For all the things that Lukaku can't do. This is the one thing he is the worst at - being the long ball recipient.
We will never win the league with Lukaku up front
- Thread starter BringNaniBack
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
For all the things that Lukaku can't do. This is the one thing he is the worst at - being the long ball recipient.
Sorry, as I thought that was a question? Yes he is good enough or no he isn't? Ok let's wait then till once he's left the club cause whilst he's here, he might win one.....
Almost as if we didn't play the ball out of the defence with the previous manager with more or less the same defenders...
You brought up Morata, people marking their own homework... I'm saying I couldn't care less about any of that. Morata isn't a United player. Stick the the issue of Lukaku and whether he is good enough to fire us to a title
Lukaku as our only option as an out-and-out striker is not good enough. He needs competition to keep him on his toes. Think he needs taking out of the firing line. Need to try, as others have said Sanchez up front, with Martial and Rashford with Mata behind.
Is it that much to ask a striker of a top team to hold the ball better, has better close control in tight situation and has better first touch so that he can bring the rest of the players into game ?
Not really interested in whether you care or not, and you don't than have to respond to it. Like said, the only way anyone will know if he's good enough or not, is when he's no longer here and it's not happened. Since I've been watching football, not seen a title won by solely by one player anyway. I think he's limited but playing to his strengths is a top striker, but whether that's good enough is dependent on the other 10 players. Salah scored a stupid amount of goals, and where did they finish.
Last edited:
Sounds like 95% of the strikers in the prem. Playing the system we do, I'd only take Kane to do better. Like I said, he's limited but even the balls played to him as a lone striker are often 'hopeful' at best. I really find it hard to judge utd attacking players as I'm not sure any of our current systems suit them. The only time we seem to attack well is when we are losing....
He's on borrowed time - he won't last under the next manager, he's not good enough.
Needs dropping. Sanchez up top with Mata, Martial and Rashford behind.
Dont think its up to the current or next manger where Lukaku may end up.
Its all on Eddie,who I think would block a potential sale unless a silly bid comes in.
Can we just sell Eddie?
Why would Ed block a sale? Not like Rom's a major marketing figure or anything.
If he doesn't get game time he'll probably want to move. The next manager won't play him as a striker if he has rashford, martial and Sanchez as options.
when we bought Lukaku I really felt he could develop into a Drogba type player
someone who made his presence felt, who wasn't the best technically but was decent and Lukaku is a better finisher than Lukaku
he still might develop but he is anonymous for most games - is there a problem with his running and movement? is there a problem with our build up play and our inability to get the best out of him?
he's badly out of form but with his physical attributes he should still be stretching defences and making things awkward for CBs - Drogba would have made a boy out of Luis yesterday, bullying him. I expect more from Rom
someone who made his presence felt, who wasn't the best technically but was decent and Lukaku is a better finisher than Lukaku
he still might develop but he is anonymous for most games - is there a problem with his running and movement? is there a problem with our build up play and our inability to get the best out of him?
he's badly out of form but with his physical attributes he should still be stretching defences and making things awkward for CBs - Drogba would have made a boy out of Luis yesterday, bullying him. I expect more from Rom
Well, we have scored 5 goals in our last 2 games and Lukaku has scored none of them. And this is our target man!
Why is it that all our other attackers are scoring but he isn't?
He has had some easy chances to put away and he missed every single one of them.
IMO, he has gained weight which is costing him. I think he needs to lose a lot of weight, in order to attain the speed required to play in the EPL. IMO, he is defin
At this time, the guy is slow**, weak* and has a poor first touch.
*Some people think that because he is big we can hoof the ball to him and he can hold the ball up. And that because of his size, he can shield the ball from a defender. Well...that's not what is happening on the pitch. Opponents who are smaller, are taking the ball away from him and winning headers off of him. Basically, he has all the weaknesses of being a big human, but none of the strengths.
**Yesterday I noticed when we were hitting CFC on the break, 3 of our attackers had reached the final third of the pitch, ready to attempt to either shoot on goal or cross the ball into the box. Lukaku was still about 10m behind. He is large, heavy and slow.
Just don't think he has the personality to be a Drogba. Drogba might be a lovely guy off the pitch, but on it he was a so-and-so. Romelu seems to placid.
Well that's just not true is it. We can assess a player whilst he is here and even before he came here.
Again another silly argument to make about Salah, no one is saying Lukaku alone should take us to a title, there have been other threads about other players, Smalling, Lindelof, Lingard, Martial, Rashford, Sanchez etc.
Aguero, Firmino and Kane have all better touch and close control than him, while Giroud has better holding up skills despite not scoring much. I don't think it's that hard to ask Lukaku to do these elements in football. We can't simply expect him to only score from crosses imo.
If we can make our money back, I'd probably sell him.
Some of his ball control and 'skills' are just cringey.
That being said, I do feel sorry for him. What we play, football wise doesn't help him at all.
First half, he had less touches than any player on the pitch, including the GKs.
You could argue his movement wasn't good enough, but you could also say that when we win the ball back, which is generally just outside our own area, we've got no options for transition.
