[Foxbatt]

Playing for Everton and playing for United is very different.
There is so much pressure on the playesp when they play for United to deliver.
For Everton a good run and middle of the table is what they want to be.
If they get into Europe it's a bonus. For United CL is a must.

 

[BlahRules]

I would be annoyed if he goes back in the starting 11 for the next game. He did not do anything of note to claim back the number 9 position and even missed an easy chance.
If, all he had to do is have a heart to heart chat with Jose to get back to the start 11 then José can feck off himself.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

He needs a week off! No sub appearance, no Carrington training, just a rest. Send him somewhere for some hot weather training and a break. Jose should have let him have a proper rest after the WC. Just like he should've rested Zlatan more often in the season he got his terminal injury.

Don't get me wrong, Lukaku is a very limited player. But there are ways to get more out of him in the short term until we get an upgrade.

 

[Adisa]

His dropping would be a token gesture if he's restored to the XI after a poor cameo.

 

[Foxbatt]

Is he in the starting line up?

 

[Rockets Redglare]

Is he in the starting line up?

Not even on the bench.

 

[LoneStar]

Dropped again and deservedly so. Guy needs a break and can hopefully get something going after that.

 

[GledTheRed]

Not in the squad, shape up or ship out. Not been nearly good enough for Manchester United.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Glad he’s not in the squad - hopefully that message is clear enough for him, so that he nicks up his ideas. Hopefully we have sent him to a weight watchers retreat for a week.

Time out of the team should be good for him in the long run.

 

[Dante]

Injured.

Agendas are going to determine the reaction to that.

 

[FootyGirl88]

The club should look at getting rid in the summer - he's not suited to us

 

[Johan07]

Glad he’s not in the squad - hopefully that message is clear enough for him, so that he nicks up his ideas. Hopefully we have sent him to a weight watchers retreat for a week.

Time out of the team should be good for him in the long run.

I agree, but I really dont think that is why he is left out. Mourinho just cited a minor injury; and knowing Mourinho I dont see him going inte any game without Lukaku and/or Fellaini at least as subs. It will be interesting to see what "plan B" will be today without anyone of those if we have to chase the game. Scott McT upfront?

 

[MadDogg]

I'm hoping that now that our attackers are starting to get back to fitness that we've given Lukaku a week or two completely off to go recharge his batteries. Go have a holiday somewhere sunny and relax. He didn't get much of a break because of the world cup, and that is probably a contributing factor to how he's started the season.

 

[Devil may care]

When the rumours started last night that he hadn't travelled I knew the official line would be that he's injured, and given how badly he is moving this season maybe he is carrying a knock.

 

[MuFc_1992]

Playing for Everton and playing for United is very different.
There is so much pressure on the playesp when they play for United to deliver.
For Everton a good run and middle of the table is what they want to be.
If they get into Europe it's a bonus. For United CL is a must.

Another cliche post about character and psychological pressure of playing for united when it's obvious that issue is lack of technical ability. People predicted he will struggle based on his first touch alone and so far they've been proven right.

 

[Damien]

I'm hoping that now that our attackers are starting to get back to fitness that we've given Lukaku a week or two completely off to go recharge his batteries. Go have a holiday somewhere sunny and relax. He didn't get much of a break because of the World Cup, and that is probably a contributing factor to how he's started the season.

Yeah, I think pundits were saying at start of season that Kane needed a break as he's not had a rest in years but same applies to Lukaku and I don't think enough has been said about that. Matic needs some sort of break from the side too as his performances haven't been great for a while.

 

[MadDogg]

Another cliche post about character and psychological pressure of playing for united when it's obvious that issue is lack of technical ability. People predicted he will struggle based on his first touch alone and so far they've been proven right.

Technical ability (or the lack thereof) is a contributing factor, but it's not the only thing. He's much better technically than he's shown this season, he's just in terrible form.

Likewise his first touch - it's not terrible. It's inconsistent. At the moment it's much worse than normal because of his terrible form.

 

[Rozay]

In 16/17 Lukaku was joint 3rd highest goalscorer with headed goals. He got 6 goals, joined by Antonio and Giroud and in front of them were Benteke and Llorente with 7 each.

I can also see that he scored those 6 goals from 18 headed attempts at goal. Giroud had slightly less attempts but Benteke had 49, Llorente 35 and Antonio 21. Ibrahimovic that season also had 20 headed attempts converting 4 into goals.

So 1 off the highest in the league but with a lot less attempts. Same can be said of Giroud.


Last season Morata scored the most headed goals in the league with 7, Kane got 6, Aguero got 5 and thats your top 3.

Lukaku was joint 4th highest goalscorer with his head. There were 9 players who all scored 3 goals.

