Tbh Zlatan missed so many chances last season, even at a more worrying rate than Lukaku so I don't think you're 100%. Zlatan in his younger days maybe.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 51
- Goals
- 27
- Assists
- 10
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Status
Morata this, morata that 
I am still not sure whether he is good for a lone striker because even though he is big and strong, he still struggles to hold up the ball because of his poor first touch. Sometimes, even after gets the ball under control he manages to lose it with his second or third touch.
Against lower teams, this is OK because we have most of the possession and losing it a few times does not look bad. But I shudder to think of what might happen against City where their entire game plan is based on pressing and robbing the opposition off the ball. In such matches, we need to make each possession count (if we are trying to win and get a result), and he could become a major liability.
Against lower teams, this is OK because we have most of the possession and losing it a few times does not look bad. But I shudder to think of what might happen against City where their entire game plan is based on pressing and robbing the opposition off the ball. In such matches, we need to make each possession count (if we are trying to win and get a result), and he could become a major liability.
Was thinking the same... For such a big and strong guy he'd is rarely able to use his body to shield the ball or win a aerial duels.
And we lack "balance" when playing Martial and Rashford but we use Lukaku as right winger instead... If that is Jose's big idea of using Zlatan and Lukaku togheter then we are in trouble
This is hopefully a short term experiment by Mourinho. It's one thing to have Lukaku's movement drifting him on the right and being dangerous and another to ask to say on that side completely.
What? Guy plays like Sh!t in the match, and you expect people to serenade him with Appreciation and praises?
Excellent point. His hold-up play and technique is still too poor to play as a lone striker in a Jose team. I have hardly seen a striker so big and strong, exhibiting such poor hold-up play. He either has a poor first touch, or a poor second/third one, or cannot trap the ball properly, or mistimes his jumps, or has the ball nicked from his feet by average defenders. One way or the other, he loses the ball 8/10 times. The likes of Benteke or Andy Carroll or even Peter Crouch are way, way above Lukaku in terms of hold-up play.
No I expect people to analyse his performance properly rather than coming up with their hypothetical scenarios.
The more I see Lukaku play, the more I think he is not our long term CF.
CL contending teams always have a world class striker. Messi w/ Barca, Ronaldo w/ Madrid, Lewandoski w/ Bayern.
It's still early, but I doubt Lukaku will ever reach that level. He is still a very good player, but I don't expect much from him anymore. For us to contend for CL, we need the likes of Martial and Rashford to reach their potential and lead the front.
I feel like Lukaku resembles Saha from fergie era, and perhaps after few years of solid performance, may leave our club when we buy a world class striker.
CL contending teams always have a world class striker. Messi w/ Barca, Ronaldo w/ Madrid, Lewandoski w/ Bayern.
It's still early, but I doubt Lukaku will ever reach that level. He is still a very good player, but I don't expect much from him anymore. For us to contend for CL, we need the likes of Martial and Rashford to reach their potential and lead the front.
I feel like Lukaku resembles Saha from fergie era, and perhaps after few years of solid performance, may leave our club when we buy a world class striker.
Another game for him where we are so poor attacking wise that he hardly sees a ball or gets a chance. We should be creating chance after chance for him, this is where he's good at.
What? Surely this is either a windup or you didn't watch the game.
It’d help if he actually made some good runs too. For a guy who scored over 24 goals last season his movement is pretty shit.
I don't think he's been clinical this season. People are moaning about us not creating enough chances but Lukaku also has been wasting a lot of his chances when we created them for him. He needs to improve.
How many chances did we create for him in the last 2 monts? He's starving for service
We need to rest this man as well. We have a busy upcoming schedule and injuries will follow. Rest. Needed.
Do think Mourinho
That's a fair point but he was hardly starved yesterday. Could have potentially won us the Stoke and Liverpool games but missed key chances. He's been fine and I think eventually he will prove to be a very good signing but he was poor yesterday. Martial is such a better finisher than him.
