9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Goals
- 15
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 5
- Status
TBF, he united 600 million(?) fans across around twenty-four time zones in the world yesterday during those 1.8 seconds as time slowed down and everyone saw him not moving towards that ball, waiting for it, seemingly completely frozen, waiting for it...
And everyone simultaneously realizing he wasn't going to move towards it.
And everyone simultaneously realizing he wasn't going to move towards it.
He is big, strong, fast, and consistently scored 25-30 goals a season. But he is also bit limited, clumsy, and won't scored alot in big games.
he played as a right forward under Martinez and did great, don't think he is that lazy, he can show that workrate, just as a lone striker he switches off and thinks he can just walk, not run at all, but playing as a winger he would switched back on I am sure.
Andy Cole was way more all round striker, who could do things with the ball at his feet, Lukaku is just finisher, who strangely can't finish, replace him with any strieker from the premier league and we win yesterday. He fecked up twice when Pogba put it on a palte for him but he couldn't stay on side because he's always on his heels - that's terrible, his acceleration/movement is abysmal, the finish then is another thing, probably already a miss of the season, what more do you want??
And obviously the second chance, waiting ages for the ball to get to him, can't believe my eyes.
Not even discussing his overall contribution to our game, he can't hold the ball up, can't lay it off or win a challenge. He's basically useless. Andy Cole might have missed chances earlier in his career but he contributed to our overall play much more. I would take Welbeck back at this point, he might be missing some sitters but he could get to those chances and create for his team. That's how bad Lukaku is now. This is the game when we all realize that he's not a United started. Let's see how stubborn Mourinho is and if he sticks with him, I am sure it will cost him his head too. Play Martial/Sanchez there, Martial could do Firminho for us..
Should be our new Hernandez. 3rd choice. The problem is, the likes of Costa Lewi arent really going to be avaialble and are old! Who do you get instead?
Direct swap for Icardi seems to be our best bet.
Can you take a snapshot? Can you shoot without having to sort out your footing? Are you capable of improvising?
I still can't believe that chance where he waited ages for the ball to come to him instead of attacking it. It was just five yards to goal and any sort of proper contact would have been a goal. Even Fellaini on the far left wing couldn't believe it and was throwing his arms up in the air in frustration. Drop this guy for three matches and play Sanchez at number 9. He won't be worse than this
I loved(?) that moment.
It was like time stood still and then stretched out into eternity.
Probably the closest thing most of us will ever feel to the proverbial 'life-flashing-before-one's-eyes'.
He's good enough for a top 4 team but maybe not good enough for a title winning team. I can't imagine the best clubs being interested in signing him, the likes of Real, Barca, Bayern and even some English clubs.
He's fairly awful isn't he? Touch/hold up play/ability to link with other attackers is non existent. Best forwards in the world create chances for themselves but he couldn't if his life depended on it.
Yes, I noticed that too. Was baffled when Lukaku decided to wait for the ball instead of coming to it. Any good player would probably chased, chested it and protect the ball from onrushing defenders. Fellaini despite his bad rep would have done so.Even Fellaini was pissed there.so poor.
I think we have to be realistic with him. He's clearly an excellent goalscorer and we could harbour hopes of him elevating his performances in that respect. So, from a 20+ goal striker he could become a 30+ goal striker (tough you never know). However, when it comes to his general quality on the ball, the second half of last season is probably the best we can hope for, which is ranging between, adequate, surprisingly good, efficient and "for fecks sake, why are you so terrible?!". For me, he simply lacks the technical gifts to ever be a top striker. And I'm not judging him from a Aguero/Henry (all round forwards) standpoint but a RVN (great goalscorer) one.
Has he scored a goal from outside the box since he joined us?
I'm one of his biggest fans, but he was shambolic against Wolves. Even in previous matches his overall performances were masked by a goal, he's been off the pace from the start of the season.
That chance in the last 5 minutes that he simply stood waiting for, which allowed them to get in front of him and clear, typified his game. Looked like he’d taken a dose of nytol before the match.
That 2nd clip is infuriating.
The 2nd clip is enough to make you weep- why is he so flat footed?? he never seems to be on his heels
Every time the ball goes to him I get this anxious feeling hoping he can control it and lay it off to a team mate. And the rare occasion he does that, I feel so relived and have a mini celebration. It's like watching my 12 year old son on a Sunday morning. This is not right.
