It wasn't a masterclass but he put an absolute shift in. The foul he won at 1-3 was very important, I think.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 51
- Goals
- 27
- Assists
- 10
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Status
His shot at our own goal was probably his most clinical reflexive shot in recent times.
He doesn't get subbed because we need him to defend set pieces and he can always provide a situation like the one with Koscielny near the end.
A really baffling character. Passing and one-touch combination play are fine, but cannot control balls fed to him and is more likely to miscontrol than get the ball out from his feet and go on a run with it. Can't hold up the ball at all, and is poor in offensive aerial duels despite being strong on defensive set plays. Very probably the best crosser at the club, too.
Can't judge his shooting much as he's not being supplied in goal-scoring situations very often.
He really needs to work on his first touch, though. As cliche as that might be, it really is where he lets himself down time and time again, as with a better first touch, there have been many situations where he'd be on his way with lots of space on the break to run into against fractured backlines.
Can't judge his shooting much as he's not being supplied in goal-scoring situations very often.
He really needs to work on his first touch, though. As cliche as that might be, it really is where he lets himself down time and time again, as with a better first touch, there have been many situations where he'd be on his way with lots of space on the break to run into against fractured backlines.
Not sure what people are complaining about, that was a great performance. Lots of decent hold-up play in a game where we mostly conceded possession to them, and two absolutely beautiful key passes which effectively created two of our goals.
Brilliant trick shot at De Gea too...
Brilliant trick shot at De Gea too...
Any sort of mis-control of the ball sticks in people's mind. In reality, he linked well for the goals and offered good work rate.
His work rate has improved massively since Everton. Good to see.
He could have done a little more in certain moments but I was pleased with his performance overall, worked his socks off, gave the Arsenal defenders a tough day and some lovely bits of build up play.
Thought he started the game very well upfront with Martial. Once Martial was moved back to the wing he looked isolated and struggled to have an impact.
Honestly I don't understand some Utd fans on here. The negativity towards our own players is an absolute joke and I don't understand why people constantly focus on what they can't do and not what they can. Utd isn't Everton and we ask much more of our forward. I can see he's clearly working on other aspects to his game and therefore naturally other things may suffer. That said, he's contributed to so many goals and I believe that's why we have seen improvements in Martial and Lingard being able to run off him.
Yes because we paid 90m for a stop gap measure.
Not a traditional stop-gap. As in 3 years or so and move on to someone truly world class. Probably not the word to use.
Look at who the best teams in the world have, they wouldn't swap for Lukaku. He's not as good as the out and out strikers in the world, and he hasn't got the overall game and creativity as others who play in a front 3.
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I thought he was a bit frustrating. Did well for our second goal, thought it was a standard pass for the third one. Apart from that, I think he's surprisingly poor at holding up the ball. He does very well when he can drop in from the right, but with his back towards the goal and the ball played to him, the defenders rarely struggle with him. I feel people imagine a bit too much, like in the early days when Mkhi was getting stick and it was all about the "invisible" work he was doing.
Still not convinced he's the right fit for us.
Still not convinced he's the right fit for us.
It bothers me 1 goal in 12 but his performances are getting much better in the past couple of games in my opinion, hes all round game is improving from what iv seen all season.
He like Mhikataryan,didn't impress me at the begining of the season in general performance despite all the brilliant productivity stats you can display but im seeing a bit more to his game in Lukaku recently that I havn't seen before which are promising signs particularly after yesterday I must say.
He like Mhikataryan,didn't impress me at the begining of the season in general performance despite all the brilliant productivity stats you can display but im seeing a bit more to his game in Lukaku recently that I havn't seen before which are promising signs particularly after yesterday I must say.
Yeah about that.... Did you watch Benzema and Suarez this season?
I thought he put in a good shift yesterday.
That performance usually would be described as great but given it's amongst a long goalless streak for him it adds to a concern.
In the 352 formation his runs in particular really help the team. I know "runs" perhaps are just expected from a striker but he caused their backline a lot ot trouble.
I missed aboit 20 minutes in the second half as i was putting my son to bed but did he even have a shot? Not that thats his fault. I mean it to defend him. If hes not given thr ball in a position to score its not really his fault he didn't score.
First half especially i thought he was great.
