Is Lukaku forcing his way into first team consideration when we are back to full strength?

[Fortitude]

I've been a detractor more so than someone in favour of Lukaku and won't pretend otherwise, but the football he is playing and the importance of what he has been doing when asked to step up has been noteworthy. He may have his flaws, but he is now showing a solid set of strengths, too.

With the way he is playing in the attacking third, you can have an expectation he will do something significant and of game-winning importance, be it a really good through-ball for someone else to convert or a finish that, over his last few games, [very] few others in our squad could actually execute.

Just as he has been panned for the poor stuff, he should also be given plaudits for the good, and of late, the good is outweighing the bad, so much so that I don't think we just go straight back to the default xi we had in January and Febraury before the injuries struck.

Where do you stand in regard to this? Has Lukaku claimed his spot in our best xi now for you, or are you still reserving judgement?

 

[Sir Scott McToMinay]

He has go to be starting games in his current form.

 

[Revan]

He's going to continue starting. The only question is if he'll start in the left or in the center. Considering that both him and Rashford can play both positions, they can switch positions all the time and confuse the opponents.

Next season it depends on whom we sign as right forward.

 

[AgentP]

Yes he has played his way into the first XI. Rashford will probably play on the right for a few games. In Ole's system, players have the freedom to move around so starting on the right for Rashford shouldn't be too bad. He'll still be able to get into scoring positions.

 

[Organic Potatoes]

Possibly, but at the expense of Lingard not Martial.

 

[midnightmare]

Made a fine case to start ahead of Lingard for now. Jesse clearly has way better movement , but Rom is scoring and creating and there's no way we should keep him out if he continues that.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Possibly, but at the expense of Lingard not Martial.

The Rom and Rash partnership is kicking in.

They clearly get on both on the pitch and off.

Martial is indispensable though

 

[Still ill]

No question. Martial, Rashford, Lukaku. Shuffle according to taste.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Yeah I think he should keep on starting. Against weaker sides I like to see us maybe have Martial, Pogba, Lingard, Rashford and Lukaku all starting sometimes.

 

[kkengvib]

I'd start him and have a fluid front 3 of Lukaku, Martial, and Rashford (when everyone is fit). He's so much better when he's not static in the center.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Yes, he's too good to drop at the moment

 

[Vadim]

Yep he’s very good when on form, scores for fun!

 

[Rozay]

Of course, you can’t drop a player who is scoring 2 goals a game.

 

[Tony247]

He has come to life suddenly when we need the most. Capitalize it.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Depends on formation and who we play I guess.

If we're going with three up top, I still prefer someone like Rashford as the 9 because of his movement. There's a big ? over our RW so I expect him to be there against Arsenal given he played so well there against them last game.

It'd be really interesting if someone can find some clips of him throughout the season, particularly comparing his acceleration from standing start because Ole made a point about him putting in a shift to get fit since he took over and he looks less clumsy and flat footed recently.

 

[coolredwine]

The only question is if he'll start in the left or in the center.

Think Lukaku will take turns to run channels and/or shift to the right. When Martial is fit, he's on the left. Else Rashford, as we have already seen multiple times. Lukaku will be center and right.

 

[SirAF]

Yes.

 

[2 man midfield]

Sign a proper right winger and play them both. 442 is back baby

 

[Aarron Swift]

Lukaku is a strange player, He can look clumsy & an overall terrible footballer but he just seems to get goals over the course of a season. Around 230 goals club & country, 25 years old is fantastic & could conceivably finish his career with close to or just above 500 Career Goals.

It’s a difficult question, if he’s forced his way into the 1st 11 because on the surface Rashford suits the system better.

I feel if they were given same starts/minutes as a central striker (theoretically not as a system) Lukaku would probably put score Rashford.....question would lie as to do the team as a whole especially wingers & Pogba score more when either Lukaku or Rashford play as the striker

Rashford Debuted for United at 18, is a local lad from the Youth academy, English with pace - Fans will natural have a slight bias towards those things compared to Lukaku appearing a typical Mourinho striker (ironically he plays worse when asked to be a Mourinho Striker).

Side note really admire the attitude & work rate of Both Rashford/Lukaku when played out wide recently when both would have preferred central.

Really pleased to have bothnin the squad, different types of play, both can score goals, both have good attitude & work rate.


I guess if both played one of Lingard or Martial would have to be dropped. It’s a great problem to have really at least 4 players that have very strong shouts for 3 positions

 

[roonster09]

He is in superb form, so he will start games. Now that Sanchez is injured, we have Lukaku, Rashford, Martial, Lingard to play in 3 positions. Good enough to give everyone chances.

