Romelu Lukaku | Napoli watch

lsd said:
Martial is not a centre forward and should not be playing as one . Hopefully Greenwood will develop into one but until he does we need a better option through the middle .
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Why? Because you don't say so? Was he not a center forward in the 2 big games vs City? Or Chelsea away where he scored a great header? How about scoring over 20 goals this season in all competitions, dramatically increasing his consistency after the new year as well? Hat trick against Sheffield United? Being top scorer in the league since the new year? Guess none of that counts as being a center forward.
The Martial criticism is downright ridiculous and complete unfounded. The guy has developed into a brilliant player, definitely a center forward, yet people keep shitting on him for no reason. Yeah, Mourinho liked putting him on the wing because he doesn't know how to play without a target man. There's many ways to play football though.
 
SilentWitness said:
Lukaku was never going to stay and play 2nd fiddle.
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He should have stayed and fighted for his place though. Or that is what I wished for at least.
I remember us under SAF with 4 quality forwards in 2 spots with lots of rotation.
Now we seem to settle with one good player per spot or not even that.
 
lsd said:
The benefits of a proper number 9 . Two excellent finishes tonight and over 30 goals for the season .

This is why Inter are in the final and we are not .

If Ole wasn't satisfied with Lukaku then he should have replaced him with a a proper centre forward and not a winger who can't win headers.

For once i have to admit Scholes is right and we are paying the price for not having a real centre forward
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Did we win much with Lukaku in the side?
Must have missed that
 
Eddy_JukeZ said:
I don't think anyone here really cares if he fails or not.

But you have to admit it's also annoying that whenever he scores, there's always 1 person who goes on about it.

I mean just look at the posts LSD made in this thread.
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I mean you can make a case for the other side, as I said, whenever he has a shite game, Gif and others immediately jump to this thread and spend 1-2 pages laughing at him. There're some videos here of his bad touches that have been posted about 100 times.

For both parties I think it's time to move on. He left 1 year ago. He's doing great at Inter and we managed to build a pretty good attacking side without him too. Win-win for both us. Time to evaluate him as a player from a neutral perspective. He's not the best footballer but he's definitely a great goalscorer who had a crap second season with us. Fair I guess ?
 
el3mel said:
Some as usual will find it hard to give him any kind of credit but will be back immediately whenever he has a shite game to have some laugh in this thread. I'll say it again, I really can't understand the reasoning of being bitter about our ex as if they should all fail because they left us.
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I think most will give him credit where it’s due, but also recognise that we’re better off without him. He also tends to score goals like he did tonight, in big victories when the game is already won, as opposed to making the difference in big games. He looks to be doing the business for inter, that’s great - but he couldn’t be relied upon as the main man here.
 
el3mel said:
I mean you can make a case for the other side, as I said, whenever he has a shite game, Gif and others immediately jump to this thread and spend 1-2 pages laughing at him. There're some videos here of his bad touches that have been posted about 100 times.

For both parties I think it's time to move on. He left 1 year ago. He's doing great at Inter and we managed to build a pretty good attacking side without him too. Win-win for both us. Time to evaluate him as a player from a neutral perspective. He's not the best footballer but he's definitely a great goalscorer who had a crap second season with us. Fair I guess ?
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Yeah I think you are right there. It is time to drop Lukaku talk after this season. Maybe next season we move on to Sanchez ;).
 
2 man midfield said:
I think most will give him credit where it’s due, but also recognise that we’re better off without him. He also tends to score goals like he did tonight, in big victories when the game is already won, as opposed to making the difference in big games. He looks to be doing the business for inter, that’s great - but he couldn’t be relied upon as the main man here.
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That's I totally agree on, as I said in the post above. It's currently win-win for both him and United. Each one found better success in terms of style and goals after he joined Inter, so no regrets for me overall. I don't agree with people who think we should have kept him but I don't agree with those thinking he's a terrible player either.
 
el3mel said:
I mean you can make a case for the other side, as I said, whenever he has a shite game, Gif and others immediately jump to this thread and spend 1-2 pages laughing at him. There're some videos here of his bad touches that have been posted about 100 times.

For both parties I think it's time to move on. He left 1 year ago. He's doing great at Inter and we managed to build a pretty good attacking side without him too. Win-win for both us. Time to evaluate him as a player from a neutral perspective. He's not the best footballer but he's definitely a great goalscorer who had a crap second season with us. Fair I guess ?
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I have never had a problem with selling him but i do have a problem that we did not replace him with a proper centre forward . That has always been my point .

A proper centre forward is a player that can win headers score consistently including tap ins and always be in a threatening position keeping defenders occupied.