Luckily for Madrid and Barcelona neither of those strikers are the teams main attacking threat. Ronaldo and Messi are head and shoulder above those and even so they are beeing rumored for transfers to other clubs because of their poor performances lately. Lukaku is suppose to be our main goal / attacking threat as we dont have an attacking superstar and he is not someone who have put down 5 successful season prior to his stint of poor form.
when ppl put in stuff like - he put in a good shift - he dident even get a chance to shot so how can we blame him - he is working hard for the team, great work rate etc
Thats when you know your striker is out of form. Luckily it doesent matter since we are winning
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Not in terrific goal scoring form at the moment, but the effort he put in yesterday was just phenomenal in both ends of the pitch. Arsenal had like 10-11 corner kicks and he always seemed to be there and clean up. Top lad
Not scoring yes. But we don't rely on his goals like we did Ibrahimovic last season and it's apparent. The rest of his game is improving and I think he was one of our better players last night. Definitely didn't go missing.
Last game, especially after the red, his presence was critical for three points. However there have been many games where he could have been subbed. The only reason I can think of is because Mourinho wants him and Zlatan to play together.
He is not scoring at the moment, but others are. Last year when Zlatan had five six games without goal, nobody else scored in his place. That’s a big difference. And I cannot stop thinking about how great offensive force this team will have when Lukaku starts finding the net again and Zlatan comes back at full speed as a super sub.
They key here is that whilst he isn't scoring, he's very useful in attack and in our build up. He's bringing others like Rashford, Lingard and Martial into the game which has seen them rack up 21 goals. When was the last time we had a front four as devastating as these guys have been? In 08/09, Ronaldo, Rooney, Berba and Tevez managed 75 goals combined. Our current front four, much younger and inexperienced, have accumulated 33 goals and half the season hasn't even passed. They're on target to reach 70 goals which would be an incredible feat.
Lukaku will be considered world class before then I believe
Just watching the game now and have been impressed with him. Linked the play well, held up the ball, won a lot of balls in the air and was a big part in why we countered well.
I thought midweek, miss aside he played well toom
I thought midweek, miss aside he played well toom
Issue I find with Rom is a real lack of technique when applying his strength.
For example, I think he is a stronger than Drogba. Yet I feel Drogba was better at pining his CB and holding up the ball. This is more to do with body position, angle, shape, touch etc. He has all of this massive strength but so many times smaller players just nip past him or barge past him and get in front of him.
I feel if he can work on backing in, (old school) holding the defenders up, he'll really help the team more when we need to work ourselves up the pitch.
The video with Carragher showed he's worked on holding and rolling into the space behind, but that's not always the available option.
For example, I think he is a stronger than Drogba. Yet I feel Drogba was better at pining his CB and holding up the ball. This is more to do with body position, angle, shape, touch etc. He has all of this massive strength but so many times smaller players just nip past him or barge past him and get in front of him.
I feel if he can work on backing in, (old school) holding the defenders up, he'll really help the team more when we need to work ourselves up the pitch.
The video with Carragher showed he's worked on holding and rolling into the space behind, but that's not always the available option.
He needs to find his scoring boots again
I also think he did well yesterday, but surely we didn’t pay that much money for just a big man up front who can hold the ball up and bring others into play
But I have faith in him that he will get going again
I also think he did well yesterday, but surely we didn’t pay that much money for just a big man up front who can hold the ball up and bring others into play
But I have faith in him that he will get going again
Anyone got a GIF of the Koscielny foul? @GifLord
I think he did a very well done job. Worked hard and involved in two goals. Goals will come soon but good to see a contribution to team play yesterday
How do you see that happening? A player with relatively poor technique, being considered world class?
He needs to score more goals.He has had plenty of chances and missed.
The part he played in the 2nd and 3rd goals was brilliant
This. As long as other players score and he facilitates more than scores I'm fine with that. The criticism when we got him from some was that he s nothing but a target man and doesn't contribute much other than goals. He s proving people wrong. Hopefully it rebuilds his confidence, which I'm sure has taken a bit of a hit.
It's amazing how much people are on his back compared to how much people were fawning over him near the start of the season.
This kind of game was going to be tricky to score because we didn't have a lot of possession. I think he played well though.
I think the goals will come soon and he will go on a run of four or five games scoring in a row.
This kind of game was going to be tricky to score because we didn't have a lot of possession. I think he played well though.
I think the goals will come soon and he will go on a run of four or five games scoring in a row.
I thought he played well yesterday. The ball for the second goal was very good and a couple of times he managed to use his pace and power to really drive at Arsenal.
Had he managed to get away from Koscielny’s foul at the end and scored it would have been deserved
Had he managed to get away from Koscielny’s foul at the end and scored it would have been deserved
His work ethic/desire to improve, and all being well we will have a stronger team around him which will up his numbers
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