I loved his cupped ear celebration on Lingard’s goal. Loved that confidence coming back.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Goals
- 15
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 5
- Status
Looks intentional. Seems as though he glances at Young, notices his run, and dummies. Wouldn't have stayed static for the pass otherwise
I disagree. Assists aside, I felt he was adequate. He was a strong outlet for our fullbacks to play the ball forwards, and held the ball up fairly well on those occasions. Other than that - it's Lukaku so you're (or I'm) not expecting anything particularly excellent in the buildup. He played in role fine.
As for the assists, they were game changing moments and have to be acknowledged. The first in particular was sublime and he deserves plaudits for it. So yeah, well done Lukaku.
Lukaku is for me an impact striker. I wouldn't want him as our main central CF but he's a very good squad option given his end product.
Also who played the ball out to him for the second asisst? I thought that was a cracking pass.
Yeah it was hilarious the way Lingard completely ignored him to run off and do his dance
Pogba, Pereira, Rashford, Young are all better. All are right footed though (Pereira is using his left when he’s on corners from time to time though).
Edit: Sanchez as well, forgot about him.
Lukaku’s shot is bad though. His accuracy is horrible and the strength of his shot is nothing special, so I’m not sure why he is trusted with free kick duty.
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Definitely miss controlled. There's a split second of confusion just after the ball passes him, a pause before he realises where the balls gone. When you factor in the header.....it's a pretty grim passage from Lukaku
It was Shaw, that pass looks better every time I see it
Shaw. It was an excellent pass, wasn't it? And he clearly saw the potential a few seconds earlier too - the run to open the angle and draw the defender towards him was equally good.
He is left footed and scored free kicks before. He has a good shot on him, even crosses the ball well whenever he gets the chance. Pretty sure has one of the highest shots on target conversion rates in the league.
He was pretty good. Kind of reminded me of his performances with Belgium. He really needs to stop doing stepovers though.
Couldn’t really say he was gash, wasn’t some amazing turn around of form either.
Great first assist I was happy for him he picked that out,held the ball up a few times, even won a few headers.
the second assist wasn’t anything really special but still, he made a decent run to get there. I’ve no idea why he thought he was god and stood there with his hands out after it, he looked silly and it went to his head because he fecked up a few more times after that forcing passes. Also the ball bounced off him about 5 times at pace, which is normal for him, hes just got a bad touch. Can’t doubt his confidence which I suppose isn’t a bad thing for him.
It’s still strange having to play our main striker out wide to accommodate him and don’t think there’s much future there for him, I would certainly prefer some speed and skill merchant out on the right similar to our left players. Not continue to use our lump of a striker or no pace mata.
Great first assist I was happy for him he picked that out,held the ball up a few times, even won a few headers.
the second assist wasn’t anything really special but still, he made a decent run to get there. I’ve no idea why he thought he was god and stood there with his hands out after it, he looked silly and it went to his head because he fecked up a few more times after that forcing passes. Also the ball bounced off him about 5 times at pace, which is normal for him, hes just got a bad touch. Can’t doubt his confidence which I suppose isn’t a bad thing for him.
It’s still strange having to play our main striker out wide to accommodate him and don’t think there’s much future there for him, I would certainly prefer some speed and skill merchant out on the right similar to our left players. Not continue to use our lump of a striker or no pace mata.
Rashford played in that same position against Spurs. It’s not strange, it was just tactical.
It was super. Perfect weight, perfect angle.
He was ok... but no more than that. His poor touch is a problem for him, and some his passing isn't great.. wrong decisions, poorly executed. Slipping balls through, dummies etc ... this all looks great, and his work for Sanchez goal was superb (the run makes the pass though, but he played him v well...). But Lukaku should be a hungry, aggressive goalscorer too. He should be a handful. Forwards who lead the line at Man Utd work terrifically hard, cause defenders problems, have quality, and score goals.
Lukaku's problem is Marcus Rashford, because even when Rashford doesn't score, he's a massive asset to our team, and affects how we play.
I don't get this MOTM for Lukaku. He played well, for sure, but there is more to do. He must, must tidy up his game.
Lukaku's problem is Marcus Rashford, because even when Rashford doesn't score, he's a massive asset to our team, and affects how we play.
I don't get this MOTM for Lukaku. He played well, for sure, but there is more to do. He must, must tidy up his game.
Yes, I know he did. I still maintain we put Lukaku out there to accommodated/ help him* as he doesn’t have the skills to play through the middle and hold balls up and beat defenders, he did play a lot better out wide with that space to receive the ball and space to run in to, I just would prefer we went for someone more in the Nani/martial/ rashford role to play that right side for us and not settle with Lukaku there because he made two assists in one game.
*as well as tactics to break on them.
Edit: actually against Spurs didn’t we play with rashford and martial uptop as a 2 but wide and in the channels. Not a front 3 with rashford wide right?
So that is different to putting Lukaku wide of a front 3?
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Anyone has a gif of his stepovers? Always funny to watch those
He has slimmed down.
The main thing I learnt from his performance last night is that he should never take a freekick for us ever again
Even before his two assists, I felt he was playing really well. Ran the right channels brilliantly and got the team in good areas.
Didn't get a goal but certainly contributed massively to our win and showed a different side to his game, which was his link play and work outside of the area.
Good performance from the big man.
Didn't get a goal but certainly contributed massively to our win and showed a different side to his game, which was his link play and work outside of the area.
Good performance from the big man.
Goal involvement every 46 mins ain't to be sniffed at.
