I'm happy we signed him and I think he will be great for us but it does bother me he gets muscled off the ball so easily considering his size. I know this will sound crazy but he actually looks weak physically in many of the battles.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 51
- Goals
- 27
- Assists
- 10
- Yellow cards
- 3
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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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Like any striker he has two defenders around him at all times. Because of this it is only logical that he will lose most of his duels.
Yeah that's what I was doing thereSuch great analysis there
From off-form Rooney? Definitely. Ibra? Debatable. But still, you can't argue with the fact that over the years we were blessed with some amazing strikers - Cantona, Ruud, Rooney, van Persie etc.
Definitely should have done better with the chance he had. Sometimes he really does lack finesse when it matters. I've seen him a few time smash the ball at the keeper rather than rely on a more measured approach. That's not to say he's not capable of it, but sometimes that does let him down.
Some of the little flicks and first time layoffs worked fine, and he does work hard for the team (maybe not last night so much) which i like as i didn't see too much of that while he was at Everton.
He's not always the most elegant player on the ball, and i often find that he never really looks in complete control when in possession. Lots of fumbling and getting the ball trapped under his feet, which is what happened with his one chance of the night.
He has had a great start at the club though. Some of his poor performances have coincided with the drop off in performance of the whole team. While that's obviously not all his fault, i do find myself frustrated with him on times. I still have confidence in him; he's still relatively young and will no doubt improve a lot.
Some of the little flicks and first time layoffs worked fine, and he does work hard for the team (maybe not last night so much) which i like as i didn't see too much of that while he was at Everton.
He's not always the most elegant player on the ball, and i often find that he never really looks in complete control when in possession. Lots of fumbling and getting the ball trapped under his feet, which is what happened with his one chance of the night.
He has had a great start at the club though. Some of his poor performances have coincided with the drop off in performance of the whole team. While that's obviously not all his fault, i do find myself frustrated with him on times. I still have confidence in him; he's still relatively young and will no doubt improve a lot.
No one can argue with that.
I just think the kid should be given some time. He can be a monster of a striker.
Does he actually need to lose some weight or muscle mass? He isn't slow by any means, but he actually looks cumbersome at times and it may have affect his overall game and movement
Think his cubersome look is related to his lack of dribbling ability. It's really poor for a top striker so he should just stick to what he's good at, being a present and a strong lad in the box.
I would love for all those going all out against Lukaku to post some stats on conversion rate etc of Lukaku versus those of the so called top strikers. The results will surprise you.
I don't mind anyone having a go at any player, but at least be objective about it instead of having one standard to judge Lukaku, and another for other players. Lukaku has a conversion rate only slightly below that of Morata (61% vs 64%), yet he doesn't get anywhere near as many clear cut chances as morata, especially in the last month or so.
You're the same type of people that would have demanded Drogba be sold after he finished with just 16 goals in his first season for Chelsea in 2004-2005, as a 26 year old striker no less. Yet here you have a still only 24 year old striker who has already scored 10 goals in competitive matches for the season, all the while playing for a team that hasn't yet come up with the best strategy on how to use him (for one we don't have a single wide player that consistently crosses the ball well, yet Lukaku's best asset is arguably his heading ability).
Harry Kane (the very Harry Kane who walks on water based on some of the stuff I read here) didn't score a single goal in the first month of the season, yet I didn't hear much in terms of boos and talk from Spurs supporters about how he is not good enough blah blah.
Lukaku has shown over and over again that he can be relied on as a top striker (he has been in the top end of goal scorers for the past 5 years), and he's already among the top 5 goal scorers in England this season, again all the while while getting abysmal service throughout the past 5 or so weeks.
Honestly, let's be objective when judging players shall we, especially when they happen to play for OUR team. With some of what I read here if Lukaku were to walk on water some of you would accuse him of not being able to swim! SMH
I don't mind anyone having a go at any player, but at least be objective about it instead of having one standard to judge Lukaku, and another for other players. Lukaku has a conversion rate only slightly below that of Morata (61% vs 64%), yet he doesn't get anywhere near as many clear cut chances as morata, especially in the last month or so.