Martial clearly cannot do all those things .

Im not even hating on Martial as a player i would have him in the team just not as our centre forward
 
el3mel said:
I mean you can make a case for the other side, as I said, whenever he has a shite game, Gif and others immediately jump to this thread and spend 1-2 pages laughing at him. There're some videos here of his bad touches that have been posted about 100 times.

For both parties I think it's time to move on. He left 1 year ago. He's doing great at Inter and we managed to build a pretty good attacking side without him too. Win-win for both us. Time to evaluate him as a player from a neutral perspective. He's not the best footballer but he's definitely a great goalscorer who had a crap second season with us. Fair I guess ?
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Because he thinks he's all that when in fact he isn't. Not to mention how he was acting while he was here I have zero respect for these sort of pricks
 
GifLord said:
Because he thinks he's all that when in fact he isn't. Not to mention how he was acting while he was here I have zero respect for these sort of pricks
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Meanwhile, he talked pretty well about us post today's game.

 
UnofficialDevil said:
I disagree.
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Did you miss the last two seasons?

Both Martial and Rashford beat his best PL total for us this year - in a season where Rashford broke his back and Martial had his first full season as a centre forward and also was injured for 6 weeks.

Lukaku scored 1 goal in 22 games against the top 6 while he was here

He was crap for us, he's doing well for Inter - although his general play is still rubbish and he still has a bad record against the top teams.
 
Paul_Scholes18 said:
He should have stayed and fighted for his place though. Or that is what I wished for at least.
I remember us under SAF with 4 quality forwards in 2 spots with lots of rotation.
Now we seem to settle with one good player per spot or not even that.
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To be honest at the time he left I probably would have agree with you but now he's left and I've had time to think on it I don't agree at all.

Lukaku is a player that absolutely loves to be wanted by someone - it's why he left Chelsea to come to us despite them being his dream move and it's why he then ended up leaving us for United and then United to Inter. Each stage of his career he's been wanted a bit more by someone or by someone he deems as a bit better which is why he's moved on. In the case of United he didn't have the manager he wanted to play for anymore in Mourinho as Ole took over and things were turning very sour at United, with the club and the fans. He knew that Conte wanted him so it was an easy decision for him to leave in the end.

SAF was excellent because even if you weren't his favourite he was able to make you feel like you were his favourite. Every manager clearly has them but the best ones are capable of keeping squad harmony and making each player feel special and want to go that extra limb.

Unfortunately also for Lukaku he decided to 'bulk' for the WC in 2018 which took away his absolute best attributes which were his power, pace and drive from his lower body because he had this upper mass compared to his leaner stronger frame. It completely changed his style of play from the one he was at Everton and United (first season) and in the second season it just wasn't reversible quick enough for him to turn it around. Once Conte came in for him, you were given the chance to recoup the fee for him and Ole figured out the style he wanted to play with United it was always going to be curtains.

It's turned out to be the best move for all parties. You've got Martial who suits you much better under Ole and Lukaku is back to his old leaner self and enjoying his football again. The mistake was not purchasing an adequete replacement for Lukaku in the form of a player who was good enough to challenge Martial and keep him on his toes/replace him in games like last night when you needed a goal desperately and he just wasn't connecting properly.
 
MalcolmTucker said:
Did you miss the last two seasons?

Both Martial and Rashford beat his best PL total for us this year - in a season where Rashford broke his back and Martial had his first full season as a centre forward and also was injured for 6 weeks.

Lukaku scored 1 goal in 22 games against the top 6 while he was here

He was crap for us, he's doing well for Inter - although his general play is still rubbish and he still has a bad record against the top teams.
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Why does anyone care about 'the general play' for a pure no 9? Same with CB's and fullbacks. Its insane.

We had great 'general play' last night but lost, and OleOut want to sack OGS anyway.

No 9 are there to score goals. That is their only metric. And Lukaku is bossing it on that front for Inter, and did well enough for us on that front too.
 
SilentWitness said:
To be honest at the time he left I probably would have agree with you but now he's left and I've had time to think on it I don't agree at all.

Lukaku is a player that absolutely loves to be wanted by someone - it's why he left Chelsea to come to us despite them being his dream move and it's why he then ended up leaving us for United and then United to Inter. Each stage of his career he's been wanted a bit more by someone or by someone he deems as a bit better which is why he's moved on. In the case of United he didn't have the manager he wanted to play for anymore in Mourinho as Ole took over and things were turning very sour at United, with the club and the fans. He knew that Conte wanted him so it was an easy decision for him to leave in the end.

SAF was excellent because even if you weren't his favourite he was able to make you feel like you were his favourite. Every manager clearly has them but the best ones are capable of keeping squad harmony and making each player feel special and want to go that extra limb.