Morata got his 7 goals from 23 headers at goal, Kane got his 6 goals from 29 headers at goal. Lukaku got his 3 headed goals from 19 headers at goal.

So since he's come to United he scores half as many headers as he did the season before and less than the likes of Morata, Kane and Aguero. I dont think Lukaku has been quite as bad as has been made out but even last season his heading conversion was worse than in the past.

So far this season Lukaku has scored 2 from 6 headed attempts and Mitrovic has the most in the league with 3 goals from 14 attempts. Kane also has 2 from 8 headed attempts.

We can always rely on Ekeke to come through with a statistical explanation for any aspect of a game of footy!

 

[Dante]

Technical ability (or the lack thereof) is a contributing factor, but it's not the only thing. He's much better technically than he's shown this season, he's just in terrible form.

Likewise his first touch - it's not terrible. It's inconsistent. At the moment it's much worse than normal because of his terrible form.

Sense.

 

[acnumber9]

His terrible touch is the least of his problems at the minute. It’s his complete lack of drive and movement to get into scoring positions that is driving me crazy.

 

[Chairman Steve]

I wouldn’t mind if he was given a fortnight or so off to go on holiday, like Sir Alex used to do with players.

He’s barely had a break since the World Cup where Belgium pretty much played the entire tournament. It could be helpful and he’ll be back on form for us.

 

[MuFc_1992]

Technical ability (or the lack thereof) is a contributing factor, but it's not the only thing. He's much better technically than he's shown this season, he's just in terrible form.

Likewise his first touch - it's not terrible. It's inconsistent. At the moment it's much worse than normal because of his terrible form.

So the issue is purely down to his

Technical ability (or the lack thereof) is a contributing factor, but it's not the only thing. He's much better technically than he's shown this season, he's just in terrible form.

Likewise his first touch - it's not terrible. It's inconsistent. At the moment it's much worse than normal because of his terrible form.

It all comes down to technical ability and I think it's a bit unfair to blame a players Character and to say someone isn't trying because from what I've seen it really difficult to improve those traits once you're in your 20s.

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

He needs to slim down, a lot. I watched a clip of Luis Ronaldo against Ghana in WC06 today and even then when he was supposed to be slow and overweight, he was still noticeably slimmer than Lukaku.

He may be crap in the air, he may not be able to trap a bag of cement, but as long as he can run about the whole game he’d still be more useful than this current version.

 

[Isotope]

With the way others are playing, he should be a super sub. An expensive one, but that's his role.

 

[Rajma]

Finally an eye opener for Jose? Might save his job benching him still by some miracle.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Is he done now as a first team player for us? Or some sort of injury?

 

[Jazz]

We didn't miss him today for sure. Wonder how it's going to pan out with him. On such high wages as well.

 

[redom]

It seems pretty clear that we're a more fluid and cohesive attacking unit without him. He's still our most reliable finisher (even considering the big chances he's missed this season) but we seem to create more without him in the team which compensates for it and makes us better to watch.

 

[el3mel]

We're better going forward without than with him anyway. Hopefully keeps his position out for some time. Won't withstand returning to him upfront and us hoofing.

 

[Raw]

Honestly our attack looks better without him. Either he improves or we have to look for another striker soon (unless Sanchez keeps performing up front).

 

[JohnnyKills]

His natural role in a top side is coming off the bench in big games to offer a different option or exploit tired defenders, and start as a rotation option against smaller teams. He shouldn't be a guaranteed starter and hopefully that's over now.

 

[AndyJ1985]

Hope we sell him in the summer and buy a good forward.

 

[Irrational.]

He needs to stay out.

Martial-Sanchez-Rashford should be our front line over the coming games.

 

[Amar__]

We had many players who were stinking up our play by some degree but benching them we still couldn't see any difference in our play, but with Lukaku we see it. Imagine how shit he is.

 

[Canagel]

Keep him away from starting 11. I said it already. He had 9/10 games of being absolutely useless. Let the others play. this team is still finding its feet without a big man to hoof upto. It's going to take more than 2 games to build the understanding.
yet we still look miles better even in this short period.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

Where is he then?

 

[Raw]

Where is he then?

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[sullydnl]

Should have to work very hard to get back into the side, which is a good thing. Martial + Sanchez + someone else for now please.

Aside from anything else, I genuinely think a break will be good for him too. He played at awful lot last year, then in the world cup, then hit some terrible form. It will be easier to overcome that poor form if he has a break from the frontline both physically and mentally.

 

[jymufc20]

Where is he then?

He felt the sudden realisation that he can't actually play football.

 

[M Bison]

Lot of activity in this thread considering he didn’t even play, our fans love to find a scapegoat!

He’s going through a patch of very poor form but it’s too early to write him off in my view.