It's so true it's a catch 22 situation
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The worst thing is that he's blunt.. Even if you struggle, you can contribute in different ways as a striker. But you need to use your freaking brain. I mean, I think this is one of the biggest problems of our current team. Many of our players lack intelligence and wiliness. Rom's unfortunately one of them.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen a player decline as he has at such a young age. Generally looks like a Sunday league player at the moment. The stuff about him mentioning he’s too big is a disgrace as well. Why did he think it would be a good idea to begin with and why 6 months laters has he still not shifted the weight. Should be kept out the squad for the foreseeable future but he’s one of Mourinhos favourites so that isn’t going to happen.
Reminds me of the movie Thunderstruck with Kevin Durant.
Drop him til he drops the weight.
He'd actually been a bit better the last few games and I was hoping he was starting to turn the corner. But this was right back to his worst.
How big he looks, unbeliveable. Defenders around him look like wingers in comparision with him.
Was saying something similar in the matchday thread. Remember when prime Wazza started a game with a few heavy touches and you just knew he would have one of those games? That's standard Lukaku.
Wonder when the 'play him as a 10' or 'he'd be better in an other position' arguments will start? Think I've already seen a few people suggesting we play him wide right actually.
Let's sell him back to Everton for a knock-down fee and complete the cycle of misery.
Going from strikers of the technique of Berba, RvP and Zlatan to this guy...
You had me at 'playing'.
I'm not worried about his touch. He has a bad touch and still managed 100+ goals in PL so it's not something that's topped him before. Now things are not going well and his every action is being picked upon. We need to get the ball to him in dangerous areas and he'd finish it pretty much.
Lukaku scoring 20-30 goals a season does nothing to improve the team. He becomes the one and only attacking angle of the whole team & our results end up relying on him & him only.
Same thing happened at Everton & now the same thing at United. The guy has the goals but the team shifts towards getting the best out of an individual rather than spreading their ability across the pitch from different angles & areas of the pitch.
Would have been a great player in the 90's but a team defensively organised has to merely concentrate on a few of our players to stop our attack.
It's why to me that gir0ud or hazard as a false 9 is better than morata upfront. Or why firminh0 is vital to Liverpool'attack or why ibrahimovic struggled playing for the most team working 11 ever seen at Barcelona.
Same thing happened at Everton & now the same thing at United. The guy has the goals but the team shifts towards getting the best out of an individual rather than spreading their ability across the pitch from different angles & areas of the pitch.
Would have been a great player in the 90's but a team defensively organised has to merely concentrate on a few of our players to stop our attack.
It's why to me that gir0ud or hazard as a false 9 is better than morata upfront. Or why firminh0 is vital to Liverpool'attack or why ibrahimovic struggled playing for the most team working 11 ever seen at Barcelona.
One of the worst signings i've ever seen. 100m for this lump is worse than all the shite before him. I'd take Dong Fangzhuo over him.
Shouldn't start vs Liverpool and should be a bench option at best until the end of the season where he should be sold to whoever is stupid enough to take him.
Shouldn't start vs Liverpool and should be a bench option at best until the end of the season where he should be sold to whoever is stupid enough to take him.
Dont think he'll start against Liverpool.
His finishing has been anything but impressive this season.
Agree. His conversion usually rate is among the best out there in Pl so we got to take this season as anomaly. I think his output will improve if Dalot gets a string of games. He's never going to magically create goals by himself like our previous great strikers.
I don't know why the £90m fee keeps getting thrown around. We'll only end up paying that if he's successful, which he clearly won't be. £75m is still a horrible waste though.
Maybe under a different manager who doesn't think as simplistically as "big = target man" then he might improve. On current evidence and in the role Mourinho wants him to play then I'd rather lump it up to Fellaini instead.
Maybe under a different manager who doesn't think as simplistically as "big = target man" then he might improve. On current evidence and in the role Mourinho wants him to play then I'd rather lump it up to Fellaini instead.
Couldn't finish watching that, genuinely made me sad to realise the quality we had back then
I get where you're coming from but is that really true for belgium? Hazard, Mertens et al. seem to get on the score sheet often enough too, and their attacking play doesnt seem too overly dependent on Lukaku
But the thing is, is this enough for a team that should by all accounts target the very top? Your performances and results suggest not really, whether Lukaku is scoring or not. So maybe a forward who contributes to the general play more would help...
