[backtowhiteside]

Lukaku has had a decent season but I'm afraid that's not good enough. We really need to score more goals. This chess game that Jose is playing needs a lethal goal scorer.
He's not good enough. If we want to be in there competing with the very best we need better players.

 

[dannyrhinos89]

Ok, you're lost.

Got to love fanboys. Sun shines out of his backside.

He’s not a very good footballer and if we ever want to win any major trophy again
then we won’t with him leading the line. Simple as that.

 

[Ban]

Got to love fanboys. Sun shines out of his backside.

He’s not a very good footballer and if we ever want to win any major trophy again
then we won’t with him leading the line. Simple as that.

You can't have a normal conversation without mentioning fanboys and backsides?

 

[haram]

We lose and all of the shite posts come pouring in.

 

[Litch]

Some of the comments are just pure and utter stupidity. If people fundamentally believe he is poor, stand by your convictions and post his inadequacies when he's scoring and playing well. His return when you think of the absolutely crap that he's suppose to fed off isnt that bad. I think he never gets a rhythm in the game as often isolated and then sometimes snatches at things when he does. Most of the passes he gets are just percentage passes or just hopeful balls in the box. Let's admit, the quality of our crosses is piss poor at best.

 

[kundalini]

15 non-penalty goals in the PL looks decent but not amazing. However, a non-penalty goal every 186 mins is very ordinary; a long list of PL forwards score at a better rate, including Chris Wood of Burnley, Hernandez of West Ham, Charlie Austin, Morata, Firmino, Kane, Jesus, Salah.

His header was ok but nowhere near the corner, so didn't require a particularly special save from Foster.

He is a liability defending in our box, which was obvious much earlier in the season.

How a player that has scored 15 goals with 7 assists, gets to start every PL game for which he is available, and almost never gets substituted, is beyond me.

Lukaku is a decent option to have. Mourinho making him a key player in the team is problematic.

 

[ti vu]

But @ti vu says he works hard, does he feck, anyone who has been to OT at least few times this season can tell that Lukaku is the most lethargic player of them all, and his game reading is terrible.

Oh yeah. Coming out of the wood after terrible result to make a point without ever giving any explanation. Is he the worst player this game? Answer and explain if you mind.

Some of the comments are just pure and utter stupidity. If people fundamentally believe he is poor, stand by your convictions and post his inadequacies when he's scoring and playing well. His return when you think of the absolutely crap that he's suppose to fed off isnt that bad. I think he never gets a rhythm in the game as often isolated and then sometimes snatches at things when he does. Most of the passes he gets are just percentage passes or just hopeful balls in the box. Let's admit, the quality of our crosses is piss poor at best.

Agree. And when he plays the team player role to put Lingard in good position, guess what? His teammate tried to do fancy stuff and ruining the attack when doing thing simpler, a little more composure and there was a chance.

The overall play of the team was piss poor. Everyone, perhaps beside when our GKs and CBs pass between themselves exempt from missplacing simpler passes or picked the wrong/ easy options.

 

[shamans]

Said it before and will say it again. Lukaku is a very good striker but I don't think he is the level to lead a club like Manchester United. Any time we have had success we had better strikers.

 

[Stookie]

He’s a striker that relies on good service so as far as I’m concerned he’s done amazing this season with the shite service he’s had. He’s tried to make things happen for himself, like today when he’s out on the wing when he should be in the box. I was his biggest critic earlier this season but then I realised that it isn’t him, it’s ‘brilliant’ players who are there to create the chances for him.

 

[Get In Scholesy]

He's our best crosser of the ball. It's sad

 

[Ace of Spades]

Just sub him off when he has off days like today. In this type of form he is useless.

 

[edgar allan]

Said it before and will say it again. Lukaku is a very good striker but I don't think he is the level to lead a club like Manchester United. Any time we have had success we had better strikers.

Lets get real, Lukaku is the least of our problems when we have real under performing players like Pogba and Sanchez

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Was really bad today.

 

[shamans]

Lets get real, Lukaku is the least of our problems when we have real under performing players like Pogba and Sanchez

Same can be said that Pogba is the least of our problems when we have a striker not that amazing

 

[ti vu]

Same can be said that Pogba is the least of our problems when we have a striker not that amazing

Kindly disagree. It's a poor arguement as Pogba as for this game, didn't fulfill his role as attacking midfielder. If you go further, Pogba didn't exactly control the game nor putting adequate defensive shift. Lukaku not having a good game by what you said, creating opening for Lingard to mess up, put in work on the wing with the lay up for Herrera's supposed penalty call, and couple more decent cross beside his work as positioning himself as forward.