Rashford on a few occasions yesterday in that first half got the ball quite far up the pitch, but no Young going forward, either giving Rashford an outlet for a pass or to just take Rashfords man and give him room.
If Lukaku drops into a position to get that ball, then what, we've nobody in the box to receive a pass to ultimately score a goal.
If we have Lukaku, somebody who is proven to score goals, we need to feed him in the box.
He's young and he's scored a lot of goals. He isn't some fraud
Some of his ball control and 'skills' are just cringey.
That being said, I do feel sorry for him. What we play, football wise doesn't help him at all.
First half, he had less touches than any player on the pitch, including the GKs.
You could argue his movement wasn't good enough, but you could also say that when we win the ball back, which is generally just outside our own area, we've got no options for transition.
Rashford on a few occasions yesterday in that first half got the ball quite far up the pitch, but no Young going forward, either giving Rashford an outlet for a pass or to just take Rashfords man and give him room.
If Lukaku drops into a position to get that ball, then what, we've nobody in the box to receive a pass to ultimately score a goal.
If we have Lukaku, somebody who is proven to score goals, we need to feed him in the box.
He's young and he's scored a lot of goals. He isn't some fraud
He is though. Every time he plays ont he right he is good.
totally agree - a very chilled out guy on and off the pitch
it's a shame as his phyisicality is one of his major strengths - an aggressive more competitive Lukaku would be a weapon
I feel we need more of him running into the channels though behind full backs to get him more involved
I am agreeing with others that he has become too muscular and it is affecting his mobility. Someone should have a quiet word with him.
Well, it’s really not a problem to play out of the back when none of the players have any intentions of attacking.. Oh, and Blind was pretty good at playing out from the back
Low standards
Indeed he was.
Should agree to disagree.
Sheer volume of goals he scores for Belgium should suggest he can do that at club level if you play with same approach but his hold up play is so inconsistent. He isn't being used like Drogba/Diego Costa who'd chest a long ball and bring others into play. It's simple ball into his feet, should hold it for few seconds for midfield to push up. I feel he is a large problem of our lackluster counter attack, you cannot rely on him on break to make the right pass. If we were tiny bit more efficient on counters, we'd be far higher up the table.
Also, can we stop mentioning that donkey Morata? He falls down when Victor fecking Lindelof gets tight to him, not to mention he can't hit a barn door.
Having said that, it's bizarre to criticize a player for a skill-set they do not possess. Every one on this forum knew what we were going to get with Lukaku. His first touch and link up player is poor to average, but play him off the shoulder of defence and he'll score bucket load of goals. Same problem with Mourinho and his criticism, we knew what kind of manager he is and what his approach is yet everyone is moaning about us not being attacking enough, it's funny.
Also, can we stop mentioning that donkey Morata? He falls down when Victor fecking Lindelof gets tight to him, not to mention he can't hit a barn door.
Having said that, it's bizarre to criticize a player for a skill-set they do not possess. Every one on this forum knew what we were going to get with Lukaku. His first touch and link up player is poor to average, but play him off the shoulder of defence and he'll score bucket load of goals. Same problem with Mourinho and his criticism, we knew what kind of manager he is and what his approach is yet everyone is moaning about us not being attacking enough, it's funny.
Last edited:
We have had a culture in recent years of having an 'undroppable striker' - Rooney, Zlatan, Rom...
This has coincided with a time period where we've lacked attacking hunger and edge, and I would suggest that competition for places is exactly what our attackers need.
They need to know that if they don't deliver, they will be dropped - if it applies to Martial, or Mata, or Sanchez, or Marcus, then when why not Rom?
I'd love to see this given a fair go in a few games...
----------------------DDG-------------------
Young------Smalling-----Lindelof-------Shaw
-----------Matic-----------------Pogba--------
----------------------Mata---------------------
------Rashford-------------------Martial------
--------------------Sanchez-------------------
This has coincided with a time period where we've lacked attacking hunger and edge, and I would suggest that competition for places is exactly what our attackers need.
They need to know that if they don't deliver, they will be dropped - if it applies to Martial, or Mata, or Sanchez, or Marcus, then when why not Rom?
I'd love to see this given a fair go in a few games...
----------------------DDG-------------------
Young------Smalling-----Lindelof-------Shaw
-----------Matic-----------------Pogba--------
----------------------Mata---------------------
------Rashford-------------------Martial------
--------------------Sanchez-------------------
That’s unfair on Lukaku. At no point in his career was he ever a Drogba type player, not even in physical attributes (Drogba had great acceleration)
Lukaku is a pure poacher, to expect him to turn into the all around top class forward that Drogba was is being far too unrealistic, though I have no doubt that that was why he was signed.
Klose scored loads for Germany and never managed the same at club level. Being prolific at international level does not necessarily translate to doing it at club level, as we see with Lukaku.
maybe - I didn't think Drogba was much quicker than Lukaku over the first 5 yards but you may be right
some suggest he's lost a bit of sharpness due to building muscle so maybe that's the case
maybe not a fair comparison but when you have that strength and power it's silly not to use it
either way, unfair or not, we need more out of him- that's up to Lukaku and they way we are set up to take advantage of him
I'm pretty sure that he wasn't. Drogba had a far better technique and far better body control though which made his overall game slicker.
