Can see him not playing the next 2 matches but getting some minutes in Watford game to be ready for the final.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 51
- Goals
- 27
- Assists
- 10
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Status
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Yeah. Will make ppl appreciate Lukaku more hopefully
I like the guy and he's done reasonably well, but have noticed this too. Not something that gets picked up on TV cameras when I rewatch games after getting home.
What a weird thing to hope for. Personally, I hope he smashes it and scores a hat-trick, being a United player and all. I appreciate Lukaku plenty anyway.
My thinking too.
Would be nice to see Rashford and Martial up top for a game or two anyway.
Nothing he has done in that position this season suggests he will. The obsession with some wanting him to start at the top really boggles the mind. Especially as some want him in there instead of Lukaku who has been fantastic for us.
After scoring a lot in the beginning looking like areal deal he had this period of goal draught and similar performances, then he kicked on again and lately like at least for a month been out of form despite putting in some goals. I hope we will expect some consistency and that he ups his game next year. Hopefully with some addition of attacking enough fullbacks, and a creative deep mid like Neves, he would get even more opportunities to score..
16 league goals - and he’s «fantastic». I wonder what kind of superlatives you would use for a proper striker that scores almost a goal a game or more, like the best ones do. Lukaku hasn’t been fantastic, cut the crap, his returns are mediocre for a top club and he needs to raise his game next season.
I second this. He at the very best had a good first season. Even Hernandez who was signed as a backup striker - and for the one-twelfth of what Lukaku cost - had 13 goals in PL and 20 in total in his first season. Lukaku definitely needs to do better next season.
Love the guy but I've never in my life seen a top level striker when we have the ball start pointing at midfielders where to pass (sideways he usually indicates) instead of concentrating on the forward runs he himself should be making. I watch out for it now and he usually does it 5-6 times a game.
In this current group, I’d probably play him right side, like Martinez used to do at Everton. He had yet another game on Sunday where he didn’t even look like scoring, intact I don’t think he had a shot - and on the whole, he has way too few shots anyway. His better moments seemed to be crossing.
I’d bring Martial in and play him CF, similarly to how he did against Everton away, or play him left and Sanchez middle. It would also encourage better football having such a profile of CF, without aimless hoofing. Everton Away was a real stand out for me this season. A front three of Mata, Martial and Jesse saw us pull Everton apart with barely a cross or hoof all game.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Jesse as a false 9 either as I reckon that role possibly suits him best.
I’d bring Martial in and play him CF, similarly to how he did against Everton away, or play him left and Sanchez middle. It would also encourage better football having such a profile of CF, without aimless hoofing. Everton Away was a real stand out for me this season. A front three of Mata, Martial and Jesse saw us pull Everton apart with barely a cross or hoof all game.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Jesse as a false 9 either as I reckon that role possibly suits him best.
Certainly. 16 league goals is far from what we thought we were getting, and I’d hope for at least 10 on top of that next season.
Can you name any Manchester United striker who ever achieved that sort of strike rate? Because, if not, you're implying we've never had a "proper striker" at this club. I would beg to differ.
I'm sorry but he doesn't score enough in the league. Next season he has got to hit 25 minimum if not we will have problems competing.
Cup Comps he is doing well though.
Cup Comps he is doing well though.
I agree, I personally dont think he's good enough. You cant rely on him. His chance in the first leg of the Sevilla game summed him up, he went to side foot volley the ball from a very promising position. We don't help our strikers with how we play, but I'm much more in the camp of having a dynamic striker.
The less said about his record in big games the better, one goal versus Chelsea doesn't; change that.
EDIT: 1 Goal in 11 apps vs Top 6 clubs (inc FA Cup v Spurs)
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First of all, you don't need the top-scorer in the league to win the league - but you need the goals. We are focusing a whole lot on Lukaku to score the goals since he is the sole focal point - and he hasn't delivered. Furthermore - what happened when we won the league in the 90's doesn't really matter now, you play what's in front of you and behind you in the table, you just have to match it or be close to what's going on. I'm not bothered in terms of checking stats for every time we won the league and how many goals our top scorer had, but since you asked: Robin van Persie had 26 goals when we last won the league, which is a target we all wanted Lukaku to be at when he signed. "A goal a game on average" is more of a cliché saying, but when you're at 25 goals nobody can complain - I would have been happy with Lukaku at 23-25 at this stage. Granted, Lukaku still has games left to increase his 16 goals - but it's probably going to finish at below 20. Before Van Persie's season we had Berbatov on 20 goals when we won the league in 10-11. 20 goals was kind of low, but he was the top-scorer in the league that season. We won the league in 07-08, Ronaldo the top-scorer with 31 goals. As mentioned above, we don't need the guy scoring the most goals every year (as long as the goals are coming in elsewhere), but when people are delivering 30 goals you need to be better than 16-18 goals. It's just very simple.
