I don’t think Lukaku is any great player but if he joined today I think he’d end the season as our top scorer
Not sold on Hojlund yet. And I doubt he’ll get to Christmas without another injury spell
Romelu Lukaku | Napoli watch
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Not sold on Hojlund yet. And I doubt he’ll get to Christmas without another injury spell
I really can't wait until this Donkey retires.
Another middle of the road self announced GOaT
Another middle of the road self announced GOaT
Lukaku is better than both of them. He outscored Zirkzee last season in Italy despite Roma being a mess and Bologna having their best season in decades. Hojlund doesn't even warrant starting for Denmark anymore.
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It’s not even debatable that Lukaku is better than our current striking options. At least it shouldn’t be. Lukaku, for all his faults and limitations is a good proven striker. Yes, I said good. His style and strengths just didn’t play to where/how we wanted to play. Hojlund and Zirkzee may have potentially better ceiling in some aspects and might already be better in some regards, but yes, Lukaku is better than what they are overall currently.
It’s not even debatable that Lukaku is better than our current striking options. At least it shouldn’t be. Lukaku, for all his faults and limitations is a good proven striker. Yes, I said good. His style and strengths just didn’t play to where/how we wanted to play. Hojlund and Zirkzee may have potentially better ceiling in some aspects and might already be better in some regards, but yes, Lukaku is better than what they are overall currently.
Would be a better striker if he played to his strengths. As we saw at united, he did not bully inside the box and constantly fluffed gilt edge chances.
His attitude is the worst part. Always sees himself as the victim. He was on record saying he was thinking about leaving United after his first day here. Serial club hopper. Glad we got rid of this donkey.
Our current strikers have a far better attitude than he ever had, and with proper coaching I believe they will go on to perform better too.
Yes but the problem is he speaks all of the time about literally everything.
I think that was Alexis Sanchez.
Yeah, well. He likes portraying himself in certain ways. At the end of the day, i don't really think he understands what he's actually saying.
I suppose it all comes back to him being thick as feck and not having anyone around him to calm him down. The stuff at his second stint at Chelsea, second round at Inter, such a weird one.
Yes - you are right, it was Sanchez.
Nah this prick definitely said:
“I dreamt of leaving United since my second game”
It was both actually
How weak is your mentality if you want to leave after one training session or after a match? I just don't get it.
I knew I was right!It was both actually
How weak is your mentality if you want to leave after one training session or after a match? I just don't get it.
And yes - I agree. We have signed some incredibly weak minded players over the last decade.
I don’t know, maybe we should be looking at why players want to leave immediately after touching down at United instead of “haha weak minded”
You're a grown ass man...
You'd think so after over a decade of the club being an utter mess. But nah, 'weak minded' players are the problem.
It is a valid concern to raise and probably some truth in it, but if you're a grown man and a professional football player that earns £200k + a week and want to leave your new club after a training session, then you most definitely have a weak mentality.
Averages a goal every two games across his career, definitely could do with a goalscorer like that for sure at United right now.
Not this again. We saw how this turned out at Chelsea 3 years ago.
These aren’t run of the mill players United are signing. These are bonafide international stars, with proven track records. Out of the hundreds of thousands of aspiring footballers, these are the guys that made it to the pinnacle of the game. That’s not to say they’re infallible, but I’m sorry I don’t buy into “weak minded/weak mentality”. And no, being well remunerated won’t stop you from being dissatisfied if conditions at your employer are not adequate/as expected.
It’s more than one guy saying the same, man. Similar reports have been made about new arrival Ugarte (though admittedly the sources reporting it are dogshit). Different circumstances and timelines and all that, but in the last decade there isn’t exactly a shortage of players fighting to get out of/regretting a United move.
He definitely comes with some baggage and seems like he can get in a strop. He is also undeniably a top class goal scorer.
His record at every level he has played is very very good.
I'm not disappointed he left, but we have never replaced him with anybody remotely as dangerous.
His record at every level he has played is very very good.
I'm not disappointed he left, but we have never replaced him with anybody remotely as dangerous.
Cavani was far more dangerous.
How are we ascertaining this? For clarification - I preferred Cavani as a player. I just want to know how we're quantifying this.
For the record, their records for United according to Transfermarkt:
Cavani - 19 goals in 59 appearances
Lukaku - 42 goals in 96 appearances
Lukaku's numbers at United look good but when you scratch beneath the surface, he was a disappointing signing overall. He started off strongly with 7 goals in his first 7 PL games (mostly against bottom half clubs), then things went wrong and he never quite fully recovered. His next 14 PL games saw just 3 goals. During that run we played Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, City and Chelsea with Lukaku managing 0 goals and just 1 assist.