Yeah, that's what I find the most annoying too. It's alright to miss chances and cost the team points but how long you acknowledge a good pass is what separates the great strikers for the average to good ones.
I'm also worried right now.
My main problem with Lukaku is his time here has gone exactly how many people thought. Upon his signing, everyone here was of the opinion he would bang in the goals here. He's done just that with 12 goals in 19 games. That's a good record.
Where many were concerned was his general gameplay, first touch and his ability to not only have no influence in big games but to be poor in them. Its fair to say, this prediction has also been true.
Lukaku has basically been the same player he was at Everton. What we needed from him was to raise his game but its the same old strengths and weaknesses with him so far. His weaknesses can make him a total liability in games and unlike other top strikers he doesn't possess the ability to mask poor performances with moments of genius nland individual skill. Like you said we should give him more time but if down the line there's no significant improvement we needed him upgraded asap.
Looks awful in his last games.
His teammates can't find him as a target player, don't know if it's his movement or just bad passes from the others, maybe both. When he does get involved his first touch is so heavy that he usually needs a second one to control the ball...
Hopefully just a bad patch his going through and will come back strong again.
His teammates can't find him as a target player, don't know if it's his movement or just bad passes from the others, maybe both. When he does get involved his first touch is so heavy that he usually needs a second one to control the ball...
Hopefully just a bad patch his going through and will come back strong again.
Never been a huge Lukaku fan, but I was impressed with some aspects of his game yesterday. He played a few nice flicks to link up with fellow forwards at speed, and this is the sort of thing that has been, and remains my biggest concern of him. Generally speaking, he has the footballing ability of a centre half. He will always be a goalscorer though, so if he can get better at some of the other stuff, at least to a reasonable degree, then he’ll work out just fine.
Zlatan doing his cruciate in the summer was a blow for me, as I was on board with the 2 year plan of Rashford taking over. Stylistically speaking, I’d much prefer the type of striker I expect Rashford to be (if allowed) at 22 to the type that Lukaku is now. If we were not to give Rashford a chance, then Timo Werner would have been my top target.
Zlatan doing his cruciate in the summer was a blow for me, as I was on board with the 2 year plan of Rashford taking over. Stylistically speaking, I’d much prefer the type of striker I expect Rashford to be (if allowed) at 22 to the type that Lukaku is now. If we were not to give Rashford a chance, then Timo Werner would have been my top target.
wtf, get a new perspective in football man or quit watching it. If this is what "annoys" you "the most" then there is something very wrong.Hold up play needs to be better.
I don't his first touch is the big problem here. It's not very impressive but if he used his frame much more effectively the loose touches wouldn't squander the ball so easily. Think of Diego Costa who in my opinion is hardly a silky footballer but along with an eye for goal he uses his body extremely well to hold off players which buys him a few seconds to get his head up. Defenders are going to be in a battle whereas with Lukaku he makes it easier for the defenders.
Morata this, morata that
Such great analysis there
You know whats extra annoying, when you think about it, he clearly works a lot with Pogba even prior this season, offseason training etc.
Pogba uses every inch of his frame and mass at times to ward off the opposition in possession, he does it as much with his physique as technical skill, yet Lukaku, who also has the physical tools and must see a lot of Pogba has absolutely no idea how to shield the ball.
Pogba uses every inch of his frame and mass at times to ward off the opposition in possession, he does it as much with his physique as technical skill, yet Lukaku, who also has the physical tools and must see a lot of Pogba has absolutely no idea how to shield the ball.
I have lost count how many times he Hits straight at the keeper since preseason games. If He took his shot 2-3 second earlier on far post he would have scored also his headers time and time again are going over the bar.
Put him at RW.
I think romelu's touches were always under the scanner. But his scoring record his amazing. If we can play him as our front man and martial just behind him.
