Romelu Lukaku image 9

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2017-18 Performances

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6.1 Season Average Rating
Appearances
51
Goals
27
Assists
10
Yellow cards
3
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Jose just cannot trust Rashford and Martial together on the pitch in addition to having one of them playing no. 9. I know not everyone agrees with this, but having fluidity from base positions especially off the ball can work.

It's unfortunate that his staff have not addressed scenarios where Lukaku comes off the bench for tactical or rotation purposes.
 
bosnian_red said:
Yeah because his 4 goals in his last 19 games have been the main reason we have a decent point total.:rolleyes:
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Harry Kane is the current top scorer this season yet Tottenham are miles behind United...it’s a very simplistic argument to just quote goals scored.:rolleyes:
 
bosnian_red said:
Yeah kinda funny to complain about him being tired but it being your choice to never rest him. Not like we have Martial or rashford there who are both better as a striker anyway.
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Rashford is in an awful shape atm, and we've seen Martial as a striker on top before, he'll need to improve big time to be better than Lukaku.
 
RuudTom83 said:
Harry Kane is the current top scorer this season yet Tottenham are miles behind United...it’s a very simplistic argument to just quote goals scored.:rolleyes:
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Yes but lukaku in the majority of games is only good for his goalscoring. It's the reason he was seen as a top player. His overall play outside the box is nothing better then average premier league level. Say all you want about how its improved, but its purely average premier league level. It's his goalscoring what makes him one of the bigger strikers in the league and that hasn't been amazing or anything this season, and generally been pretty awful since the first 2 months.
 
onemanarmy said:
Rashford is in an awful shape atm, and we've seen Martial as a striker on top before, he'll need to improve big time to be better than Lukaku.
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The point is you give other chances and put your faith in them to keep your main one fresh. Martial and Rashford both showed good form in their best positions in the past. Fergie would regularly rotate to lesser players to keep our main ones fresh. You cant complain about fatigue when it's your choice not to rest.
 
bosnian_red said:
The point is you give other chances and put your faith in them to keep your main one fresh. Martial and Rashford both showed good form in their best positions in the past. Fergie would regularly rotate to lesser players to keep our main ones fresh. You cant complain about fatigue when it's your choice not to rest.
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I agree with that part, but saying both Rashford and Martial are better strikers than Lukaku, as a bit over the top :)
 
I find myself suffering from mild surprise when he does something half decent. You just don't expect it.
 
It's not like Lukaku is scoring for fun at the moment, so if you rest him you lose the cutting edge. Play Rashford or Martial there. Hell, even give Wilson a chance (no idea if he's any good at all truthfully). But give Lukaku a break. We have 3 games in the next 8 days - rest him for at least one of them.
 
He's a big lad, runs around a lot and needs an ocassional rest. Squad rotation isn't as hard as we make it. Lesser players can deputise and even overperform for stretches, case in point Jesse Lingard bossing it at the Number 10. Maximise the squad you have at your disposal Jose.
 
edcunited1878 said:
Jose just cannot trust Rashford and Martial together on the pitch in addition to having one of them playing no. 9. I know not everyone agrees with this, but having fluidity from base positions especially off the ball can work.

It's unfortunate that his staff have not addressed scenarios where Lukaku comes off the bench for tactical or rotation purposes.
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Its a ridiculous notion by Jose. Under LVG we won several games (and a trophy) with Martial and Rashford occupying the CF and LWF role. Jose's problem is he's too rigid in how he uses his strikers, Rashford and Martial are pretty much useless with long balls launched to them so he doesn't even consider it to be an option anymore.

In his own words, he's basically saying he'll play a fatigued Lukaku every 3 days even if it could be to the detriment of the team than to trust Rashford or Martial for one game.

I feel like not enough is being made of this. This is a serious red flag in his management and one of the most absurd things he's said since he's been with us.
 
El Jefe said:
Its a ridiculous notion by Jose. Under LVG we won several games (and a trophy) with Martial and Rashford occupying the CF and LWF role. Jose's problem is he's too rigid in how he uses his strikers, Rashford and Martial are pretty much useless with long balls launched to them so he doesn't even consider it to be an option anymore.

In his own words, he's basically saying he'll play a fatigued Lukaku every 3 days even if it could be to the detriment of the team than to trust Rashford or Martial for one game.

I feel like not enough is being made of this. This is a serious red flag in his management and one of the most absurd things he's said since he's been with us.
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I agree. Doesn't do the player any good or the team.
 
Needs to use the squad options because buying a backup striker isn't high on our list of priorities. Some of our problems can only be remedied with a higher transfer budget- This isn't one of them
 
Feel bad for the lad. Pressure at United is intolerable. It's not his fault the club bought him knowing his limitations outside of scoring sometimes. As they've bought him, why not put him in an optimal position so he can score goals? We can't expect him to be a player that he's not.
 
SAF used 4 strikers regularly. Jose needs to rotate and sub Lukaku too. No one should be immune from being dropped or rested. I agree with you about Jose being too rigid and I think eventually it will be his downfall.
 
I have no clue why he's always standing at the far post even when it's obvious we are struggling to get the ball past the near post and to him. Maybe it's due to a lack of nous, laziness or low mobility? I have seen us put many dangerous crosses that are cut out by the defender before him. He will score more goals if he could constantly get to the wrong side of his marker and attack the near post.
Look at Kane, Aguero, Lewy, Suarez, attacking the near post is what make great goalscorers, not just standing at the far post and expecting the crosser to turn into Marc Albrighton.
 