Unfortunately also for Lukaku he decided to 'bulk' for the WC in 2018 which took away his absolute best attributes which were his power, pace and drive from his lower body because he had this upper mass compared to his leaner stronger frame. It completely changed his style of play from the one he was at Everton and United (first season) and in the second season it just wasn't reversible quick enough for him to turn it around. Once Conte came in for him, you were given the chance to recoup the fee for him and Ole figured out the style he wanted to play with United it was always going to be curtains.

It's turned out to be the best move for all parties. You've got Martial who suits you much better under Ole and Lukaku is back to his old leaner self and enjoying his football again. The mistake was not purchasing an adequete replacement for Lukaku in the form of a player who was good enough to challenge Martial and keep him on his toes/replace him in games like last night when you needed a goal desperately and he just wasn't connecting properly.
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I thought he was very badly treated by OGS. One of the few incidents of very poor man management.
Unless OGS wanted him out all along, so he could raise funds for a new CB.
 
lsd said:
I have never had a problem with selling him but i do have a problem that we did not replace him with a proper centre forward . That has always been my point .

A proper centre forward is a player that can win headers score consistently including tap ins and always be in a threatening position keeping defenders occupied.

Martial clearly cannot do all those things .

Im not even hating on Martial as a player i would have him in the team just not as our centre forward
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:lol:
 
sammsky1 said:
Why does anyone care about 'the general play' for a pure no 9? Same with CB's and fullbacks. Its insane.

We had great 'general play' last night but lost, and OleOut want to sack OGS anyway.

No 9 are there to score goals. That is their only metric. And Lukaku is bossing it on that front for Inter, and did well enough for us on that front too.
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His finishing was horrific in his 2nd season here.
 
Lukaku was crap for us. And for the entirety of tonight’s game he did nothing until the game was already won. He scores goals but contributes absolutely nothing else. He didn’t fit into our system. It’s as simple as that.
 
I don't dislike and I couldn't understand thee abuse he got while he was here from some of our fans but I was happy he left because Martial soothed us better.

We will be great with Martial next season, I am pretty sure of that.
 
lsd said:
The benefits of a proper number 9 . Two excellent finishes tonight and over 30 goals for the season .

This is why Inter are in the final and we are not .

If Ole wasn't satisfied with Lukaku then he should have replaced him with a a proper centre forward and not a winger who can't win headers.

For once i have to admit Scholes is right and we are paying the price for not having a real centre forward
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I’d have bet my house on Lukaku missing those chances last night.
 
Eddy_JukeZ said:
He had 15 goals in 45 appearances.

How is that fine?

He missed 2 crucial sitters in losses to Brighton and Spurs in our 2nd and 3rd game that sped up Jose's meltdown.
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You can argue it was a bit of an anomaly - everyone was shit under Jose that season.

I mean, in the 3 seasons before then he was hitting 25, 26 and 27 goals in 45 games. Serie A is an easier league to score in but 31 goals in in 49 is still an impressive return. Yeah, I'd put that 15 goal season as an anomaly for him.
 
sammsky1 said:
His numbers were fine.
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He couldn’t be a better example of why stats, even number of goals, are a load of bollocks on their own. Guy was dire here and has been bitter ever since, until that one interview there.

Unfortunately there isn’t a stat for royally fecking up the majority of stuff that comes towards you to prove it.
 
sammsky1 said:
Why does anyone care about 'the general play' for a pure no 9? Same with CB's and fullbacks. Its insane.

We had great 'general play' last night but lost, and OleOut want to sack OGS anyway.

No 9 are there to score goals. That is their only metric. And Lukaku is bossing it on that front for Inter, and did well enough for us on that front too.
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A centre forward needs to be able to hold the ball to and bring others into play, no?

Promising moves would regularly break down when the ball ricocheted of Lukaku's shin because he couldn't trap a simple pass.

Funnily enough he had a couple of decent games at RW under Ole.
 
sammsky1 said:
I thought he was very badly treated by OGS. One of the few incidents of very poor man management.
Unless OGS wanted him out all along, so he could raise funds for a new CB.
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Could you elaborate on that? How was he badly treated by Ole?
 
VP89 said:
You can argue it was a bit of an anomaly - everyone was shit under Jose that season.

I mean, in the 3 seasons before then he was hitting 25, 26 and 27 goals in 45 games. Serie A is an easier league to score in but 31 goals in in 49 is still an impressive return. Yeah, I'd put that 15 goal season as an anomaly for him.
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Falling about the place while being invisible against any top 8 side wasn't an anomoly
 
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