[nesty]

One word continuously came to mind every time he made poor touches and lost possession. Donkey.

I'm really worried at his barren form in front of goal at the moment. You have to ask yourselves the question: How many times out of 10 would you expect Lukaku to score in game defining moments?

From what I've seen he's great at scoring when the pressure is off. But when our backs are against the wall I just don't see him coming up with the goods.

 

[DenisIrwin]

Rashford would be far better up front.

 

[The Kag]

Apart from the "twat" part, totally agree.

Second goal was pure luck (plus, where was the rest of the fecking defense)? The missed chance, he should have placed it better. Bone headed shot from outside the box... it happens..

Please, he was partly responsible for the initial free kick to begin with. He managed to bungle a what, 4-yard pass to Herrera in the middle of the pitch. That prompted their counter and the subsequent foul that lead to his clearance (or lack thereof).

 

[BarstoolProphet]

The chance he missed wasn't easy to score and most of the time the striker react quickly to the ball coming at him which he did. Just a shame it went straight to the keeper.

He was at fault for both goals because he failed to defend and clear those ball properly. Although he isn't really a defender I give him a few Lee ways there but it was still bad from him(especially the first goal where he got overpowered by some small guy).

What was truly upsetting about him was his horrible plays forwards with one which led to the free kick that had City score the second goal. It was a simple pass while we were attacking in city's half with all the time in the world and Lukaku fecked up that pass.

Somehow it's not that he missed that maybe season-defining chance that pisses me off the most about him, nor that he set up both of City's goals, but the one thing you cannot blame on bad service - his inability to control a ball, let alone do anything useful with it. He needs to be left alone for two hours before he finally can set himself for a shot.

 

[FlawlessThaw]

120 then, no messing. If you don’t try you don’t get. Having a consistent forward who can play football and score goals is a must if we want to play like ‘united’.

Reckon we would have needed £150+ to even get Spurs to consider it. Who knows, we may have tried to get Levy on the phone but he has no incentive to sell and I don't think he will next summer. Sure we needed a consistent forward but we did buy a striker who has scored almost as many goals as Kane in the past 2 seasons. Think our best option may have been to go after Sanchez . Heck a goal scoring right winger like Salah would have been better than how we have ended up.

 

[izzydiggler]

Forget previous games or his record and just take this game. You look at Zlatan when he came on, jumping into defenders and being a general nuisance. Lukaku stands there and offers absolutely nothing...forget tactics or a lack of service, he just offers almost nothing when he's not scoring. He makes it really easy for defenders to play against and he needs to improve massively.

It's not an exaggeration to say that you could have put any player in the league on his spot today and they couldn't have been worse - hell, if you put a statue on the halfway line, at least it wouldn't have cost us a goal.

Absolutely dreadful performance.

 

[Andycoleno9]

So you were happy with the supply he got for the full 90 minutes? Hoofing from Rojo, overhit passes from Rashford etc. He had nothing to work with bar that brilliant moment from Mata and Martial and he bottled it. He’s to blame for the goals conceded but the service from us is poor and that cannot be denied.

All that doesn't have anything with the fact that he missed chance what you just can't miss.

 

[whatwha]

He's quite crap, all in all.

I've regretted this signing ever since that moment in the summer when a RedCafe announcement said we'd agreed a deal for him.

Guess people will be coming around to the view that we signed the wrong attacker soon. Not saying Morata would have done all that much better, but spending up to £90m on Lukaku is clearly very poor value for money. He's a pretty poor footballer and a flat track bully.

 

[Heinzesight]

He’s terribly low on confidence but he gets outmuscled all over the pitch. He needs to show some aggression ffs!

 

[Jack-C20]

Has looked low on confidence for a while now and he absolutely crumbled today. Felt bad for him to be honest. No doubt he needs dropping for a few games and given a rest. Hopefully he'll come back refreshed. We were never gonna win with the way we let city play but he definitely made it a lot easier for them. I'm off to try and cheer myself up, I suggest some of you do the same.

 

[Art]

For a man his size and build, the amount of aerial duels he loses is fecking ridiculous.

 

[SlothIsLove]

He misjudged the ball too often and sometimes just stood still instead of jumping for the ball.
His awareness of his surroundings is also bad, isn't it? A few times in this match there was no City player around and he didn't try to control the ball but head it instead (and gave the possession away). He also didn't notice Silva was close and underhit the pass to Herrera which lead to the free kick which we conceded the 2nd goal.

 

[Shane88]

1 goal in 9 PL games and people are rolling their eyes acting like the criticism isn't warranted.

 

[Seij]

Looking like we did Chelsea a huge favor these days. There were plenty of warnings about his weaknesses (mediocre ball control, tendency to go missing in big games, etc.) and we are seeing all of that and more.

 

[acnumber9]

I wasn't on RedCafe last week because I was busy. But thank you for identifying the regularity with which I frequent an internet forum.

Anyway, seems some people agree. Good on 'em.

You mean there's people who can't see past their dislike for Mourinho. That's been abundandtly clear for some time.

 

[Sultan]

I feel sorry for him at the moment. Very low in confidence.

 

[kouroux]

For a man his size and build, the amount of aerial duels he loses is fecking ridiculous.

Or duels in general.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Looking like we did Chelsea a huge favor these days. There were plenty of warnings about his weaknesses (mediocre ball control, tendency to go missing in big games, etc.) and we are seeing all of that and more.

Chelsea?

 

[Nik70]

It's one thing that he is not scoring goals but his all around play has been abysmal. For a big man he lets defenders boss him when he's trying to hold the ball up. He loses the ball far too frequently. His lack of technical ability is shocking at the moment. Hopefully it's a case of him lacking confidence right now and he'll improve with time.