I want him to suceed but not sure he will. We will be sticking with him as long as Jose is here.
That said I think he has shown enough that he should be our starting striker next season but if we don't start to see the numbers required questions should be asked.
An impressively lengthy and convoluted post to make a supposedly “very simple” point!No one disagree about him needing to score more league goals next season but we're useless upfront without him. Even when not scoring he provides physical presence upfront that occupies defenders and give space to other players around him. He's a!so our only players that seems useful when drifting to the right. With Rashford as a striker we look clueless.
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We really need him upfront. Lukaku bring more threat to opponent defender as target man. His first touch indeed brings him down but even with a bad first touch, he scores many goals. Don't burden him to score a goal every match. Thats what Mourinho try to do this season. Everyone have chances to score a goal.
Lukaku has played nearly every minute of every game we have played in the league and the CL. So how can you justify comments on other players up front when we haven't played anybody else up front for longer than 20 minutes on Sunday ? The only two league games he hasn't started we've actually looked really good.
There's been PLENTY of games where we have looked clueless with Lukaku as our striker. Plenty of times he's looked clueless himself. His goal output is below Jamie Vardie and one above Firmino and his goals per minute ratio is higher than all the other recognised strikers on the list of top scorers. His main strength this season has been occupying defenders, winning flick ons and delivering excellent crosses from out wide on occasion. But he's played all season. No one else has had a look in. Pretty hard to knock a young player when he hasn't had a genuine chance.
16 league goals for a striker who's started all but two league games is underwhelming and his recent performances, since his run of good form, City Spurs semi West Brom Arsenal, have also been underwhelming as is his goal return of 1 in the last five games.
Nice edit btw, to swerve the Everton game.
Absolute nonsense post that (you're responding to).
One of my favourite seasons and title wins (2006-07) we were led up top by an unreliable Louis Saha who scored a whopping 13 goals all season (with only 8 in the league). Even with his injuries causing less game time, his goal ratio was only 0.33.
Difference then is that we scored more goals from elsewhere on the regular, with Rooney and Ronaldo both contributing nearly double that figure (but still not as many as Lukaku). And Ole chipped in with 11 goals that season too.
In this side (in this season) our additional contribution is from Rashford (12), Martial (11) and Lingard (14), which isn't bad to be fair but none of them look like reliable goalscorers. It's nonsense to suggest Lukaku's numbers are a problem - we're an incredibly clinical side this season if you look at the figures.
What happened against Arsenal was exactly what happened against South in December when Lukaku got injured and we had to continue the game with Rashford up front. We looked clueless as just as what happened in second half against Arsenal. Rahsford in terrible when it comes to holding up the ball and bringing others to the play against tight defnses and parked buses. He's only good in running the channels against open defenses.
You don't seem to have anything to have your discussion on except those 16 goals. Ok we know it he needs to score more goals in the league and no one is saying he's having the best season ever but posters like you go on and talk as if he should receive zero credit for anything and is our games. There's more to the striker than just goals and this irnically what everyone wanted from Lukaku to improve, to not just be a poacherand but complain about it now.
Lukaku is a big reason why we're finishing second and in Fa Cup final. Whatever you like it or not it's reality.
What about the Everton game he didn't start in or the Bournemouth game he didn't start in ? There are other ways to play football than using a target man.
I've give him credit for flick ons and crossing ability ? So I'm missing the point of most of your reply.
As for other things I've mentioned them previously, his first touch is often atrocious, like really atrocious though. His movement is not great, not from the stretford end at least. His interplay and Passing can be as poor as his first touch. So mainly I'm looking for goals from him, a bit like Andy Cole, you overlook the weaknesses and focus on the strengths. His goal scoring has been underwhelming over the season and also of late.
