[Sylar]

Lukaku the player in his prime is 25 and Keita the young player trying to establish himself is 24.

Happy he scored, took both of them really well. Much better. Dont think weve ever had an issue with Lukaku against the smaller teams (beginning of the season he wasnt very efficient). Would still like to see him a bit more mobile (basically shedding the weight / muscle / mass).

 

[Sanchez7]

It's amazing how some posters on here change their mind on a player depending on how the wind changes.

I have watched this guy, every single game since he started with this club (every OT game in the flesh), and he is just not United quality. The touch, and awareness of this guy, plus the willingness to actually perform when it is required is dire.

Currently we are talking about 'wanting' to get back to where we belong, and expect; and this means bringing the best players to our club. Sure, if all we want is to continue to be top 4 - struggle in next years chanpions league - get top 4 again - struggle again, and repeat, then fine, we just accept very average players and 'pretend' they are better than they really are.

But, if we have a desire to get back to the very top, then we need a much better quality of striker than Romelu Lukaku. PSG proved we are a long, long way from performing at the highest level, and we are in real danger of becoming the next Liverpool/Arsenal.

I am sure he is a nice bloke, but his obvious limitations are there for all to see.

Agree with this post. He is a decent striker but his overall game isn't close to what is expected from a Man Utd centre forward/£75m signing.

Having said that, he scored two very good goals yesterday, I was actually surprised by the athleticism he showed to get his foot around the ball for the second goal.

 

[Danny Roberts]

In fairness to that poster - I can't think of any other PL club with a £75m striker as a backup...

Jesus would be worth more

 

[cyberman]

I'm yet to see anyone name a high profile star player in their prime happily sitting on the bench. In any position. You either have young players looking to establish themselves or older players who are bringing their experience as they start to slow down, or players who are unhappy with the situation like Morata was. We will be no different with Lukaku.

He's not sitting on the bench though. He's as much of a bench player as Sane is.

 

[Handré1990]

I don't even think his miss was that bad... yeah he should have scored, but the ball was coming pretty quick and it's still a volley, not exactly a sitter by any stretch.

Townsend's miss was much worse in the game. Schlupp's was also pretty bad.

Disagree. Well, not necessarily that he should’ve scored, but it’s really bad, imo, that he seems to struggle with simply getting it on target with all the time in the world. Those other two doesn’t play for us.

He was decent overall vs Palace, two very important goals elevated it to a great performance in my book. Still a very bad miss.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Disagree. Well, not necessarily that he should’ve scored, but it’s really bad, imo, that he seems to struggle with simply getting it on target with all the time in the world. Those other two doesn’t play for us.

He was decent overall vs Palace, two very important goals elevated it to a great performance in my book. Still a very bad miss.

He didn't have all the time in the world though - Corner came in at speed and he hit it on the volley whilst jumping.

Like I said he should've scored, but it probably wouldn't even make a top 10 list for our worst misses of the season.

 

[ivaldo]

He didn't have all the time in the world though - Corner came in at speed and he hit it on the volley whilst jumping.

Like I said he should've scored, but it probably wouldn't even make a top 10 list for our worst misses of the season.

Aye. We've seen world class strikers like Aguero miss far easier chances - he missed one from 6 yards only a month ago. It happens to every striker, particularly those who are a bit low on confidence in front of goal.

 

[MadDogg]

Then stop fecking asking for it
feckING IDIOT

Fantastic.

Aye, how the feck do you go from the strength he showed to turn the defender for his second goal to losing some of the 50/50s we've seen in other matches, with his tank physique?

He doesn't seem to have great balance. When he knows the contact is coming and he can brace himself he's capable of overpowering pretty much anybody, but most of the time the contact seems to happen when he's focusing on actually receiving the ball and he just gets pushed off easily. If I didn't know better I'd think he spends too much time working on the 'showy' muscles and ignoring his core, but that doesn't seem to be the case (plus I doubt the club physio would allow that).

Romelu Lukaku is underrated in here.

111 goals in the premier league so far. That puts him in the top 20 all time best finishers in the league.

Lukaku has been atrocious this season so far, and that colours the reactions on here. If he can get back to what he was capable of when playing for Everton and in the first half of last season for us, he'll be a good option for us at the very least, if not pushing to be a starter. But this season he has literally been one of the worst regular starters in the entire league up until now. There have been some signs of improvement over the last two months, but this was the first actually good match that he's played so far. Not only for the goals, but he was also far better at winning the balls that were being played up to him (both in the air and on the ground) and his all-round play was better than it has been. Obviously still not amazing and it never will be, but it was closer to the level that we should be expecting from him.

