Lukaku cost us tonight

[finneh]

He'll cost Mourinho his job in my view. The managers belief that he can fundamentally change him into the kind of Drogba style player who can effectively hold the ball up and bring others into play just isn't matched by Lukaku's raw attributes. The manager is being stubborn in trying to fit a square peg into a round hole; just as Fergie tried to do initially with Veron. He needs to emulate Fergie in this instance and realise sooner rather than later that getting rid is the best option for everyone.

Lukaku simply does not have enough to his game to ever be good enough for a top team, and given the fact that he's played over 450 games of professional football for club and country I seriously worry about whether he's going to have anything left in the tank in a couple of years. When you compare Lukaku to Rooney for example both players started to decline around the 500-550 professional game mark, the latter despite "only" being around 27 years old.

I draw other parallels between them actually. Rooney's best season in my view was 09/10 when he was 23 and in his 8th season. Lukaku's best season was 16/17 when he was also 23 and also in his 8th season of professional footballer.

 

[arthurka]

Oh f... this, he isn´t a great striker but he is a good striker. Of course he should be burying these sitters but why on earth is he only getting 1-2 chances a game?
He should be getting 5-10 chances. If we get a manager who has any knowledge on how to setup our teams attack he will score us plenty of goals.
Get him crosses and balls in the box and he will get you goals.

If we had signed Salah does anyone think he would have scored 40 goals here?

 

[ZAGREB RED]

Sure the problems run far deeper than him. But if everything else were to be fixed and the rest of the team were playing to their potential this guy would still be our weakest link. Not a ball player, not a target man and not even a clinical goal scorer. What is he supposed to be?

Yes that's true in terms of the big picture, and I agree, Lukaku is only a good player up to a certain point. Mourinho obviously sees him as United's version of Drogba, but he isn't in that class. If Lukaku starts doing it in the big games, fair enough, but until then, yes, United could do a lot better in terms of a first pick CF.
Mourinho just can't see past him, but he just isn't on the same level as players like Kane and Lewandowski, but singling him out in the current situation is still a bit harsh I think.

 

[ZAGREB RED]

Oh f... this, he isn´t a great striker but he is a good striker. Of course he should be burying these sitters but why on earth is he only getting 1-2 chances a game?
He should be getting 5-10 chances. If we get a manager who has any knowledge on how to setup our teams attack he will score us plenty of goals.
Get him crosses and balls in the box and he will get you goals.

If we had signed Salah does anyone think he would have scored 40 goals here?

No, not the way United play just now, nowhere near 40 goals in a season.

 

[redIndianDevil]

The biggest problem is that there's no other striker at the club that Mourinho trusts in that center forward role. If we had such a player, he'd drop Lukaku. Of course, it's his own fault for failing to bring such a player into the club.

That's not the biggest problem. The biggest problem we have a manager who has absolutely no other tactics other than having a tall lamppost up front to hoof long balls at.

 

[SSSSnake]

We certainly aren't killing games off but very harsh to label this his fault.

 

[Ainu]

That's not the biggest problem. The biggest problem we have a manager who has absolutely no other tactics other than having a tall lamppost up front to hoof long balls at.

My post was a reaction to someone who said Mourinho has his favourites who start no matter what. So my answer was in that context. I certainly didn't mean it as the biggest problem at the club right now.

 

[FujiVice]

Can anyone remember that big bloke who played for Belgium in the World Cup? The one who was leading a huddle and giving players directions and inspiration and the Hazard and De Bruyne were looking at him like a leader? The one who broke on the counter, giving the centre halves twisted blood and allowing others to get forward. We should try signing him.

 

[Cassidy]

The biggest problem is that there's no other striker at the club that Mourinho trusts in that center forward role. If we had such a player, he'd drop Lukaku. Of course, it's his own fault for failing to bring such a player into the club.

Thats because hes a twat and has a one dimensional view of the role

 

[Josep Dowling]

That's not the biggest problem. The biggest problem we have a manager who has absolutely no other tactics other than having a tall lamppost up front to hoof long balls at.

