Would you swap Lukaku for Morata now?

El Jefe

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Lukaku and Morata are rotation/bench options at a top club, similar to Giroud. Both we're extremely fortunate that there was a dearth of top strikers in the market that summer. In fact had Ibra not got injured or if Griezmann didn't screw us over, Lukaku wouldn't be here.

Deep in Jose's mind, I believe he knew Lukaku was not at the level of striker he desired or had previously worked with but was keen to mould him into a Drogba/Milito. Jose has gone out of his way to give praise to him and has been oblivious to his poor form. If Lukaku was a £20m signing, I'm absolutely sure he would have replaced him by now but as he was £75m Jose simply has to make it work.
 

El Jefe

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Lukaku has zero problems with Belgium. Zero. He scores by the bucket.
No striker should have problems playing alongside better and more creative players. Receiving supply from Hazard, De Bruyne, Mertens and Meunier almost guarantees goals regardless who the striker is.

In saying that, credit to him for the goals scored but the quality in the PL and CL is of a much higher standard than playing average international teams. Even a past it Rooney had a pretty good record in internationals in his last 3/4 years.
 

L1nk

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We overpaid for the wrong striker, but not in comparison to Morata, who arguably would of been an even worse buy, but we should of gone for someone like Timo Werner, who would of been a hell of a lot cheaper, quicker etc and we probably would of got at least an equal output if not more.
 

Mainoldo

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Sarri pretty much said it himself. Morata is a soft yute!! Will never be top class. There to answer the OP. NO we never. Chelsea would probably swap him right now if they had the chance.
 

Mainoldo

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We overpaid for the wrong striker, but not in comparison to Morata, who arguably would of been an even worse buy, but we should of gone for someone like Timo Werner, who would of been a hell of a lot cheaper, quicker etc and we probably would of got at least an equal output if not more.
Icardi is the only striker worthy of playing here. Werner would have flopped.
 

L1nk

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Icardi is the only striker worthy of playing here. Werner would have flopped.
How can you say Werner would of flopped when there's no evidence that he would of? He's had a good scoring record for Leipzig since joining them, over 20 goals a season so far and 8 in 13 this season and he cost them 10 million Euro's.

Although i do agree about Icardi, he is class.
 

Heymrtangerineman

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Don't think it's a case of either or. Reckon if we'd have signed Morata there would be similar posts asking if we'd bought a dud.

This is/we are Manchester United. Yes, we've had unlikely and cheap successes with Teddy, Ole, Chico in the recent and distant past but we should surely have the pull, budget and will to be signing the likes of Lewandowski etc as world class strikers who are as close to guaranteed successes as you'll ever get - without ever being sure but safe bets.

Lukaku and Morata are both tier 2 strikers. Is that what we should be aiming for?
 

Mainoldo

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No striker should have problems playing alongside better and more creative players. Receiving supply from Hazard, De Bruyne, Mertens and Meunier almost guarantees goals regardless who the striker is.

In saying that, credit to him for the goals scored but the quality in the PL and CL is of a much higher standard than playing average international teams. Even a past it Rooney had a pretty good record in internationals in his last 3/4 years.
So what’s Morata’s excuse in front of Isco, Silva, Iniesta(when he was there), Koke?
 

Womp

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No. If he is struggling under Sarri, he would have been fecking woeful under Jose.
 

simplyared

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Simply put, this is a pointless thread like so many on this forum.

It's like saying did we buy the wrong player when we bought xyz in the past. Who the feck cares. No one has a time machine so what's the point in debating that.

It's more constructive talking about how to get the best out of the players we have and who to get next.

And for the record, Morata is not better than Lukaku, a brace at the weekend does not make him world class. Stop these reactionary nonsense threads every bloody week!
So what you're saying is all threads must be constructive otherwise they're nonsense? If we all adhered to that the Caf would be a pretty boring place. I think it's of interest to look at both these players as we probably had the opportunity to sign either of them. My personal opinion is what they acheived last season is irrelevant and it's how they are performing now and what we believe they're capable of going on from here. Morata wins hands down for me as I think he looks better in all departments compared to Lukaku and I also believe we haven't seen the best of him yet. Which asks the question - wouldn't his style of play, in the modern day, have suited us better and shouldn't our experts have seen that and recognised his qualities better?
 

MikeKing

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We had no strikers. Lukaku was cheaper than Morata wasn't he? A better stop-gap solution no question in my mind, but as Rashford and Martial hasn't kicked on fully in the striker role we should definitely be looking to upgrade on Lukaku in the summer, or at least give him competition if we can't find a world class striker.
 

Mainoldo

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How can you say Werner would of flopped when there's no evidence that he would of? He's had a good scoring record for Leipzig since joining them, over 20 goals a season so far and 8 in 13 this season and he cost them 10 million Euro's.
Playing Leipzig and United are two different things. I haven’t seen anything of him to say he’s a complete striker. How many international goals does he have for German. He ever scored against a big team? Did he do anything in the Champions league last season?

Genuine questions too.
 