 

[bosnian_red]

Massively disappointed with him in the league this season. Inconsistent overall play, and not enough goals to make up for the lack of overall play. Firmino has a similar number of goals and assists in the league, but obviously offers so much more in his overall game. Lukaku should have over 20 goals in the league and he can definitely do better. People even trying to defend it, can't, because Lukaku himself did much better last season, playing for Everton under Koeman. In the cups, he's been mostly very good and it's made his season decent overall. But his league performances overall have been verging on shit.

15 goals in almost 2800 minutes, that isn't good at all. Half as many goals as Salah, 10 less then Kane, 6 less then aguero, and then behind Vardy, Sterling and level with Firmino... we're talking about a striker who never gets rested, never gets subbed off, never gets moved around and never has a strike partner. He's the lone striker in every single game. He should have way more goals then he does and he should be playing much better on the whole for Mourinho's shit tactics to have any hope of working. He did better last season for Everton from an individual point of view then he's done this season for us, and that's what I'm disappointed in. Hopefully he improves a lot both from the amount of goals he scores and his overall performances, because if he doesn't, then he isn't the answer to be our long term striker.

 

[Canagel]

On his bad days he can be subbed off sometimes. There's nothing wrong with giving Martial or Rashford some time down the middle at the end of games from time to time. However the service into Lukaku is appalling. It took us until 70 minutes to put a decent ball into the box. We don't have any wingers who can beat a man and provide quality or cutting edge from the wings. Add a couple fullbacks who don't want to overlap or venture forward and it's a mess. If only Lukaku could finish off his own crosses. They are seriously good. I've seen him whip some really good balls into the box and even today someone should've taken a chance or realised that when Lukaku drifts out wide someone needs to be in the box. We don't play through balls for him to run onto either. He relies on service a lot but we need more quality around him. He's the least of our issues for me. He may not be the best striker in the world but with more quality around him we can develop him to be one of the best.

 

[bosnian_red]

Said it before and will say it again. Lukaku is a very good striker but I don't think he is the level to lead a club like Manchester United. Any time we have had success we had better strikers.

Yep. He's a good player, sure. Under Sir Alex, don't think he would have bought him because of his limitations but if he had him, I'm sure he'd make good use of him and start him consistently. Key point though, would be he would be up top in a 2 striker formation, and Fergie wouldn't be afraid of subbing him off or rotating when him when he loses form, and he'd have someone else in that attack who would be the main player. If Lukaku is your main attacking option, then that attack just isn't good enough IMO.

 

[R'hllor]

You can't have a normal conversation without mentioning fanboys and backsides?

Did you forget where you are ?

 

[Irrational.]

A poor performance overall, however...

Could and should have had two goals today, if not for the brilliance/ dumb luck of Foster. Also denied a penalty when Dawson grappled him to the ground. A better ref than the novice we had today and we draw (I feel embarrassed even typing that) or win the game. Romelu was unlucky.

 

[bosnian_red]

He’s a striker that relies on good service so as far as I’m concerned he’s done amazing this season with the shite service he’s had. He’s tried to make things happen for himself, like today when he’s out on the wing when he should be in the box. I was his biggest critic earlier this season but then I realised that it isn’t him, it’s ‘brilliant’ players who are there to create the chances for him.

Disagree with this, and all you have to do is look at his season for Everton last season compared to him this season. 10 goals more in only 4 appearances more. Are you trying to say that Everton under Koeman gave him better service then United this season? Not a chance. Lukaku himself hasn't been consistent enough and a lot of times just hasn't impacted the game enough and gotten away with "didn't get the service". The top strikers make the most out of nothing opportunities and can make something out of nothing. At least on occasion.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

I really like Rom, he gives everything, which does exposes his limitations at times, but he's a good a long term striker as we've had for while.

 

[R'hllor]

Not sure why people pointing finger at him, seems what people want is that in situation where every single soul suck, he should be a superman, who will pull a goal on his own while rest of team suck their thumbs. He is good at something and not so good at something else but when you see quality of crosses... i mean its just sad.

 

[automaticflare]

Not sure why people pointing finger at him, seems what people want is that in situation where every single soul suck, he should be a superman, who will pull a goal on his own while rest of team suck their thumbs. He is good at something and not so good at something else but when you see quality of crosses... i mean its just sad.

