Lukaku's first touch

[Mike Smalling]

Berba is a great character! I agree with his points about slowly building Lukakus confidence, and Berbatov would actually know what Lukaku is going through, since he experienced something similar in his first few seasons at United (the big difference being that the team was actually winning at that time). We already know from last season that Lukaku is a much better player than he is currently showing, so I think confidence is a big part of the problem.

On a side note, his statement that "some of the fans are not happy about the performance of the team" might be the understatement of the century.

 

[freeurmind]

Berba is a great character! I agree with his points about slowly building Lukakus confidence, and Berbatov would actually know what Lukaku is going through, since he experienced something similar in his first few seasons at United (the big difference being that the team was actually winning at that time). We already know from last season that Lukaku is a much better player than he is currently showing, so I think confidence is a big part of the problem.

On a side note, his statement that "some of the fans are not happy about the performance of the team" might be the understatement of the century.

Berbatov is great, I wish we had got him 2-3 years earlier, we never saw the best of him, he was far better at Spurs. I think Lukaku's a strong character and will ocme through this tough period and come good again. The thing I appreciate is that even though his confidence must be at an all time low and he's getting slated by everyone, he still puts in a lot of effort on the pitch and wants to suceed here. Would be easy for him at this point to slack off, sit on the bench and collect his salary but you can tell he's trying hard and wants to turn it around. Definitely rooting for him to come good. A positive of Lukaku's form though is that we get to see Rashford upfront and he's looked really good the last few weeks. Hopefully he can keep it up.

 

[Dr Fink]

Lukaku's first touch.........is simply out of this world, well halfway off the pitch literally.

 

[Broad Street Bullies]

Lukaku's first touch.........is simply out of this world, well halfway off the pitch literally.

Rumor has it he once failed an audition for "Touched by an angel".

 

[Nr.7]

https://twitter.com/tacticalherrera/status/1072866083869093890?s=12

 

[sunama]

So, in a nutshell, the only consistent thing that Lukaku does, is pass the ball to the opponent.
So we have Phil Jones creating and scoring goals for the opposition, and at the other end of the pitch, we have Lukaku, killing our attacks by passing the ball to the opponent.

Do people honestly believe that changing the manager is going to rectify these problems?

Lukaku is here to stay and Jones probably is, as well. Some of our players are seriously poor.

 

[macheda14]

So, in a nutshell, the only consistent thing that Lukaku does, is pass the ball to the opponent.
So we have Phil Jones creating and scoring goals for the opposition, and at the other end of the pitch, we have Lukaku, killing our attacks by passing the ball to the opponent.

Do people honestly believe that changing the manager is going to rectify these problems?

Lukaku is here to stay and Jones probably is, as well. Some of our players are seriously poor.

Yeah so let's keep both the manager and the players.

 

[goldenballs]

Just seen this on A United Facebook page, it's a quote attributed to Giggs, though I very much doubt it, but would love it to be true......

"We used to have centre forwards like Cantona who would turn bad balls into good balls. Now we have centre forwards like Lukaku who turn good balls into bad balls."

 

[Deleted member 101472]

Just seen this on A United Facebook page, it's a quote attributed to Giggs, though I very much doubt it, but would love it to be true......

"We used to have centre forwards like Cantona who would turn bad balls into good balls. Now we have centre forwards like Lukaku who turn good balls into bad balls."

Sometimes true but not today.

 

[paulscholes18]

Just seen this on A United Facebook page, it's a quote attributed to Giggs, though I very much doubt it, but would love it to be true......

"We used to have centre forwards like Cantona who would turn bad balls into good balls. Now we have centre forwards like Lukaku who turn good balls into bad balls."

It is true

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Got bantered about it. 1:18

One of the hosts asks Rashford, who can play in jeans? You can hear the other host say "What about Lukaku" in the background and Ashley Young trying not to laugh.

 

[Cockney Phil]

Lukaku has scored a couple of good goals for Ole. Unfortunately, within minutes of his first a ball pinged off him and the defenders expecting it were able to counter. To my mind that limits his options.

 

[Member 115509]

As someone recently said about Usain Bolt when he was trying to get himself a professional contract in Australia - "he has the first touch of a trampoline".

 

[Foxbatt]

As someone recently said about Usain Bolt when he was trying to get himself a professional contract in Australia - "he has the first touch of a trampoline".

He has the first touch of Lukaku.

 

[Stookie]

He can trap a ball further than most players can kick it

 

[Foxbatt]

Lukaku should learn from Fellaini on how to do chest control.

