Lukaku - transfer speculation | Gone

Status
Not open for further replies.

Loublaze

ATLien
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
16,593
Was very clear he wasn't going to fit the way we play though, was also very clear he wasn't a target man
He did score almost the same amount of goals in his first season that Zlatan managed in his first. Zlatan got 28 from 21 games, Lukaku 27 from 22. 3 of Zlatan's were penalties and Lukaku didn't score any penalties. Lukaku scored 6 with his weak foot and Zlatan scored 2 with his. He's the best finisher at the club
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,029
We amassed 47 points at home last season. Liverpool in comparison picked up 53 points this season. We also had that stupid West Brom loss after the City win. That is an impressive record whichever way you slice it.

I am not overly defensive. There are just narratives people in general will eat up way too easily because it’s the easy thing to do.
How many league goals did he score at home in the second half of the season? Its an impressive record for the team not for Lukaku as an individual, and we were discussing him as an individual.
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,029
He did score almost the same amount of goals in his first season that Zlatan managed in his first. Zlatan got 28 from 21 games, Lukaku 27 from 22. 3 of Zlatan's were penalties and Lukaku didn't score any penalties. Lukaku scored 6 with his weak foot and Zlatan scored 2 with his. He's the best finisher at the club
Never disagreed with that. What I said still stands though
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Messages
4,962
Location
Dourset
I'd say Lukaku is the best instinctive forward at the club,though I would still have Martial as the best allround finisher.

In a 1v1 situation,where Lukaku is granted more time to think,I dont think he's particularly that confident ,compared to Martial that is.

Still,stating the obvious again,if Lukaku leaves we need a efficient,all-round replacement. Cant go into next season with Martial,Rashford and a kid in Greenwood.Be very naive of Ole if he were to neglect that area.
 

haram

New Member
Joined
May 28, 2017
Messages
12,921
How many league goals did he score at home in the second half of the season? Its an impressive record for the team not for Lukaku as an individual, and we were discussing him as an individual.
You have to consider his role and positioning as the number 9. In fact if you look at two games we actually dropped points in you can see this. Southampton and Burnley.

Burnley we played both Ibra and Lukaku. We went 2-0 down before Jesse replaced Ibra and we salvaged a 2-2. The key here being Jesse coming on and playing as the number 10 and Lukaku holding his position as the number 9.

Southampton where Romelu was out injured and Rashford was the number 9. One of our most toothless games that entire season at home.

Tactically, the combo of the number 9 and number 10 worked at home. In fact the comparison between Ibra and Lukaku can be made between the two seasons. Ibra would always drop deep, Lukaku however was always occupying the CB’s and allowed space to be created for a number 10 (in this case Lingard). This doesn’t come up on stats. It is however one of the reasons why we won so many games at home. The combination gets no credit, of course people were busy complaining. If I told people that line up from last season amassed 47 points at home they would not believe me.

Mata also has his role at OT last season but that would be going deeper into what we were doing at home tactically last season. It was not appreciated but people would die for the points now.
 

Loublaze

ATLien
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
16,593
How many league goals did he score at home in the second half of the season? Its an impressive record for the team not for Lukaku as an individual, and we were discussing him as an individual.
10 at home all comps, 6 in the league
 

Kapardin

New Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2017
Messages
9,917
Location
Chennai, India
I'd say Lukaku is the best instinctive forward at the club,though I would still have Martial as the best allround finisher.

In a 1v1 situation,where Lukaku is granted more time to think,I dont think he's particularly that confident ,compared to Martial that is.

Still,stating the obvious again,if Lukaku leaves we need a efficient,all-round replacement. Cant go into next season with Martial,Rashford and a kid in Greenwood.Be very naive of Ole if he were to neglect that area.
That's because he's the only experienced striker we have. Rashford isn't as good as he thinks he is and Martial is more of a winger nowadays.

Saying Lukaku is the best at the club is like saying he is the tallest midget.
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,029
You have to consider his role and positioning as the number 9. In fact if you look at two games we actually dropped points in you can see this. Southampton and Burnley.

Burnley we played both Ibra and Lukaku. We went 2-0 down before Jesse replaced Ibra and we salvaged a 2-2. The key here being Jesse coming on and playing as the number 10 and Lukaku holding his position as the number 9.

Southampton where Romelu was out injured and Rashford was the number 9. One of our most toothless games that entire season at home.

Tactically, the combo of the number 9 and number 10 worked at home. In fact the comparison between Ibra and Lukaku can be made between the two seasons. Ibra would always drop deep, Lukaku however was always occupying the CB’s and allowed space to be created for a number 10 (in this case Lingard). This doesn’t come up on stats. It is however one of the reasons why we won so many games at home. The combination gets no credit, of course people were busy complaining. If I told people that line up from last season amassed 47 points at home they would not believe me.

