That's a good point.
The amount of times he has to do pencil jumps (as opposed to rubbing onto the ball) when going for headers is a bit daft
9
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That's a good point.
The amount of times he has to do pencil jumps (as opposed to rubbing onto the ball) when going for headers is a bit daft
I mean I have my issues with him, but his figures over the past few seasons are demonstrably better than that of a mid-table striker.
Kane works far far harder than him though. It's problem with Lukaku. He ended up in an on pitch row with one of his Everton team mates for his lack of work rate if you remember. There was a list of forwards with the most interceptions posted in another thread the other day. Lukaku had 1 interception in the past three years IIRC.
He is the archetypal flat track bully.
Give him the Yeovil's of this world and he'll score the second or third or fourth goals.
Whenever the going gets tough, he crawls back into his shell and is nowhere to be seen.
He has a lot of growing up to do - a lion when faced with a deer, and a deer when faced with a lion. He lacks courage.
He's still young but we have shelled out a lot of money for him - and it's not paid off at all so far.
Give him the Yeovil's of this world and he'll score the second or third or fourth goals.
Whenever the going gets tough, he crawls back into his shell and is nowhere to be seen.
He has a lot of growing up to do - a lion when faced with a deer, and a deer when faced with a lion. He lacks courage.
He's still young but we have shelled out a lot of money for him - and it's not paid off at all so far.
Not good enough for big matches. Shouldn't be starting them. Ridiculous that he even gets chosen after what we've seen this season against City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs.
Funny thing is, I thought he was alright in the first 20 minutes with his hold up play. But after he went back into his shell again. He really needs to start performing in these types of games. Especially considering how crucial his role is.
How will him scoring change opinion? It is not about goals and finishing, alone. It is the whole package. Stats can be deceiving. i would take someone like Louis Saha every time over Lukaku, no where near the goalscorer but a laughably better footballer.
You what?
Awful again. We should drop him and play 4-3-3. I’d like to see us try and find an upgrade in the summer and recoup some of the money if possible.
He was the best available striker in the summer and we were desperate due to the Ibra situation but it's pretty clear he's just not good enough.
It's not even about him growing up. He doesn't have the quality to play well against top defenders. He just isn't very good at football. He'd be better as a rugby player. Physicality can only get you so far in football and it's taken him very far but we won't win the league or Champions league with him up front unless he is dropped for the big games.
We are screwed because Jose isn't going to drop or sell him.
Would not worry too much about him. hold up play could be better but he is up there alone and the whole team was second best tonight.
If Lukaku played against them tonight I think the comments would be more along the lines of "well United are the best defensive side in the league so it was always going to be tough".
For example Lukaku doesn't win that header vs Jones after 8 seconds. The game is then totally different as it's 0-0 after 20 minutes and we're able to stick to a game plan and not recklessly leaving 3v3 situations.
You know, standing still and jumping in the air... He does it quite a bit, and he either a) doesn't win the header or b) can't guide the header because he's misjudged the flight and it's hitting him on the top of his nogging
That "9/10 performance" should be a clue I was being sarcastic.
Struggling to have faith in his ability to hold the ball up. When he’s not on it you just know we’re not getting anything from the move.
A huge shame after some encouraging performances. Looked like he was building up to something.
Not helped at all by his teammates.
A huge shame after some encouraging performances. Looked like he was building up to something.
Not helped at all by his teammates.
Lukaku and Kane are a similar height but there's almost a 10kg difference between them. Yet Kane is much stronger on the ball, has a good change of pace and wayyyyyyyy better technically. Not saying it's the solution but half the reason Lukaku's such a slug is he's overweight. Not a wum comment, he falls comfortably into the overweight BMI category.
I’m a fan but tonight he was worse than dreadful only Jones (cost two goals himself impressive) and Smalling (who got shafted with our midfielders) were worse imo.
I agree. He's bullied out of the big games far too easily. Completely anonymous.
Something new I've noticed. When we pump the ball up the field, quite often i see him a few meters off the defender who's heading it, just staying there. Since i can't see the whole pitch, does he come to the ball and just can't make cuz his starting position was far or he just can't be arsed sometimes.
Wasn't in the game at all today.
You sure?
Last time we played Tottenham in the PL he won a last ditch header (harder than the Harry Kane one IMO, and wasn't breaking the rules of the game) that won us the game
In fairness to lukaku his greatest strength has always been playing the ball to his feet so he can use his power and pace to go past centre backs, we always play long high ball to him.
Yes he has to adapt his game but we should also play to his strength.
Yes he has to adapt his game but we should also play to his strength.
The fact that we're pining on Lukaku scoring goals for us while ignoring how poor his all round game is really shows where and how wrong our transfer policy has been since SAF retired.
Play him against the dross. Leave him on the bench when we play the better teams. He just isn't cutting it in these games, but what are we going to do? We payed a lot of money for him.
