The thing is - even if they've identified his massive weight gain is his problem this season, it won't be for another 6 weeks till we see him properly trim down to where he was last season. He really should be dropped until then and just allowed ego boosting cameos at the end of won games. Then even at that point, I'd argue he doesn't deserve a spot on the bench. He literally looks like he has never played football in his life right now.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Goals
- 15
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 5
- Status
It is just claiming for the sake of it. What I saw today was a completely anonymous Rashford that messed up 2 or 3 attacks. Even Lukaku played better today. Lukaku's touch, link up and hold up were suprising very good today. He needs to continue on the bench until he scores and completely get back to form.
I think we all need to get past the hysterical reaction: yes, he’s been diabolical this season, but he wasn’t like that last season or at Everton.
The key reason is his weight gain, along with loss in confidence and fatigue post World Cup. He needs to go out of the lineup, rest and lose some weight and come back in for the December fixtures ready to fire.
The key reason is his weight gain, along with loss in confidence and fatigue post World Cup. He needs to go out of the lineup, rest and lose some weight and come back in for the December fixtures ready to fire.
Yes Lukaku did 'ok' when he came on. But the game was stretched as we were leading and the rest of the players were tired. Most subs that come on in those circumstances do well. But the basics of his game are worse than any other attacking players we have at the club. Rashford may not have had his best game for us, but he used his head and thought "If it's not going well for me, I can at least run around and make things difficult for my oppents". This was so obvious to see. Lukaku never does this, and then the whole team suffers.
Free header missed yesterday to add to Lukaku’s low lights reel. Its starting to become a major embarrassment how many easy chances Rom is missing.
I'd start Rashford in the next game and have Lukaku come off the bench to play against tired and stretched defences. Hopefully he will rediscover his goal scoring form this way.
It's cause of replies like these I cannot wait to see the back of Jose. So fkng blind to the obvious.
This does happen to all strikers - just unfortunate that we don’t have a like for like replacement, where we can rotate him when he’s poor. We all know he’s nowhere near world class, but we are stuck with him - there are so few strikers around to buy these days.
Memphis as well.
On at least three occasions Rashford closed down Pickford which caused him to either kick the ball out of play or lump it to our defenders, regaining possession. Likewise on several more occasions Rashford pressed defenders into playing a far more direct game than they would have liked. He also made runs down the channel which pulled defenders across, resulting in Martial having 1v1 opportunities, rather than 2v1 or 3v1.
These are all somewhat small things of course, but naturally we're talking about a bad Rashford performance. When Rashford is playing poorly we are playing with 11 men, one of which is playing badly. When Lukaku is playing poorly we are de facto playing with 10 men.
As an aside does anyone have the replay of Martial's 1v1 chance from the opposition goalkeepers perspective? At the time I felt Lukaku could have kept up with Martial (particularly as he'd only been on 25 mins), which would have lead to a simple square pass and tap-in. I could be wrong but instead he stood completely still.
Needs some time on the bench. Let him figure out whats wrong on the training pitch.
I accept that Rashford wasn't great.
But did you notice that as soon as Lukaku came on and Rashford was off, we no longer dominated the game?
We went on the back foot and this was without any other substitutions. In theory, our play should've improved, but it deteriorated.
The reason for this, as others have pointed out, is that Rashford kept defenders busy. He made a nuisance of himself, which meant they could not focus on starting/helping attacks. When Lukaku arrived, for 10 minutes he was energetic, after which he stood still and our attacks were then few and far between. Defenders could hold their shape because nobody was keeping them busy.
No you can't accept the fact that other people see this view.
There was better movement when Martial, Lingard and Mata played upfront against Everton away last year. You are focusing on Rashford instead of the issue of Lukaku, but I do not know if this is because you're one of his fan boys or not.
Agreed on this.
Agreed. We need him firing if we are to get into the top 4, this season.
If he keeps continuing like this then I'd get rid at season's end and hope we can recoup most of that 75m we dropped on him.
No, the reason for this is that we wanted to draw Everton out and finish it on the counter. Lukaku did not shift our entire team backwards. We had the chances to kill the game on the counter and didnt take them. If we had scored another 2 or 3 I wonder what the narrative would have been?
