Not replacing Lukaku

[Irwin99]

Said in another thread, that our entire plan for this season was based on the most of optimistic of hopes that our forwards would be capable of going up another level (and not get injured), that the kids would come in and find their feet straight away, that we'd get away with not having a proper RW or a competent number 10 for another year, and that Pogba would stay injury free, motivated and on good form all season.

It's hard to say if not replacing Lukaku was the worst of this awful plan but it's pretty near the top. Even a free transfer signing of Llorente would have taken the pressure off a little bit.

 

[VP89]

Saying this all bloody summer mate, plays right wing, can play centrally as well, went to Napoli for 40m, unbelievable, made far to much sense for us to sign him.

Crazy

Him, Ndombele, Haller, Brandt, etc.

The best we got was a whisker of news about Ben Yedder and rubbish about Longstaff.

 

[StrettyEnder07]

Him, Ndombele, Haller, Brandt, etc.

The best we got was a whisker of news about Ben Yedder and rubbish about Longstaff.

Haha you aint wrong mate, just dunno where to start with United at the minute, shambles

 

[Kush]

Didn't work out that way, mainly due to Martial s injury. Then we lost Pogba too

Problem is much much deeper than simply missing those two players. We've looked clueless in plenty of matches even with those 2 playing.

Our squad is unbalanced and we don't seem to coach attacking patterns.

Him, Ndombele, Haller, Brandt, etc.

The best we got was a whisker of news about Ben Yedder and rubbish about Longstaff.

Ben Yedder was never an option, there was only a report from Le Equipe that he was on our shortlist. Longstaff would be here if it weren't for Newcastle absurd valuation of him.

 

[charlenefan]

Do you really think Ole didn't want a replacement?
Re Lukaku. Why our negotiating team left his transfer to the last minute?
I think they did on purpose. There was a report that United budget was 100m and looking back, our net spend was within that budget.

I think Ole told Lukaku he'd be second choice behind Rashford/Martial and that's why Lukaku wanted out so if that much is true then year I believe Ole really did think Rashford/Martial would be enough

 

[dev1l]

I think Ole told Lukaku he'd be second choice behind Rashford/Martial and that's why Lukaku wanted out so if that much is true then year I believe Ole really did think Rashford/Martial would be enough

What if he already was on.Conte s wishlist which was presented to Inter s management towards mid to end of last season?

 

[charlenefan]

What if he already was on.Conte s wishlist which was presented to Inter s management towards mid to end of last season?

I dunno I have a hard time believe Lukaku would want to leave us and join Inter had Ole wanted him to be his first choice CF but maybe that's me overestimating our attractiveness to players

 

[OohAahMartial]

I mean, you might not be wrong in your general thrust, but why on earth would you invoke Greenwood to support the argument? You reckon the training regime caused his tonsillitis?

ermm I said there were too many players out now. Greenwood being ill shouldn't be a problem, but becomes one when everyone else is injured.

 

[Eriku]

ermm I said there were too many players out now. Greenwood being ill shouldn't be a problem, but becomes one when everyone else is injured.

Fair enough, it just followed hot on the heels of that point so I assumed it was meant to bolster that view.

 

[sparx99]

It's on Ole for not replacing Lukaku not anyone else. He took the decision for whatever the reason may be to go with Rashford and Martial as his two main goal threats. Maybe trying to play the long game so he can say 'look we tried them they aren't good enough now go and get me {insert striker's name here} or maybe he genuinely felt they could make the step up. Of course it's early days in this season but it's not looking like a gamble worth the taking

I don’t even mind us taking the punt on Martial and Rashford as our main goal threats but we sold Lukaku and loaned out Sanchez. Their squad positions have been replaced by James and Greenwood which is also fine. However, yet again that means RW and no10 wasn’t addressed.

Our most recent RW signing is probably still Zaha. At no 10 it’s still Juan Mata who signed in 2014 (Mkhi has been and gone)

Even if Mata had been brilliant for us you should be planning for his replacement. You only need to look at Bernardo Silva signing for City despite De Bruyne and David Silva being there.

 

[Onerealunited]

We literally don’t have any Central forward. Neither martial nor rashford are can play central. They are both more suited as wing forwards. We kind of need someone like Cavani to

 

[Chairman Steve]

It’s crazy to go into a season with Martial and Rashford as the two recognised senior strikers. OGS is naive as hell if he thinks that would be good enough for this season, or if he thought they’d just turn into 30 goal strikers after one summer.