 

[shamans]

Well played last night. There's no denying how good he can be, but he just ain't good enough to lead the line unopposed. As a rotation option/off the bench he is extremely useful to have.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Jesus would be worth more

But that's irrelevant, point is we paid £75m for a ready made No9 in his pomp and he's currently 2nd choice striker. City paid what £30m? for a 19yr old.

FYI this is nothing against Lukaku it's an agreement with the other poster's point that a) he defo wants, as all top strikers do, to be 1st choice and b) if he is a backup, is the club happy with such an expensive backup. Who knows if the second part will happen because United are a huge club and can probably afford a whole bench of Lukaku's easily but I doubt he'll be happy personally if he's continuously playing second fiddle to Rashford or having to play wide. He used to being the main man.

 

[Handré1990]

He didn't have all the time in the world though - Corner came in at speed and he hit it on the volley whilst jumping.

Like I said he should've scored, but it probably wouldn't even make a top 10 list for our worst misses of the season.

Obviously I was using hyperbole with all the time in the world. He was under no pressure, so I think he should get it on target. He didn’t retreat in to his shell after a miss though, so every United fan should be happy with him yesterday.

 

[bdspeedy]

Disagree. Well, not necessarily that he should’ve scored, but it’s really bad, imo, that he seems to struggle with simply getting it on target with all the time in the world. Those other two doesn’t play for us.

He was decent overall vs Palace, two very important goals elevated it to a great performance in my book. Still a very bad miss.

Two goals that won us the game is "decent overall"? This is a tough room.

 

[Handré1990]

Two goals that won us the game is "decent overall"? This is a tough room.

Well, if you read all of it, I’ve qualified the statement. The goals sealed it so I deemed it a great performance. Still looking less than a professional footballer in most basic aspects of the game. Just my opinion.

 

[Litch]

In fairness to that poster - I can't think of any other PL club with a £75m striker as a backup...

City.....?

 

[Litch]

City - Jesus
Liverpool - Sturridge
Spurs - Llorente
Arsenal - Lacazette
Chelsea - Giroud

Not seeing a 75m supposed star player amongst any of those names.

Chelsea did have an underperforming star but they got rid of him, just like we will with ours if he doesn't improve. Top clubs have either upcoming players with star potential or older players bringing experience. Nobody has a Lukaku happily sitting on the bench.

How funny, Im glad Rom is seen as a 75m player. Ah, that must mean West Ham have a 50m player on their bench.

Dont you think the teams named wouldnt want a 75m player on the bench? Spurs and Arsenal couldnt afford a 75m player full stop...

I think over the course of a season, Rom will play has many games as the rest given injuries, suspensions and lack of form.

 

[AndyJ1985]

Some people are so simple minded and can't see beyond the end of their nose. He's scored 2 goals in 10 games and some think that is good enough to act smug and claim he's a great player. No, he isn't. He's a good striker for a midtable club. We'll not win the league with him as our striker, he's far too limited and lacking in technical ability. I'd bet any sum of money you like on that.

 

[Sauldogba]

How is he not good enough for Manchester United? At the very least, he is good enough for our bench. I think people under estimate this lad a lot because he has had a bad patch recently during a time most of the other lads were playing crap. He is one of the best 20 finishers in premier league history based on numbers and he is just 25.

Hed be a good squad player but as a first team number 9 I think a club of our stature could and should do better than Lukaku.

 

[sullydnl]

Some people are so simple minded and can't see beyond the end of their nose. He's scored 2 goals in 10 games and some think that is good enough to act smug and claim he's a great player. No, he isn't. He's a good striker for a midtable club. We'll not win the league with him as our striker, he's far too limited and lacking in technical ability. I'd bet any sum of money you like on that.

How many posters have claimed he's a great player?

 

[Litch]

Some people are so simple minded and can't see beyond the end of their nose. He's scored 2 goals in 10 games and some think that is good enough to act smug and claim he's a great player. No, he isn't. He's a good striker for a midtable club. We'll not win the league with him as our striker, he's far too limited and lacking in technical ability. I'd bet any sum of money you like on that.

Wow....only 2 goals in 10 starting games and playing 90 mins. Rashford and Martial must be pissed off sat there on the bench and only coming on at the end of the games for limited minutes.

 

[tomaldinho1]

City.....?

literally go 4 or 5 posts up

 

[GM K]

But that's irrelevant, point is we paid £75m for a ready made No9 in his pomp and he's currently 2nd choice striker. City paid what £30m? for a 19yr old.