He's part of a team that will finish second. Lingard, Martial, Pogba and especially DeGea and Matic are also big reasons, some bigger reasons.
In any case I'm looking for better next season from all the players. Lukaku has a big job to improve if he's going to take us even close to the next level.
Those three players (no matter how well they've played at times) have fcuk all to do with our league position when compared to Lukaku.
Exactly. Brian Mclair’s goal tally is hardly relevant. If our counterparts main source of goals gets 25+ a season, I see no reason why we shouldn’t want similar from our own.
30 goals in his first season. How many goals are you expecting him to score in 1 season?
I thought you read my post better. I said Rashford is clueless up front when it comes to playing against tight defenses as he can't holdup the ball or bring others into play. Both Everton and Bournemouth weren't really setting to defend against us, they actually tried to play football, even though it was poor. There're various ways to play football but against packed defenses you need a target upfront otherwise you're fecked.
His first touch isn't atrocious it's more of being inconsistent, and believe it or not Lukaku had the same number of assists this season as Zlatan last one and Zlatan was more of a playmaker striker, so saying his interplay and passing are very poor is just having a laugh.
These all have played a big role as well but Lukaku is the reason why we changed several of our useless draws last season to wins. No one is disagreeing with him needing to increase his goals record in the league but give him credit. He's having a very decent season.
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I think about 10 other posters have pointed out that he doesn’t have 30 goals this season.
Most of the same posters have probably pointed out that they think 16 league goals is a poor return.
I think, and appreciate, that many will always look to back their own. Look for mitigation and such. That said, Lukaku has been playing in the PL for years, and I can’t remember too many people on here wanting us to sign him a year ago. We all knew his strengths and weaknesses. I don’t think it’s that ridiculous that some still didn’t want us to sign him. After all, if they had told you that a year ago today, I suspect you would have agreed with them. Today, the argument becomes different. It’s a typical forum war between ‘moaners who are constantly criticising our players’ and those who feel it is their civic duty as a fan to back anyone who wears our shirt in an internet debate. And some who have probably long thought Lukaku was genuinely good enough for United, of course.
I’m sure, for instance, far less people would care if McTominay slipped away quietly to another club in the summer than would have a go at me if, in a discussion about McTominay, I said I didn’t think he was a good player. It would be even worse if i mentioned a young player at a rival club who I think is better than him. I think that’s kinda how it goes.
Ok I'm open to the idea of this, but why ?
First of, I think his goal return has been very decent.
Secondly I judge him by his overall performances for us. His work rate and ethic have been excellent. He is integral to our forward play and funnily enough seems to be the only person capable of putting in decent crosses (well apart from maybe Young).
For a first season I think he has been fantastic. I expect him to build on that and improve even further.
Since the beginning of the PL, our top scorer's average tally is 25.3 goals in all competitions. Lukaku is currently on 27. Only 3 players have managed 30 goals in that time - Ruud, Rooney and Ronaldo.
Berbatov's 20 goals may look nicer on paper but he scored in just 11 games, delivering 21 points. And that's generously including e.g. his opening goal in a 5-0 win against Birmingham. Lukaku scored in 15 games and delivered 25 points, using the same scoring system. If you were to use a tighter definition of "winning" goals it would tilt even more in his favour.
You can cut the numbers whatever way you want to tell whatever story you want, but let's just look at the big picture. He's consistently delivered in all competitions and is a key component of our best league finish in half a decade and an FA cup final, and across all of those competitions he's scoring at roughly the average rate for a United striker.
Almost 30 and we still have 4 games left to play. 26 goals and 7 assists in all competitions is not a bad total. Especially with the way the team plays. Put any striker in the league in this teams set up and they will be lucky to have a higher goal and assist totals than Lukaku. Besides, as Mourinho has stated, Lukaku brings more to the team than just goals.
Can’t say I agree with that at all. Basically, all the strikers in the league who are better than Lukaku (not many) would do better than him, I suspect.
Well it's just my view of it obviously but:
While you can point to a game or two where those players were match winners, Lukaku has consistently put the goals aways (alongwith some very underrated hold-up play and creative work) while playing almost every match. The last point needs to be emphasised - some people seem to use it as a criticism but I'm delighted we have a striker that stays fit and is always available.