Mainoldo

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So what you're saying is all threads must be constructive otherwise they're nonsense? If we all adhered to that the Caf would be a pretty boring place. I think it's of interest to look at both these players as we probably had the opportunity to sign either of them. My personal opinion is what they acheived last season is irrelevant and it's how they are performing now and what we believe they're capable of going on from here. Morata wins hands down for me as I think he looks better in all departments compared to Lukaku and I also believe we haven't seen the best of him yet. Which asks the question - wouldn't his style of play, in the modern day, have suited us better and shouldn't our experts have seen that and recognised his qualities better?
He looked better this time last season too lol. Infact it was probably around ‘this’ exact time. Funnily enough you choice to disregard last season’s achievements. Morata hasn’t even got Lukaku’s balls and that’s saying something. He’s a level below. Lukaku’s a top 10 striker. Morata top 25.
 

Heymrtangerineman

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I think that's being overly fair to both of them... No offence.

Plus our ambition shouldn't be top 10... Not that you are saying it is or should be...
 

Aloysius's Back 3

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No not hindsight - anyone who was an attacking manager willing to adapt his tactics would have been delighted to work with martial & Rashford & would have found an attacker to get the best out of them & possibly to let them link up - much like how firminhp does for salah & Mane.

You know what happened - Jose came in and said that martial & Rashford are not his strikers - got zlatan and then instantly replaced him with Lukaku.

Many fans like me saw this happening from the moment we went for Jose & one of the main reasons I didn't want him here.
 

AshRK

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If there is ever a thread made for most irritating football topic it is this. We have one of the most fickle fans and morata would have been eaten alive by our fans. Anyday lukaku is a better striker than morata.
 
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For a start, we paid more for Lukuku than Chelsea did for Morata - the OP should hang their head in shame, posting such drivel.

I’m no fan of Lukuku, but he was the only option when we bought him. We now need to find the right striker, and whilst we do that at least we have him. He’s a flat track bully, and will never score goals against the big teams, but given the alternative of no striker - he’s worthy of his place in the squad. When Zlatan got injured, we were completely screwed. He served and continues to serve a purpose - but unfortunately for us, there are so few strikers around that we can actually go out and buy that are better than him.
 

El Jefe

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So what’s Morata’s excuse in front of Isco, Silva, Iniesta(when he was there), Koke?
12 goals in his last 19 games for Spain sounds like a good record to me.

This isn't a Morata or Lukaku thing for me, they both aren't good enough and will most likely no longer be starters for Chelsea and United next season.
 

haram

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Hilarious how people will say the team does not suit our other forwards but will not say the same for Lukaku.
 

langster

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It's quite simple. Barca and Real RARELY sell a player if he's not past it or like Neymar, where they couldn't turn the offer down and wanted rid anyway because he caused disruption or disharmony in some way or another.

We should be looking for world class kids of the future or competing and snapping up actual world class talent before the big boys get them, not buying their rejects and cast offs.
 

AlecHDR

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Nah, we just need to play to his strengths, not his weaknesses
Bingo. We need to give him shit to chase and have him peel off to the wing and open space in the middle for Rashford/Martial/Sanchez to run into. Instead we keep lumping balls at him as if he is Drogba which he is not.
 

AshRK

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Hilarious how people will say the team does not suit our other forwards but will not say the same for Lukaku.
Trust me people undermine lukaku big time. He would be a perfect striker for this Chelsea side, scoring goals for fun. He may not be a van nistelrooy but he is also no donkey like our smart ass fans claim him to be.
 

JMack1234

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I do find the current mood to go in on Lukaku very distasteful. Yes, he's in shocking form. Yes he shouldn't be starting for us right. No he isn't useless he scored 27 goals last season and had a great World Cup.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Funnily enough while we and Chelsea attracted all the hype, Arsenal actually got the best new strikers.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Morata isn't a proper CF for me. He misses too many chances, lacks composure and is timid for a number 9. He is better suited to be the nuesence second striker rather than the main one you rely on.

Now, Aubamayang, that's a striker most here would happily swap Lukaku with.
 

Ed9

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Lukaku will be back scoring and people will say they always knew that. Like with Martial.
 

manutddjw

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Yes we did go for the wrong type of striker. We don’t create enough for our strikers so we needed someone who could create chances for themselves. Unfortunately most of those types are smaller players, which Mourinho doesn’t seem to fancy as options up front.

The thing with Lukaku, and I do believe he’s better than what he’s shown this season, is that there’s a big difference to how teams played his Everton or West Brom side to how they play us.
 

Kapardin

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My plan would have been: Ignore Zlatan and sign Vardy that summer. I think Vardy would have been an okay option in a lean market for strikers. Then this coming summer, we could be looking for a WC striker.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Exactly. Bit of decent form and the drooling starts.
Arsenal at the ones that got the right strikers. Particularly Aubamayang. Ironic given our and Chelsea's greater muscle and the hype surrounding our signings at the time.
 

bktm

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He is right striker just a wrong type of game we play due to our not so much of crossing or running across line of gameplay. Last season before Liverpool, he was as good as anyother european striker. He could've done better now but who is playing like they are supposed to other than Shaw.
 
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Sir Scott McToMinay

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I do find the current mood to go in on Lukaku very distasteful. Yes, he's in shocking form. Yes he shouldn't be starting for us right. No he isn't useless he scored 27 goals last season and had a great World Cup.
I agree.
Was never a fan but since he’s here, and taking into account his age and room for development, let’s try to make it work before taking a 40m loss and buying Icardi for 130m when there’s absolutely no guarantee he’d better than Lukaku here.

He’s going under way too much criticism imo, his form is horrendous but he’s a good player, playing for a team with no real identity and very little chemistry between the players for the level we want to be at.
 
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