 

[always_hoping]

A striker was needed in the summer but the main 2 reason why Lukaku was offloaded 1) one of the most unprofessional players to ever play for United and 2) he only scored 15 times in 45 appearances last season.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

RVN was also very good at keeping the ball though, whilst I agree with you that it wouldn't solve the problems we have (and there are many!) I do think he'd add a bit more guile to our attacking play. That would help Pogba out so much because it means his only option isn't along ball for Rashford to chase - I think that's why it looks like he enjoys playing with Martial at 9 because he can zing it into his feet and generally Martial holds onto it or lays it off to another player, which then allows the whole team to move forward. Also, whilst he was never ridiculously fast, the general timing of RVN's runs and awareness of where to run are leap years beyond what Rashford offers us now.

It wouldn't fix our issues but it would at least alleviate one of them.

The thing is though. Its lack of creativity that kills us.

And people should remember Rashford has ONLY been shifted to 9 due to Martial's injury. He is no longer our 9 in chief.

 

[Andycoleno9]

It was more stupid move to sell him. "He scores only against weaker team" people said. And now we are scoring loads of goals against those teams, aren't we?

Ole's biggest mistake by far.

 

[RedIan]

Lukaku was a donkey but he could score goals. Shocking not replacing him with a top striker. No idea if that’s ole or Woodward but its a huge mistake and costing us dear. Also shocking not replacing Herrera and a Fellani with 2 top midfielders, especially as matic is on his last legs.. sadly our club has become a joke.

 

[Massive Spanner]

A striker was needed in the summer but the main 2 reason why Lukaku was offloaded 1) one of the most unprofessional players to ever play for United and 2) he only scored 15 times in 45 appearances last season.

That's still quite a percentage of the total goals we scored last season. Will Rashford, even with penalties, get 15 this season? Maybe, but it's unlikely.

Lukaku showed before at Everton and he's already showing at Inter that if you give him decent service he will score goals, especially against the sort of teams we are finding it impossible to score goals against right now. Dan James, Young, and AWB were putting some great balls into the box on Sunday and Rashford was either nowhere to be seen or too scared to attack them.

Lukaku was a fecking donkey but he was still a guaranteed 15-20 goal a season player and getting rid of numbers like that without replacing them was beyond stupid. It's like Ole looked at SAF with RvN in 2006 and saw Rashford and Martial as his Ronaldo and Rooney.

 

[RedWat]

Lukaku may have not fitted Ole’s style of play but over 2 seasons in goals and assists he contributed close to 50 goals more than any other Utd player during that time.


I’m sure Ole wanted a Lukaku replacement not like for like but maybe someone more in a Firmino/ Bruno Fernandes role, a creator as well as a goal scorer even a Ben Yedder a proven goal scorer (who would have helped share the load with Rashford/Martial) who would have cost half of what Lukaku was sold for. With also Sanchez leaving on loan. He knows from experience of having 3-4 decent strikers on the books how important that is for success.


Ole said himself that he would replace Lukaku if he was sold, but I fear (in my opinion) he said that before he knew that the Lukaku money would help pay for the Maguire purchase to balance the books (again I repeat in my opinion)

 

[Bestietom]

A striker was needed in the summer but the main 2 reason why Lukaku was offloaded 1) one of the most unprofessional players to ever play for United and 2) he only scored 15 times in 45 appearances last season.

But any of the 3 forwards we have now wont reach this figure. We are far worse off than last year mate.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

As it stands, Rashford and Martial will struggle to meet their own numbers from last season - let alone making up the 12 goals Lukaku got, or whatever it was.

We absolutely fecked ourselves in the summer window and we will reap what we sow.

 

[DRM]

We should've gone for a backup like Ben Yedder, who is a much better goal scorer than Rashford

 

[Denis' cuff]

Stevi

It’s crazy to go into a season with Martial and Rashford as the two recognised senior strikers. OGS is naive as hell if he thinks that would be good enough for this season, or if he thought they’d just turn into 30 goal strikers after one summer.

Hate to break this to you Stevie, but I really don’t think it was Ole who decided not to replace Lukaku.

Lukaku could’ve been sold months or certainly weeks before he actually was but we dragged it on all through the summer, right until the death, so that we could say we had not time to replace him. Woodward and Glazers all over it. Ole might not be the best choice of manager but we’ll never know. He hasn’t got a chance with this disease that is the Glazers and Ew forced upon the club. That’s why Jose downed tools and got himself sacked. We’re a hopeless cause until they are gone. Not LVGs biggest fan but he was treated disgracefully by them. No end in sight and we’re a shambles ever since they stole our club.

 

[passing-wind]

The fact Lukaku left is Ole's fault one thing Romelu provided us is depth in attacking positions, it would have allowed Rashford to play in a wide forward position and would mean that James could be rotated with either Marcus or Martial not too disimilar to Mahrez at City.

