His usual self. Fluffed a couple of promising attacks, pointed a lot. I don't remember seeing him fall over the ball though, so he is improving.
Romelu Lukaku | Chelsea
- Thread starter RDCR07
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He even blocked Alonso once
He made a couple of mistakes. Passing the ball to a wide open Werner in front of goal instead of taking on both CBs that were in front of him!!
He will learn Werner is never truly on a break away.
He made some really nice scoring positions. Kovacic really should have handed him a goal at one point.
3 games so far against the big 6, only scored the 1 goal but it was against Arsenal so does it even count? See what he does against City next week
Leicester has taken over Arsenal’s spot in the top 6. The real measure will be against the top 4 this season though.
Created two sitters today. He should really have walked away with two assists. He played 45 mins down to 10 men at Anfield. Scored against Arsenal.
Scoring against Arsenal is nothing, they're not a top team anymore and it's lazy for people to still include them. They're currently mid table level - which is the higher limit to which Lukaku usually performs against.
While I agree Lukaku leaves a lot to be desired in the big games why is it made such a 'thing' with him?
A lot better players have struggled to truly impose themselves in big games, hopefully Havertz's tendency to deliever those clutch goals can offset it.
A lot better players have struggled to truly impose themselves in big games, hopefully Havertz's tendency to deliever those clutch goals can offset it.
I am glad we do not need to rely on him every game. Us winning games where he didn’t need to score probably keeps him loose throughout the season.
Arsenal are no longer the big six
Like those times where he disappears for 7-8 games on the trot? But scores 6 in 4?
I don’t miss those days…
Because of the praise/price tag on him in general.
Higher praise/higher price tag leads to more expectations. And I don't know if there's a 'lot of better players' that are renowned for goal-scoring that have a poor record vs big teams like Lukaku.
I actually think he'll score vs City for what it's worth.
We shall see if that happens.
Thought he had a better game than a disinterested Kane, not by a big margin though to be fair.
I can think of the ultimate example.
Ronaldo first spell with you guys probably the best ever player to play in the prem, one goal against Chelsea in six years (admittedly the biggest game he got that one goal) and two against Liverpool, if we head on the continent one vs Milan and none vs Barca. Swap Chelsea for United and Rom will get slaughtered if he leaves us with those type of figures.
Henry never scored in a cup final.
Ofcourse both are miles better players which is kind of the point, if a legion of players had ace big game records the novelty of these type of games would cease to exist very quickly.
And for what it's worth I have doubts about Lukaku, I don't doubt his goal ability but I feel he's compromised our attacking system a bit. We've gone from creating (all be it wasting) loads to creating not as much and hoping Rom finishes, which to be fair so far he has but we/he needs to keep the output up to justify it..
“Don’t ever compare me to Ronaldo.”
You couldn’t pick a worse example because his scoring record in big games was always critiqued here. Besides, he had a good scoring record vs Arsenal which you conspicuously left out. They were a very strong side during that era. Ronaldo obviously quietened any of those notions, as he transformed into a ruthless goal scorer famed for his goals in big matches during his later years.
Not to mention, during his first tenure here, he influenced the game in many different manners without scoring. This performance is a good example, he didn’t score but he was MoM in what was a very convincing performance vs your team. He was generally a very big threat in all matches, and not a non-entity which has been a running theme for Lukaku in vast majority of big matches.
Ronaldo definitely wasn't as prolific in the big games then. Fair point.
Henry didn't score in a cup final, but he was prolific vs the big 4 in the Prem.
Okay that's fine. Let's just keep that in mind when he scores against West Ham and Leicester then
He was fine today in all honesty. Bit isolated in the first half, but much more involved in the second He had maybe one half decent chance which Lloris saved but if Werner and Kovacic could finish their easy chances, he'd have walked away with two assists in a 5-0 win.
Ronaldo was criticized for it. He was called a big game flop by many, ironically.
However he was a winger.
If we beat City 2-0 and Lukaku doesn't score, i could not give a toss. He'd have certainly walked away with a goal yesterday if Kovacic used a bit of common sense when through on goal
Of course you wouldn't, but how is that relevant to a conversation about Lukaku's performances? Also, going on history, it's more likely he'll hold you back in those types of games being a passenger rather than be instrumental in a convincing performance.
He was alright yesterday. Should've gotten one assist if Kovacic or Werner wasnt absolutely useless. Still, the praise after the Arsenal game was excessive given where Le Arse are at the moment, and his big game performances have been a mixed bag at best so far, even though admittedly we dont have much of a sample to draw any conclusion.
This I agree with, it was way over the top, but I'll also add that this forum's hyper focus on every negative detail about Lukaku should also be taken with a grain of salt.
Thought he was pretty decent yesterday. Might have messed up one or two situations, but his overall hold-up play was good. Put it on a plate for Werner and Kovacic, where he maybe should have just taken the shot.
There was also some vintage Lukaky-style pointing and moaning. Always cracks me up.
There was also some vintage Lukaky-style pointing and moaning. Always cracks me up.
He was fine yesterday. It’s easy to criticise him for not scoring in another big(ish) game, but he should have walked away with two assists and was a handful for the whole second half.
Of course that is bare minimum for a £100 million player, but he’s not going to score in every game. As long as the attack looks as good as it did in the second half yesterday, he’s justifying the price tag.
Of course that is bare minimum for a £100 million player, but he’s not going to score in every game. As long as the attack looks as good as it did in the second half yesterday, he’s justifying the price tag.
Because it used to be the case that the big teams always beat the small teams, and it was those big six point games where titles were decided. The best players showed their worth in those games.
Now the smaller teams are also more than capable of giving big teams a fight so it's less relevant to the team overall. Still a good measure of the individual player though.
I rate Lukaku highly and have defended him on here for years but this is a ridiculous post.
1. Ronaldo was criticized for this during his first spell.
2. He was a winger, in the truest sense of the word.
3. He went on to prove himself as one of the best big game players ever so it would be a bit silly for us to still talk about this now.
It's hard to put a finger on what it is with his personality, but yeah he's always pretty full of himself
Really feeling it sometimes.Great game yesterday, btw
The comparison with Ronaldo is stupid. And not just because of the obvious disparity in quality. Why would we compare a 18 year old wingers scoring record with a strikers? For the first few years of his time at United it wasn’t Ronaldo’s primary job to score goals. Lukaku is 28 and we’re still having that discussion about him. If you were having that discussion about Ronaldo at 28 then it would be a very different outcome.
I thought he had a good game. A few times he held it up well. He makes a huge difference to that Chelsea team.
To be fair to him his movements yesterday were much better than his time at United.
Yeah I don't understand the comparison either myself. Odd one.
Yep. Not at all.
Ronaldo was a winger then, not a striker. He contributed so much more to games than goals, unlike Lukaku.
He also scored against other top teams (at the time).
He was also 10 years younger than Lukaku is now at the time.
Ronaldo wasn’t really about goals when he first broke through so the comparison is futile. He was running games from the channels and generally was a threat throughout. It’s only Lukaku’s performance you can measure by goals alone.
Not to mention, Ronaldo was extremely young for half of his 1st spell at United while Lukaku is at his absolute prime.
I love how Dan's "ultimate" example was pretty much the worse comparison he could've made
It was a silly critique back then (I'm on record saying this) and it was all naysayers had to say about him.
Tbf you are comparing a winger with a striker.
But if I'm not mistaken he was criticized for his poor record against the big teams. He only started to become a big game player after he joined RM and when he became the goal-scoring machine that everyone knows.