Mata also has his role at OT last season but that would be going deeper into what we were doing at home tactically last season. It was not appreciated but people would die for the points now.
:lol: dude we were all watching, we know we had a great home record as well.
 

haram

New Member
Joined
May 28, 2017
Messages
12,921
:lol: dude we were all watching, we know we had a great home record as well.
If you told people now, they wouldn’t believe a line up which consisted of Lukaku up top, Mata on the right and Lingard as the 10 would be able to get that many points. Im not just talking about United fans either. In fact all three players deserve credit for last season, yet all three are some of the most criticised players in general.

This is not me saying they are world class or anything either.
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,029
If you told people now, they wouldn’t believe a line up which consisted of Lukaku up top, Mata on the right and Lingard as the 10 would be able to get that many points. Im not just talking about United fans either. In fact all three players deserve credit for last season, yet all three are some of the most criticised players in general.

This is not me saying they are world class or anything either.
They are all inconsistent players, and even were last season. However at home last season our midfield worked a lot better also, I mean our defensive record was also very impressive but you wouldn't believe that those defenders could have achieved that either ey?
 

haram

New Member
Joined
May 28, 2017
Messages
12,921
They are all inconsistent players, and even were last season. However at home last season our midfield worked a lot better also, I mean our defensive record was also very impressive but you wouldn't believe that those defenders could have achieved that either ey?
The problem was away from home. I dont know what people really expected from us in terms of quality of football considering the players we had but that’s another topic anyway.
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,029
The problem was away from home. I dont know what people really expected from us in terms of quality of football considering the players we had but that’s another topic anyway.
Kind of the point I was making, and Lukaku is included (not the main issue though)
 

Janson

Full Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2016
Messages
6,028
Location
Sweden
Replace his goals? Pogba outscored him this season and Rashford scored only 2 less.

He's had a shit season and is constantly flirting with other clubs/leagues.

Get his fat arse out of here. Him leaving would not hurt us in any way.
Pogba outscored him because he scored like 90% of his goals on penalties.
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,029
Pogba outscored him because he scored like 90% of his goals on penalties.
Actually without penalties Pogba has 7 goals and Lukaku 12, for a CM to be that close is poor.
 

Hughes35

Full Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
Messages
2,536
if 50 or 60 mill is genuine then let him go. It's a good chunk of money to solve some of the gaping holes in our squad.
 

kps88

Full Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2008
Messages
22,511
Actually without penalties Pogba has 7 goals and Lukaku 12, for a CM to be that close is poor.
Lampard would regularly outscore Drogba but I wouldn't hold that against Drogba. I don't think the focus should be on goals alone. His hold up play, touch and stamina are bigger issues imo.
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,029
Lampard would regularly outscore Drogba but I wouldn't hold that against Drogba. I don't think the focus should be on goals alone. His hold up play, touch and stamina are bigger issues imo.
Agree, but you can excuse that if hes banging them in.... Some of the reasons are the teams creativity, and some are because of him
 

Stookie

Nurse bell end
Joined
Jun 5, 2008
Messages
9,071
Location
West Yorkshire
If United could anything like £50M then they should get rid. I can’t stand the way the ball just bounces off him like a rugby ball.
 

EwanI Ted

Full Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2018
Messages
1,755
Dont think Lukaku is good enough or likely to improve, & I dont think he remotely fits in with the style of play Ole has hinted that he wants. He's a pure finisher, but even then not reliably so. He's not like Ole was, or Hernandez was for a while, someone not quite rounded enough to be a genuine first teamer but someone you trust to bring on late in the game when you're chasing a goal.

If he wasn't worth much on the open market Id keep him as backup, but given that he seems to be attracting a transfer fee and that he's on big wages, there's really no reason not to sell. Goes without saying he'd need replacing, but hes not exactly hard to replace.
 

arthurka

Full Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2010
Messages
18,662
Location
Rectum
Lukaku is an excellent target man. He is very physical, his workrate is half decent and he's a good finisher for a target man. So what does this club do? It refuses to add classic wingers to the team and to play 4-2-3-1 which would exploit Lukaku's (and sanchez/Mata's) skillset

But that's not all. Now that we are considering adding a decent crosser of the ball (James) we are selling him up. We are also considering adding Dybala a player who was at his best with Pogba at his back (also tipped of leaving) and a target man upfront of him

I can't care less if we keep lukaku or not. However we can't really judge the man since we never played to his strengths
I actually agree with nothing here. He can´t trap a ball or control it, he is terrible at holding the ball up to move the team further up the pitch and he is never in the box, easily disposed plus he has terrible stamina.
We could even argue with the finishing part as he misses far to many easy chances. If we get 50m for him we should DHL his ass to Italy.
I find it really funny how different people see certain players.
 