Belgium to me are a team that is under performing in comparison to the players they have. I think it was the game in the world Cup where they marginally won a match by playing de bryune in a false nine position - they looked like a team that could finally play as a team 11 & a team that couldn't be sussed out before hand.
They played that game against Brazil & won - I was hoping it to continue but the next game Martinez went back to Lukaku as their central striker & it failed - getting knocked out the CL.
Lukaku to me is a player in the modern era that you can't have the team revolve around at least not for the whole 90 mins.
For the most simplest way, consider Zidanes real Madrid:
Ronaldo - Benzema - Bale
Vs
Ronaldo - Lukaku - Bale
Lukaku clearly does not make sense because he breaks up the play, can't bring others in to play & unlike Benzema takes too much of a central isolated important figure in the middle of their attack. Their attack becomes a true reflection on how Lukaku can play - in comparison to Benzema who can have a bad game but still get the best out of Ronaldo & Bale. That doesn't happen to Lukaku & ultimately; if the manager or we as a club are aiming to continue to get the best out of Lukaku then playing Ronaldo & Bale isn't going to work. Instead we could go for
A) Perisic - Lukaku--willian
This provides both width & a crossing ability for Lukaku; however this is way too easy to defend against ever since the start of the 2000's since all it takes is marking out the target man. That's why Jose does this inseatd
B) Ronaldo - Lukaku - Willian
Which provides the width & crossing ability to Lukaku - allows a winger to cross in to the central striker - whilst also having an inverted winger who plays as a forward to make it more complicated to defend against the target man. This is Jose's traditional tactics that has helped his football be a bit harder to defend against.
Lukaku can't dictacte the ball though - so as seen above - our team can either play all directed towards him; or become a team that is lopsided to direct balls in to Lukaku which leaves gaps in our attacks.
I think Jose wants to prove a point that the players are shit and Woodward should have bought the players he wanted this summer so I think he will continually set the team up to fail until he is fired.
He is right up there with Taibi and Djemba Djemba for me.
Firstly, you've make some very logical points that i agree with.
But Martinez played a different system against France and was forced to do so, since Meunier was suspended. and the gamble with playing Dembele didnt work since he massively underperformed in that game. To put that loss down to Lukaku being played as central striker would be unfair IMO. There were many factors to it.
However, I do agree that Lukaku as a right forward to de Bryune's false 9 worked well in the brazil game. Firstly, Martinez knows how to use him in that position since his everton days. Secondly, that tactic works better in a counter attacking system since it isolates lukaku with one of the CBs of the opposition. It worked out well for belgium because they scored first and hence could play on the counter. Otherwise, I dont know if this tactic would work, especially against an opposition that would sit back, like teams do against us.
I think we have to use Lukaku how we used Javier Hernandez, purely as a goalscorer. Let him roam the width of the box but be largely free from building up the play. That way we prevent him from slowing down or disrupting the ball movement.
If Lukaku plays on the shoulder of the last defender, he will always be a nuisance, because he's quicker and stronger than most CBs. And importantly, he will create a distance between the defensive line and the midfield because the CBs will always have to keep a track of his runs in behind them. This will cause more space to open up between the defense and the midfield leaving more space in the final third for our playmakers like Pogba and Mata.
To take advantage of that space, our full backs need to push up very high and our midfielders have to crowd the middle. I think its a risk that Mourinho just doesnt want to take because he has no confidence in his midfielders or his defense. He's too busy trying to play Lukaku like Benzema. But Lukaku's already the player he's going to be, hes not going to change. The time to change his style has gone 10 years ago when he was 14-15. Its too late now. We should use him like the player he is. A devastating forward who bullys CBs. He can definitely do that playing down the middle. But he has to stop dropping deep.
He should be given balls in the box where he can turn and get a shot off on both sides.
There is no point passing to him unless he is in a shooting position.
This is well known that he does not possess the skills to be a United Striker, numerous coaches and pundits said the same when the speculation was rife, that we were buying him.
under an attack minded manager we would love Lukaku !!!
So he wanted Chelsea all along?
How funny, neither could I and what's funny was Ruud was a great player but wasn't even our best player. Must admit because of this, I totally took his ability (and others) for granted.