He returned from the World Cup overweight and contributed very little during the first half of his second season at United. He was one of many players who experienced an uptick in form during Ole's interim spell, but we all know how that season ended. He was a massive liability and shocking when we needed him most.
Cavani was a better player, with superior technical ability, movement and work rate. He was also far more dangerous in the big games.
How messy we were behind the scenes?It was both actually
How weak is your mentality if you want to leave after one training session or after a match? I just don't get it.
I’m not arguing Lukaku was a good signing or that we should have kept him. I don’t even like or think particularly highly of his ability.
I’m simply asking how are you substantiating the assertion that Cavani was far more dangerous. Their records for United aren’t favourable to the notion that Cavani was more dangerous than him, let alone the “far more” qualifiers.
1) Cavani passes the eye test.
2) Lukaku's numbers are inflated by his bright start. It was all downhill after his first 2 months.
Right, so pretty much comes down to aesthetics then.
Bright start followed by dryer spells doesn't negate his numbers nor does it make-up the difference in their ratios for Cavani. In fact, things tilt more in Lukaku's favour when accounting for assists too:
Cavani - 19 goals, 6 assists in 59 appearances
Lukaku - 42 goals, 12 assists in 96 appearances
the notion that Cavani was "far more dangerous" than Lukaku for United just doesn't appear to be reflected in reality. Even if I believe Cavani is/was a better player overall.
Nor do G/A stats give a full picture of how dangerous an attacking player is. I'm not sure why you're getting so hung up on quantifying the threat level of Cavani and Lukaku when you yourself admit that Cavani was the better player.
Based on their time at United, if we were to rewind a few years... who would you rather lead the line for us? Who would you rather start in a cup final? Who would you trust to get on the end of a cross when we need a goal in the dying minutes of the game? If your answer is Cavani for each of those questions, then you can see why I believe Cavani was far more dangerous for us.
The answer is Lukaku but they are not good options.
I would also look closer at Cavani's goals; he was just as much of a flat track bully (arguably more so now I remind myself) when he was here and scored against Everton (3), Soton (3), Fulham (2) and really the only big games he turned up in were Roma, arguable how good a team they are but is was KO football, and Spurs, kind of a tough team?
He played against Arsenal, Chelsea, City, Pool six times and never scored and made 1 assist.
Lukaku played against those same teams many more times and was almost as bad, but he did score against one of them (I think Chelsea) and got a couple of assists.
Summary: Both were crap in big games for us but Lukaku was better here, quite comfortably, because Cavan was about 40.
Insecurities are a tad obvious.
Who the hell claimed he’s “back to goal, best player in the world. Top 5”? Then also proceeds saying that it’s not his style at all.
Not that I’ve followed his career at Inter, but that first claim sounds ridiculous.
Who the hell claimed he’s “back to goal, best player in the world. Top 5”? Then also proceeds saying that it’s not his style at all.
Not that I’ve followed his career at Inter, but that first claim sounds ridiculous.
Far more effective than McTominay so far
I knew I was right!
And yes - I agree. We have signed some incredibly weak minded players over the last decade.
He still finished as our top scorer in his debut season with a goal tally just one less than Ibrahimovich the season prior. He wasn't our penalty taker either. His first season was brilliant, and it remains our best league campaign of the post Fergie era
Ibra missed 25% of our PL games that season iirc, mainly due to the knee injury he sustained near the end, but still outscored him.
Yes he outscored Lukaku by one goal and he had a spell out injured. He also had his longest goal drought in ten years at the time
Ibrahimovich also scored 3 pens and 2 direct freekicks, with Lukaku not scoring a single goal from a set piece. Lukaku also had a wider variety of goals, with more headers and more goals from his weaker foot
The first half of his first season was good, maybe even very good. Certainly not brilliant. Then even in the second half of that first season he fell away quite a lot. Then his second season was one of the worst seasons any of our players have had.
Scoring free kicks isn't an argument that should be used against you. That's a strength, and part of variation of goals as you mentioned. Penalties I agree with, but he scored 2 in PL, not 3. He also played a fair bit less than Lukaku as well.
here’s some context on that goal drought you mention
https://www.espn.co.uk/football/sto...ught-hurting-manchester-united-premier-league
Including this;
“Every striker goes through a dry patch, too. Robin van Persie, who scored twice on Sunday's as United's next opponents Fenerbahce beat Karabukspor 5-0, went 10 league games without a goal in the title winning 2012-13 season.”
Also, who cares about the variety of the way the goals are scored as long as they’re being scored. Ibra scored quite a few with his head that season too. You also negate your own point by trying to discount the free kicks
That would be a far too sensible approach.
They could’ve saved themselves 40m and just stuck Scott up front.