He was often shite in big games and took a paddy when given a little bit of stick, to the point he was cupping his ears to his own supporters after scoring a header against bottom half opposition. He didn’t have the stones for it at United and it was right to call it a day when we did. For Lukaku just as much as us.
Romelu Lukaku | Chelsea
- Thread starter RDCR07
- Start date
Ruud had that it thing I’m referring to. That bit between his ears.
Ruud was also a significantly better player. So there’s that, too.
What a load of shite. The main difference between being the main man at United and being the main man at Chelsea is that we just expect our strikers to score goals whilst you generally prefer a striker to be more involved in the build up and play. Ironically Lukaku looks like he has improved his link up play massively and would probably be a huge success at United now.
He's a good player and will be a strong addition for them. No point dwelling on what if he had stayed here though, don't think he has the right attitude for that.
He said that Conte did great things for his focus and self-belief after finding it tough in his last few months at United. Almost as though the manager has a role to play in getting the best out of players like Lukaku.
His goals in his first full season for us won us more direct league points than Ibrahimovic in his. Big games alone don't win titles
.Why is it shite? United and Chelsea are still different beasts. Some very good players can’t hack it at United and Lukaku is one of them. The spotlight on him at Chelsea isn’t quite so great, whether you like that or not.
You also refer to build up play and you’re right to do so. Lukaku’s wasn’t good enough when we sold him and I still don’t think it’d be good enough right now.
I am trying to grasp how it would be harder to play for a team that year after year says, trust the process, we can see we are improving….more or less Next Year FC. He is playing for a team that is expected to win trophies and the league right now or you can very easily be gone.
If anything, being a striker at Chelsea is a harder prospect as our stikers graveyard with more tombstones shows. We ask different things from our strikers but the notion that being a striker at United is harder because it's United is just partisan nonsense.
Where are you going with this? I don’t believe for one second that you think Lukaku was right for us and that Ole was in the wrong to flog him when he did. If that was your argument at the time then so be it, but I’m not convinced.
Utd are a goldfish bowl. Chelsea are a fraction of the size. It’s not the same pressure.
No mate by that logic azpi,rudiger,Christensen silva kante jorginho James chilwell mount havertz Werner and mendy all are shit because they didn't play for united despite they won cl.
This doesn’t just apply to United, I’m afraid. Some clubs are just bigger beasts. He’d sink at Liverpool, too. As he would at Madrid and Barcelona. He wouldn’t fit at any of those clubs either, in part due to what those clubs expect from their forwards, in part because he would crumble (again). I’m not strictly partisan, you see.
Lukaku is a wonderful fit for Chelsea and he could well help you on your way towards the title this season. I’d be content if I were you.
The one thing that surprised me is that neither Mourinho or Ole told him to slim down. He was huge at United.
Early on at Inter they had him doing no upper body weight work and had him on a diet to lose a lot of the upper body bulk he gained around 2018. It's helped his all round game a lot. Sometimes I wonder what the coaches at United even do.
Early on at Inter they had him doing no upper body weight work and had him on a diet to lose a lot of the upper body bulk he gained around 2018. It's helped his all round game a lot. Sometimes I wonder what the coaches at United even do.
Nobody has said or implied any of this, have they?
Are you suggesting that Hazard for instance might have struggled at United because of the extra scrutiny? He's largely failed at a bigger club in Real. Chelsea have won the CL twice since the last time we have.
There's more than the average scrutiny and weight of expectation at Chelsea than the average top 5 league European club no matter what you think. There's obviously more at United because of the bigger fanbase but the difference is negligible at this level. Chelsea are the European champions ffs
I don't think it's particularly the clubs in question, rather than that of style of play and formation. Lukaku's hold up play has improved quite a bit, if was shite at United, but he's still the most effective when he has space to run into.
Both Inter and Chelsea play/played with a back 5, with 3 attackers. Generally it means the attackers have more space to run into, which Werner had plenty of last season just with poor finishing. At United we played with a front 3, teams would sit deep against us meaning Lukaku barely had any space to move, he's crap when asked to be static inside the box. Most top teams play with a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 and he'd look not as good in any of those teams.
I think Hazard would have been a sensational player here. A proper United player. No guarantee, of course. I don’t think anybody expected Madrid to pan out as it has for him. I expect he’d have been way more of a fit for us than Lukaku, albeit they play entirely different positions.
@marktan makes an interesting point about Lukaku being suited towards playing in a 352. He’s less ‘alone’ up there, and carries less of the burden. That helps.