Exactly. We have seen the likes of Aubameyang move for nearly half what we paid for Lukuaku. He has a better goal scoring rate and his interplay is on a different level.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Can anyone remember that big bloke who played for Belgium in the World Cup? The one who was leading a huddle and giving players directions and inspiration and the Hazard and De Bruyne were looking at him like a leader? The one who broke on the counter, giving the centre halves twisted blood and allowing others to get forward. We should try signing him.

The same player who had De Bruyne and Hazard giving him chances on a plate you mean?

We currently have Sanchez and no right winger.

 

[poleglass red]

Can anyone remember that big bloke who played for Belgium in the World Cup? The one who was leading a huddle and giving players directions and inspiration and the Hazard and De Bruyne were looking at him like a leader? The one who broke on the counter, giving the centre halves twisted blood and allowing others to get forward. We should try signing him.

didn't Hazard publicly call him out during that world cup for hiding in the Panama game

 

[Holocene]

All strikers miss chances. The Caf favourites in City and Liverpool miss chances every match. The difference is, they don't make one or two clear-cut chances per match like we do, they make them in abundance.

 

[meamth]

Imagine if we have Lewandowski instead of Lukaku... I can only wet myself.

 

[bosnian_red]

Can anyone remember that big bloke who played for Belgium in the World Cup? The one who was leading a huddle and giving players directions and inspiration and the Hazard and De Bruyne were looking at him like a leader? The one who broke on the counter, giving the centre halves twisted blood and allowing others to get forward. We should try signing him.

He was his usual self at the world cup. Only scored against Panama and Tunisia. 1 good half against Brazil and 1 bad half, 1 good piece of play in an otherwise poor game vs Japan when they were in trouble, an invisible semi final in a game with limited space where he never has an impact. Its standard him.

 

[Hoof the ball]

We're registering far fewer shots per game (in total) on average than any of our rivals. Now, I'm not a massive Lukaku fan by any means. I do believe that there's large weaknesses in his game which I don't accept can be corrected to any significant degree between now and his early 30's. That being said, the issue of Lukaku being more productive is as much an issue of the system, the team and the coaching, as it is the individual therein. I read that Romelu has a 25% conversion for shots on target, which is statistically good. Of course, since we've had far fewer shots in total then that could account for why it's still that high, however, we need to figure out how to put Lukaku in more dangerous areas more often. Lukaku often scores with diagonal runs behind a CB with through balls from Belgian players, but they play in such a way to exploit that. We, however, are not. The issues of Lukaku are one and the same with the issues of the team as an attacking unit.

 

[Bastian]

Can anyone remember that big bloke who played for Belgium in the World Cup? The one who was leading a huddle and giving players directions and inspiration and the Hazard and De Bruyne were looking at him like a leader? The one who broke on the counter, giving the centre halves twisted blood and allowing others to get forward. We should try signing him.

He's hit and miss. For us this season he's missed a sitter a game. It's all well and good saying we should create more chances for him, but a team aiming to fight at the top needs a top striker. That he just is not. I also remember both Hazard and de Bruyne choosing other options when the simple thing would be to play the ball to Lukaku in the World Cup. It was quite obvious.

 

[ravi2]

Can anyone remember that big bloke who played for Belgium in the World Cup? The one who was leading a huddle and giving players directions and inspiration and the Hazard and De Bruyne were looking at him like a leader? The one who broke on the counter, giving the centre halves twisted blood and allowing others to get forward. We should try signing him.

If we had the Lukaku that played for Belgium and the Pogba who played for France we'd be a dangerous team

 

[ravi2]

Imagine if we have Lewandowski instead of Lukaku... I can only wet myself.

We need more Ribery/Robben than we need a Lewandowski imo

 

[ravi2]

He's hit and miss. For us this season he's missed a sitter a game. It's all well and good saying we should create more chances for him, but a team aiming to fight at the top needs a top striker. That he just is not. I also remember both Hazard and de Bruyne choosing other options when the simple thing would be to play the ball to Lukaku in the World Cup. It was quite obvious.

