We struggle to break teams down without Lukaku. Let us hope that can turn, but at the moment we miss him badly.
Romelu Lukaku | Napoli watch
- Thread starter Samid
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We really don't miss him.
Lukaku talks a big game but he can't back it up. Everything is talk with him. He was the first to say he doesn't care about his teammates problems and that they should deal with it, yet sulked and left at the first opportunity once the going got tough here.Drogba was a bit Lukakuesque early in his career but each season he refined his game and become rather skillful as time went on. Lukaku is just a moron with a big mouth
We miss a top striker though. Maybe we could do better than Lukaku, but we are not.
Let us hope Martial can step up though and do the job.
It was ridiculous if you studied both their games. Attribute wise Lukaku had a lot more in common with Torres than he did Drogba.
Yep for a big guy Lukaku rarely used his body to gain an advantage over the defenders. He's soft as lambs wool! the only time I saw him play with aggression was against Chelsea (smashed Azpilicueta)
That interview was the moment I knew with a 100% certainty that Lukaku will never make it here. He was so smug about being the teacher's pet, basically saying some of the players in the squad are not manly enough to deal with criticism or change. But then after leaving, he spoke about not being appreciated enough and alluded to not wanting to fight for his place or try and play as some sort of RF/RW.
Couldn't care less about Lukawho?
How so?
If we wanted someone to score the third goal against a crap side, then sure we miss him! He’s never been good enough for a top European side.
The best bit of transfer we have done in years in offloading him for £65m.
With Lukaku we ended up in second place. Without him we struggle for 4th.
Sure it is down to other players too, but we have not improved without him.
Martial has been up and down, but had a great game tonight.
All true though. Can look at the league tables.
We are miles away from a title challenge at the moment.
Lukaku was there last season, where did you finish
I don’t remember us finishing 2nd last season? Must have missed that.
The season before the meltdown. Last season everyone started terribly due to Mourinho being toxic.
Still Lukaku gave the job for Ole with 6 goals in 3 games including 2 against PSG.
Then everyone ended terribly which is hard to explain, but Lukaku was mainly dropped then.
Funny, despite us finishing 2nd in the 17/18 season he still managed to have a worse goal to minute ratio than Martial has currently, in a season where we've had a rubbish midfield all season and by your accounts he has been up and down. Do you not remember Lukaku going literal months without scoring a goal?
You also forget that Lukaku was here last season and he was an object of ridicule. Other teams literally laughing at him and us.
I find it so bizarre there are still people who rate Lukaku.
Lukaku was up and down too, but carried us higher up the league table.
The point I am making is that we have lacked quality and options up front. It has cost us a lot against defensive sides.
Pogba has been missed too, but our midfield has still been one of our stronger parts (maybe not attacking midfield).
He played 8 times after the PSG game, was complete shit and didn't score a goal.
In his last game against Chelsea he was so unfit he was walking around and blowing out his arse by half time.
You seriously overrate Lukaku. We haven't missed him at all.
You might underrate him too though if you think we haven't missed him. We have struggled to beat weaker teams all season.
Also struggled for goals. Martial has done better now near the end with Bruno around. Although think we needs an alternative top striker to him.
Fair enough the Lukaku of last season is not very much missed since he struggled with his fitness particular past his injury.
Although the Lukaku of old is something we could have used.
Acceleration being a big part of their respective games aswell as both heavily reliant on the service they get/got. Both better when operating on instinct as opposed when they have more time to think and both also have a tendency to sulk and blame anyone but themselves when it's not going their way/they're not being pandered too.
Man lukaku doesnt have a first touch, which is quite a basic thing for a footballer and precisely a striker worth 75mil do you understand how abnormal it is for us normal people to rate him as a good striker in general? We made great business in selling him, look at those three young devils roaming forward today, you seriously want that tank to be slowfecking our attack?
He didn't carry us for toffee, he scored at an average rate, lower than Martial this season, in a season that was over by November. He scored 1 goal in over 20 games against the top 6 while he was here, which is laughable. Lukaku's myth is that he's a good goalscorer, he's an average one, the likes of Martial and Tammy Abraham have a better goalscoring record in their first season as starting premier league strikers than Lukaku in his best one here. So if Lukaku isn't even as good as Martial as a goalscorer, what on earth has he got over him?