For clarity, the way I look at it is that this season we've had a spine of De Gea, Matic and Lukaku. That's really what has driven us up the table. Other players have played their part but not to the same significance as those three (or four including Smalling).
Lukaku's made 45 starts (and 5 sub appearances), and has the most amount of goals (27) with 10 assists. Fair enough in the league alone, it's only 16 from 33 starts but he's basically scoring every other start. That's a pretty strong contribution no matter what criticism people may want to give him. As mentioned before, we've won titles previously with way less effective strikers.
Pogba (of the three you mentioned) is the only fair shout. Only that I don't think he's been that key due to his missing appearances due to injury/suspension/personal issues. He's only been involved in 70% of our league matches which for one of your key players isn't brilliant (no matter what he contributed in those games). I mean as a comparison with the team above us, De Bruyne has barely missed a match (don't think he has).
Lingard has done very well at times this year but in the end ~40% of the time, he's been coming off the bench. And it's pretty much the same story for Martial (might be a 1% difference). Doesn't matter how many goals they've nicked along the way or whatever - I know Lingard did brilliantly against Arsenal and Martial got the winner against Spurs etc. They're still clearly not the spine of the team that has made the progress up the table. They're rotational options that have spells in the side.
So I'm not saying they're useless, lacking talent or anything like that. I'm saying compared to Lukaku, they're no where near the key reasons/performers for why we've made progress. For me that's the trio of Dave, Matic and Lukaku.
TLDR:
Simply by League Starts:- Lukaku (94%) being our top goalscorer clearly has more to do with our progress up the table than Pogba (65%), Lingard (54%) or Martial (48%). They've played their part for sure but they're not the critical reasons for progress.
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Well reasoned post, I'm not going to argue against it as i think you make good points and whilst I don't necessarily think Lukaku has been anything more than decent....I also think the same can be said of most of our players over the course of this season despite the fact we are in the Fa cup final and destined to finish second where we have been all season. How we've managed that I'm not sure but I think all bar DeGea will need to improve significantly next season if we are to take another step.
Thanks for the reply, interesting reading.
A good debut. Improved after his dip.
He can get better and will receive better service.
But compared to Tevez, RVP and prime Rooney he's not even close. And it has nothing to do with stats.
Prime Rooney would bully defenders, make a nice turn, run past players or split open a defense with a pass even when not scoring.
Lukaku when not scoring has a nice cross and the occasional bulldozing run. It's unfair to compare Lukaku to our former legends but it's always going to happen.
He needs to improve and I think he can.
He can get better and will receive better service.
But compared to Tevez, RVP and prime Rooney he's not even close. And it has nothing to do with stats.
Prime Rooney would bully defenders, make a nice turn, run past players or split open a defense with a pass even when not scoring.
Lukaku when not scoring has a nice cross and the occasional bulldozing run. It's unfair to compare Lukaku to our former legends but it's always going to happen.
He needs to improve and I think he can.
He’s mediocre, at best.
Elite forwards require so much more these days, and I think Sanchez and Martial could perform that modern #9 role with more quality than this fella.
Jose clearly prefers mobile muscle up top, and that was fine when he had Drogba, Costa or Milito up front......but those kind of thoroughbreds are as rare as rocking horse turd these days, and we’ve settled for an actual fecking rocking horse.
Elite forwards require so much more these days, and I think Sanchez and Martial could perform that modern #9 role with more quality than this fella.
Jose clearly prefers mobile muscle up top, and that was fine when he had Drogba, Costa or Milito up front......but those kind of thoroughbreds are as rare as rocking horse turd these days, and we’ve settled for an actual fecking rocking horse.
He's good. We can win the league with him as the main striker. His link up is very good and his hold up has improved massively lately. It shows he's still improving.
I think he’ll be a lot better next season in a more settled, confident and complete team. We are slowly getting there and I have faith lukaku still has another level he can go up. I agree we could certainly win things with him in the team but also agree that his play has been pretty frustrating at times this season, like the rest of our team and manager! I have to cling on to the belief that we will be better next season and that includes Lukaku as one of our main players
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