Has he made any goal by himself since he's been here ?
Personally he's just a tap-in merchant for us.Everything has to be laid on a plate for him with inch perfect precision for him to score because he sure ain't hell going to move for it.
Personally he's just a tap-in merchant for us.Everything has to be laid on a plate for him with inch perfect precision for him to score because he sure ain't hell going to move for it.
Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think he has the versatility to be that consistent 30+ type scorer, he doesn't have an array of goal scoring methods like Ronaldo/Van Persie did - long range, pens, freekicks, left foot, right foot, aerial. I think he's fairly reliable most of the times in the box but I just can't see him being a Top marksman in Europe type player.
Weird.
1st one - should clearly have scored
2nd one - probably no way of scoring even if he had somehow got to the ball ahead of the defender, was not unreasonable to wait for the ball to be strikable towards goal and probably couldn't know the defender was coming across from behind him.
The first I can understand people being annoyed about, the second not so much.
Almost any top striker in second ball will hunt it, and one touch shot it in the right corner leading to a goal. He stood and waited for the ball to reach him, like the time has stopped for him or something. It's far worse than the first one.
It shows how far he's behind the elite imo.
The only thing he has going for him is other parts of the squad are in much more immediate need of changes. He's simply not good enough.
You need to rewatch that clip. Any one who has played football at literally any level can tell you he should be going for that - he actually moves backwards slightly which is mad - I assume because he's not confident taking it without knowing if it'll be on the half volley/volley. Pause it when Fellaini flicks it on, pause it again when the ball bounces. Criminal not to be going for that.
Yeah, that was an awkward one. Difficult height and coming at him through a crowd of players.
Although I fully expect assorted soccer experts to wade in and disagree because they would have like, totally, L1 finesse shotted that into the top corner.
Nope. Rewatched it lots of times. Not a bad error.
lol ok. Fair enough if that's what you think.
Surely he should at least try to connect?
He was waiting for the ball to drop a bit before striking. Defender got there first. Maybe could have done better but nothing like as bad an error as the first one.
He should have moved towards it and put his body between the defender and the ball. It's the PL, obviously someone is going to be challenging him there. Amateur from him to expect so much time to set up for the shot.
I think what most on here are saying though is that a top striker doesn't wait for the ball to drop, he's about to be swamped by defenders and needs that instinct/urgency to get something on it. There's every chance he'd have sliced it or even taken an air shot but equally it could have been a winning goal. Either he doesn't have the awareness to know he didn't have time in that situation or he's just not got the confidence/ability to take that shot on.
Fair enough if you feel he should have waited but the ball is physcially in reach for him and I'd rather he tried to make contact than do nothing.
The man is a bizarre anomaly. The gulf between what he looks like at his best and worst is Grand Canyon-esque. Looks ponderous and clumsy at the moment. He'll recover.
It is weird to me that United fans expect anything different from Lukaku. He has many qualities and he scores a good few but he will never be top class.
I'm not exactly saying that he 'should have' waited - clearly not. But I am not convinced it was the easy chance to score you lot are making out, and I don't think it was some terrible misjudgement to wait for it to drop a bit... and also I am comparing the two videos... the first is a great chance and he should definitely have scored.
I agree that had he attacked it, it wouldn't have been an easy chance. Would have had to hit it first time, awkward level, on the move.
But that's the exact issue with Lukaku, unless it's on a plate for him he doesn't score. Zlatan, RVP, Rooney are sniffing that chance out and improvising something on the volley. Maybe there's a 30 percent chance they score it. But Lukaku by waiting until it sits up nicely for him has a zero percent chance of scoring.
Is Icardi a true target man?
I guess it doesn't matter, Jose won't be here next season anyway and the next manager may opt for a different style of player up front.
In recent years we have had RVN, Rooney, and RVP as our center forward. We now have Lukaku. Let that sink in
Not at all, he doesn't do much outside the box but if you provide him with a chance he is arguably the best in Europe at finishing it.
Then again is Lukaku really a target man? Mourinho might have him playing as one but he is not a good enough footballer to reliably control the ball, hold it up and play others in. He should be playing a lot more like Icardi.
No but he's very clinical. I myself was against signing him, but starting to warm up to the idea since no other top strikers are available.
- Status