His first touch can be poor at times, but he still scores goals and set up his team for goals. He took us to top 2 and Belgium to third place in the world cup. That is a pretty good record.
He could be good for us still. It is the same with people slating Matic for being too slow and old. Still doing a great job for us.
Anyway we should drop this discussion. He is gone now and people can have different opinions.
I think he was nasty when leaving, especially posting team information, and the interviews. He did score, Paris will never ne forgotten, but I'm glad we moved on
This. We're a better team
Except, Lukaku is not quality. Can you imagine him as one of the front 3 today? Our movement and passing was so slick, he would have destroyed that.
He's a good player and would improve some team, maybe could have been an option from the bench but you don't keep a £70m player as a bench option. We certainly should have replaced him, so don't confuse that with Lukaku being a good player for us.
I've seen some posters say the same sort of thing about Chicharito, some people just have terrible memory.
so you credit him with us coming second, and absolve him when we finished outside the CL places. We’ve not missed him one bit, and we are a far better team without him. He may have played some games on the right wing, that’s about it.
That PSG game is about the only match in his entire time at Utd that stands out. 1 goal in 23 appearances against the top 6 over 2 years.
He has limitations and not the biggest fan of him. He does score goals and he actually has some decent passing at times. He needs to use his strength better though as if he did no defender could match him.
Just realized a really strange fact. Lukaku has more goals in WC knockout games than Messi and Ronaldo combined (albeit only 1
)
Just realized a really strange fact. Lukaku has more goals in WC knockout games than Messi and Ronaldo combined (albeit only 1
)Yeah it's Lukaku who gave Ole the job, not players like Pogba, Rashford who were very good in the run in.
Ole didn't get contract for PSG game alone.
Why so much bad blood?
Breaking teams down generally involves the things that happen outside of the six yard box. Lukaku is generally pretty awful at things that happen outside the six yard box. More often than not, when trying to break teams down, our attacks fell apart when he got on the ball.
He was very, very annoying during his time here. His interviews were some of the most annoying I ever saw from a United player. Certainly enough to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
On Lukaku and Drogba, they're very different strikers. Lukaku comes across as big and strong, but he's a pretty mediocre target man and he actually operates like a poacher, coming 'alive' in the box and trying to work the channels/get in behind off it. His actual other than the odd bullish moment is similar to strikers who are less physically imposing. Drogba on the other hand doesn't look as dominant physically but absolutely was. He was more like Diego Costa - strong center forward work, excellent at holding up and bringing others into play, a real focal point, unlike Lukaku who is best less involved (until the fag end of the move). More skillful and mobile than Costa of course.
Athe awme time the comparison isn't absurd given the pace and power they possess. If you don't delve deeper they appear to be similar to the naked eye.
Athe awme time the comparison isn't absurd given the pace and power they possess. If you don't delve deeper they appear to be similar to the naked eye.
I hope we get Inter in the Uefa Cup, and absolutely mug them. We are not perfect as a team, but So long as Harry Maguire plants his big ass on Lukaku, we can watch Lukaku go goalless and see Bruno-Pogba wreak havoc.
Yes, I'm feeling good after yesterday. I haven't felt this good about our midfield since Scholesy.
Yes, I'm feeling good after yesterday. I haven't felt this good about our midfield since Scholesy.
No, I don't. We would get a team with annoying low-block approach, coached by Conte (During Conte's 2 years here, I was dreading us facing his Chelses team). You can bet Lukaku will be fired up against us, which is another annoying factor. Remember how Welbeck regularly scored against us at Arsenal? Now with a fired-up Lukaku, we may be punished more heavily. Ole and us had a tough season. I want us to end with a nice run and actual trophies. We can just keep picking weak opponents through lucky draws and win the Europa League. That's fine to me too.
I just want us to get into the summer transfer window in the best possible shape. Then Ole can continue his good transfer streak and we may even challenge for the League next season. One can dream right?
As for Lukaku, he had a decent, okay-ish first season with us. His second season was a disaster except for that miraculous night in Paris. However my biggest highlight of him would be the time when he got roasted by Luke Shaw of all people.
See this thread:https://www.redcafe.net/threads/rom...o-leave-the-club.449595/page-74#post-25032285
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VICTOR! feckING HELL!
There's always a moment watching Lukaku where you're going to see him in a stationary position pointing exactly where he wants the ball.Always.
We're still getting paid for this lump? Happy days!