2 years ago Perisic would have been a very good signing and was vital for getting the best out of Lukaku but people seem to forget the way Inter were when we wanted Sneijder. They have a history of being 'difficult' so it's about time the shoe was on the other foot
Lukaku - transfer speculation | Gone
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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According to me his performances over the last 12 months warrant him being first choice. If one looks at the form of Rashford and Lukaku then I believe Lukaku deserves to start. Lukaku obviously agrees with me.
If you ask someone else they might argue that darling Rashford is better and deserves to start. Both have strong arguments, and I'm not trying to convince you of either. I'm saying that Lukaku feels hard done by and unfairly targeted. He wants to play. He's in his prime. There appears to be no future for him at United.
Nothing I'm saying here is complicated at all. People have different opinions.
For me it comes back to the old "not my money" argument: it's not money, I don't care if he goes for 70 or 80 million euros. I just want him gone because he doesn't fit Ole's system, and every time he plays he makes United worse. Get rid of him, and even if he isn't replaced with an expensive player that's fine. Give one of the kids a chance when Rashford needs a rest / hits a tricky patch.
Lukaku was Mourinho's darling, so it goes both ways. Are you a Jose fan by any chance?
It's not a conclusion, just a question. A simple "yes" or "no" would have sufficed.
Do you always jump to conclusions so expertly?
I totally agree, where so many fans on here want us to sell him because they think his transfer value will ridiculously decrease in a year. He is entering his prime, we should hold out for the most we can get or not sell him.
OK buddy. I can't believe I thought you were drawing a parallel between Lukaku being a favorite of Jose and that anyone who rates Lukaku must be a Mourinho fan. I don't know what on earth might have given me that idea.
I'm not a Jose fan. I'm also not a Lukaku fan. Or a Rashford fan.
A lot of Mourinho fans moved heaven and earth to convince everyone that Lukaku and Matic would be amazing signings, and would be a massive success for us. I see you have a problem with Lukaku leaving and us giving a chance to Rashford and Martial to be our main attackers so I was wondering why.
I think Lukaku is better than Rashford - that's why. But, as I've stated - everyone has a different opinion. I might be wrong. Anyway, I stick to my main point, which is that Lukaku should leave if he wants to play regularly.
Fair enough.
Surely you're kidding? We first played him in a midfield two as he often plays with France. He performed inconsistently and mostly poorly and pundits everywhere stated this was because he should be played in the left of a 3 man midfield. We played him there and again he was inconsistent and often poor. We then played him as a number 10 and again he was inconsistent.
We've played him with 7 different central midfielders (Carrick, Blind, Herrera, Fred, Fellaini, Matic, McTominay) in three different systems, with several dozen combinations... Behind forwards that press aggressively (Lingard, Rashford, Sanchez) and also behind ones that don't (Martial, Lukaku). We've played him in a two alongside a defensive player in great form (Matic 17/18) with legs ahead (Lingard) or legs behind (Herrera); in a three with a small amount of defensive work (Matic and Fred/Herrera/McTominay) and in a three where he has almost no defensive responsibility.
Irrespective of the form of those around him... In every single combination there is only one consistency: Pogba's inconsistency.
But notwithstanding the above, same Pogba was still our best player (or best outfield player at least). Inconsistency is partly caused by lack of quality around Pogba
I don't know who the feck wrote that, but if it was me then I'm losing my mind.
Madness that you think Lukaku is better than Rashford. Rashford put in some performances that Lukaku couldn’t dream of at the age of 20. Don’t get me wrong Rashford is frustrating and still has a lot to lean but lukaku has proven over the last two seasons that he is never in a million years a top striker. I genuinely don’t understand how someone can watch his performances over the last two seasons and see anything other than shite, the man couldn’t trap a bag of cement.
Fair enough bruvva!
If that is a conclusion that you came to by yourself - without being influenced by any overriding public narrative - then I completely respect it.
Well, any system or attempt at a system which depends on pressing as a unit falls apart with him in there, so I guess any modern system?