Joined
Jan 13, 2015
Messages
404
The pointy one..

I'd not miss him, but then I'm in a fairly bitter mood towards our players at the minute and probably wouldn't miss anyone. Though isn't Raiola banned at the moment? Will that not affect any transfers concerning his players?
 

2cents

Historiographer, and obtainer of rare antiquities
Scout
Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Messages
16,172
Some goal stats with comments:

17/18

PL: 16 goals in 34 appearances: 15 goals in 33 starts, 1 goal in 1 substitute appearances. Scored in 15 matches out of 34.

Home - West Ham (2), Everton, Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Stoke, Huddersfield, Chelsea, Swansea
Away - Swansea, Stoke, Southampton, West Brom, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth

Total 10 goals at home, 6 away.

CL: 5 goals in 8 appearances: 5 goals in 8 starts. Scored in 4 matches out of 8.

Home - Basel, CSKA Moscow, Sevilla
Away - CSKA Moscow (2)

Super Cup: 1 goal in 1 match, 1 goal in 1 start.

Real Madrid.

FA Cup: 5 goals in 6 matches, 3 goals in 3 starts, 2 goals in 3 substitute appearances.

Home - Derby, Brighton
Away - Yeovil, Huddersfield (2)

League Cup: 0 goals in 2 substitute appearances.

Total: 27 goals in 51 matches: 24 goals in 45 starts, 3 goals in 6 substitute appearances. Scored in 25 matches out of 51.

In the league Lukaku scored 7 goals in his first 7 appearances. Then from 14th Oct Liverpool A until 25th Feb Chelsea H he scored just 5 goals in 19 matches. These included matches against Liverpool, Spurs (x2), Chelsea, Arsenal and City. In fact after those first 7 matches his record stood at 9 goals in 27 appearances, from the middle of October until the end of the season.

He scored just one goal against Top 6 rival opposition in what was probably his best performance of the season against Chelsea at home. He put in probably his worst performance of the season against City at home, costing us at least a point with some brainless play at both ends. His goals were crucial in picking up 13 points, winning us matches we would have drawn against Bournemouth, West Brom, Chelsea and Crystal Palace, and helping secure a draw against Stoke.

18/19

PL: 12 goals in 32 appearances: 10 goals in 22 starts, 2 goals in 10 substitute appearances. Scored in 9 matches out of 32.

Home - Fulham, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace (2)
Away - Brighton , Burnley (2), Watford, Southampton, Newcastle, Southampton (2)

Total 4 goals at home, 8 away.

CL: 2 goals in 9 appearances: 2 goals in 6 starts, 0 goals in 3 substitute appearances. Scored in 1 match out of 9.

Away - PSG (2)

FA CUP: 1 goals in 3 appearances: 1 goal in 3 starts. Scored in 1 match out of 3.

Home - Reading.

League Cup: 0 goals in 1 start.

Total: 15 goals in 45 appearances: 13 goals in 35 starts, 2 goals in 13 substitute appearances. Scored in 11 matches out of 45.

In the league Lukaku went 7 games without a goal from 22nd Sep Wolves H. until scoring on 1st Dec Southampton A. This run included matches against City and Chelsea. He went 6 games without a goal from 13th Jan Spurs A. until scoring on 22nd Feb Palace A. This run included matches against Spurs and Liverpool. He finished the season with another run of 6 games without a goal from 10th March Arsenal A. until his final appearance of the season on 28th April Chelsea H. This run included matches against Arsenal, City and Chelsea.

He didn't score a single goal against Top 6 rival opposition this season. However his goals were crucial in picking up 10 points against other opposition, winning us matches we would have lost or drawn against Burnley, Watford, Palace and Southampton, and helping to secure a draw against Southampton. He also secured the famous win in Paris with two goals.

Conclusion - if goals are the primary means by which to judge Lukaku's contribution (this seems to be the Cafe consensus given his limitations in all other areas), then he's simply not good enough for a £80m+ forward leading the line. Doesn't score against direct rivals (despite their obvious problems both Martial and Rashford have scored at least once against all 5 of our Top 6 opposition rivals in their time at United). Doesn't win us enough points against lower level opposition. Regularly goals on long scoring droughts.
 