Agree the service in is shocking and our compete inability to transition the play after a turnover kills his best attribute which is running in behind.
He got one chance today I feel the header which foster pulled off a worldie

 

[AshRK]

It's like people were waiting for him to have one bad game to call him crap. Not denying he was poor but to call him average is a joke.

 

[ti vu]

Massively disappointed with him in the league this season. Inconsistent overall play, and not enough goals to make up for the lack of overall play. Firmino has a similar number of goals and assists in the league, but obviously offers so much more in his overall game. Lukaku should have over 20 goals in the league and he can definitely do better. People even trying to defend it, can't, because Lukaku himself did much better last season, playing for Everton under Koeman. In the cups, he's been mostly very good and it's made his season decent overall. But his league performances overall have been verging on shit.

15 goals in almost 2800 minutes, that isn't good at all. Half as many goals as Salah, 10 less then Kane, 6 less then aguero, and then behind Vardy, Sterling and level with Firmino... we're talking about a striker who never gets rested, never gets subbed off, never gets moved around and never has a strike partner. He's the lone striker in every single game. He should have way more goals then he does and he should be playing much better on the whole for Mourinho's shit tactics to have any hope of working. He did better last season for Everton from an individual point of view then he's done this season for us, and that's what I'm disappointed in. Hopefully he improves a lot both from the amount of goals he scores and his overall performances, because if he doesn't, then he isn't the answer to be our long term striker.

One word: Service.

Unless he wasted similar amount of chance Sterling each game, then we can start to talk about goal stat without any context whatsoever ( player in similar position in same team: Fimino vs Salah vs Mane, Aguero vs Jesus vs Sterling). Let's not forget he stopped taking penalty for us after that miss (he didn't take many penalty prior his time here either)

 

[ReallyUSA]

He deserves better. From the fans, from the tactics, and from his teammates. We have all this high quality players that can't consistently make chances for him. I can't wait for a clear out. We need to get some of these guys coasting off this team. I am not a huge fan of Mou, but a lot of these other guys have been threw more managers than most. Time to move on.

 

[kundalini]

One word: Service.

Unless he wasted similar amount of chance Sterling each game, then we can start to talk about goal stat without any context whatsoever ( player in similar position in same team: Fimino vs Salah vs Mane, Aguero vs Jesus vs Sterling). Let's not forget he stopped taking penalty for us after that miss (he didn't take many penalty prior his time here either)

Sterling's expected goals this season in the PL 17.03. His actual goals scored 17 https://understat.com/player/618

Lukaku's expected goals this season in the PL 14.80. His actual goals scored 15 https://understat.com/player/594

Looking at the expected goals, United paid a premium for Lukaku due to him having a season in which his finishing was spectacular (8 goals better than expected). In his two previous Everton seasons, he was 2 goals down on his expected figures.

 

[Isotope]

Yep. He's a good player, sure. Under Sir Alex, don't think he would have bought him because of his limitations but if he had him, I'm sure he'd make good use of him and start him consistently. Key point though, would be he would be up top in a 2 striker formation, and Fergie wouldn't be afraid of subbing him off or rotating when him when he loses form, and he'd have someone else in that attack who would be the main player. If Lukaku is your main attacking option, then that attack just isn't good enough IMO.

We had Chicarito in the past, who was more limited than Lukaku. But the rest of our team was so good at that time, though. Also, eventually at the end, Chica was phased out as our main striker.

Agreed with the rest of your post. We had Andy Cole, Yorke, RvN, Solkjaer, Saha, Rooney, and RvP who had at least very decent ball skill.

 

[el3mel]

I love him and think he's the least of our worries. Very decent debut season as well, but today was like his terrible performances of October/November/December. Terrible first touch, not linking up well, and zero movement up front to cause problems for defenders. He was very easy to handle for WBA defenders which was fecking strange if you asked me.

 

[James Peril]

He is a good striker, but I don’t see a Man Utd-striker. Some people have been using ridiculous superlatives about him for scoring a few goals lately, but the performances and statistics are so obvious. I am not going to use this one against him as an «I told you so», but he did miss a sitter in the first half that would have won us the game for sure. My biggest problem with him is that he isn’t focused enough, doesn’t make enough runs in the box and often stops after the first one is already executed. He doesn’t get to many chances on the floor due to his laziness and lack of smartness, it’s just lightyears behind the best in the world. Without a top striker, we will not win the league or the Champions League.

Can’t blame him for the header in the second half, he did everything right there to be fair - just unlucky. Ronaldo would have scored of course, but Lukaku is no Ronaldo.