While I agree that I'm happy we missed out on Perisic, doesn't change the fact that they were not thinking of doing us a favour by their behavior when refusing to sell.
Same as we holding on to our guns on to Lukaku may do them a favor, but it's more of a 'feck you' to them for last time.
In fact they would be doing us a favour by taking hom off our hands, but only if we get what we asking for and nothing less.
When has he been our best outfield player? Based on minimum 20 games played Redcafe ratings:
18/19 he was rated behind Shaw, Herrera and Lindelof
17/18 he was rated behind Matic, Jones, Martial and Lukaku
16/17 he was rated behind Valencia, Bailly and Herrera
During that period Shaw and Herrera have both won PotY awards (Maty Busby and Players' Player).
Off topic though so any further discussions should be in Pogba's thread.
Redcafe ratings?
The true gold standard in ratings. Who could we possibly trust more than...people on hereRedcafe ratings?
Perisic might just have been what we needed to get top 4 last season.
An off-form Perisic is better than Beanz. Perisic is getting a lot of stick on the Caf, which is a little
Would love to see this Dybala deal happen. Seems a lot of talks from Juve having offers. Would be a massive upgrade on some of our forward players.
Seems too good to be true though. Don’t see why Juve would want him at all
Seems too good to be true though. Don’t see why Juve would want him at all
Yeah me too. I also don't trust the club to re-invest if we got straight cash so getting a player from Juve would be great.
Can't be sure that he could have delivered top 4 for us at all.Perisic might just have been what we needed to get top 4 last season.
An off-form Perisic is better than Beanz. Perisic is getting a lot of stick on the Caf, which is a little
Our problem last season was our defense leaking too many goals, Perisic was not going to help in that department. And he's record of goals is not enough to boast that we could outscore our opponents either.
That, together with the fading season he had last season, could have been another case of old player with big wages aka Sanchez, and we really don't need that considering how difficult we find it too off load our deadwood.
The again he could have lit up the PL and won the golden boot (I jest) , guess we would never truly know. I just opt for what seems more plausible, that he would have just been another underperformer in a team of 'on paper-stars'.
World Cup Perisic fought for every ball and took the games by the scruff of the neck. Even just a couple of those performances in the run in could've seen us make it. But, as you say - we will never know.
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How ? Why ? In what part of the world does the form Lukaku showed up in after the World Cup, and continued to play in for the majority of the season, constitute him being a clear first choice at a top club ?
Lukaku has no reason whatsoever to feel hard done by, or unfairly targeted for that matter.
Along with individual club awards... Far more impartial than one posters opinion that he's been our best outfield player with zero evidence to support.Redcafe ratings?
I still can’t comprehend that Juventus actually want someone like Lukuku - let’s wait and see.
Me neither. Fear we are being played again.
The Moise Kean deal is without a buy back clause also which is absurd !!
Serious?
A bone of contention that I keep seeing is that Lukuku is going because he doesn’t fit OGS’ system. Whilst that’s true, he was also just as appalling under Jose, and HIS system.
Lukuku scores 25% of his Utd goals in the first 2 months of his arrival. Shows what a patch and I consistant player he is.
Added to the fact he decided to give up on his fitness, and desire and put on so much weight he can’t run a long time before OGS started.
If anything, out current manager has just exposed what a fraud of a player the ‘big man’ has become.
Lukuku scores 25% of his Utd goals in the first 2 months of his arrival. Shows what a patch and I consistant player he is.
Added to the fact he decided to give up on his fitness, and desire and put on so much weight he can’t run a long time before OGS started.
If anything, out current manager has just exposed what a fraud of a player the ‘big man’ has become.
Yep
Lukaku had a bad season. Many WC players have had a bad season, oddly. Now, some of these players are stuck with by their managers and others are benched. Lukaku was benched and DDG was persevered with.
Rashford has also not excelled last season, but he was preferred by OGS. Many posters rate Rashford, while some, like me, believe Lukaku can bring more to the table. So, while Lukaku might not have had a great season I don't think Rashford has done enough to be an automatic starter.