He was alright last night, his first assist was lovely to be fair. I'd love him to get a goal off the bench on the weekend.
Because he took one bad freekick?
Just looks like standard Lukaku to me, he stood there looking at it as it went past so it wasn't a dummy.
Still work to do but there's a unit there that can do well.
Not going to give the guy shit for missing a free kick. a horrendous amount of free kicks are utter shite from everyone. Ronaldo included.
He's taken a few freekicks previously and they're all the same, hasn't been anywhere near the target. Apart from the fact he clearly isn't good at taking them, we have players who are significantly better at taking them - Pogba, Young, Sanchez, Lindelof, Rashford, Mata and the former three were on the pitch last night. So yes theres no reason he needs to take one again, unless we enjoy wasting chances
Well the angle was set up for a left footer so that’s why he took it.
Don't really get what point you're trying to make here. Makes no difference at all if it was positioned for a left footer when he's shite at taking them does it? Especially when you compare him to the other players. If you don't think so then thats your opinion, but I'm pretty certain you wouldn't have him take them ahead of any players I mentioned, would you?
Perhaps he is not as shit at them as you are suggesting. Honestly, he was a left footer and has a good strike in him. Nothing controversial about him taking one freekick.
Lukaku has played like he is low on confidence for months now, but yesterday I saw him making runs behind the defense, he held the ball up neatly and provided two assists against a decent team. He definitely needed this, I hope this is the start for something good for him, this game was a confidence booster for the whole squad.
Either how, he is not a bad option to have come of the bench.
Either how, he is not a bad option to have come of the bench.
You reckon those players see him being shit in training and just let him have a pop eh?
He was class in the first half yesterday. That pass through to Sanchez would've started a wankfest in the Messi thread (with me being one of the big culprits). Really impressive.
Definitely failed to control that. You can see the 'where the f is it' moment straight after.
He was better on the left because he could receive the ball in a bit of space and facing up to his defender. He has not got the ability to control, turn towards goal and make a move all in one go at the centre of a congested pitch.
People have that short a memory. He had games like that last season where he played in great passes for our other forward player. A game we drew against Leicester comes to mind. FFS
Lukaku has to think about his career carefully at this point.
He left Chelsea because he didn't want to be a second rate striker off the bench. He went to smaller clubs & became the main man.
Now back at a big club he finds himself in the same position he was at Chelsea. Playing off the bench & even playing on the RW as he did at Stamford bridge.
If he wants to have a career with trophies on his CV then he has to become what he is - a great second rate striker. If not then he can go off & play football for a smaller club.
I think having a striker like Lukaku on the bench is great; not when he starts though.
He left Chelsea because he didn't want to be a second rate striker off the bench. He went to smaller clubs & became the main man.
Now back at a big club he finds himself in the same position he was at Chelsea. Playing off the bench & even playing on the RW as he did at Stamford bridge.
If he wants to have a career with trophies on his CV then he has to become what he is - a great second rate striker. If not then he can go off & play football for a smaller club.
I think having a striker like Lukaku on the bench is great; not when he starts though.
This guy is more than good enough to be a squad player for us. I miss the days of having strength and depth in attack. I hate that in the modern game managers don't like to rotate certain players.
He is being managed very well by Ole, gave him some subs against easy opposition to give him some confidence and then gave him a platform to shine against a big team.
He is being managed very well by Ole, gave him some subs against easy opposition to give him some confidence and then gave him a platform to shine against a big team.
Looked more like he forced his way to taking the freekick with Young and Sanchez wanting it too, rather than them letting him have it willingly.
My initial comment was a little bit tongue in cheek; but based on the fact that he's never even come close to hitting the target from one for us combined with the fact that there are players in the team who are much better at them so then theres no need for him to take one as it just wastes a chance unless he gets lucky. You can have your opinions and conclusions which are based on assumptions thats fine, but has he shown he can hit a freekick for us? No. Are there multiple better freekick takers than him in the team? Yes.
He played well throughout. Just watched the game knowing the result and after watching late yesterday from 70 minutes on.
A few bad moments but everything else was spot on. Held it up and did some nice flicks with his feet and head other times. His confidence is improving so his touch improved. A lot of the balls pinged in to him didn't go flying off but controlled and laid off.
A few bad moments but everything else was spot on. Held it up and did some nice flicks with his feet and head other times. His confidence is improving so his touch improved. A lot of the balls pinged in to him didn't go flying off but controlled and laid off.
It's not that deep. Lukaku was having a good game and felt confident, so he took the free kick that was a good angle for him. He's not gonna get the next one since he missed this by a mile.
Are you serious? He directy contributed in 2 of the 3 goals, but aside from that he didn’t do much?
He was MOTM for me, incredible how Lukaku can’t get some slack here.
Lukaku is improving and responding when being called up, I hope he keeps it up and challenge Rashford for the starting spot.
He may well not have shown US that he can, but its not like he takes a lot of them to have shown us how amazing he might be in training. Ronaldo missed tons and took tons, as has Rashford. If you actually look at conversion rates from FKs they are generally appalling.
I'm not saying he's great at them, I'm saying you don't let the guy picked last at school take the penalty for a reason. Lukaku ain't taking them if he is gash at them in training.
He's also scored before from them
This one was close too
Could he be the solution for our right wing? Even for Belgium he looked better on right wing than as a striker. His first touch is shit, but his cross is quite good, and him being so fast for a guy that big and strong must be terrifying for the defenders. Would like to see him getting a few games in that position.
- Status