 

[Andycoleno9]

For a man his size and build, the amount of aerial duels he loses is fecking ridiculous.

That strikes me the most...

 

[liamp]

120 then, no messing. If you don’t try you don’t get. Having a consistent forward who can play football and score goals is a must if we want to play like ‘united’.

I think they're probably pot committed to Lukaku at this point. Hard to see how they can offload him Di Maria style.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Ibrahimovic missed tons of chances like that all of last year especially the big games. Stop acting like this has never happened.

He was 10 times the player in other areas, though. It's unaceptable for a United no. 9 to gift goals defensively, miss chances and be poor in the buildup.

 

[el3mel]

We have an easy run of games from now on till end of January, so he has to go on a run of scoring goals again, otherwise questions on him will be heavily asked and he won't be able to escape blame.

 

[Rhyme Animal]

120 then, no messing. If you don’t try you don’t get. Having a consistent forward who can play football and score goals is a must if we want to play like ‘united’.

If Spurs miss out on Top 4 (which I believe they will), and we went in with 120m for Kane they'd take it. And so would Kane.

And then just sell Rom on.

Or, Rom and cash for Kane...? Spuds could do a lot worse.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

I think both free kick errors were bad lack and don’t hold him accountable.

Perhaps should have scored but I think it’s a world class save as opposed to a bad miss.

The reactions on here are typical Redcafe victimisation.

No. That miss was horrendous by any standards. The two earlier goals just rubbed salt in the wound. If it wasnt for him City didnt win this game for they werent even in top form.

 

[prath92]

Yeah he did. Which was why I'd hoped we'd get a better striker.

Van Persie would have offered more today, and he's been declining for a couple of years.

Ibra was one of the best strikers around imo. Van Persie 12/13 yes. Else he was just as bad in 14/15. Zero pace and was stagnant

 

[Santoryo]

Something which I also noted is that Lukaku was awful in the air. City were at times easily clearing long ball coming at him. They were just casually out jumping him without any real bothers.

 

[adexkola]

I think the gameplan today was to punt long balls to bypass the midfield and to have Lukaku win flicks to one of Martial/Rashford/Lingard. To be fair, Lukaku should be moderately well suited to this. Zlatan's probably a better fit for it, but he's obviously still finding his fitness.

The balls out the back were not accurate at all (partly because City pressed the back line). We just kept on giving the ball back to City.

We clown City when passing out the back doesn't work well for them, but they do it because it's extremely likely they'll retain possession. 9 times out of 10 when you hoof the ball under pressure, you'll either return the ball to the opposition, or leave your strikers straining to reach the ball.

 

[Roberto420]

As wretched as the performance was, can't blame the miss on him. The keeper's luck was something else. It was a clean hit, well placed under the conditions. The ball hit the guy's throat.

It was straight at the keeper!

 

[pseudo_canadian]

For someone of his size and speed he does an absolutely terrible job of making his presence felt for opposition defenders.

 

[Mihai]

Feel for him. Hung out to dry by the tactics of the twat in charge.

He was used to more attacking positivity at Everton.

what?

 

[Rockets Redglare]

Scoring goals? Isn't it obvious?

And when does he do that? I’ve been a huge defender of Lukaku up until this point but it’s so obvious that he’s not at this level. I’m hoping he’s just a bit tired and jaded but if you can’t get fired up for the derby you’re at the wrong club.

 

[Kag]

You mean there's people who can't see past their dislike for Mourinho. That's been abundandtly clear for some time.

Such as who?

I've wanted Mourinho here for years. I wanted him to replace Ferguson and would have appointed him the December he was sacked at Chelsea.

But I'm thoroughly underwhelmed by his tenure so far and he isn't going to be the success people want him to be. He's always been a twat irrespective.

 

[acnumber9]

Such as who?

I've wanted Mourinho here for years. I wanted him to replace Ferguson and would have appointed him the December he was sacked at Chelsea.

But I'm thoroughly underwhelmed by his tenure so far and he isn't going to be the success people want him to be. He's always been a twat irrespective.

About half of the forum. When you resort to talking shite that Everton had more attacking intent then you might as well hang a sign on your neck asking people to ignore you.

 

[Festive Sandvich]

He has been dreadful for a few games now, no getting away from it. The bare minimum for a player of his stature should be physical domination - he wasn't even jumping half the time today. I was one of those who wanted Morata ahead of him in the transfer window, but am willing to ride with him through this tough patch, he is a good striker when he's doing the right things. But my god he has to try and help himself and play to his strengths while he tries to regain some of the magic.

 

[scwhd]

Has Lukaku ever buried a chance on first touch? with his foot?

 

[prath92]

He was 10 times the player in other areas, though. It's unaceptable for a United no. 9 to gift goals defensively, miss chances and be poor in the buildup.

What other areas? He did nothing in any of the big games. Lukaku for instance was key in two of our goals vs arsenal and created the goal vs spurs. He wasn’t great today but the hyperbole is idiotic.

 

[red4ever11]

If Spurs miss out on Top 4 (which I believe they will), and we went in with 120m for Kane they'd take it. And so would Kane.

And then just sell Rom on.

Or, Rom and cash for Kane...? Spuds could do a lot worse.

Keep deluding yourself pal.... Levy would be asking for 200mill and Kane has said he doesn't want to play for another English club.... If he did he would of kicked up a stink last summer when it was obvious we were looking for a striker

 

[Member 5225]

For a man his size and build, the amount of aerial duels he loses is fecking ridiculous.

This is what annoys me the most tbh

 

[Bojan11]

About half of the forum. When you resort to talking shite that Everton had more attacking intent then you might as well hang a sign on your neck asking people to ignore you.

Don’t worry he’s been banned now thankfully.

Pops up conveniently when we lose.