Would you swap Lukaku for Morata now?

[simplyared]

I was definately over the moon when we got Lukaku. Chelsea wanted him but we snapped him up and they got Morata instead.
We can all agree Lukaku had the better 1st season. However going on performances this campain I'm wondering whether we went for the wrong man.
Reckon Morata who technically is superior to Lukaku would have suited us better.
Views on this!

 

[charlenefan]

Not again

 

[Okey]

Easy answer to the OP...Yes!!! Not necessarily a Morata vs Lukaku thing. Lukaku simply isn't an elite level striker. Lacks the required skill level and general footballing ability. At elite level, you need either a lot more than being able to put the ball in the net. Or if that's all you're good at, then you have to be extraordinary at it. All kinds of angles and situations. Creating goals out of nothing. Ruud boy basically...

 

[WR10]

I really don’t understand this consistent potato to tomato comparison that happens on here. Is being shite the only similarity between these two players? What am I missing

 

[bosnian_red]

Chelsea didnt spend 20m more on Morata than we did on Lukaku...
But to answer the question: neither are good enough. Neither were good enough in 2017 when we got them. Neither will ever be good enough.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Even Chelsea fans don’t want morata.

Put Lukaku in this Chelsea team and he’d probably score every week.

 

[Borden]

Those two, Belotti and Lacazette were the choices at the time, and none of them are good enough.

 

[flappyjay]

The only answer is we should have went any decent striker regardless of age until someone is available of the right profile. Giroud, Dzeko or Mandzukic type of profiles

 

[sullydnl]

We needed to sign a striker that summer.

Morata and Lukaku were the two obvious candidates available at the time and of the two I'd still rather have Lukaku. A brief flicker of form from Morata while Lukaku is in horrendous form doesn't make me forget how much worse than Lukaku Morata was for nearly all of last season.

Now, it might be true that we should have signed neither and found a less obvious third candidate instead. However given the circumstances I wouldn't be particularly critical of the club for the choice they made.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

I thought it was a good signing at the time, I still expected him to be better than he has been for us.

In an alternative universe we have Martial and Griezmann upfront.

 

[FootyGirl88]

Yes - I never wanted us to buy Lukaku we should have gone for a more technical striker.

 

[Sandikan]

Talk about a kneejerk thread after Morata actually scored 2 after mostly stinking the league up!

 

[Sandikan]

I thought it was a good signing at the time, I still expected him to be better than he has been for us.

The dawning realisation is that Lukaku's massive strength of galloping into free space at Everton barely happens here as teams sit back against us a lot more.

 

[roseguy64]

We needed to sign a striker that summer.

Morata and Lukaku were the two obvious candidates available at the time and of the two I'd still rather have Lukaku. A brief flicker of form from Morata while Lukaku is in horrendous form doesn't make me forget how much worse than Lukaku Morata was for nearly all of last season.

Now, it might be true that we should have signed neither and found a less obvious third candidate instead. However given the circumstances I wouldn't be particularly critical of the club for the choice they made.

Thread over now

 

[Kostur]

'We've signed a striker who cannot score, should we have signed a striker who cannot score instead?'

 

[RedDevil@84]

Not really.
If we look at options available at that time and the intent or capabilities of Man Utd as a club to attract the players, we took a pretty fair choice.

 

[simplyared]

Think it's a relevant comparison. 2 different strikers with different styles of play. Signing Morata certainly more of a risk than Lukaku but looking at his recent form and under Sarri he can be as good as anyone. Interesting thought to think how he would have developed/adapted under Mourinho. Lukaku has gone the other way since he joined us and doesn't seem to be any signs he will improve. Whereas Morata's form curve is pointing in the other direction.

 

[JPRouve]

We have proper strikers in Martial and Rashford but we don't want to offer them our trust, instead we are seemingly willing to blindly give it to an expensive player who isn't himself trusted to start by his current and former clubs. Morata is a good player but we shouldn't be taken to the cleaners, we need wide players and we should reallocate the money there and bide our time for the right striker at the right time if our youngsters don't make the cut.

Rome wasn't built in a day, our money isn't going anywhere and isn't burning our pockets.

That's what I said at the time about Morata, I thought the same about Lukaku and I will stand by it. We didn't had to buy a striker and we had other ways to immediately improve our attack.

 

[haram]

Think it's a relevant comparison. 2 different strikers with different styles of play. Signing Morata certainly more of a risk than Lukaku but looking at his recent form and under Sarri he can be as good as anyone. Interesting thought to think how he would have developed/adapted under Mourinho. Lukaku has gone the other way since he joined us and doesn't seem to be any signs he will improve. Whereas Morata's form curve is pointing in the other direction.

Speak about shit like this at the end of the season. It’s like people have forgotten the whole of last season. Forum is toxic.

 

[Class of 63]

Nah, we just need to play to his strengths, not his weaknesses

 

[Sing you a song]

There was s a real shortage of top quality strikers at the time and the situation isn’t any better now.
I was underwhelmed to say the least when we got Lukaku I never thought he was top quality and his 1st season flattered to deceive .He is very one dimensional and really lacks class .Probably one of the worst main strikers we have had for many years .
Lack of goals had been our biggest problem since RVP left and so far this season we are once again miles behind City and the other main contenders in the scoring charts.
I don’t honestly know what the solution is as a 30 goals a season option just doesn’t seem to be available out there.
Lack of goals scored will be a far bigger problem than goals conceded

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Think it's a relevant comparison. 2 different strikers with different styles of play. Signing Morata certainly more of a risk than Lukaku but looking at his recent form and under Sarri he can be as good as anyone. Interesting thought to think how he would have developed/adapted under Mourinho. Lukaku has gone the other way since he joined us and doesn't seem to be any signs he will improve. Whereas Morata's form curve is pointing in the other direction.

