindead as the rest of the team (which I think is our biggest problem).
 
Full bodied red said:
I'll agree 110% with that.

So what changed / happened in the second half ??
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It seems like his lack of fitness caught up with him.
After he did that great run on a counterattack he looked spent, he probably could've been brought off without too many complaints and that was only about 30 minutes into the match.
 
Dec9003 said:
It seems like his lack of fitness caught up with him.
After he did that great run on a counterattack he looked spent, he probably could've been brought off without too many complaints and that was only about 30 minutes into the match.
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The guy was hungry. Give him a burger (with loads of cheese of course) at half time.
 
cyril C said:
The guy was hungry. Give him a burger (with loads of cheese of course) at half time.
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No way a cheeseburger alone would fill him, he's an absolute unit.
 
edgar allan said:
I think he needs his eyes tested also as he couldn't see the defensive line that chelsea were holding at all.
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nothing wrong with his eyesight, all to do with fitness. He knows he can't beat th defenders for pace so he tried to gain every advantage ... move a second early, stray a yard off, all hoping the linesman didn't notice.
 
Suedesi said:
nothing wrong with his eyesight, all to do with fitness. He knows he can't beat th defenders for pace so he tried to gain every advantage ... move a second early, stray a yard off, all hoping the linesman didn't notice.
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And once VAR is in place for all games, any advantage gained is neutralized.
 
Suedesi said:
nothing wrong with his eyesight, all to do with fitness. He knows he can't beat th defenders for pace so he tried to gain every advantage ... move a second early, stray a yard off, all hoping the linesman didn't notice.
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Be hard for linesman to miss the slow moving muscle man 3 yrds offside
 
He looks like he would be more suited to rugby. I wonder what he is like at catching egg shaped balls.
 
Don’t know why some are getting hung up on whether he’s fat or muscular. It’s irrelevant for this sport. He’s bloody ripped - he whipped his top off weeks ago to show us.

He’s clearly still too heavy and you only need to look at his old photos to see the difference. Rooney was the same - look at photos of him during 08-10 and it’s no mistake that was the best of Rooney in a United shirt.
 
He’s not fat but he is overweight. As an athlete your body needs to be functional to your sport and his isn’t. It’s like a boxer carrying excessive muscle which hampers movement, agility, speed and stamina. You just don’t need it. He isn’t suited to any sport at the moment because he has the stamina of a sedentary person
 
lewwoo said:
He looks like he would be more suited to rugby. I wonder what he is like at catching egg shaped balls.
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Not really He’d get constantly run over in rugby. Plus he’d be too unfit for that too.
 
Dec9003 said:
It seems like his lack of fitness caught up with him.
After he did that great run on a counterattack he looked spent, he probably could've been brought off without too many complaints and that was only about 30 minutes into the match.
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I just can't begin the fathom how that is possible from a top level, elite player, at an age when everything should be at its peak, more so from one who knows the pace of the league so well.
And even if that were the case, then surely he needs to pace himself more.

If it's true that the Italian league consistently play at a much slower pace to us, then one of them must look at him and want throw what we want for him at us, because he was unplayable for a period yesterday.
 
He's lost his agility after bulking up too much. Same happened with Depay.
 
Kaglish10 said:
He's lost his agility after bulking up too much. Same happened with Depay.
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Absolutely spot on ... we allowed Depay to bulk up after arriving and he lost all his mobility/agility -- will this club ever learn..
The clubs dietiticians/nutritionalists/sports science bods all need replacing if they can't control players physiques.
I don't see similar issues at City or Pool its just another symptom of a badly run club.
 
Andersons Dietician said:
Great post. Was going to say that camera focusing on him blowing was just after a long sprint. Check the state of 100m sprinters after a race. It’s all about getting his heart rate back down so he can go again in say 15-30 secs depending on fitness and yeah he is is a physical specimen and at his size it’ll be a lot harder for him to do such things but as your picture shows he really has started to lean down.

He put in some shift yesterday and inevitably about the 70 minute mark he did to me look to be struggiling a bit but so were many with the effort and tempo they put in the first half.

Honestly doubt we’d sell him in the summer as there really isn’t anyone better that is available.
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Henrik Larsson said:
You make loads of good points, and it's clear from that quite recent shirtless pic Lukaku isn't 'overweight' in the way some people mean it.

Another interesting question is how much we can improve these magical fitness levels of our players, or Lukaku specifically. What's realistic, a 10 or 20% improvement in stamina? Still would mean he will look gassed out at times during the match. You can't make a player literally twice as fit, yet loads of people are implying we actually can with some 'proper fitness training'. Same goes for the rest of the team, sure they can be fitter, but you can't make them into marathon men in a couple of weeks of preseason.