I dont think Chelsea or Liverpool have a top striker but have dangerous inside forwards and wingers...neither of which we possess at the moment.
Lukaku isnt the greatest ST, but he isnt the root cause of our issues.

 

[Bastian]

I dont think Chelsea or Liverpool have a top striker but have dangerous inside forwards and wingers...neither of which we possess at the moment.
Lukaku isnt the greatest ST, but he isnt the root cause of our issues.

It's Chelsea's biggest flaw. The system may make up for it, but we'll see. Firmino I'd say is a top class striker, no question.

 

[ravi2]

It's Chelsea's biggest flaw. The system may make up for it, but we'll see. Firmino I'd say is a top class striker, no question.

I dont think Firmino would look half as good if he wasnt flanked by Mane and Salah

 

[Player Red]

If we had the Lukaku that played for Belgium and the Pogba who played for France we'd be a dangerous team

Nah, because we do have those players. We just don't have the rest of their teams.

 

[Cloud7]

I wonder if this will be the second manager that chooses his striker as the hill he dies on. We saw it with Vangle, when he put all his eggs in the Rooney basket in his second season and that was probably the worst choice he could have made.

Will Lukaku be the sword that Mourinho falls on?

We should never have bought him. We should have gone for a decent stop gap option, like Vardy, if the proper long term solution wasn’t there, and waited to get the right person in. Lukaku is not the striker we need to get back to the top.

 

[ravi2]

Nah, because we do have those players. We just don't have the rest of their teams.

Exactly my point, if we have a seasoned CB and a dangerous winger we'd be a different side.
Lukaku could be doing better but the side as a whole needs investment.

 

[Holocene]

I dont think Firmino would look half as good if he wasnt flanked by Mane and Salah

Mane and Salah look that good because of Firmino, not the other way around.

We need more Ribery/Robben than we need a Lewandowski imo

Completely agree.

How many players in our team are creating chances consistently? It's only Pogba. Hopefully Shaw and Dalot can create chances, but we need more.

 

[Bastian]

I dont think Firmino would look half as good if he wasnt flanked by Mane and Salah

I think that would go for any striker in their setup. His movement and work rate is beyond that of Lukaku's, his technical ability is much better. I just think he's a lot better player.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Nobody in this team can score goals but Lukaku it seems. He's pretty much always isolated by two opoo's defenders plus one defensive midfielder and his teammates often are not on time to help him. The space between attack and midfield is too big for him to come up with something. He scored over one hundred goals mainly by a proper wing distribution and he doesn't even have that at times.

Sign additional striker and think about delivering proper wingers, especially on the right or he will suffer further but yes, he's also responsible for his finishing skills which are random these days.

 

[ravi2]

Mane and Salah look that good because of Firmino, not the other way around.

Completely agree.

How many players in our team are creating chances consistently? It's only Pogba. Hopefully Shaw and Dalot can create chances, but we need more.

Nobody in this team can score goals but Lukaku it seems. He's pretty much always isolated by two opoo's defenders plus one defensive midfielder and his teammates often are not on time to help him. The space between attack and midfield is too big for him to come up with something. He scored over one hundred goals mainly by a proper wing distribution and he doesn't even have that at times.

Sign additional striker and think about delivering proper wingers, especially on the right or he will suffer further but yes, he's also responsible for his finishing skills which are random these days.

It all comes back to the same issue... we dont have any wingers.
Shaw and Dalot are decent full backs but they cannot be the only source of service into the box.

 

[ravi2]

I think that would go for any striker in their setup. His movement and work rate is beyond that of Lukaku's, his technical ability is much better. I just think he's a lot better player.

Ill have to agree with you there, but even if we had Firmino I dont think we would be doing much better.
Our issues go way deeper than that.

 

[VeevaVee]

He's not getting as many chances as he should (other people's fault) and not burying chances he should be (his fault). Both can be true.

 

[Smores]

Oh f... this, he isn´t a great striker but he is a good striker. Of course he should be burying these sitters but why on earth is he only getting 1-2 chances a game?
He should be getting 5-10 chances. If we get a manager who has any knowledge on how to setup our teams attack he will score us plenty of goals.
Get him crosses and balls in the box and he will get you goals.