How short a time frame can we put on these “form curves”? Any chance we could assess them on an hourly basis?

 

[BaseFishing]

For the millionth time - yes. And if we'd have gotten Morata, it would also be a yes. You don't need hindsight to know this though, to many it was obvious two summers ago. Neither Lukaku, nor Morata, are of the level where we should be spending top money on them. The type of strikers we should be doing this for are the RVPs, RVNs, Suarez's, etc. or outstanding young talents like Rooney, M'bappe, and so on.

Obviously these players are rare, but those are the types of players we should be going for. This thread is like we're arguing whether Wes Brown or John O'Shea is the better defender. Does it matter? And don't get me wrong, both of those players are great and have a place in the club's history and the fans' hearts. The points is that we're Man United, that's not the types of questions we should be asking. But hey, I guess it's a new era, and what we ought to be doing doesn't seem to be as important anymore.

Praying for the day we return where we belong. Until then I don't mind Lukaku too much to be honest, he's okay. Not as bad as some people make him out to be. Just shouldn't be someone we're paying £75m for. I don't think Everton do returns though, so it is what it is.

Other questions for the moment would be 'When is the soonest we can upgrade on Lukaku with a top striker?' 'How would we even go about convincing another club to pay for him and his wages without a massive financial loss on our part?' and 'Are we actually doing anything about this, or even care to?'

 

[klsv]

No, we got a good striker who has scored 31 goals in 65 matches. At times starved of service with our defensive setup, at times going through rough patches as any other striker and at times tired of being played too much. Very useful type of a player to have in squad but he should, if not rotated, then at least be subbed off at times to get a break. We should have done last season what we're doing now, adapting our setup to meet reality. If he's out of form, play rest of the forwards more. Also seems to have a right attitude. Had we got Morata this place would moan and cry about him looking like he's about cry when having a stinker, which is more often than not. Look at Lukaku playing for Belgium for example, and it's not always against Gibraltar and Estonia he scores against either.

 

[lysglimt]

Lukaku will score goals if he gets some decent service. If we had played like we did in the 2nd halves against Newcastle and Bournemouth, slightly more often - he would score a lot of goals.

 

[Apokalips]

Those two, Belotti and Lacazette were the choices at the time, and none of them are good enough.

Agree with this! Morata has been garbage for Chelsea, Lukaku has been better for United than Morata for Chelsea...why would we want him?!

 

[Greck]

Simple answer NO!




Because we didn't need hindsight to know Lukaku wasn't a 75m striker. Would still have him over Morata

 

[BluesJr]

He was still the best choice of the two, but that doesn't mean he's a good fit or good enough. I'd personally not have him in the starting 11 again and try and get something going with the rest of our players.

 

[Skills]

Chelsea paid 20m more for Morata?

 

[Kag]

It’s amazing how two games is all it takes for people to change their minds. Of course, you may have been of this conviction for a long time, but in many cases I doubt it.

Lukaku is a much better striker, even in spite of his current status as public enemy #1.

 

[FutbolFan]

I was definately over the moon when we got Lukaku. Chelsea coughed up en extra 20 mill for Morata and it looked like we'd done the better deal.
We can all agree Lukaku had the better 1st season. However going on performances this campain I'm wondering whether we went for the wrong man.
Reckon Morata who technically is superior to Lukaku would have suited us better.
Views on this!

Chelsea paid 20 mil more? Okay.

Lukaku still is top notch striker in my opinion. He will surely come good. He perhaps would have complimented Hazard better but I am hopeful Morata would turn out to be a decent striker.

 

[0le]

We'd be better off playing Fellaini up front then either of them.

 

[devilish]

Mou needs his big lump, well, in every position.

Seriously, tactically wise, we shouldn't have gone for Lukaku. What's the point of going for an old fashioned type of striker whose decent in air and not very good with his feet when our wingers can barely cross? Instead we should have gone for someone whose more technically gifted, with better pace and a good eye for goal.

 

[Hugh Jass]

I think with an attacking manager Lukaku would look better. In a lot of our games, we are just relying on luck to score, as in a bit of good play or a mistake by the other team and so on. As such Lukaku lives off scraps.

Having said that his first touch is just terrible

 

[Andycoleno9]

Again this....? Morata scores a goal and boom; thread about Morata vs Lukaku.
Lukaku is better. Not saying he is great but he is better than Morata. At that moment and also like today, there were not wc strikers available on the market.
And btw, we all laughed to Arsenal then how they bought worst striker but today i would pick Lacazette over Lukaku and Morata

 

[cyberman]

Jesus no. Morata is worse in the build up as far as I can see. Stop falling down you plank.
Let this discussion die.

 

[Patrick08]

Nah, long ball football doesn't suit any of our players.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

This is such a classic RedCafe thread.

No we didn't.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

'We've signed a striker who cannot score, should we have signed a striker who cannot score instead?'

He scored plenty for Everton.

 

[HJ12]

Morata's been crap for a looooong time. Just because he put a few in recently doesn't warrant a rehash of this argument again.