One thing I thought was noticeable tonight was that Spurs build a lot of their play off feeding the ball into Kane's feet and playing off him, conversely we avoid playing it into Lukaku's feet almost all of the time, nearly every ball aimed at him tonight was in the air or for him to chase after.
Simply not good enough. For me all 3 summer signings were poor and could have been avoided with a better foresight. Almost 150 million for Lukaku, Matic and Lindeloff. 2 of those are "good but not good enough" and one is just crap.
I think we should rather break records and buy top tier players rather than settle for tier 2 players.
I think we should rather break records and buy top tier players rather than settle for tier 2 players.
It's like that with any top team. You want your striker to take part in build up play. It's the reason why teams have always avoided Aubameyang. Great goalscorer, like Lukaku, useless in the build up and with hold up play. That won't change and it's why we have a ceiling for our team progression.
Without wanting to beat a dead horse, because at this point there mightn't be anything original left to add in this deluge of negativity about him, but the glaring contrast between Lukaku and his opposite number was there to be seen tonight. Neither of them had their shooting boots on today, but Kane was tracking back and winning the ball or at least pressuring our player in possession, he was bringing his teammates into play with his ability to hold up the ball, he was creating space and options with his runs and just looked threatening every time he got the ball facing goal. Compare that to Lukaku whose sole contribution in the first half was to stand offside and then chastise his teammates for every pass that wasn't inch perfect, infact the sum total of his performance was one shot on target, the ball for which he seemed to wait an eternity to bounce conveniently enough for him to hit (giving the keeper more than enough time to set himself), it's just clear he's not technically good enough and arguably the worst #9 I've seen at the club in my lifetime.
Compare him with the rest of the attack, ballers like Lingard, Rashford, Pogba, Martial, Sanchez, Mata and he just sticks out like a sore thumb. For all his athletic ability his lack of balance renders his strength redundant, he's not at all dominant in the air and his overall presence on the pitch is almost paradoxically lacking. I got behind this transfer at the beginning of the season but it's clear now he's not only not contributing enough himself but he's holding back the rest of the talent in terms of playing time and playing style.
Compare him with the rest of the attack, ballers like Lingard, Rashford, Pogba, Martial, Sanchez, Mata and he just sticks out like a sore thumb. For all his athletic ability his lack of balance renders his strength redundant, he's not at all dominant in the air and his overall presence on the pitch is almost paradoxically lacking. I got behind this transfer at the beginning of the season but it's clear now he's not only not contributing enough himself but he's holding back the rest of the talent in terms of playing time and playing style.
I have to agree with this. He just doesn't fit with those players.
I've thought this from the start, the elite European sides don't play with a striker that is so limited in his all round play, Lukaku can obviously add things to a squad but not as an option rather than an undroppable centerpiece.
Time to step up and show what he's about...
Goes into he shell and hides. Show us you're our main man for duck sake...
Goes into he shell and hides. Show us you're our main man for duck sake...
Im not sure much would have changed if we had Kane in our team today. We would have still had over half the team under-performing and providing close to 3/10 performances.
Think even prime Ruud struggles today the way we played.
Think even prime Ruud struggles today the way we played.
Limited strikers like Mario Gomez have scored plenty for the likes of Bayern because those teams could create for their striker. It's weird how he is our only attacker who can do anything from the right, go past players and put in crosses. Out midfielders were so poor today that I can't fault him for today's result. When he is not scoring he has dug our midfielders out of trouble a few times getting some assits/crosses that lead to our wins.
I don't know what they expected of him today
Prime Ruud gets you a goal in those 10 minutes after they scored the first and we looked dominant, putting us back in the game. He does not repeatedly get caught offside, he does not flail his arms at his teammates every time the pass isn't right. He gets one opportunity and he finishes it as coolly when we're 1-0 down in a tough away game against a top 6 team as he would playing in his back garden against his son. If you honestly don't think swapping Romelu for Ruud would have made a difference then you're either drastically underrating his ability or not perceiving just how much Lukaku holds back our attack.
Been saying it since day 1. He has improved a lot, but come any big game, he looks awful. Though I don't blame him at all today. The entirety of the blame lies with Mourinho picking a 4-2-3-1 and pogba as part of that double pivot. None of our attackers stood a chance because they had no basis.
But generally, while it's not a terminal loss having lukaku as primarily a poacher, it does limit us. We can turn into a very good team (once Mourinho stops playing Pogba deep), but with Lukaku, we'll never be "the best team". Top tier like City, Barca and PSG right now, and probably Bayern and Real Madrid of the last few seasons. You can't reach that level having someone like Lukaku as the main striker. Not the end of the world as we can still be a very good team like I said and win things, but to win the champions league, we won't ever be favourites.
I love how he tried to blame Martial after that pathetic back heel.
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