 

[SalfordRed18]

There's a 16 page thread about his his first touch!

Phenomenal.

I predict he'll be a cult hero by the time he's finished at Old Trafford.

 

[RedIan]

I heard Ole advised Lukaku to hold the ball up more rather than just flicking it on. Ole clearly not grasped the flick ons are Lukakus attempt to ocontrol the ball.

 

[RG 11]

Lukaku came on and my girlfriend who doesnt follow football at all asked me why this footballer is so fat.

According to Google Pogba and Lukaku are both the same height but Lukaku weighs a whooping 22lbs more! Losing a lot of that fat will help him get more balance and agility which do contribute a little bit to first touch.

 

[Greck]

He's not fat though. He took off his shirt in the last game. He's notably leaner. Unfortunately the 'fat' tag is almost impossible to shake off once it's stuck

 

[EasyE]

Lukaku came on and my girlfriend who doesnt follow football at all asked me why this footballer is so fat.

According to Google Pogba and Lukaku are both the same height but Lukaku weighs a whooping 22lbs more! Losing a lot of that fat will help him get more balance and agility which do contribute a little bit to first touch.

I'm sorry buddy but did you not see him swap shirts at the end of the Reading game? Your girlfriend would probably be all over that too. He has acceptable fat levels for a pro footballer - it is more to the fact he cannot technically take a touch with his size 13s as most of his game in his early days would of been based on him bullying everyone around due to his ridiculous growth spurts and size differences (therefore not brushing up on this side of his game). He has put on far too much bulky muscle on using our training complex as his genes to generate muscle tissue obviously far outweigh the average natural man, which in turn has reduced his agility / balance and further highlighted his defiencies. Hence recently he has talked about upping the HITT and having just salads (not much protein / stodgy carbs to help muscle fibres retain and grow). I can't comprehend how a pro footballer can even retain muscle - as BMR calorie maintenance levels would have to be really high (daily) and intense cardio sessions starve muscle bellies. A sure fire way to lose not just fat but muscle - is to up cardio sessions like treadmill and cross trainers.

Most of it is technique. I guarantee Lukaku can outbench David Silva. Holding up a ball however there is only one winner. Initial control won't be as easily learnt at his age, but he can improve. He is a far cry from previous N0. 9s we've had over the years, hence I prefer Marcus.

 

[EasyE]

He's not fat though. He took off his shirt in the last game. He's notably leaner. Unfortunately the 'fat' tag is almost impossible to shake off once it's stuck

Me and my Gran watched the game and we noticed he has lost at least half a stone worth of excess. He has one less roll on the back of his head to start. It'll pay dividends if he can shift the muscle too.

 

[RG 11]

I'm sorry buddy but did you not see him swap shirts at the end of the Reading game? Your girlfriend would probably be all over that too. He has acceptable fat levels for a pro footballer - it is more to the fact he cannot technically take a touch with his size 13s as most of his game in his early days would of been based on him bullying everyone around due to his ridiculous growth spurts and size differences (therefore not brushing up on this side of his game). He has put on far too much bulky muscle on using our training complex as his genes to generate muscle tissue obviously far outweigh the average natural man, which in turn has reduced his agility / balance and further highlighted his defiencies. Hence recently he has talked about upping the HITT and having just salads (not much protein / stodgy carbs to help muscle fibres retain and grow). I can't comprehend how a pro footballer can even retain muscle - as BMR calorie maintenance levels would have to be really high (daily) and intense cardio sessions starve muscle bellies. A sure fire way to lose not just fat but muscle - is to up cardio sessions like treadmill and cross trainers.

Most of it is technique. I guarantee Lukaku can outbench David Silva. Holding up a ball however there is only one winner. Initial control won't be as easily learnt at his age, but he can improve. He is a far cry from previous N0. 9s we've had over the years, hence I prefer Marcus.

Yeah, my bad I didn't see that. He definitely has bulked up and admitted to it. Just makes him look less agile compared to his younger self. And I agree it's mostly technique when it comes to first touch but hopefully he gets a little lean which should help his overall game. Especially since Ole doesn't seem him as a big target man like Mourinho (and correctly so).

 

[CG1010]

Lukaku's touch is quite inconsistent but dependent on his confidence levels I feel. When he is going through a bad spell, ball just bounces of him as if he is just a solid wall. But when is in a good spell, scoring goals, it's not as bad. He has shown previous year and with Belgium that he is capable of quite sublime football at times. Jose insisting on him playing as Drogba type target man didn't do his confidence much favour.