Don't get me wrong - I don't rate Lukaku.
Below are some of these arguments;
"Since Romelu Lukaku joined Manchester United he has scored more Premier League goals than Alexandre Lacazette and Roberto Firmino, not to mention his fellow Class of Summer 2017 member Alvaro Morata who he comfortably outlasted.
He scored league goals at a rate of one every 178 minutes played last season, the seventh consecutive Premier League campaign in which he has reached double figures. Lukaku was United's top league goalscorer in his debut season - with seven more goals than the next best - and was second to Paul Pogba by one in his second.
Why then, with Lukaku's time at Old Trafford seemingly at a close, do these plain facts read as an overly generous interpretation of events? United paying £75 million for that one-in-two productivity is a significant reason. Lukaku scoring just one goal in 16 league starts against the rest of the Premier League's 'Big Six' is another. Nor did Lukaku, despite his consistent goal totals, surpass the elite threshold of 20 league goals in a season at United while several forwards at rival clubs did. There were also some droughts - runs of eight, nine and 12 games without a goal in last season alone.
Time and place also counted against him. Lukaku joined a Jose Mourinho team who verged from clunky and mechanical to outright gangrenous. The lack of metronomic passers and creativity from central midfield was chronic, and remains so despite Pogba's best efforts. United relied on crosses for chance creation, but asked ageing full-backs or frustrated centre-forwards shunted wide to provide them. It was not a conducive platform for any striker to thrive.
There is no question however, that Lukaku has frequently appeared a man out of step in a United shirt. From his one-in-two strike rate to his playing style, Lukaku evokes memories of a different tactical age, when the big clubs kept a stable of four forwards (Sir Alex Ferguson was a pioneer of this approach) who always played with a partner. An age before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi shattered the paradigm of what a good goalscoring record was. When the notion that strikers must the first line of defence, a springboard for link-up play and an all-round contributor was not so pervasive."
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Seriously? Lukaku was amazingly bad for the first half of last season. I'm not exaggerating at all when I say he was almost certainly the worst regular starter in the entire league. I've never seen somebody in such bad form for such a prolonged period continue to start every single match no matter what. I don't completely blame him for that as Mourinho should have dropped him and made him work for his spot again, but that's beside the point.
Lukaku did have a month or so period in the second half of the season where he was decent, but that's about it. Meanwhile Rashford had a fantastic couple of months when Ole first took over, and he was generally better the rest of the time as well.
Note that I'm not a Lukaku hater or a huge fan of Rashford, but I honestly can't understand how anybody could have seen last season any differently.
it will probably decrease assuming he won't be first choice, which seems like a good assumption to make at this point
Let us be blunt about this. This is a load of crap. Mourinho stuck by Lukaku, completely, which meant consistently playing him for the 90 mins for the majority of the matches until Mourinho was sacked. 16 PL matches he played, he started 12 of them and played the full 90 in all 12, out of the total 17 PL matches we played in this period. 6 goals he scored, he went 7 league matches without scoring, managing only 6 shots in total during that period...And we're acting like he was hard done by , christ, if Hitler got that many second chances we'd all be speaking German.
I'm not entirely sure how Lukaku can bring more to the table. He's a brute force striker. If he has the ball at his feet running towards goal at full pace he's extremely difficult to stop. He doesn't have the general technique to function well when there's limited space to operate in, the ball keeps bouncing off him or we end up with the extremely pathetic videos of Lukaku waiting for the ball to stop bouncing as if he was a 5 year old, he doesn't have the stamina and/or agility to function in a system where he has to press the opposition and his timing and use of his size when challenging for headers is absurdly bad.
Rashford isn't in any means perfect, but he has the basics to function in a system that the majority of fans want to see. A fluid attack with players that can press the opposition high up the pitch and swap positions freely. Doesn't matter if he's not as prolific as other strikers, if it's in a well functioning system we can still score plenty of goals spread over several players, instead of depending on one single player.
De Gea's form didn't collapse until the end of the season, we stuck by him because of who he is and the alternative on the bench.
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