FYI this is nothing against Lukaku it's an agreement with the other poster's point that a) he defo wants, as all top strikers do, to be 1st choice and b) if he is a backup, is the club happy with such an expensive backup. Who knows if the second part will happen because United are a huge club and can probably afford a whole bench of Lukaku's easily but I doubt he'll be happy personally if he's continuously playing second fiddle to Rashford or having to play wide. He used to being the main man.

How is this such a bad thing? Lukaku is second choice at the moment because he had a bad patch and Rashford who is worth more, stepped up his game. In many ways, Lukaku has brought out the beast in Marcus.

Almost everyone of the lads was bad when Jose was here this season with the exception of a few who stepped up during his last games. Martial and Rashford come to mind. After Jose benched Lukaku, Rashford lit up and that banished Lukaku to the bench even after Ole came. I get the criticisms about his touch and so on. But the kid is a really good player. He is one of the best 20 goalscorers in premier league history statistics wise. At the very least, he is good enough for our bench. And this is a role he has been playing well for a number of games now. Lukaku is one of the reasons we have had a good run under Ole. This may not be obvious to some but when you realise the psychological impact of having a striker with his potential coming off the bench, you will agree with this.

 

[JohnnyKills]

Good article on him here:
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ku-manchester-united-criticism-premier-league

He's done nothing wrong since being relegated to back-up striker. He's stepped up when needed, scored goals and worked hard. You'd certainly rather have him than Giroud, Llorente or Origi.

The issue is the money we've paid for him. Can you really keep such an expensive asset, on such high wages, on the bench? We could easily get £60 million for him and buy a cheaper, more versatile forward to sit on the bench.

 

[Danny Roberts]

Good article on him here:
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ku-manchester-united-criticism-premier-league

He's done nothing wrong since being relegated to back-up striker. He's stepped up when needed, scored goals and worked hard. You'd certainly rather have him than Giroud, Llorente or Origi.

The issue is the money we've paid for him. Can you really keep such an expensive asset, on such high wages, on the bench? We could easily get £60 million for him and buy a cheaper, more versatile forward to sit on the bench.

"buy a cheaper, more versatile forward to sit on the bench" - but they wouldn't be as good and we don't need the money.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Two fantastic finishes from Rom on Wednesday. As others have said, he's not done much wrong since being a back up striker. Question is whether he will be happy doing that next season? Guess time will tell.

 

[JohnnyKills]

"buy a cheaper, more versatile forward to sit on the bench" - but they wouldn't be as good and we don't need the money.

Leaving aside the issue of whether we can get a replacement of similar quality, which is debatable, we're a business. We're not like City or PSG - we can't afford to have expensive, highly paid assets not playing.

 

[ice-bionic red]

He really needed that performance. And now he needs to do it again in the next game and whenever he’s called upon. Too many terrible performances from him we have had so let’s hope he can go on a scoring run now.

 

[VeevaVee]

Some people are so simple minded and can't see beyond the end of their nose.

This is an excellent way to describe a lot of people in the performance threads. They see one or two highlights and think it makes a game. It's like they view it in binary. There's never any inbetween with em and they seem to passionately hate anyone pointing out anything other than the best bits. Has been the case in multiple other threads. Thankfully those players have since stepped up and done more than a few highlights throughout games since Ole took over.

He was better in the last game, definitely, but he's certainly not been particularly good since becoming backup as some say. Hopefully he cracks on a bit.

 

[VeevaVee]

Very good second half from him today! Great instinct for both goals and nice footwork on the first.

 

[sullydnl]

What about those misplaced passes eh?

Having lost his starting place upon Solskjaer's arrival he has now played his way back into our current strongest 11 imo.

 

[KM]

Great great stuff.

 

[el3mel]

Unbelievable. He's going to win me over or what ?

That was Everton's Lukaku today.

 

[3KDré]

Should have been allowed to take the penalty.

 

[ExoduS]

Great second half. Should have been awarded with the penalty at the end. Would have buried that.

 

[SwansonsTache]

Must have shed 10 pounds since the Mourinho days? He looked ripped as feck when he took his shirt off.

 

[Oldham]

RIPPPED

 

[Skills]

Scores goals. Looks back to his normal self now with a few regular games and some goals to give him some confidence.

 

[Amar__]

That was great, well done big man. I can't wait for people to start mentioning people who criticised him because he was actually playing poorly.

But fair feck to him, great two goals.

 

[Ødegaard]

4 goals in 2 games. Think he had a assist as well?
Bertrands tackle on him today should have been a red as well.

For a guy who wastes a lot, he gets into a lot of good positions. Great guy to have in the squad.

 

[Gomes]

Expecting a lot of pointless "I am a critic, but happy" posts. Never deserved this abuse, never been the problem.

 

[SirAF]