If we had signed Salah does anyone think he would have scored 40 goals here?

No player gets 10 chances a game and he isn't only getting 1 or 2 anyway. I'm a big fan of Lukaku but he's been shite this season and it's all on him. His positioning, touch and finishing have been as poor as we've seen from him here. These things aren't due to system

 

[redIndianDevil]

Exactly. We have seen the likes of Aubameyang move for nearly half what we paid for Lukuaku. He has a better goal scoring rate and his interplay is on a different level.

Not just Aubameyang, they signed Lacazette too and looks like he is starting to click. While we are stuck with lukaku and Mourinho makes him play like Emile Heskey.

 

[Van Piorsing]

It all comes back to the same issue... we dont have any wingers.
Shaw and Dalot are decent full backs but they cannot be the only source of service into the box.

Exactly this. We probably won't fully recreate something like Irwin-Giggs, Neville-Beckham or Evra-Ronnie but at least we could provide a functional combos on both sides with working fullbacks and proper wingers. It's easily in range of club like Man United that legend was also built on wonderful partnerships on sides. There's absolutely no doubt about it but seriously what is our board and management are waiting for... It's mind boggling how much we delay with all needed reforms.

Jose's here 3rd year and he still play a game of tetris in defense, trying to fit the blocks like a maniac or something while attacking formation is choking on it's lack of choice and pure averageness.

 

[GifLord]

Not just Aubameyang, they signed Lacazette too and looks like he is starting to click. While we are stuck with lukaku and Mourinho makes him play like Emile Heskey.

He's been playing like that for the Belgium NT aswell, missing sitters, producing one of the worst first touches you'll ever see from a pro footballer...
Horrible signing

 

[Jeffthered]

A lovely guy, but unless he can focus on what he is good at, then he will not be a top forward. He isn't clinical, is rarely relaxed, and his all round play (touch etc..) is too inconsistent to lead the line for such a top club. Last night he should have smashed Derby out of sight. I just don't think he will ever be that player though. For Belgium, he is surrounded by top quality, so there is less of an emphasis on him. he will get a quota of goals... but you cannot seriously compare him to Kane, Aguero etc.. not just in terms of goals, but influence.

He has become this massive (too much weights??? he looks huge and clumsy at times...) player, he needs to tidy his game up, and be more relaxed when playing.

But I don't see it happening.

 

[JohnnyKills]

I don't have anything against Lukaku himself, it's just the system we have to play to accommodate him.

Our entire attack is built around him and he never gets dropped, so there's no chance to play any other way. It's no coincidence that all our other attackers have stagnated.

The real killer is that this system doesn't even get the best out of Lukaku himself. In the World Cup he was much more mobile in Martinez's system, and I don't remember Belgium launching many crosses into him. It seems Mourinho's miscast him as a target man just because he's big and strong, when in reality his strength is his pace, not his size.

I doubt the next manager will use Lukaku in the way Mourinho has. He may become a bench player behind Martial, Rashford, or AN other striker, to be brought on when we're chasing games (filling the role Fellaini plays now) and to play against weaker teams. Or we may adopt a fluid front three with Lukaku swapping positions with the other two, the sort of formation we used when we won the CL in 08.

 

[GBBQ]

I'd like to see Sanchez and Lukaku held to the same standards that Mourinho has for Martial and Rashford. bad game and your benched and whoever is waiting in reserve is given a chance. Absolute pandemonium but at least it would be fair.

 

[redIndianDevil]

He's been playing like that for the Belgium NT aswell, missing sitters, producing one of the worst first touches you'll ever see from a pro footballer...
Horrible signing

He is above average at best, but we really didn't have much choice, it was either between Morata and Lukaku. But we should try to sign a better striker in the next window. If he is our main striker, we can forget challenging for the title in the near future.

 

[Bastian]

Ill have to agree with you there, but even if we had Firmino I dont think we would be doing much better.
Our issues go way deeper than that.

I definitely think our issues are far beyond just having a top striker, agree there. Just think that if he'd put most of those chances away we'd be having a different season currently. Not radically different mind..