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There are games last year where Lukaku did NOT play and we looked terrible in the final third. People are pushing this false narrative and are trying to blame Lukaku for everything when just last year we looked toothless without him.
If he continues like this, I wouldn't get your hopes up.
Imo he needs to be benched until his performances improve to the point where he deserves to start, based on current form he's nowhere near that.
In our comeback against Newcastle he was more or less nowhere to be seen, considering he's supposed to be the focal point of our attacks it's safe to say that's worrying..
In our comeback against Newcastle he was more or less nowhere to be seen, considering he's supposed to be the focal point of our attacks it's safe to say that's worrying..
Only for the first 10 minutes or so. After that he was right back to how he's been playing for the rest of this season.
Does it? When was the last time a striker missed chance after chance for 3 months straight?
Meet Cavani. Benzema also comes to mind.
Benzema sure but Cavani despite his misses scores a ton of goals. Overall both players offer so much more to the team than Lukaku ever will
I am fed up with Lukaku. The sooner he goes the better it will be.
How can a professional athlete with his salary allow himself to swell up like he has done. It's deeply pathetic that he and the club has let this happen..
I'm worried about him. This isn't a dip in form so to speak, the negative attention he's getting is for things that are pretty much out of his control - IE - His general technical footballing ability.
Okay, he can slim down a bit and try improving his movement, but that won't take away his main problem - he isn't a very good footballer.
His confidence must be low as hell right now and I'm cocnerned whether he can turn this around.
Okay, he can slim down a bit and try improving his movement, but that won't take away his main problem - he isn't a very good footballer.
His confidence must be low as hell right now and I'm cocnerned whether he can turn this around.
No you just cant see it. Even if he doesn't have a bad game, hes simply the wrong type of player for the team
Bingo.
I admire his work ethic and willingness to improve but for someone who is addicted to improving and training every aspect of his game you'd imagine he'd be as good as Ronaldo (Obv not, but.. you know). If anything it looks like he's gotten worse.
Apparently he stays back training with Martial after every training session. But since last season his movement, finishing, decision making, technical ability all look worse. It doesn't make sense. I think it just shows that he was just as poor last season but his goals masked it.
In modern football you need a CF that can actually play football. Bring your team into the game and create things on your own (See Kane, Aguero, Suarez, , Costa, Firmino, Ronaldo, Lewandowski) Lukaku is just a poacher which is very unfortunate for us because he's not even a good finisher.
He needs to earn his way back into the team. From the bench. Prove his quality again. He had 8/9 games of being totally crap so it's only fair that Rashford or whoever is playing upfront gets the same opportunity. I don't have a problem with lukaku being part of the squad but I didn't like his undroppable status. it has to be a level playing field from now on. Surely if he's as good as some people say he'll easily get into the team again right?
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I'd be intrigued to see how he'd do in the local non league. The kind of stuff he fecks up probably means he'd feck it up there as well.
While Lukaku is not a great footballer, that bad miss aside, he acquitted himself well enough against Everton I think. Was a bit busier than usual, and his lay-offs were good.
Rashford wasn’t much better, and I’m not sure we are suited to his strengths and weaknesses any more than we are to that of Lukaku. It’s Sanchez I’d like to see get a few games there.
Rashford wasn’t much better, and I’m not sure we are suited to his strengths and weaknesses any more than we are to that of Lukaku. It’s Sanchez I’d like to see get a few games there.
So he cannot win. Ok.
"He's not a very good footballer". FFS 
If ever a time called for that Jerry walking out of the cinema gif, feck me. The stench of this thread.
If ever a time called for that Jerry walking out of the cinema gif, feck me. The stench of this thread.
Well he's not wrong is he? Tell me what are his best attributes? Because i dont know them and probably a lot of users on here dont do aswell."He's not a very good footballer". FFS
If ever a time called for that Jerry walking out of the cinema gif, feck me. The stench of this thread.
He is not a poacher as his movements are terrible
He can't create for himself. His first touch is so poor. Worse than anyone in the team.
His heading is poor. I don't know what he is good at apart from waving his arms about.
He might as well be a traffic police.