I like lukaku and I seriously think some here don't like him (same anti-jose brigade). Now it's up to lukaku to prove them wrong . Lukaku can either be lewandowski type striker or he can become a higuain type striker( a level below an elite). He is 24 so he can easily become an elite striker but right now I feel he is still coming to terms for playing for manchester united. I have a feeling next season he will be more bold. I think he will do really well and score plenty of goals ,just that he has to be more proactive and not settle to be just a good striker.
I don't know but his attitude reminds me a lot of pogba of last season. Trying to impress too much , looking under pressure because of the price tag may be. I think he will eventually come over that and start banging in big games too.
This post is quite odd given the game itself should have been put to bed in the first half after the chances we created. Lukaku himself managed to miss a one on one in that half then went on to put in a poor header in the second half.
Truth is Lukaku has missed quite a few and we can't always use lack of chances as an excuse when he happens to miss 1 on 1 or good crosses onto him a few too many times now.
Oh come on, it is not amazing! Please use words as decent, good or great - not amazing. Given his price and responsibility, playing as a lone striker for Manchester United with talented players around him, I would say his output thus far has been average to good, certainly far from amazing. 8 goals in 12 matches in the league, goals against West Ham (18th), Swansea (19th), Stoke (15th), Everton (16th), Soton (14th), Crystal Palace (20th) and Newcastle (11th). Goalless against Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea, in other words scoring against the relegation fodder (which is also a good thing of course, not taking that away from him). What is it now, one goal in eight games? He is no Lewandoswki or Kane.
He scores sitters and has a good presence in the box, he is a decent header of the ball, but he is average in everything else he does. He doesn't sniff chances like Cavani, he doesn't contribute to make others better, his passing and touch is Conference-level, he doesn't score goals "out of nothing" like Kane and he is so slow at turning his body and utilizing his strength and pace. He is fast, but that doesn't help when he is so big and needs time to get going.
That's harsh.
Even though the media tries/tries to paint it differently because it was easy and fun for them, Pogba was probably MotM every other game he played last season, from the first one against Soton to the last one. Absolutely nothing like Lukaku, who is isolated and does not involve himself when we are not playing to his strengths.
He seems to go for power shots every single time. This takes a lot of time compared to placing a ball under the keeper legs or placing it either corner of the net. I wish someone could coach him this. He needs to start doing this in one on once situations like yesterday.
Romelu Lukaku has a dry spell and suddenly he is not good enough?
Current top scorers in the EPL this season:
Salah - 9
Lukaku - 8
Aguero - 8
Kane - 8
Morata - 8
Jesus - 8
Sterling - 7
Give the guy a break. He'll start firing on all cylinders again. We already see how he seems to be sparking a bit again since the return of Pogba.
Current top scorers in the EPL this season:
Salah - 9
Lukaku - 8
Aguero - 8
Kane - 8
Morata - 8
Jesus - 8
Sterling - 7
Give the guy a break. He'll start firing on all cylinders again. We already see how he seems to be sparking a bit again since the return of Pogba.
It's not his dry spell of goals, it's his general play has been shocking.
You can still play great as a striker without scoring, unfortunately that is not that case for Lukaku. Did you see the absolute state of his last night?
Choosing Lukaku was a big mistake. And a very expensive one at up to £90m. Everton did extremely well to hold out for that much. We'll be lucky to get half of that back when we sell him. We're not winning the PL or CL with him as our main striker, I'm quite sure of that.
People criticised him even when he was scoring, because he lacks certain technical skills (which he, quite frankly, does). You could've said that it was a knee-jerk reaction when he scored every game, but not now. He's a great player, but he doesn't belong in the truly elite category (yet, hopefully), and United fans are used to a certain level of quality.
I feel you.
I just think the team has been generally in 'bad' form and the midfield has particularly been bad. The only time the midfield has been outstanding recently was against Newcastle and Lukaku scored in that game. Not only did he score, he played really well.
But wasn't he a step up from Rooney and Zlatan? I heard that a lot here.
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