It was said that his mom consulted a voodoo doctor who claimed that his future was at Chelsea.
Whoever thought it was a good idea to encourage Lukaku of all people to put on more weight needs shooting.
Lukaku has always looked most threatening when he gets on the last shoulder of the defender and makes the run in behind. That's what he's best at.
With his size and pace, he's capable of causing problems for anyone.
Those are his strengths. Why we bought him, then insist on playing him in a way which highlights his biggest weaknesses is beyond me...
(we can say this about most of our players
)
Last season, he was promising. He literally looks a shadow of what he was mere months ago! It's weird.
He needs taking out of the spotlight for his own good imo.
Send him away on warm weather training over the Christmas period along with Alexis.
Get him as fit and lean as he can get. Let him get his confidence back and back to doing what he does best.
Lukaku has always looked most threatening when he gets on the last shoulder of the defender and makes the run in behind. That's what he's best at.
With his size and pace, he's capable of causing problems for anyone.
Those are his strengths. Why we bought him, then insist on playing him in a way which highlights his biggest weaknesses is beyond me...
(we can say this about most of our players
)Last season, he was promising. He literally looks a shadow of what he was mere months ago! It's weird.
He needs taking out of the spotlight for his own good imo.
Send him away on warm weather training over the Christmas period along with Alexis.
Get him as fit and lean as he can get. Let him get his confidence back and back to doing what he does best.
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He bought all the shit players though...
Wish Martial and Sanchez were not injured. We could have played Martial and Rashford or Sanchez.
Assuming we wont be able to sell him off and find quality replacements, Lukaku needs a time off. Wok on decreasing his apparent "muscle weight" and train and train till he finds decent form. He needs to do it the hard way.
Assuming we wont be able to sell him off and find quality replacements, Lukaku needs a time off. Wok on decreasing his apparent "muscle weight" and train and train till he finds decent form. He needs to do it the hard way.
That photoshop image of him wearing jeans and timberlands kills me everytime. 
Aye, pretty much agree with this.
I said before we signed him that of all our former strikers Lukaku was most similar to Chicharito, the difference in their physique being largely misleading in terms of the way it effects their play. If you look at Lukaku's goals for Everton the vast majority of them were the type of goals Hernandez scores. Lukaku's height, pace, power and youth gave him added advantages over Hernandez but didn't make him a different type of player (imo).
Which is partly why I thought Lukaku's signing made sense. After all, a few months before we signed Lukaku Mourinho had specifically name-checked Hernandez as the type of player we didn't have: "The way we play in their box, I think Chicharito would have 20 goals, easy. Even coming from the bench for the last ten/twenty minutes, we'll have 20 goals. He's a guy that, naturally, the ball comes, rebound here, rebound there, boom, goal. The goalkeeper saves he goes there, tap-in goal. The cross is coming, he anticipates the first post, header, goal."
I figured that we were signing Lukaku to do what he was good at and be that player. Instead we spent all of last season trying to make him be something entirely different.
When you see him out away from the goals trying to hold up and pass the ball you can see how entirely unsuited he is to the role he is being asked to play.
The compilation of his touches during the mid week game is grim viewing, he looks like a non-league striker
The compilation of his touches during the mid week game is grim viewing, he looks like a non-league striker
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When will he start taking responsibility for the under performing players he's bought? Some of the worst performers are his purchases, he's got no one to blame but himself. If all his signings previously had been excellent do you really think upper management would have any reservations about who he wanted?
Looking at a random compilation video from one of his Everton seasons. Aside from indeed looking leaner the main thing that stands out to me is how much more confident and decisive he looks. When he he's running at defenders or at goal he looks like he thinks he's going to score, as opposed to this season where he constantly looks like he knows he's about to be dispossessed every time he gets the ball.
True, but he continually sets up the team to fail..like playing Herrera or McTonmay at CB when Baily was available.
He wants to prove a point more than he wants to win
I do not agree at all with the Hernandez comparison. Hernandez has one of the best movements off the ball. Lukaku is stuck there always on the back foot Two very different kind of players. Hernandez has better ball control and is always on the move. It is very difficult to mark him in the box. It is very easy to mark Lukaku as he never anticipates anything.
Even now if we played Hernandez up front instead of Lukaku he will score goals a lot more than Lukaku because his movements will create trouble for the defence.
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