Yeah — his time at Inter hasn’t shown him to be any better, nor any worse than what he was here. He’s a respectable goal scorer who will bag enough a season to be considered a good no.9 but he’s blatantly missing something inherently in his game that can’t be improved upon to take him to the highest level.
Romelu Lukaku | Napoli watch
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Very good point. We got our money back, more or less I think. Ole deserves a lot of credit for selling him and having the confidence not to replace him, something which I criticised him for at the time(I'm sure he was concerned).
We are a much better side without him and he was never a united player. All that said, if you play to his strengths he will score 30 goals a season. Touch and hold up play not united quality though and it was so refreshing to see Ighalo's hold up play especially when he came on against city.
He has a very basic game and understanding of the game. Top attackers are smart players, they are able to identify weaknesses and exploit them but at the top against top defenders you need to also be very clean from a technical standpoint that's how you get that extra second, that extra step in front of defenders. If we use players like Cavani, Muller or Schevchenko as examples neither are great technicians but they are clean, they have mastered the basics of football and have a great understanding of the game on top of it, they have great balance and excellent first touch/one touch football, don't ask them to dribble in tight space or spend too much time on the ball though. Lukaku is erratic he can do complicated things but will often fail with basics, he has poor balance and has failed to take advantage of his natural strength, his technical inconsistency and surprisingly athletic weakness means that while he has a genuinely great striking technique, he too often isn't in the ideal place and he is useless outside of striking the ball.
The new Mario Gomez. Good enough goal stats but the playing ability is second tier level
I think what is not helping him is he doesn't accept his limitation, you can tell by his interviews and unwillingness to accept competition for his place that he see's himself as a much better player than he actually is.
It's also a big reason why he's still awaiting his first major honour since leaving Belgium (unless you count the 2012 FA Cup he played like 4 minutes in) because he only accepts being a bonafide starter and he's just not good enough to lead a team to glory.
If he accepted his limitations and realised he could have still contributed and built a legacy for himself as a horses for courses player (like Giroud has) he'd probably still be at Chelsea with winners medals coming out of his ears.
Gol gol gol gol
this gets bumped every time he scores or misses a sitter 
Let him go guys
Let him go guys
this gets bumped every time he scores or misses a sitter
Let him go guys
It says "Inter watch" so of course it'll be bumped when he does something with them ?
You can always ignore the thread...this gets bumped every time he scores or misses a sitter
Let him go guys
this gets bumped every time he scores or misses a sitter
Let him go guys
Thing is, he's never really been criticised for not scoring enough goals, he will score once he's fed by players like Eriksen. Probably would have improved with the purchase of Fernades too, but we were also too shite out wide to have a striker like him that offers nothing else.
It wasn't a bad decision to move on from him, and I had big problems with him in his last season regarding performance, but problem is some here took it kinda personal against him in a weird fashion.
I think it was a bad move as we struggle to score a lot this season.
Ighalo in January is not enough to replace him.
Martial is hit and miss too and probably better on the wing or in a pair.
Yeah we needed to sign a replacement that we can all agree on I guess.
Good goalscorer but in the end it was the right move.
We'll play them in Europa, mark my words.
Yeah they are probably second favorites to win it after us.
Lukaku with a big miss.
Best of luck to him but I won't miss him no matter how many goals he scores for Inter
His composure really is so bad at times
Imagine if Sampdoria scored a 2nd while this guy fecked up 2 decent chances before that
Imagine if Sampdoria scored a 2nd while this guy fecked up 2 decent chances before that
His composure really is so bad at times
Imagine if Sampdoria scored a 2nd while this guy fecked up 2 decent chances before that
This guy. Wow. He fecking begs for the ball there in that second video only to do that. I'd be pissed as his teammate!
His composure really is so bad at times
Imagine if Sampdoria scored a 2nd while this guy fecked up 2 decent chances before that
The first one was not that bad, but the second! Being able to hear him adds to the impression as well
He would actually be good for us if he's here this season because we've problems scoring against the supposed weaker teams where he excels best at.
His composure really is so bad at times
Imagine if Sampdoria scored a 2nd while this guy fecked up 2 decent chances before that
Both really bad misses, especially the second one. The 1st one is not easy but it's miles off and any decent/good striker at least gets it on target. His technique really fluctuates from ok to terrible.