 

[izec]

you cant bench him, saved us the last few games with important goals. He is on form.

 

[stu_1992]

On this form you have to play him. I know he's not everyone's favourite, and I'm not exactly what exact position he will play. But he has to play when being this productive.

 

[IRELANDUNITED]

undroppable and unsellable

 

[Aarron Swift]

Imagine the Dillema next season when Sanchez (hopefully) has done one & we have to decide which 3 of Rashford/Lukaku/Martial/Lingard or Sancho starts

 

[11101]

He's earned a first team spot but i don't think he's quite where we need him yet. We adapt our style to accommodate his limited technical ability. We sit back further and give him more space to counter in to. He is in great form and it's working well at the moment but i still feel we would be better playing another way, but if we play higher up the pitch with less space his poor touch and movement becomes an issue.

Maybe with further weight loss his touch and especially his movement will continue to improve.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Of course, anybody who scores 6 in 3 deserves to be in the team. If his form drops then we will talk about replacements. Same with Rashford, they need to be in the team on merit. Not like Jose/LVG did with just his favourites

 

[Devil may care]

It's hard to say as he's on fire in the 18 yard box but is still not doing anything great outside of it and our pressing and movement isn't nearly as good without Lingard or Martial. Personally I think we should stick with the diamond which brings Jesse back in as the false 9 and then give Martial a couple of sub appearences and evaluate from there as I think we miss his ability to run at the defense, neither Rashford or Lukaku do that anywhere near as well as Tony.

 

[2mufc0]

Like to see him interchange between RW/CF with Rashford.

 

[Paxi]

Absolutely.Would be unforgivable to not start him right now. He took his chance and then some. 2 opportunities to score a hattrick and stayed professional - says a lot about him to me.

 

[MadMike]

Apart form the obvious 'yes' answer to the question above, I want to challenge the notion that we have to pick only 3 out of Martial, Lukaku, Lingard and Rashford.

For most games we don't need 2 defensive minded CMs in Herrera and Matic. It's perfectly reasonable to pick 1 of Matic or Herrera and pair him with Pogba and Lingard. Like so...

After all both Pogba and Lingard are very hardworking players that cover lots of ground

 

[Nr.7]

I was giving him a lot of stick, but lets be honest if Lukaku was injured and Martial or Lingard scored 6 in 3 games there wouldn’t even be a thread like this one.

He stepped up so he keeps his place.

 

[Bola]

6 goals in 3 games us it? That's undroppable form, particular now he has improved his hold up play and work rate.

Fir me, 433 is out strongest formation. Rashford and Martial are out future and while not undropable, they would generally be the 1st names on the team sheet. Lingard plays that wide right role, but he has not done enough to make it fully his own - as it stands, that is where I'd start Lukaku and it's up to Lingard to dislodge him.

Mata has fallen further down the pecking order (on the right) and Sanchez never seems to get played there anyway.

 

[Denis79]

You can't bench a player in the form he's in, period.

 

[Bwuk]

I'm not his biggest fan but he's got 6 in 3, it'd be maddness to drop him.

 

[ManuMou]

I have no idea about Sanchez.

Lukaku, Rashford, Martial and Lingard will definitely be our main attackers now, rotating for three (or two positions) depending on the system and opponent. All of them have been doing well since Ole.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Benching a player who is on such a good run of goal scoring form would be madness.

You know, like Mourinho did with Martial last year.

 

[ManuMou]

I'm not his biggest fan but he's got 6 in 3, it'd be maddness to drop him.

Exactly, not to mention his great contribution came at a time when we needed most with 10 injured players. As Ole said, everyone has a new life from now on.

 

[ManuMou]

Benching a player who is on such a good run of goal scoring form would be madness.

You know, like Mourinho did with Martial last year.

That was the thing I was so mad about. He did it mainly because of Sanchez's signing. Martial was on good/great form at the time. Pure madness.

 

[gza the genius]

No way he shouldn’t be starting when everyone is fit again. His goals have carried us through the last couple games. I'd say it should be:

Martial - Rashford - Lukaku

With Rashford and Lukaku interchanging. Lingard is the one that misses out, though in certain games he probably could have a role in midfield.

 

[Josep Dowling]

It's amazing what can happen to a player when their first team spot is up for grabs. I think he got a bit complacent knowing he was a guaranteed starter under Mourinho.