You're the same type of people that would have demanded Drogba be sold after he finished with just 16 goals in his first season for Chelsea in 2004-2005, as a 26 year old striker no less. Yet here you have a still only 24 year old striker who has already scored 10 goals in competitive matches for the season, all the while playing for a team that hasn't yet come up with the best strategy on how to use him (for one we don't have a single wide player that consistently crosses the ball well, yet Lukaku's best asset is arguably his heading ability).
Harry Kane (the very Harry Kane who walks on water based on some of the stuff I read here) didn't score a single goal in the first month of the season, yet I didn't hear much in terms of boos and talk from Spurs supporters about how he is not good enough blah blah.
Lukaku has shown over and over again that he can be relied on as a top striker (he has been in the top end of goal scorers for the past 5 years), and he's already among the top 5 goal scorers in England this season, again all the while while getting abysmal service throughout the past 5 or so weeks.
Honestly, let's be objective when judging players shall we, especially when they happen to play for OUR team. With some of what I read here if Lukaku were to walk on water some of you would accuse him of not being able to swim! SMH
The majority of the criticism is not over his goal record, why that keeps being ignored I could not say. Will ask again if people still believe that it does not matter how poor his touch and all round game are as long as he scores goals?
I get an 'Andy Cole-esque' feeling with Rom. Not in playing style but in the sense that he will score a lot of goals for one of the worlds biggest clubs, but miss too many chances for people to consider him at the top level. Its an odd one, because he will probably rack up about 25 goals a season for us over time, but there are always going to be question marks over him.
The main thing Morata has over Lukaku is his ability to dribble. I guarantee if we had Morata fans would be talking about his poor hold-up play because it has been pretty bad. You can tell he needs time to adapt to the physicality of the league.
Movement is the most important aspect for creating chances.
Meh, I get what you're saying but Andy Cole had an all round game and hold up play that was part of the package, his movement was also stellar and brought more to the team than just goalscoring, is my point.
Lukaku doesn't bring those same attributes to the team, if he's soley starting to put the ball in the back of the net, he cant afford to miss half his chances.
How much of Andy Cole did you really watch??
Something like, every single game from his first with us to his last with us. Also saw a bunch of him at Newcastle before he joined and for England and England u-21's
First of all this isn’t a Morata thread.
It’s strange how people bring up Morata as if he’s clearly superior technically, he isn’t. I could pull stats for you to prove that they are about equal as far as overall game is concerned, but that not for this thread.
Transfer story rewritten.....
I wanted Morata over Lukaku during summer, but I don't like the trend of using Morata as a stick to beat Rom with. Morata has been dead for me once we got Rom. Lukaku now and for years coming is our striker and he'll improve, I have no doubts about that.
What he needs to improve most is his hold up play, which is easy considering his physicality. He just doesn't know how to use it well, he should be using his body to bully his way through defenders, this will come with training. He also needs to be more clever and more creative in the way he finishes chances, not just depending on power.
Both are easily improvable. He's still young and has all the tools to improve. Instead of using other players as a stick to beat him with, he should gains support from our fans to achieve what we want from him.
What he needs to improve most is his hold up play, which is easy considering his physicality. He just doesn't know how to use it well, he should be using his body to bully his way through defenders, this will come with training. He also needs to be more clever and more creative in the way he finishes chances, not just depending on power.
Both are easily improvable. He's still young and has all the tools to improve. Instead of using other players as a stick to beat him with, he should gains support from our fans to achieve what we want from him.
He definitely is superior technically and tactically imo. Whether that makes him the better player I don't know as Lukaku has a determination which I admire and pace/power but I'd like to see your statistical argument proving otherwise.
Tactically? How do you guys even talk about this? Do you know what tactical instructions was given to Morata and Lukaku? Do you even know whether Lukaku was asked to stick in the middle occupying CBs or run down the right channel? Lot of empty words.
Lukaku competes for so many aerial duels but still have nearly same pass completion success.