While Lukaku doesn't entirely suit the type of play Solskjaer was trying to implement (which is useless because we can't break teams down) I do think that Ole's lack of tactical acumen fundamentally aided why he looked so lost in attacking positions. Realistically who was even proven and a unremarkable upgrade on Lukaku in the market who was available ? Sanchez was a good omission hands down, but while Lukaku was for a large majority rubbish in patterns of play it's his goals that won us points.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

Say what you want about the guy, but he's a natural goalscorer and was a proven goal getter in the PL. Not replacing him has left us with -

Martial - good in front of goal, but has played the majority of his career as a left winger
Rashford - erratic in front of goal, also has played the majority of his career as a left winger
Greenwood - 17 years old, potential is there but still looks very raw. Anything over 5 goals from him would be a bonus. Also seems to be a bit injury prone.

With Lukaku leaving it leaves us with three centre forward options, none of whom are proven prolific goalscorers. None have even ever been starting centre forwards in the league. Is anyone else starting to think not replacing him was a fecking stupid move by us?

Lukaku was no stalwart who needed to be replaced,but not signing an experienced,proven goal scorer was a huge blunder....Not signing a top central midfielder(or even a decent one) was another ludicrous decision considering the fact that 2 midfielders left the club in the last 6 months....Giving Solksjaer the job full time was an even bigger mistake....

 

[Judas]

I'd rather have kept Lukaku if we weren't going to replace him, said it in the summer, still feel it now. I don't rate him, he wasn't the right fit, but it was stupidity to sell him and not bring someone in. It's self mutilation.

 

[Denis' cuff]

The fact Lukaku left is Ole's fault one thing Romelu provided us is depth in attacking positions, it would have allowed Rashford to play in a wide forward position and would mean that James could be rotated with either Marcus or Martial not too disimilar to Mahrez at City.

While Lukaku doesn't entirely suit the type of play Solskjaer was trying to implement (which is useless because we can't break teams down) I do think that Ole's lack of tactical acumen fundamentally aided why he looked so lost in attacking positions. Realistically who was even proven and a unremarkable upgrade on Lukaku in the market who was available ? Sanchez was a good omission hands down, but while Lukaku was for a large majority rubbish in patterns of play it's his goals that won us points.

His goals occasionally won us points, when he could be bothered turning up. That was his job, Who else is supposed to be main goal scorer? De Gea? Never a United player and we’re well rid of him. Disruptive character at a club way beyond his station. Should’ve been replaced with a striker in keeping with the club’s status before we end up like Aston Villa. That’s where we’re heading. Mid-table. Glazers methodically trousering the proceeds from player sales and yet again, no replacements. It’s all well and good saying what we spent after Scholes, Giggs, Rio, Vidic etc etc were r3placed with cheap shite or vanity buys like Falc@o and Schweiny. Sick of Woodward’s cluelessness and sick of all this shite from online “supporters“ urging patience while we go from bad to worse. fecking criminal what’s happened to the club and wer3 nowhere near finished until these leaches feck off after they’ve bled us dry.

 

[adexkola]

I don't think our fortunes would be drastically altered with Lukaku in the team, as much as I think he was a convenient scapegoat.

 

[Denis' cuff]

The fact Lukaku left is Ole's fault one thing Romelu provided us is depth in attacking positions, it would have allowed Rashford to play in a wide forward position and would mean that James could be rotated with either Marcus or Martial not too disimilar to Mahrez at City.

While Lukaku doesn't entirely suit the type of play Solskjaer was trying to implement (which is useless because we can't break teams down) I do think that Ole's lack of tactical acumen fundamentally aided why he looked so lost in attacking positions. Realistically who was even proven and a unremarkable upgrade on Lukaku in the market who was available ? Sanchez was a good omission hands down, but while Lukaku was for a large majority rubbish in patterns of play it's his goals that won us points.

Lukaku was shit and should’ve been replaced. You actually think Ole had a say in us not replacing him?

Agree, Ole probably not the best choice but he came cheap.

All comes down to the bottom line as per.... $$$$$$$$

 

[Denis' cuff]

I don't think our fortunes would be drastically altered with Lukaku in the team, as much as I think he was a convenient scapegoat.

Scapegoat? The cnut couldn’t even be bothered turning up for a cup final because he had several hundred pies to bulk up on, for the WC. Worst signing since Birtles.

 

[Bestietom]

Stevi



Hate to break this to you Stevie, but I really don’t think it was Ole who decided not to replace Lukaku.