Last edited:

Andersons Dietician

Full Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Messages
13,192
The issue I see with this is who are we going to get to replace him because no way should Rashford be leading our line as he simply isn’t good enough currently and Lukaku is a better goal scorer given the chances, he’s also given all the outcry about how poor his hold up and touch is far better at bringing others in to play. Maybe only Martial being better at that.

I really like the look of Jovic but then I just think a full pre-season under ole, a fixed midfield and Lukaku is easily capable of scoring 25 goals in this league. Because if you watch him he makes plenty of good runs and moves and these are just ignored by our midfield. He also seems to be one of the only few in out]r team that can cross a ball.

I really just don’t see anyone that we could realistically buy that is an upgrade on Lukaku.
 

Roboc7

Full Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2014
Messages
6,561
If Inter want him take the money and get rid, worry about the replacement later. Can’t keep hold of players that don’t suit how manager wants to play and don’t seem particularly fussed about being here.
 

AltiUn

likes playing with swords after fantasies
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
23,493
I don't think Lukaku's been nearly good enough but if we go into next season with our striking options as Rashford and Greenwood (who's still very inexperienced) then we're in trouble, Rashford's nowhere near good enough to lead the line and in all honesty probably doesn't deserve to either. If we let Lukaku go then we need to bring in a more experienced striker.

Might catch some heat for saying this but unless we sign a RW who can pop in 20 odd goals, I'm finding it hard to see where our goals might come from next season.
 

RuudTom83

Full Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
5,438
Location
Manc
Lukaku’s mood over the last few months would suggest the club had let it be known he wouldn’t be first choice next season.

This transfer makes sense for both sides.
 

Adam-Utd

Part of first caf team to complete Destiny raid
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
39,954
His first season he played so well up until Christmas, then he's never really been the same again.

Wasn't he nearly on the verge of breaking Vardy's record for scoring in consecutive games? I wonder what happened to that guy :confused:
 

2cents

Historiographer, and obtainer of rare antiquities
Scout
Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Messages
16,172
Wasn't he nearly on the verge of breaking Vardy's record for scoring in consecutive games? I wonder what happened to that guy :confused:
For us? Nowhere near. Look at the stats posted above, he scored 7 in his first 7 PL matches for us, and has been incredibly average in terms of goal scoring ever since (mid-October 2017).
 

Bwuk

Full Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2012
Messages
17,281
Lukaku in a creative side will score goals, the issue is he can't create something out of nothign for himself like top strikers do.

Pep would never take him at City, but Lukaku in this current City side would score boatloads despite hindering their play.
 

Devil may care

New Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2010
Messages
35,976
The sooner he goes the better, he's ideal for lower level sides that can compromise their football for his goals and yes right now we are pretty much rubbing shoulders with Everton and Leicester, but to move forward we have to cut loose the expensive mistakes we have made like Lukaku and Sanchez.


Honestly, why the feck is he in the USA with Rooney instead of dropping that weight?
Is that Fat Joe?
 

Imran Mamdani

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Dec 13, 2015
Messages
238
Location
london
See, since SAF left we have bought a number of players - of high quality (mostly rightly so - by looking at their previous experiences). However IMHO I think due to the change in management (inc. managers) and game style we have ruined these players to the bone. If it were one or two players who turned out to be sh1t then that's a different question but at this moment the whole bloody squad looks illiterate when it comes to playing basic football.

Therefore, if this were a blame game, I'd solely blame the management, footballing game style and structure and standard direction we have taken up until now, that has made these players worse. Why else, would players (world class arguably) like Pog, Lukaku, Martial, Sanchez, et al have flopped. It's no coincidence.
 

Aloysius's Back 3

New Member
Joined
May 21, 2018
Messages
2,770
The sooner he goes the better, he's ideal for lower level sides that can compromise their football for his goals and yes right now we are pretty much rubbing shoulders with Everton and Leicester, but to move forward we have to cut loose the expensive mistakes we have made like Lukaku and Sanchez.



Is that Fat Joe?
Pretty sure it is yeah
 

Green_Red

New Member
Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
10,296
If hes going to be sold he needs to be replaced. I cant help but think about that patch he had at the start of last season. Hes better than hes showing. I think hes worth one more year.
 

Cantonagotmehere

Full Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2015
Messages
3,316
Location
Charm City, MD

Honestly, why the feck is he in the USA with Rooney instead of dropping that weight?
For F sake, have you seen the guy with his shirt off? He's ripped. I never get this point. He's no Luke Shaw on pies 2 years ago. The team has no stamina, no energy, and I blame that on past managers and the state of the Club. Make fun of his touch, etc.. but he's not fat.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.