He can't create for himself. His first touch is so poor. Worse than anyone in the team.
His heading is poor. I don't know what he is good at apart from waving his arms about.
He might as well be a traffic police.
Only thing correct about this statement My Nigerian brother is that lukaku needs to stay on the bench and keep coming off till he is back to form.
Rashford was not great but his movement was very crucial. He too needs to be trusted with the strikers role like martial has with the left wing. There were so many good runs he made yesterday that were not seen quickly by our midfielders. He also pressed very well up top which kept Everton building from the back.
Even with all that said I would like for us to try out Sanchez ahead of both rashford and lukaku.
I believe we are finally close to knowing our best 11. That best 11 definitely doesn’t include lukaku. Lukaku just doesn’t fit the makeup of our team. We don’t have any wingers. Most of our attacking strengths come from wide forwards and playmakers. What we need is a false 9. Sanchez would definitely offer that as he has all the necessary attributes.
Knowing all this it also doesn’t help his case that he is very limited. He can’t even fulfil the simpler role of being a Target man that mourinho has set out for him. The thing that hurts me the most about lukaku as a player is his inability to do simple lay offs.
I’m still willing to I’ve him a chance if Sanchez and rashford can’t secure the striker role.
Agree completely, I think he was particularly concentrating on those first touches. He is capable of a good first touch, but a lot of the time it is concentration IMO. That miss is what everyone will remember though, and it was awful in all honesty - amateur stuff. The touch from him earlier in the move to free Pogba was promising though.
Still needs a couple more games on the bench for me, I'm hoping Sanchez gets a shot up top. The Martial-Pogba connection down the left with Sanchez getting involved could be a great sight.
To be fair, all of those things suffer when somebody is out of form and not confident. Once he gets himself into form (which will happen eventually) all those things will definitely improve. Whether it's to a suitable level though is a different question.
In 16/17 Lukaku was joint 3rd highest goalscorer with headed goals. He got 6 goals, joined by Antonio and Giroud and in front of them were Benteke and Llorente with 7 each.
I can also see that he scored those 6 goals from 18 headed attempts at goal. Giroud had slightly less attempts but Benteke had 49, Llorente 35 and Antonio 21. Ibrahimovic that season also had 20 headed attempts converting 4 into goals.
So 1 off the highest in the league but with a lot less attempts. Same can be said of Giroud.
Last season Morata scored the most headed goals in the league with 7, Kane got 6, Aguero got 5 and thats your top 3.
Lukaku was joint 4th highest goalscorer with his head. There were 9 players who all scored 3 goals.
Morata got his 7 goals from 23 headers at goal, Kane got his 6 goals from 29 headers at goal. Lukaku got his 3 headed goals from 19 headers at goal.
So since he's come to United he scores half as many headers as he did the season before and less than the likes of Morata, Kane and Aguero. I dont think Lukaku has been quite as bad as has been made out but even last season his heading conversion was worse than in the past.
So far this season Lukaku has scored 2 from 6 headed attempts and Mitrovic has the most in the league with 3 goals from 14 attempts. Kane also has 2 from 8 headed attempts.
I can also see that he scored those 6 goals from 18 headed attempts at goal. Giroud had slightly less attempts but Benteke had 49, Llorente 35 and Antonio 21. Ibrahimovic that season also had 20 headed attempts converting 4 into goals.
So 1 off the highest in the league but with a lot less attempts. Same can be said of Giroud.
Last season Morata scored the most headed goals in the league with 7, Kane got 6, Aguero got 5 and thats your top 3.
Lukaku was joint 4th highest goalscorer with his head. There were 9 players who all scored 3 goals.
Morata got his 7 goals from 23 headers at goal, Kane got his 6 goals from 29 headers at goal. Lukaku got his 3 headed goals from 19 headers at goal.
So since he's come to United he scores half as many headers as he did the season before and less than the likes of Morata, Kane and Aguero. I dont think Lukaku has been quite as bad as has been made out but even last season his heading conversion was worse than in the past.
So far this season Lukaku has scored 2 from 6 headed attempts and Mitrovic has the most in the league with 3 goals from 14 attempts. Kane also has 2 from 8 headed attempts.
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