Mcking said:
I have no clue why he's always standing at the far post even when it's obvious we are struggling to get the ball past the near post and to him. Maybe it's due to a lack of nous, laziness or low mobility? I have seen us put many dangerous crosses that are cut out by the defender before him. He will score more goals if he could constantly get to the wrong side of his marker and attack the near post.
Look at Kane, Aguero, Lewy, Suarez, attacking the near post is what make great goalscorers, not just standing at the far post and expecting the crosser to turn into Marc Albrighton.
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Totally agree with this, He's too static in the box. He makes no attempt to come near side :mad:
 
I don't know why Lukaku wants to be so heavy, it's not like he can even use his mass effectively.
 
whatwha said:
I don't know why Lukaku wants to be so heavy, it's not like he can even use his mass effectively.
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I think it has something to do with the fact he is just working hard in every aspect. He went harder in the gym since joining and now he's bigger.
 
haram said:
I think it has something to do with the fact he is just working hard in every aspect. He went harder in the gym since joining and now he's bigger.
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You don't necessarily have to become heavier to become stronger, unless you're eating more.
 
Really aggravating hearing Jose moaning about Lukaku needing a rest but not being able to get it.

The same thing happened last year with Zlatlan, why has he allowed it to happen again? He needed to have bought in cover or been prepared to use Martial/Rashford up top. This problem was entirely predictable and preventable.
 
parkthebuslads said:
Really aggravating hearing Jose moaning about Lukaku needing a rest but not being able to get it.

The same thing happened last year with Zlatlan, why has he allowed it to happen again? He needed to have bought in cover or been prepared to use Martial/Rashford up top. This problem was entirely predictable and preventable.
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Agree with this, just Jose admitting he's doing a bad job as far as I'm concerned. Why can't Martial or Rashford be given a go up there? It's not like they'd do worse and they have a better touch and I'd feel more confident they could bring others into play a bit more.
 


Not bad for a heskey/crouch and a player whose game is atrocious.
 
In one press conference he's managed to demotivate our entire attack.
 
Vidyoyo said:
He's tired? Boy if only we had a Rashford or Martial to play up top instead.

I don't really want to criticise Jose but this is a bit like saying I'm bored of eating toast every morning yet doing it despite having a lovely box of Frosties sitting right there.
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:lol:
 
Mourinho should whip him off if he is not doing his job. To me he has already lost a couple yards of pace since start of season. They are putting it down to putting on a half stone of muscle. Don't know if this is the real reason as he has also lost speed of thought which is why he is missing more chances, IMO.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Yeah, the “all he does is score tap-ins” meme was always bollox. With some better finishing around him his assists would be right up there with any other striker in the league.
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People lap it up, that's shame and problematic as they use the same thing again and again in all the threads.
 
lem8sh said:
Nothing like a good oul YouTube video to get your point across :lol:
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It's not computer graphics :lol:

It shows how many chances he created, not sure what's wrong with that when video isn't used only to highlight dribble that ends up going nowhere.
 
Bestietom said:
Mourinho should whip him off if he is not doing his job. To me he has already lost a couple yards of pace since start of season. They are putting it down to putting on a half stone of muscle. Don't know if this is the real reason as he has also lost speed of thought which is why he is missing more chances, IMO.
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If he's fatigued which is likely considering he's played nearly every single game in all comps, and add in the travelling which takes a lot of out of players, then that would go a long way in explaining why he's lost that speed of thought and slowing down.

That's not to excuse his tenancy to hide and fold when the pressure cooker heats up. That's lack of bottle and surely if he can't find it then he needs to be moved on as we can't affford to depend on 75 million coasters being the focal point of the team.
 
roonster09 said:
It's not computer graphics :lol:

It shows how many chances he created, not sure what's wrong with that when video isn't used only to highlight dribble that ends up going nowhere.
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You could produce a video that highlights Heskey's killer passes also, it proves nothing.
There is one going around for Lukaku's poor touches, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
 
edgar allan said:
You could produce a video that highlights Heskey's killer passes also, it proves nothing.
There is one going around for Lukaku's poor touches, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
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It's just from his time at ManUtd. Noone is saying he is Messi, his game is superb. It's that it's good enough and he gets lot of unfair criticism for every bad move.
 
roonster09 said:
It's just from his time at ManUtd. Noone is saying he is Messi, his game is superb. It's that it's good enough and he gets lot of unfair criticism for every bad move.
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He does get lots of criticism, just like all our players do when they are underperforming.
I don't think his game is close to superb, thats where we disagree.
 
edgar allan said:
You could produce a video that highlights Heskey's killer passes also, it proves nothing.
There is one going around for Lukaku's poor touches, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
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:lol:

There are actually convincing compilations of Heskey looking like a beast.

What is concerning is if you watch the highlights of heskey,you can clearly see Lukaku in him.

I'm not talking about how they look but in terms of style and inconsistency. Both have an inconsistent first touch, they're also both strong and pacy target men who are decent finishers yet lack all round footballing ability. We probably have the liverpool prime version of Heskey,who to be fair was a good player.

So the heskey comparisons in my opinion are not as wild as they first sound.
 
edgar allan said:
He does get lots of criticism, just like all our players do when they are underperforming.
I don't think his game is close to superb, thats where we disagree.
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Don't think anyone said his game is superb.
 
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