They are both marginally better than the other at most categories.
To add to this,
Morata unsuccessful touches - 2.5 per game. Dispossesed - 2.5 per game.
Lukaku unsuccessful touches - 2.4 per game. Dispossesed - 1.7 per game.
Morata plays on an average 18 passes per game, Lukaku plays 21 passes per game. In CL it's 13 vs 22 in favor of Lukaku
Lukaku has better aerial duel success rate and also dribble completion success rate.
Morata has a better instinct for making runs, knows how to drift wide or drop deep and lay off etc his natural footballing instinct is better. He's not perfect but I do think in this aspect he is naturally better whereas Lukaku needs to be coached on this further.
If you check Lukaku's goal, very very small percentage is because of his physicality and almost all of them are because of his movement. Lukaku is very good at running from right side which he had plenty of times in the past, for some reason he isn't doing that at ManUtd except last few games.
Morata is better technically but no one knows what instructions are given to strikers to know how they are good or bad tactically.
Again football intelligence thing, phew. One of the most useless and empty word unless it involves greats like Xavi, Iniesta. Lukaku's movement for goals obviously proves how intelligent he is on the pitch so not sure why this thing is used again and again.
Lukaku has better dribble completion rate, involved with more passes per game, creates more chances per game, loses ball less than Morata but still somehow Morata is more intelligent.
A shame that keeper fluked a save off that one vs one. Stuck a leg out, the other 9 times out of 10 that just goes in untouched. Works his balls off and you can't ask for more than that.
This is simply not true. Lukaku is exceptional at drifting wide especially to the right where he's proving to be our best right sided player this season even though he's our number 9. People really just invent stuff just to discredit Lukaku.
Goodness. Stop. Most of Lukaku's goals are "tap ins". In order to score those types of goals you need exceptional off the ball movement in order to be in the right place at the right time. The only thing Morata is better than Lukaku at is his technique (and even that is debatable, he just looks better on the eye). But then again Lukaku makes up for that by being superior physically.
Just the last league game, Lukaku drifted on the right side, collected the ball and provided a beautiful cross to Rashford for Pogba's goal. Then he collected the ball on the right side again and dribbled his way back into the box to score a thumping goal. He doesn't drop deep and that's tactical. Football instinct, football IQ etc. are just buzz words that mean very little.
It is much more likely for premier league defenders and managers to figure out Morata who they've never really played against before than them figuring out Lukaku who they've been playing against for several seasons. There are also going to be huge question marks about Morata's ability to lead the line for a full season since this is really the first time he is asked to do it. This is also one of the performances by Morata, the guy really doesn't come across as highly technical. He has a great header though.
Is there a stat for the amount of times Lukaku takes 3 touches instead of 1 to control a ball and in doing so loses the chance to play a dangerous pass or kills the momentum of a break? That is the problem with the likes of Squawka and WhoScored, tons of data, little context.
Yes. See the stats, he creates chances, doesn't lose the ball anymore than a supposedly better technical striker, wins more duels%. So if you use those stats you can answer your own questions.
Or you can actually use your eyes and watch a game of football.
That depends on what your questions are. Phil Jones has the highest pass completion rate in the Utd squad and the 6th highest in the league, he must be an elite passer. Stats can be interesting but sometimes you have to trust your eyes.
Jones stats do tell you that he's a very good passer of the ball as far as CBs in premier league are concerned. That makes a lot of sense actually.
I do, but I just have better football IQ than you.
Well played. I was gonna respond to this nonsensical idea that Lukaku doesnt have that much football IQ, but realised that its just lazy stereotyping.A bit unfair on him there. Although unaesthetic, his touches are usually effective and his link up play facing the goal is capable to say the least.
Would agree that it needs improvement in certain aspects. He seems to need to summon up every bit of balance and coordination he has just to trap a pass. Till he improves on this he'll struggle as a targetman against the better teams. So far they just seem to easily nick the ball off him while he's labouring to control a pass
Can everyone please shut the feck up about cocking Morata in this thread?!
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