Was reported by Kristof Terreur a Belgian journo that Lukaku always thought he was coming back to us that summer, and it was his wish. But ended up with
Its been said a few times since he joined you by various media, belgian and english, that he always thought he was coming back to us that summer and privately it was what he wanted. Not surprised he got out at the first opportunity, better off without him
Its been said a few times since he joined you by various media, belgian and english, that he always thought he was coming back to us that summer and privately it was what he wanted. Not surprised he got out at the first opportunity, better off without him
But if he wanted to join you he would have joined you considering you guys did match our 75 million bid. Having said that I feel it would have been better for him to join you guys as conte was your manager back then. He would have replaced costa's goals for you. Conte was always his big fan and the fact that your board signed morata instead of him could have been the starting point for conte being pissed at Roman.
His composure really is so bad at times
Imagine if Sampdoria scored a 2nd while this guy fecked up 2 decent chances before that
The sound of the sirens after the shot goes over
His composure really is so bad at times
Imagine if Sampdoria scored a 2nd while this guy fecked up 2 decent chances before that
Eriksen seems to have an extra spring in his step. Perhaps the miles in his legs argument wasn't justified. Or the slower Serie A suits him. Or the change of scenery. Or the 3 month 'rest'.
His composure really is so bad at times
Imagine if Sampdoria scored a 2nd while this guy fecked up 2 decent chances before that
Jeez, that second one is pathetic. For someone who we kept getting told would bag goals if you give him the chances, that was awfully familiar.
Lovely touch
His composure really is so bad at times
Imagine if Sampdoria scored a 2nd while this guy fecked up 2 decent chances before that
Eriksen was wonderful in the 2nd clip. Seems to have settled now. Young getting involved with the setup is nice to see.
It's standard Lukaku isn't it? He might score a few goals but it's clips like this that separates him from the very best. Champions League final, at the death, he's the last person you want it being squared to.
I don't think Lukaku has shown anything new at Inter which would fundamentally change our decision to let him go. Nobody denied that he was a decent striker with an eye for goal, and a potentially deadly combination of pace and power. Though arguably, our inability to put away weaker teams has made his absence felt a bit more (along with our injury crises).
What was in question was his ability to play as a lone forward, hold the ball up to bring others into play and be truly clinical for someone who doesn't offer as big of an outlet as his build / raw materials would suggest. (And as those videos show, he's not very clinical at all which could have hurt Inter if Sampdoria equalized)
What we're seen in Inter is that having a second forward who occupies the CBs with smart movement, can help him hide those deficiencies while having 2 wing-backs allows him to both get crossed into the box and drift out wide to combine. It's a specific system that gets the best out of Lukaku and plays to his strengths. Conte also has complete mastery of the 3-5-2 which obviously helps. There just aren't many systems where you can fit a two-man strike force; all those systems require extremely offensive wing-backs which we don't have..
What was in question was his ability to play as a lone forward, hold the ball up to bring others into play and be truly clinical for someone who doesn't offer as big of an outlet as his build / raw materials would suggest. (And as those videos show, he's not very clinical at all which could have hurt Inter if Sampdoria equalized)
What we're seen in Inter is that having a second forward who occupies the CBs with smart movement, can help him hide those deficiencies while having 2 wing-backs allows him to both get crossed into the box and drift out wide to combine. It's a specific system that gets the best out of Lukaku and plays to his strengths. Conte also has complete mastery of the 3-5-2 which obviously helps. There just aren't many systems where you can fit a two-man strike force; all those systems require extremely offensive wing-backs which we don't have..
His composure really is so bad at times
Imagine if Sampdoria scored a 2nd while this guy fecked up 2 decent chances before that
He has excellent positioning but Martial is so much better with the ball. I wish Martial has his positioning and hunger to score he'd be very deadly
That second one was terrible
Seeing he and Mourinho do the annoying things they did to us previously and now to other teams makes me feel free
Glad we moved him on when we did even if it did leave us light for options. The guy came across disruptive and couldn't accept a squad role. Not that Ole offered him one, he could see he wasn't right for his system from day one.
Everyone has it spot on, he's second tier and struggles bringing others into the game as hes just not a very good footballer.
Everyone has it spot on, he's second tier and struggles bringing others into the game as hes just not a very good footballer.
Seeing he and Mourinho do the annoying things they did to us previously and now to other teams makes me feel free
I had high hopes. In my most fanciful dreams I thought for a minute that he may even emulate drogba.
WRONG!
I am glad he left and that we go some good money for him
Puts those two 'chances' that Martial didn't score from against Spurs into perspective