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It's so true it's a catch 22 situationIt is a vicious circle. Players pass the ball to him and he cannot control the ball. They then don't trust passing the ball to him and people say he is getting no service.
It's so true it's a catch 22 situationIt is a vicious circle. Players pass the ball to him and he cannot control the ball. They then don't trust passing the ball to him and people say he is getting no service.
How big he looks, unbeliveable. Defenders around him look like wingers in comparision with him.
Reminds me of the movie Thunderstruck with Kevin Durant.
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.Lukaku’s United career (like most things to do with the club these days) has to be some kind of cosmic joke.
After years listening to United fans complain about Wayne Rooney and how impossible it is to accommodate an inconsistent striker with such a low level of performance when he’s not on form, I can only assume that some supernatural being has intervened to teach us all a lesson....
“You cnuts think Rooney blew hot and cold?! Well fecking check THIS out!!”
You had me at 'playing'.He has to stop playing with his back to goal. instead he needs to play on the shoulder of the last defender on the half turn ALL the time. Thats where his strength lies.
You had me at 'playing'.
His finishing has been anything but impressive this season.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.
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.His finishing has been anything but impressive this season.
Couldn't finish watching that, genuinely made me sad to realise the quality we had back thenCan you ever see Lukaku scoring a goal like the one at 0:46?
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 LukakuLukaku 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.
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...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.
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.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
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.Given his performance, and given Rashfords when he came on, surely Jose will put Lukaku on the bench, at most?
He is right up there with Taibi and Djemba Djemba for me.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.
Firstly, you've make some very logical points that i agree with.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.
He should be given balls in the box where he can turn and get a shot off on both sides.It's so true it's a catch 22 situation
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.Couldn't finish watching that, genuinely made me sad to realise the quality we had back then
It was said that his mom consulted a voodoo doctor who claimed that his future was at Chelsea.So he wanted Chelsea all along?
He bought all the shit players though...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.
Aye, pretty much agree with this.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.
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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?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.
True, but he continually sets up the team to fail..like playing Herrera or McTonmay at CB when Baily was available.He bought all the shit players though...
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.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.