I disagree. Playing at big clubs versus smaller clubs does bring different levels of scrutiny but we're talking about a CL club aiming to win every trophy in Chelsea, he hasn't moved to League 1.
The reasons he failed at United are subject to debate and the factors at play will never be scientifically quantified. My best guess is something like; he isn't an elite forward like an Henry, a Shearer, a Van Persie, a Rooney, a Drogba, but had convinced himself he was given his price tag and hype in the media. He was then disappointed to find he couldn't have the impact on United he wanted, and quickly lost confidence and his mental and physical quality suffered and he resorted to doing most of his talking in the press rather than on the pitch. The other broad factor was United being a bit of a shit place to play football, with an incomplete squad and turmoil in the dugout, dressing room and board room. Which ever way you want to weigh the factors: 50-50, 60-40, whatever, I'd say Lukaku isn't elite, either in his football skill or mentality and United were not an ideal place for very good/useful players like Lukaku to thrive. Inter in their league were better-placed and Chelsea now is a better place for him than United was (better team, better manager, better standing in the league, better tactical situation for him to slot into etc.), I think he'll do well at Chelsea but I'm not sad he's gone from us. That's it for me really.
This is just a laughable rubbish opinion, not backed up by anything other than - 'errrrr well, i fink he is weak in da head'.
I'm fairly sure they did. He didn't play a single minute in pre season before he left because he was 'unfit' (but not injured).
The thing that really sucks balls is we will most likely labour to draw against Arsenal in both of our fixtures
He is. Enjoy him.
I look at Man Utd and the Boston Celtics the same. Both have traditions of winning, but really have not been those teams for years. They are by no means bad teams and often buy really top players, they just dont win anything. Both also have fans that think they are this monster organization that can look down on other teams, including the teams that are actually winning championships and trophies.
Let's face it. Mou and early Ole ruined him.
Right now I'd kill for a front three of Rashford-Lukaku-Sancho, and Greenwood-Cavani in the bench.
Right now I'd kill for a front three of Rashford-Lukaku-Sancho, and Greenwood-Cavani in the bench.
Celtics not have a forum you can visit then?
Does my posting here bother you? I post at several forums.
Where I’m going with this is that the really top managers (the ones that win major trophies, the sort of manager we once had at United) have an uncanny ability to get the very best out of the players at their disposal. And it always reflects badly on a manager when they sell a player and he immediately looks twice the player he was before his move.
Lukaku’s obviously one of the very best strikers around and would be a huge improvement to our squad (a point rammed home by Martial’s diabolical performance today) so this idea that he’s “not a United player” when he hits the ground running for a manager that has out-performed Ole since he took over at Chelsea (the reigning CL champions) really makes no sense at all.
This is called being deluded and why we laugh at RAWK. Fergie would have absolutely loved this version of Lukaku. Everything else youve spewed is romantic propaganda you've filled your mind with. Go write a poem while you are at it and post it via RAWK style.
We're more like the Lakers after Kobe went down with that injury. It hasn't been multiple decades since our dominance. Pool are more like the Celtics.
The attitude of our fanbase seems to bother you yet here you are posting your passive aggressive nonsense .
Conte turned him into a slim bully. It will be very interesting how he does against Van Djik and Matip. Arsenal have this amazing ability to find the weakest defenders known to mankind. Just soft as tissue.
Maybe you should go with an analogy that makes sense to people who like football? Seeing as this is a forum for people who like football.
To be fair, you have some very level headed well spoken fans here that get past the ZOMG we are the best team ever mentality, even during a drought of winning titles. I also enjoy the amount of other PL fans and Bundesliga fans that really give the forum a well rounded perspective. The delusional fans don’t bother me, I would expect them anywhere. Fanatics indeed.
I find that a lot of PL fans are also NBA fans, or at least aware of the top NBA teams to understand the analogy.
To be honest people who actually think playing for Man United is tougher than Chelsea whose owner changes managers and players faster than changing his clothes is a pretty laughable opinion indeed, and screams arrogance.
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Be really interesting watching him in such a structured system. Mason outscoring him so far 
What’s level headed to you? We finished second last year and above Chelsea for 2 years in a row now. For two years straight Chelsea fans have argued against us about who would finish ahead of who in the league and for two years it’s been your lot that have been wrong.
Don’t take offence at Utd fans not rating Lukaku, we had 2 years of him and we reacted in the same manner when Everton fans tried to warn him off us. You will just have to learn the hard way ala Lampard v Ole.
Couldn’t give a flying feck about the NBA, personally. Which I’m sure is true of the vast majority of fans at the game today.