15 league goals, not even close to being good enough.

 

[Thebaldingbob]

He's good at bullying defenders of lesser teams, but he never performs against the top teams.

 

[bosnian_red]

One word: Service.

Unless he wasted similar amount of chance Sterling each game, then we can start to talk about goal stat without any context whatsoever ( player in similar position in same team: Fimino vs Salah vs Mane, Aguero vs Jesus vs Sterling). Let's not forget he stopped taking penalty for us after that miss (he didn't take many penalty prior his time here either)

Well, no, in a word. He had 25 or 26 goals for Everton last season, under Koeman. Are you saying they gave him better service? Obviously not. Crux of it is that the main striker for Manchester United, never being rested, never shifted away, always the lone striker, never being subbed off... he should have way more then 15 goals in the league if the main thing he provides is goalscoring (since the rest of his game is at best average). Hes done well and been a lot more consistent in the cups, to his credit. But league has been shit. 20 goals would make it acceptable, and doesnt look like he'll reach that anyway.

 

[Greck]

He's good at bullying defenders of lesser teams, but he never performs against the top teams.

This is just lazy criticism.

 

[Ashley R1+O]

That save from his header was top notch, disappointing that he didn't score there. I want to see service to him improve where he's getting 4 or 5 of those a game. A fresh set of fullbacks and a proper right sided player will improve him dramatically next year.

 

[ti vu]

Sterling's expected goals this season in the PL 17.03. His actual goals scored 17 https://understat.com/player/618

Lukaku's expected goals this season in the PL 14.80. His actual goals scored 15 https://understat.com/player/594

Looking at the expected goals, United paid a premium for Lukaku due to him having a season in which his finishing was spectacular (8 goals better than expected). In his two previous Everton seasons, he was 2 goals down on his expected figures.

Isn't the expected goal stats were based on shooting position? Then it points toward service.

Well, no, in a word. He had 25 or 26 goals for Everton last season, under Koeman. Are you saying they gave him better service? Obviously not. Crux of it is that the main striker for Manchester United, never being rested, never shifted away, always the lone striker, never being subbed off... he should have way more then 15 goals in the league if the main thing he provides is goalscoring (since the rest of his game is at best average). Hes done well and been a lot more consistent in the cups, to his credit. But league has been shit. 20 goals would make it acceptable, and doesnt look like he'll reach that anyway.

Yes. Look at how good crosses, ball were served up for him.


We have better players but not necessary means better service. Why? Because Everton players accept their roles to supply while ours can be tempting to try to shoot themselves, or totally different profile: Mata does't stretch play enough and cross first. Then the inexperience issue with Martial and Rashford... And simply quality of the crosser themselves. Valencia has been shin killing for years. Young overhit his crossing for as long as I can remember. Many of Everton players had years playing together to better understand each other.

Edit: to illustrate the point let's look at Ronaldo of 08-09 season and Rooney 09-10

Rooney outscored Ronaldo in the latter season. Still the United with Ronaldo was stronger, for the reason that Ronaldo could score goal like the one at against Porto away that it's all about his supreme X-factor and less about service. However, the service for Rooney was more suitable for his style while SAF tried to plan a future without Ronaldo by purchasing Berbatov thus sharing goals among the forwards weakened the service to Ronaldo despite adding (different) quality to the squad. For all the shortcoming Benzema has, he is still considered best partner for Ronaldo than so called other better CFs, as maximizing Ronaldo's goal scoring capacity yield better result than sharing goals between him and other forwards. At Everton, they were built to maximize Lukaku's goal scoring ability while we're trying to spreading out goals to other players. Even then for season goal tally, Lukaku has been on track to overtake his Everton best season tally.

 

[Toad]

Not Lukakus fault everyone behind him is shit.

 

[Icemav]

Rom is great. Works hard. Creates goal thru excellend crosses. Look forward to watching him develop. The rest of the team needs to improve.

 

[kouroux]

At times it feels like when he shoots, he doesn't aim. I could be imagining things but too many of his shots are straight at keepers and easy to save. A shame about that great header, that was a sick save by Foster

 

[Openshaw53]

Possibly ( well I can't think of anyone else) got the worst first touch I have seen for a 'so called top player'

Heading .....give me strength what's going on when the ball drops from a height and he completely misses it ,it happened yesterday again , and at the Emptyhad last week.

Finally and maybe a tad harsh but was he marking the kid who scored yesterday?