Lukaku could’ve been sold months or certainly weeks before he actually was but we dragged it on all through the summer, right until the death, so that we could say we had not time to replace him. Woodward and Glazers all over it. Ole might not be the best choice of manager but we’ll never know. He hasn’t got a chance with this disease that is the Glazers and Ew forced upon the club. That’s why Jose downed tools and got himself sacked. We’re a hopeless cause until they are gone. Not LVGs biggest fan but he was treated disgracefully by them. No end in sight and we’re a shambles ever since they stole our club.

Agree. Lukaku transfer was deliberately dragged out so not leaving time to bring in a replacement. 100 million for a rebuild is nonsense for us. Herrera and Fellaini were not replaced either. Our squad is far too thin to expect a top 4 place and Ole was not treated fairly after all the promises. What could any manager do on 100million with this team.

 

[redshaw]

Lukaku has also got 28 goals in 66 league games for us. He's very near that goal every other game range. Some of those chances at West Ham are what he does well and we have James who would've been good news for Rom.

I'm not too bothered about Rom going if we replaced him with someone capable of getting a similar amount goals and getting them against higher up teams. Rashford doesn't look like that sort striker. Martial is a bit more like that but he's injured and only one man.

We have Greenwood, perhaps he can be eased in and be helping out in a big way in the second half of the season. It's a huge gamble and we see already the attack and midfield exposed.

Lingard is Mr Zero for a long time now.

 

[Ventura]

We clearly should have replaced Lukaku and Herrera at least and Ole expected so too. When the window slammed shut without those signings, we knew immediately that it would be a struggle of a season. I wonder if Ole and the other coaches sat down the day after deadline day and Ole said "lads, we're fecked". Nods all around. They know it, but have to keep going until they're dragged out of their offices by security.

 

[always_hoping]

But any of the 3 forwards we have now wont reach this figure. We are far worse off than last year mate.

If for example Martial gets as many appearances (big if with his injury record) as Lukaku got last season i would expect him to score more goals. I was more pissed off with letting one of our best midfielders go someone with a bit of leadership and then not replace him. That awful bit of transfer business left us in a worse place.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

The guy was a virus - in the longer term it’s the right decision. I’d rather we spend time rebuilding than have the likes of Sanchez and Lukuku in the squad.

We may score more goals and win more points with them in the squad, but we were never going to win anything with them in the team. So better to get rid, and re-build. That takes time, unfortunately keyboard warriors want everything now.

 

[Tomuś]

We all knew it was a mistake but some were busy celebrating getting rid of an apparent donkey. There was literally no sign things would be better without him in the squad at least without replacing.

 

[Florida Man]

Natural goalscorers don't have multiple articles about them talking about goal droughts.

 

[Cliche Guevara]

Ultimately that wasn’t the mistake. Martial replaced Lukaku as first choice striker. Rashford is the backup. That’s how we’re going.

James has also been brought in to contribute so he’s adequately replaced Sanchez.

Problem is right-wing and #10. Fair enough if we’ve decided to wait for Sancho because we’re confident we can still get him. Not getting the #10 though is just fecking bollocks.

We have obviously been extremely unlucky with injuries, for whatever reason. I don’t think selling Lukaku was actually a mistake, although it would clearly be convenient to currently have him around but that’s a different situation. The other areas in the team being sub-standard have meant it’s been difficult to carry the losses.

 

[Snuffkin]

We must have known Lukaku was going to be sold at some point. He had two Italian clubs after him, we should have set a deadline on it so we could then go into the transfer market ourselves. We don't seem to have the guile to sell players well. Plating Juventus and Inter against each other should have been done early on.
I don't think Mandzukic would have been the answer either mind you. We didn't need Wan Bissaka even though he is good. We could have overspent on an English striker.

 

[VidaRed]

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

We literally don’t have any Central forward. Neither martial nor rashford are can play central. They are both more suited as wing forwards. We kind of need someone like Cavani to

I disagree. I think Martial is a centre forward. Martial lacks of work rate when playing outwide, he’s more suitable in the middle, making run behind the defenders like the wolves game, can hold the ball with centre back behind his back & his goal scoring record is fantastic. Unlike Rashford, he can score with header & both feet. He still has few things to learn to be top centre forward but he has the potential. I’m happy with the club’s decision to give him chance as a no 9.

However, Rashford is another story, which I don’t think he is.

But the issue is that when we sold Lukaku, we are now lacking plan B on the bench to change the game. We were targeting to get Mandzukic but it didn’t get through, Mandzukic is good to have for that plan B. Good in the air, good with his feet & has instinct to score especially important goal. If Martial has a day off or injury we need a plan B striker and right we don’t have one.