I agree and disagree with you here. Lukaku is nothing like Drogba (the comparison is almost lazy racism but that's a for another thread) but I wouldn't call him a pure poacher either.
Drogba was probably the best in the world with his back to goal. Could hold it up under pressure, was great at bringing others into play and was unbeatable in the air, was also a total bastard on the pitch (in a good way if he played for you). Rom on the other hand wants to run the channels, for a big man he gets dispossessed too easily up close but getting him running at/off you and his very hard to stop. He's a better all round finisher than Drogba too imo
The problem is I think mou is trying to play Rom like Drogba. We've seen lukaku play very static this season and we've played lots of balls up to him for him to flick on or knock down and he's just not very good at it. Once we've changed tack in the second half of the last couple of games he's been transformed playing his natural game and we've immediately looked more threatening Playing Rom on the shoulder also gets the best out of pogba as he can play his through balls to the runner and it creates more space for Rashers and martial.
I don't know if Rom is good enough to win us a league but we'll only find out if we let him play his game, trying to turn him into an old school target man is folly imo
I get some of the criticisms of Lukaku. He's not a striker who will drop into the 10 position and distribute the ball about like Kane would for instance. He is big and a little cumbersome with the ball at his feet, his first touch can be poor sometimes.
But he is quick, powerful and can score goals. You just have to give him the service.
I just watched every goal he scored at Everton on YouTube, all 87 of them. His goals were mostly from crosses low or high, or a typical strikers goal where in a packed box he pulls off the defender into the space with the anticipation that the ball will fall nicely for him. Something again that Kane does a lot. Or a goal created out of nothing, scored by him with a great finish.
His goal record for club and country is remarkable. He's the all time goal scorer for Belgium. He is the youngest foreign player in the PL to score 100 goals. If you give him service, he will score goals. Something which we just don't do enough under Mourinho.
He has improved a lot with his weaknesses under Mourinho but i don't get why he is used the way he is. He's being asked to do what he's not known for being great at. He needs to be in the box and he needs to be given the ball. He's a simple striker and a very good one.
Dominating the game in midfield more and controlling games with positive possession.. not our usual side to side, back to the keeper style, and with creative and pacy wingers like martial and Rashford attacking the space in behind the defence, and ultimately leaving Lukaku to do his job is what we need to see.
But he is quick, powerful and can score goals. You just have to give him the service.
I just watched every goal he scored at Everton on YouTube, all 87 of them. His goals were mostly from crosses low or high, or a typical strikers goal where in a packed box he pulls off the defender into the space with the anticipation that the ball will fall nicely for him. Something again that Kane does a lot. Or a goal created out of nothing, scored by him with a great finish.
His goal record for club and country is remarkable. He's the all time goal scorer for Belgium. He is the youngest foreign player in the PL to score 100 goals. If you give him service, he will score goals. Something which we just don't do enough under Mourinho.
He has improved a lot with his weaknesses under Mourinho but i don't get why he is used the way he is. He's being asked to do what he's not known for being great at. He needs to be in the box and he needs to be given the ball. He's a simple striker and a very good one.
Dominating the game in midfield more and controlling games with positive possession.. not our usual side to side, back to the keeper style, and with creative and pacy wingers like martial and Rashford attacking the space in behind the defence, and ultimately leaving Lukaku to do his job is what we need to see.
Last edited by a moderator:
What he showed at Everton was never good enough for what we aspire to be though, which is a big thing. He was always someone who was a good striker but not for one of the top top teams, lacked too many things in his game. He has shown very little to make us think those weaknesses will ever go away, and if anything has been worse than he was with Everton. Especially in a system that uses 1 striker, it's a huge weakness having him up top, especially when hes out of form.
Yes, he can bully weaker sides (when in form), but in the vast majority of big games, hes next to useless. You want your main striker to rise to the occasion in those games, and expect them to be consistent in the others at the very least. Theres not many options in our squad, but I'd definitely want to try Martial consistently as the main striker for a run, or Sanchez. Rashford isnt suited to it, and lukaku has been woeful. Needs to be benched.
I think Mou sees it, I suspect he simply thinks he's the best of a bad bunch. Mou has generally had an excellent eye for strikers and got them playing at a consistently high level (McCarthy, Milito, Drogba, Costa etc) so it's strange how off track Lukaku is. Likely it was forced when the extent of Ibra's injury was revealed and even then we were more keen on Morata originally.
I'm convinced if we'd have signed Mahrez so much of our play would be improved and Lukaku would be banging them in and hailed.
If we're not going to play with a pacy winger then we'll never get the most of him.
If we're not going to play with a pacy winger then we'll never get the most of him.
Because of his size and strength you expect him to be a decent hold up centre forward. He isn’t.
He should either be attacking crosses in the box or latching onto passes in the channels. We don’t really do either of these things so he ends up looking out of place.
He should either be attacking crosses in the box or latching onto passes in the channels. We don’t really do either of these things so he ends up looking out of place.