Then there's the problem that Lukaku is hitting full physical maturity about now aged 25. Look at how players like Ibra or RVP looked when they were 21 compared to their physical prime, they look twice as big at some points of their body. So comparing Lukaku's physique to his Everton days when he was like 22 years old is just silly, it's completely natural for him to be bigger now and there's not much you can do about that.

Another problem with him might be that loads of players actually start playing more economical when they mature. With Lukaku it's probably always going to be difficult and in a way that's fair, because if he had Bernardo Silva's or Wijnaldum's dynamism and running abilities on top of his current qualities, he would truly be an unstoppable force of nature, that's just not realistic.
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Brilliant and thoughtful responses guys
 
Stubble said:
Absolutely spot on ... we allowed Depay to bulk up after arriving and he lost all his mobility/agility -- will this club ever learn..
The clubs dietiticians/nutritionalists/sports science bods all need replacing if they can't control players physiques.
I don't see similar issues at City or Pool its just another symptom of a badly run club.
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We didnt "allow" Depay to bulk up and even he said as much. His body type lent itself to gaining mass far more easily than other players resulting in increase muscle growth. Considering he was only 21 and his body was still in a key development phase, its not shock to see that it changed dramatically.

It bemuses me that semi intelligent people cannot comprehend that the human body is different based on the characteristics of your body type. There is literally, a shit tonne of evidence supporting the three different body types being Endomorph, Mesomorph and Ectomorph. The characteristics of these mean that training programs, dietary requirements etc all need to be tailored to the individual and its not a cookie cutter, one size fits all type scenario when it comes to nutrition.

Not every player can simply do what Ronaldo does. The guy is a fecking genetic freak and can maintain that physic because his body is designed for it which may be inclusive of his metabolism and how effective it is.

We also know from sports science that diet and recovery go hand in hand. For somebody like Lukaku, he has to eat to effectively recover. Big muscles require big energy which requires calories as fuel. The down side to that being, if he attempts to consume less, his body won't recover and he'll be more prone to injuries. Not only that, he effectively has to recover from game to game which results in reduced training programs and meal programs.



But to summarise for all you muppets. It is nearly impossible to maintain performance and lose weight. Your body is caloric deficit which means that it will be pretty much eating itself. When it does that, it effectively goes into starvation mode which induces the body to slow the metabolism and energy consumption, which in affect, reduces performance output.

Source? I lost 90kg... I know what the feck im talking about.
 
Unbelievable. Others still look sharp to make it worse.
 
milemuncher777 said:


Btw this was a year and a half back.
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Shameful for a pro. And Pogba is the last one

This is exactly what he was like in the game vereve VakenciV this year. That was the game I decided I disliked him as I have never seen a footballer player move or try less than he did that day.

Yes even Martial tried a slight but more
 
mariachi-19 said:
We didnt "allow" Depay to bulk up and even he said as much. His body type lent itself to gaining mass far more easily than other players resulting in increase muscle growth. Considering he was only 21 and his body was still in a key development phase, its not shock to see that it changed dramatically.

It bemuses me that semi intelligent people cannot comprehend that the human body is different based on the characteristics of your body type. There is literally, a shit tonne of evidence supporting the three different body types being Endomorph, Mesomorph and Ectomorph. The characteristics of these mean that training programs, dietary requirements etc all need to be tailored to the individual and its not a cookie cutter, one size fits all type scenario when it comes to nutrition.

Not every player can simply do what Ronaldo does. The guy is a fecking genetic freak and can maintain that physic because his body is designed for it which may be inclusive of his metabolism and how effective it is.

We also know from sports science that diet and recovery go hand in hand. For somebody like Lukaku, he has to eat to effectively recover. Big muscles require big energy which requires calories as fuel. The down side to that being, if he attempts to consume less, his body won't recover and he'll be more prone to injuries. Not only that, he effectively has to recover from game to game which results in reduced training programs and meal programs.



But to summarise for all you muppets. It is nearly impossible to maintain performance and lose weight. Your body is caloric deficit which means that it will be pretty much eating itself. When it does that, it effectively goes into starvation mode which induces the body to slow the metabolism and energy consumption, which in affect, reduces performance output.

Source? I lost 90kg... I know what the feck im talking about.
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Great post. Still so many fossils around when it comes to dieting and performance. Believe what hey were told in th 80’s and that is all that matters.
 
Still doesn’t explain of why he seems the only footballers in top flight suffering from this ‘body type’, and why he’s easily runs out of breath every game.
 
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